What should I do ?

[beluga]

I was browsing ebay for handmade knives, and there was one particular knife that caught my eyes. The knife was being sold by its maker, and it has contact information about the maker (website). On the listing, it said that the reserve price is $140. BTW, the knife has 3.something " blade. It does NOT say that there are some kind of flaw whatsoever in the item.

I contacted the maker by email asking how much is the same knife with 2.5" blade and a convex grind. He replied my email and said $250.

I thought it would be wiser for me to try to win the knife on ebay first. I won the knife on ebay for $140.

When I received the knife, I found out that there is a gap between the bolster and the blade; a large enough gap to trap water inside.
The blade is made by O1 which is prone to rust; as all carbon steel blade.

Also, the bolster was fitted in an okay manner unlike what it says on the listing (the listing says : Over 29 Years Of Combined Experience, Goes Into The Design, Grind, Fit And Attention To Detail That Is Evident In All Of Our Knives).

I sent the maker an email letting him know that there is a pretty big gap between the bolster and the blade. The maker replied to my email saying :

The problem with trying to fix the knife without putting on a new handle is that I would have to heat the nickel bolster and this could cause the sheep horn slabs to warp. Any natural horn handle material has that tendency if it would get overheated. I couldn't afford to put a new sheep horn handle on the knife for the price sold. This knife off our web page would sell for at least $250.00 depending on the sheep horn I use.

I do know the fact that knife makers are responsible for this kind of flaws. It's just not right to sell 'defective' items to customers without letting the customers know first.

My question is : what should I do in this situation ?

 

[Keith Montgomery]

It looks like you have a couple of options. First is to check and see if the maker is willing to give you a refund. If so, send the knife back. If he is not willing to give you a refund your second option is to keep the knife (or do whatever you want with it since it is yours) and go post your experience on the GB&U forum so that everyone will have a chance to find out who this maker is that does not stand behind his product.

There is of course a couple of other options that would probably cost more than the knife is worth. You could send the knife to another maker for repair or check with the original maker as to how much he would charge to fix the knife properly. Most likely, these last two are not viable alternatives.

By the way, sorry to see that this has happened top you. This kind of thing sucks and always leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

 

[Big D1]

In my opinion, any respectable maker should guarantee their knife for their lifetime excluding natural handle materials such as stag and horn and just plain abuse. Since your knife is new, the maker should fix it on his tab, or refund your money. Big D1

 

[ravenQ8]

The first thing I would do is post a buyer's feedback on ebay. Spelll the whole thing out and quote his reply.

 

[Rifter]

Did you ask if there was any flaws? i mean why did you assume it was perfect? i mean when you asked him how much it would cost for the same knife with a 2.5" blade and it was twice as much as the one listed on e-bay that should have been a big clue. IMO if you didnt ask if anyhting was wrong with it then its your own fault for assuming it was perfect.

 

[Danbo]

In my opinion, that knife should never have been allowed to leave his shop in the first place. Send the knife back and get your money back. The problem with posting comments on Ebay is that they give you little room for anything but minimal comments. Plus, if you leave negative feedback comments, he will simply leave negative comments about you(even if lies). Send the knife back, and let us know who we may be dealing with here.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

They say you can't cheat an honest man. You knew you were getting over on the price. Why did you think the maker wasn't getting over on the knife? If it were in the kind of shape that "Over 29 Years Of Combined Experience" would lead you to expect, it would have sold for the regular price, to a regular customer, and not on eBay.

"there is a gap between the bolster and the blade; a large enough gap to trap water inside."

Some years ago, James Mattis was talking about the virtues of Mora knives, which are cheap, tough, and quickly built and sold. Many of them did not fit tightly around the bolster: he recommended valuing them for their virtues, and filling in the gaps at the bolster with epoxy.

 

[beluga]

Rifter,

I didn't ask if the knife was perfect. Why did I assume that the knife was perfect ? Simply because there are no respectable knife maker will sell a flawed knife without telling the customer about it first. I'm always interested in being a knife maker, and I would never do such thing.

The knife that I bought from ebay was listed in his 'available for immediate purchase' in his website. The knife was priced at $250.

Esav,

The great thing about ebay is you can get good stuff (the same quality) for less. I once bought a Charles Ochs MS (a mastersmith) knife for $150. The knife is in perfect condition, I don't have any complaint whatsoever. There are some internet companies that sell the same model (almost no difference) for $250.

There some great knife maker that uses ebay as his only media to sell and advertise their knives.

Danbo,

I can't reveal the maker since he agreed to try to fix the knife (I pay the shipping though). If you still want to know, send me an email, I'll let you know =)

 

[Jeff Clark]

I would try and return the knife if I didn't think it had $140.00 worth of value to me. If I had paid $30.00 for it I would simply fill the gap with an appropriately metal-filled epoxy. I start getting picky when I pay over $50.00.

 

[not2sharp]

In my opinion, that knife should never have been allowed to leave his shop in the first place.

I agree with Danbo. No reputable maker would put such a knife into market circulation. At least not if it bares his trademark. Ultimately it gets circulated around and everyone who sees it will have a poor impression of the maker's work. If you want to see the kind of damage that can result, just do a search of this forum for "Maddog". Supposedly, a defective knife was illicitly placed on the market, and resulted in a vicious and public two month long flame war.

It does sound like you otherwise got a decent knife at half price. It may be worth sealing the handle with a little epoxy and putting the whole thing behind you. Otherwise return it for a full refund.

n2s