New Knife Condition - Different than Expected

[Carbonara]

Hey knife addicts,

I would like to open the floor to hear your opinion on this. What do you do when you receive a knife which condition is different than expected (either cosmetic or performance)?

Do you act differently depending on pricing?What about rarity (some knives are sold out in seconds)?

Looking forward to hear your thoughts.

 

[Infrared]

Its going to depend on the circumstance.

If a seller claims new and it's clearly used (patina, lots of scratches) then I would have an issue. If the knife has some stray scratches and markings, I wouldn't be too worried. Imperfections tend to be very common with handmade knives.

Any more details you can share?

 

[Carbonara]

Nothing specific in my case. Just looking to see what the overall consensus is around here.

However, I have noticed that as I’m pushing my budget per knife up I have become more “picky” about the condition of the knife itself. Couple of scratches on a $100 knife, no problem. Scratches on a $500 knife, mmm… I starting to feel different.

 

[Infrared]

Sakai knives tend to have the best fit and finish in my experience. That being said, even $1000+ knives will have blemishes.

 

[Delat]

Depends - are you talking about from a retailer, direct from the maker, or used? Also varies quite a bit with price

Direct from the maker I expect it to be consistent with their reputation for quality. That means for most Western makers a range between good to excellent, for makers like TF a range from terrible to decent. Most j-knives generally I expect decent f&f, not really excellent/outstanding but I never really bought any expensive j-knives so I’m not the best judge there.

From a retailer pretty similar, although consistent with the price range.

BST should be consistent with the description and photos, and both stated and implied condition.

Performance is an entirely different story. There you get what you get unless you requested something specific from a custom maker and they didn’t deliver.

 

[esoo]

Every knife you will ever get has a defect. Either a true defect or something that you consider wrong in your opinion.

At $500 I tolerate things I won't at $1000. And there are some things I won't tolerate at all. There are things that could be fixed, but generally I personally don't go down the route.

Scratches and such I don't give a crap about as the knife is going to experience much worse once I start using it.

 

[enrico]

I'm on the other side. If the knife was delivered (the most stressful part IMO) and there's no chips, cracks, or major damage, I'm keeping it. Just more incentive to beat it up.

Also, a lot of people buy used knives for what they were new. So, I'm less likely to really lower value on something just because of some cosmetic issues.