Fit and finish problems with Devin's ITK knives

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RiffRaff said:
Yes, knives were bought new. And of course, I understand there's room for stuff like this in mostly hand made knives.
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How long ago did you buy your knives? I haven't seen an ITK cleaver available in a while. It would seem more appropriate to take up any issues with Devin rather than post about your issues in a public forum. Devin is active in this forum so it would have been more appropriate to use the PM feature so that you could give him a fair chance to fix "your" issues. Considering the quality and performance for the price, I think you've got two outstanding knives that are far better than the majority of knives on the market. At any rate, I think this post is completely unnecessary and you should have taken it up with Devin directly instead of posting what is coming off as a negative post.
 
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rsacco said:
How long ago did you buy your knives? I haven't seen an ITK cleaver available in a while. It would seem more appropriate to take up any issues with Devin rather than post about your issues in a public forum. Devin is active in this forum so it would have been more appropriate to use the PM feature so that you could give him a fair chance to fix "your" issues. Considering the quality and performance for the price, I think you've got two outstanding knives that are far better than the majority of knives on the market. At any rate, I think this post is completely unnecessary and you should have taken it up with Devin directly instead of posting what is coming off as a negative post - kind of a dick move if you ask me.
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i disagree completely: it was perfectly appropriate for him to bring this up. he wanted the opinions of others, and shared experience is what this forum is about. given the response that was given, i don't think anybody was poorly served by this thread.
 
rsacco said:
How long ago did you buy your knives? I haven't seen an ITK cleaver available in a while. It would seem more appropriate to take up any issues with Devin rather than post about your issues in a public forum. Devin is active in this forum so it would have been more appropriate to use the PM feature so that you could give him a fair chance to fix "your" issues. Considering the quality and performance for the price, I think you've got two outstanding knives that are far better than the majority of knives on the market. At any rate, I think this post is completely unnecessary and you should have taken it up with Devin directly instead of posting what is coming off as a negative post - kind of a dick move if you ask me.
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I think it's fair to inquire about other's experiences with particular knives. Unfortunately, someone surfing the net for info on Devin's knives might not look at the substance of the thread and inaccurately judge the quality of Devin's work based only upon the key words in the title.
 
tk59 said:
I think it's fair to inquire about other's experiences with particular knives. Unfortunately, someone surfing the net for info on Devin's knives might not look at the substance of the thread and inaccurately judge the quality of Devin's work based only upon the key words in the title.
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I agree. I think it's fair to inquire about other's experiences - no question there. My experience with Devin is that he goes the extra mile to see to it that his customers are satisfied with their knives so I don't have any doubt he would fix it.
 
i don't think anybody doubts Hoss' customer service. i've never used one of his knives, but i really, really want to.
 
i know none will probably like my opinion but i think a lot of this has to do with devin's reputation here.....ALOT of people here worship him....not to say that is wrong but the same thing is not true about say carter....if the same exact thread was brought up but about murray i think there would have been a lot different response......ryan

p.s.-i have owned knives from one dollar to over 5 grand and i have seen flaws on almost every single one of them......very very few are what i would call perfect....and those i would-noone would really be familiar with their knives here
 
Though I agree with Ryan (to a degree), I think any vendor who contributes in the way Devin has in present and past forums and has the skills to match deserves that respect and deference. Prefect knives can be hit or miss no matter the maker. If you push a maker to do something new, it likely won't be perfect. If you buy a knife when a maker just starts making kitchen knives, it also probably won't be perfect. I have more imperfect knives than semi-perfect, and almost no perfect ones -- but my Devin petty is as close to perfect as I have.

k.
 
sudsy9977 said:
.....ALOT of people here worship him...
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Well I for one certainly don't worship Devin. I thought him walking on water was just some kind of parlor trick. As far as any hand-made item being perfect, it ain't gonna happen.
 
worship is probably the wrong word....couldnt think of a better one but those who know me know what i mean........ryan
 
rsacco said:
How long ago did you buy your knives? I haven't seen an ITK cleaver available in a while.
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You know, that's an excellent question, RiffRaff. How long have you had the knives if you bought them new?
 
I’m surprised at the number of responses to my post. I asked the question put the pics up because the minor flaws bugged me and because I noticed that a couple other craftsmen/artists on our site were thinking of putting out their own mid-tech knife. I figured that my own, and your own, experience with DT’s work might give them a hand and stand as one more way users and craftsmen collaborate on this site. I’ve learned even more from your posts and I want to thank Hoss for reaching out to me, which I would take him up on if the flaws were more important.

I do want to say that these posts raise a larger issue of what’s “good enough” and what’s “just right,” and whether you should ever shoot for perfection when the spirit of the thing (what the Japanese wabi-sabi) is what’s really hard to find, not just a smooth, error-free product.
 
RiffRaff said:
I’m surprised at the number of responses to my post. I asked the question put the pics up because the minor flaws bugged me and because I noticed that a couple other craftsmen/artists on our site were thinking of putting out their own mid-tech knife. I figured that my own, and your own, experience with DT’s work might give them a hand and stand as one more way users and craftsmen collaborate on this site. I’ve learned even more from your posts and I want to thank Hoss for reaching out to me, which I would take him up on if the flaws were more important.

I do want to say that these posts raise a larger issue of what’s “good enough” and what’s “just right,” and whether you should ever shoot for perfection when the spirit of the thing (what the Japanese wabi-sabi) is what’s really hard to find, not just a smooth, error-free product.
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Well, I think the thread title set a different mood than what your intentions listed here are. Perhaps if you had gone with something like "expectations from a mid tech line?" you would have more correctly addressed your concern over current and future mid tech lines.

The issue with what is "good enough/just right" is a tricky one, because it does vary for each person. I feel bad when people post something and say "I'm not happy with X, Y and Z" and people respond with "suck it up, that's how it is". For some people $300-500 for a knife isn't a lot, for others it is a ton of money. So each person is going to feel differently when they pick up a factory knife, or a mid tech, or a custom and evaluate if the cost was worth it to them. It comes down to each individual person to vote with their dollars, if you get something and it isn't up to your standards, it is your responsibility to bring it to the attention of the retailer or the maker and return it or have it fixed.
 
This thread has me very curious about mid techs. given the choice, I'll save money for mediocre F&F every day of the week as long as performance isn't compromised.
 
labor of love said:
This thread has me very curious about mid techs. given the choice, I'll save money for mediocre F&F every day of the week as long as performance isn't compromised.
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I've got a number of Devin's knives including a couple of mid-tech's or ITK's. The fit and finish on both mid-tech's are just as nice if not the same as the other knives that I have that are made by him. They are great knives. I wouldn't let this thread leave you to believe that you are sacrificing F&F...at least that is my experience when buying knives from Devin.
 
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Yeah. If this is really about mid-techs, in general. The title of the thread should read: "standards in mid-tech knives," or something to that effect. That wouldn't be a dick move, would it? Frankly, I would welcome such a thread.
 
I'd like to take a minute to address some issues that have been brought up within this post....

This thread/post was started well within the rules of what can be posted here at KKF.

*Note - Members are welcome to post reviews on any kitchen knife made or sold by any vendor, even those vendors who pay for forums here on this site. All objective respectful opinions are welcome although axe grinding will not be tolerated.


Even though this was OK to post a less harsh title would have been welcomed as it doesn't accurately reflect the tone of the original poster's explanation. It reminds me of a situation where a person starts off a thread saying "so and so is bad to deal with" and then within the context of the message they say "not" and have a smilie. If just casual searching a person could/may only see the "bad to deal with" comment and never know that it was a joke unless they read the comments to follow. In this case it's not the same at all but I hope you can get my point that we should be more clear on our titles when they are of a sensitive nature.

On contacting the maker, yes this would have been a better idea IF the original poster was looking for a repair however in this case he appears to simply want to discuss the flaws and again that's within his rights to do.

We, the KKF mod team, will not modify or change this post or any other post that follows our guidelines. Many of the members of KKF recall the old regime of KF that would delete these types of things from being discussed but that's not what we're about here, we're about open discussion regardless of what knife is being discussed.

I believe that Devin handled this well and made an offer to correct what is being mentioned as flaws even if they aren't such to him. He's trying his best to make his customer as happy as he can and that's commendable.

In a nutshell we want our members to feel open to discuss what they feel is worthy of the community's time and attention yet we will not tolerate axe grinding. Members who feel the need to "make things right" in public are best served to think again and address the matter in private before escalating it to that level. It's been my impression that given a chance the vendors here will bend over backwards to make things right even if they may already be.

I hope that everyone reading this can understand our position on this type of matter.


Dave


 
tk59 said:
Yeah. If this is really about mid-techs, in general. The title of the thread should read: "standards in mid-tech knives," or something to that effect. That wouldn't be a dick move, would it? Frankly, I would welcome such a thread.
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Sounds like a great idea. I think it would be great if you got the ball rolling.
 
Dave Martell said:
I'd like to take a minute to address some issues that have been brought up within this post....

This thread/post was started well within the rules of what can be posted here at KKF.

*Note - Members are welcome to post reviews on any kitchen knife made or sold by any vendor, even those vendors who pay for forums here on this site. All objective respectful opinions are welcome although axe grinding will not be tolerated.


Even though this was OK to post a less harsh title would have been welcomed as it doesn't accurately reflect the tone of the original poster's explanation. It reminds me of a situation where a person starts off a thread saying "so and so is bad to deal with" and then within the context of the message they say "not" and have a smilie. If just casual searching a person could/may only see the "bad to deal with" comment and never know that it was a joke unless they read the comments to follow. In this case it's not the same at all but I hope you can get my point that we should be more clear on our titles when they are of a sensitive nature.

On contacting the maker, yes this would have been a better idea IF the original poster was looking for a repair however in this case he appears to simply want to discuss the flaws and again that's within his rights to do.

We, the KKF mod team, will not modify or change this post or any other post that follows our guidelines. Many of the members of KKF recall the old regime of KF that would delete these types of things from being discussed but that's not what we're about here, we're about open discussion regardless of what knife is being discussed.

I believe that Devin handled this well and made an offer to correct what is being mentioned as flaws even if they aren't such to him. He's trying his best to make his customer as happy as he can and that's commendable.

In a nutshell we want our members to feel open to discuss what they feel is worthy of the community's time and attention yet we will not tolerate axe grinding. Members who feel the need to "make things right" in public are best served to think again and address the matter in private before escalating it to that level. It's been my impression that given a chance the vendors here will bend over backwards to make things right even if they may already be.

I hope that everyone reading this can understand our position on this type of matter.


Dave
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This is why I love this place!!!
 
Dave Martell said:
...All objective respectful opinions are welcome although axe grinding will not be tolerated...
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I'm confused. I believe Dave started an axe-grinding thread against Moritaka that's now 17 pages long, making comments like "I'm so friggin sick of this sh*t!" and "As for the maker - they just suck ass".

The rules don't apply if you own the forum?
 
Dave Martell said:
....All objective respectful opinions are welcome although axe grinding will not be tolerated....
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wsfarrell said:
I'm confused. I believe Dave started an axe-grinding thread against Moritaka that's now 17 pages long, making comments like "I'm so friggin sick of this sh*t!" and "As for the maker - they just suck ass".

The rules don't apply if you own the forum?
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One thing that can always be counted on in a forum is someone to see things shortsighted when it comes to policies and leadership decisions. :)

For the record my views and actions regarding Moritaka is way more than axe grinding (that's how it started 4 years ago), now it's become a mission to fix a wrong that's being played against this community. A wrong that's IMO both moral and financial in nature. I find it difficult to sit on the sidelines and watch people get screwed - if that's axe grinding then yup I'm breaking my own rules.
 
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