What happened to Richmond Knives?

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AGC8

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Just came across a video on YouTube about the Richmond Laser AO 2....Googled the company...couldn't load their website. Hard to find the Laser, Addict...etc.Can't find them sold (didn't look on Ebay)...Are they no longer making knives?
 
Richmond is the house brand of the website "chef knives to go" , which is owned by Mark Richmond. They still sell a couple, I think.
 
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they were nothing special. from what i have read. often too thick. but sometimes used interesting steels from the folder world etc etc.
 
Thanks guys. That's right. Mark''s house brand. Forgot. Was more into kitchen knives maybe 10 years ago.
 
Most Richmond knives were stopped being produced when Lamson filed for bankruptcy. Mark later found other makers for a couple of his knives.
It has been said that the Makoto AS Ryusein is a rebranding of the discontinued Richmond/Kurosaki Laser.
 
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does mark own this company or did they simply produce his richmond line? never heard of it. i only know shigefusa, kato and TF. i have learned here its the only brands i need to know about.

btw is c k t g bankrupt?
 
Lamson is (was?) a manufacturer. Besides their own products, they would make knives for others on a contract basis. HHH used them for a line of mid-techs a few years back, but sadly they did not really understand how to grind a good profile.
 
lol. and they made their living making knives you said? or was it a side gig?
 
They are (were?) an American knife maker. They made knives for 'mericans. Who largely don't cook, and don't care much about knives.... They would never be confused with a Japanese knife manufacturer. Or even old French ones. Closer to the big clunky Wusthofs.
 
From what I remember Mark pulled the plug due to next to no QC at Lamson. Knives regular shipped out with sh*t grinds and poor f&f. A couple of lines are rebranded Japanese knives, but most of the lines are dropped.
They're okay knives, neither particularly good or bad.
 
In my experience, Togo lets the customers do the qa work. If he gets a return he usually deals with it. How many go to people that don't know they're getting a lemon?
 
I have picked up several Richmond knives. The heat treats have been decent. Prices (used or close out) have been great. The grinds are not thin behind the edge, definitely more rhobust than most jknives.
I have a few at home that will be practice regrinding before I venture into stock removal.
 
To be fair, they were cheaper than most low-mid-range jknives (for the same steels). That was his attempt at a higher margin business, no surprise it didn't offer the best value for customers. I think CKTG gets an undeservedly bad rep, Mark communicates fairly well and will attempt to resolve customer issues so in comparison to the general retail world he's actually above average. If you compare him to the other jknife vendors... well there's a big difference. The other well known vendors generally have exceptional customer service in my opinion, but the biggest difference is they only stock knives they think are worth buying. Mark stocks anything and everything and his forum culture is "every knife is good", which is just wrong. Not all knives are created equal. I've never seen a negative review of a knife over there.

Is Mark the devil and should he be censored... no. Are there better places to buy knives... yes.
 
madelinez said:
I've never seen a negative review of a knife over there.
Click to expand...

I have. It was up for about an hour.

BTW, I'm not a hater, kinda Togo neutral. I helped change things so the name could be said aloud here without the asterisks. Link? Maybe some day. But not today.

From what I've seen on other forums he does seem to serve the entry level, first knife market pretty well.
 
I think his deal is kohetsu now. My western 270 AS I ordered way back was pretty crappy. Ended up becoming a beater that constantly needs thinning. In the end you can definitely do better for $200. Haven’t ordered there sense. Just not a fan.
 
Yeah Yahiko and Kohetsu are his house brands now. Once the little remaining Richmond stock dries up I doubt you'll see anymore.
 
Mark Richmond got going taking many of Dave Martell's ideas without his expertise. They even had version of spa hiromotos.

Before knew better wanted to try Aeb-l steel in a vegetable cleaver. It was so bad wanted to throw it in the trash.

All the knives in the Kohetsu line are not brand. Have not checked in a while but his Kohetsu Nashiji blue#2 core stainless clad he claims are made just for him. Not true blueway on eBay used to sell them and JCK still does as blue moon series. Same knife is cheaper at JCK.
 
inferno said:
lol. and they made their living making knives you said? or was it a side gig?
Click to expand...

I had one made by them, quite old (I think 60-70s), that was very very nice. I imagine that with time they lost people, experience and on this path sooner or later something gonna hit the fan. As far as I was able to get and use, for some reason something happened with all knife industry. You would imagine that things improved and all got better and better, but they just didn't.
I used 1900 knives that were so well done compared to so many or maybe all regular knives today. Not the most resilient edges, but proper handling and cutting that just got lost somewhere for no good reason. I always wondered why.
 
I bought one of those Lamson HHH gyutos. The Aeb-l steel was good but average grind. Always liked Randy's Western handles. Hardly used it at all so sold it to a student for 100.00 at least it will get used.
 

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