Hey Zodiac,
I am a long time amature(sp?) knifemaker. Through info on this forum I ended up buying one of Rob Frink's grinders. It is all that it is supposed to be, and is sold at a reasonable price, real reasonable. I am no name at all and there is no reason for me to support Rob Frink other than to say it was an easy and fair deal and he treated me well. I asked for the small wheel adapter and he threw it in for free. Not exactly a huge gift but one that was appreciated never the less. What went on with Nathan House is another story.
Here's a guess. This is only a guess and I could certainly be full of SH*T, and be wrong but anyhow... If Nathan used information that Rob Frink gave him, either inadvertantly or through other means, i.e. the name of the company that Rob uses for re-rubbering or for supplying wheels, and Nathan put that out to the forum, which he apparently did, than it looks like Rob is charging more for the products than he pays. DUH. That is called capatalism and that is what America is about! Saying something to the effect that you can cut out the middle man seems to insinuate being a middle man is somehow bad or dishonest. That is what buisness is , a lot of middle men selling stuff thay buy cheaper. If this is information that Nathan would not have gotten without Rob, maybe he forgot that Rob is in this to make money. It is a buisness.
I own a retail buisness. We buy low and sell higher. That is how one stays in buisness. If everyone of my customers had the ability to go to my suppliers and buy at my price I would be out of buisness rapidly.
So if Rob charges more than he pays figure it out that is what he is supposed to do.
We all look for deals. But for some of us this is just an expensive hobby. To others it is a buisness and a means of support for self and family. Unless one of the two involved speaks more we will never know what exactly happened, but regardless, no one need to run down any ones good name on this forum. Never the less Rob is free to work for people or not, and Nathan is free to give whatever info he would like to give. However with freedom comes some resposibility.
I will continue to read both of these gentlemens post and hopefully will continue to enjoys them. Lets not accuse people with out the facts.