Would anyone else be upset with jimping like this?(resolved)

Idahonotu said:
So the wrong blade wasn't SENT to me twice. I was sent a picture from the manager showing me my blade ready to get the finishing touches on it before the knife could be sent out a week or two later. When I saw the picture I had to point out out that I didn't order a recurve blade and that the blade in the picture had no milled bearing pockets and no hardend detent insert that the two existing fusion blades that combine mokuti flat with steel bevel had ( basically they were cutting corners). So I said I wasn't okay with that and had to wait even longer to get the new blade.( another month I believe). So when I received the knife it was already the second blade attempt. I saw the blatant disregard for fit and finish in the jimping and lock bar insert gaps and the action. At that point it had to be taken apart because I knew in my gut the internals were off. The milled bearing pockets were so poorly done they had one washer twice the thickness on one side just to center the knife properly to make up for tolerances. A soft metal detent insert that got deeper by the hour from the detent ball carving into it and the insert itself was mashed in the blade so poorly you could see the metal cracked by the detent ramp that was so deep the lock bar insert scraped the blade for the first bit of closing action. That was my unboxing experience after waiting 8 months
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Hope it gets solved at least somewhat in your favor. At least you can hang out with some folks at blade show, and they can make sure you won't strangle anybody from DDR there :D;)
 
b00n said:
Hope it gets solved at least somewhat in your favor. At least you can hang out with some folks at blade show, and they can make sure you won't strangle anybody from DDR there :D;)
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Haha no kidding, I will for sure be going to blade show west I am honestly more excited for that than blade show Atlanta because the maker's I really wanted something from won't be there because they are too backlogged.
 
brandoak said:
This jimping is done in Japanese style...it called "Falling rain" ........:rolleyes:

Sorry op, this is horrible. I see allot more on that knife that I wouldn't be happy with either for that kinda money.
This is the reason I gave up on buying custom knives. I wish you the best of luck.
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I've come to the same conclusion over the years. Bar a few slipjoint makers, custom knives just ain't worth it.
 
Idahonotu said:
This is a very expensive full dress knife. I am pretty frustrated with the whole experience
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Yup!!! I would be very unhappy if I bought a knife with that kind of quality defect. It may not affect how your knife functions but that should have been corrected before being sent to a customer.
 
JParanee said:
Many of you are obviously not buying from the correct custom makers
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Perfectly stated Joe. I've only purchased a few, but have had nothing but good experiences. Not to mention a damn fine knife when all was said & done.
Research the makers as well as what they make and you probably won't be let down.
 
JParanee said:
Many of you are obviously not buying from the correct custom makers
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Trouble is that someone who is a good maker today may be dead/retired/disinterested tomorrow. The trouble I have is that you are entirely at the mercy of the maker to make issues right.

Case in point is Mr Bobby T. I've been a long time customer of his, purchasing 3 customs over the years . All have served me well and he treated me very well as a customer. I believe he even has a line in his book about how customers should be treated like gold, or words to that effect.

Fast forward to the last couple of years. I've had issues with a couple of my T customs and two of his mid-techs. Every time I've contacted him recently I've been treated like shit and basically told he is too busy to deal with this stuff now (assume that he is too busy working with massdrop?), or what I'm describing isn't possible . This hasn't been isolated to me, another Aussie Terzuola fanboi mate has had similar experiences. Personally I think Mr T has let money get in the way of the principles he built his business on. I won't be buying another of his custom or designed products.

I've had similarly poor experiences with several other makers held in high regard.

Now who is to say in 10 years great guys like Emerson are no longer standing behind their custom work?

This isn't to say I haven't had exceptional experiences .Joe Allen for one has gone above and beyond for me in servicing his knives. But I'm sad to say that I've firmly turned to either buying customs from dealers with return policies or just sticking with productions . But as always, your mileage may vary.

Matt
 
matt009au matt009au It isn't that I don't believe you, but you purposefully left a lot of information out of such a brazen post that I feel I need to comment. Who exactly treated you poorly? The maker himself? What were the issues?

As for buying from a reputable dealer. What do you think a dealer is going to do for you if something happens to a custom or mid-tech 10 years after a purchase? I'm sorry but after that long any company is going to have a hard time doing what you feel is right by you. There is an inherent long term risk in any purchase that the manufacturer will be unable to support the product over the long term. Ask someone who owns an original Lone Wolf knife. You must've known this upon purchasing said customs.
Also just because the original maker isn't able to help (for whatever reason) doesn't mean that you can't find someone else who is able to fix your problem.

Not trying to throw kerosene on a fire. Just curious.
 
Fair point,
I guess in my mind there is two issues, one is problems on receipt of the new knife, the second is problems down the line.

For the former, I have had several problems with customs straight from makers ranging from rust/pitting, cracked scales, off centre scraping blades, sloppy lock-up on slip joints, sloppy grinds etc. The trouble is when dealing with the maker, once they have your money you are at their mercy . If they decide it isn't an issue then you are up shit creek or are up for a fight where you try and tip toe the line without offending them . This is the situation where buying from a dealer helps.

The second category is warranty and or servicing work after the fact. A dealer may help with the former . With the later it is up to the maker . The trouble here is while at the point of sale a maker may have a certain policy about their after market service for one of their blades, this can change years later depending on the mood of the maker. Often the 'lifetime guarantee' is a big selling point when buying a custom to use, and something which you theoretically pay for. It is disappointing when the maker alters their policy later on when they realise it is costing them money.

I guess at my point in my collecting life where I enjoy customs, but not dealing with custom makers when things go wrong . I only came to this position after buying a lot of customs over the years. I don't begrudge someone for having a different perspective on things. I don't deny that the prospect of getting exactly what you want is exciting and may be worth the risk of the potential downsides. It just isn't for me any more .

Hope this clarifies things.

Edit: Re Bobby T specifically, my dealings were with him directly . The issues were as follows:

1) requested new washers for my old Mk1 custom / or just tell met where I could get some. Bob told me I didn't need to replace them even though they had started to tear and stick to the blade .

2) handle scale cracked around the clip on my ATCF. I asked Bob T if I could pay him to fix it . Said he no longer supports his old stuff as he is too busy.

3) midtech ATCF with rust and pitting to the hardware on delivery . Bob T told me it was stainless so not possible...

4) mate with a midtech ATCF from the same batch which had the blade rubbing, and wouldn't flip if you tightened it to centre. Got told by Bob it was fine.

5) same mate with a century starfighter midtech arrived missing bearing balls out of the caged bearings. Bob sent him a link to a knife supplies store and told him to buy some more, unfortunantly the link was to the wrong size.

Final thoughts - obviously I'm butthurt with Bob, but I expected more being a long time customer, user and supporter of his stuff . Maybe my expectations are the problem, trouble is they were based on the customer focused rhetoric from Bob when I first bought the knives, which I paid for, and at some point changed .


NorthernSouthpaw said:
matt009au matt009au It isn't that I don't believe you, but you purposefully left a lot of information out of such a brazen post that I feel I need to comment. Who exactly treated you poorly? The maker himself? What were the issues?

As for buying from a reputable dealer. What do you think a dealer is going to do for you if something happens to a custom or mid-tech 10 years after a purchase? I'm sorry but after that long any company is going to have a hard time doing what you feel is right by you. There is an inherent long term risk in any purchase that the manufacturer will be unable to support the product over the long term. Ask someone who owns an original Lone Wolf knife. You must've known this upon purchasing said customs.
Also just because the original maker isn't able to help (for whatever reason) doesn't mean that you can't find someone else who is able to fix your problem.

Not trying to throw kerosene on a fire. Just curious.
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I'll throw my pennies in the well too.

I bought my KC Gray with the intent that it would replace my Sebenza but the quality just isn't there. The man himself is cool I just don't think he has the tooling to get it his knife in the same league as CRK. In the end I have a unique knife that I do like and I leaned a lesson; if the knife is less than 1k I'm going to go with production even if it's less special.
 
OP You must be one classy dude with a tone of patience and a BAD TASTE in knives LOL
Seriously though, if I were you I would not try to get the knife fixed (a lost cause IMHO) instead get your 4K back - there are lots of other reputable makers especially in that price range that will do a superb job and produce a stellar piece that will be a beauty to behold and will leave you thoroughly satisfied.
 
If you're wondering why there's no updates, I would check the instragram page called "ddrknivesofchina" for a little bit of insight into the chaos at DDR's "shop".
 
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Misanthropia said:
If you're wondering why there's no updates, I would check the instragram page called "ddrknivesofchina" for a little bit of insight into the chaos at DDR's "shop".
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Can you fill us in mate, for us recalcitrant types without instagram
 
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