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The Trade Report This forum is for posting comments on your transactions with Knife Network members. Good comments can go a long, long way ... and so can bad. This board will be tightly monitored. Please keep on topic.

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  #1  
Old 11-13-2007, 05:06 AM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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Angry FIBERMASCUS- Great till you have a problem

A few months ago I purchased a sheet of Camo Burlap off Gary at fibermascus. The communication between us was great up until I received my knife back from Jay at Sunrise River Custom Knives. I had ordered a sheet from Gary to send to Jay in order to make me a new handle for my fallkniven A1. The sheet cost me $160 and I was hoping that once my handle had been made I could sell the remainder of the material to recuperate a bit of cash. When I had the material and the completed knife in my possession I was appalled how the material had turned out. What first inspired me to go with camo burlap is the knife that Neil Blackwood did and I was impressed with the colors how between the layers there was noticeable difference. What I have been given is little more than brown micarta! The colors do not show through in the layers at all and it is garbage to say the least. I called Gary at fibermascus and he was not in the slightest interested in helping me and was so blunt as to say he was not doing business with me anymore and was not interested in my concerns. I just want to warn people about this man, his communication is great up until he has your money and you have his defective piece of material.
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  #2  
Old 11-13-2007, 06:38 AM
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SharpByCoop SharpByCoop is offline
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First post?

First off, this is the wrong forum (Community) to post in. Your concerns should be directed to our 'The Trade Report' forum.

Bad communication is never a good thing. Part of that communication on your part should have been to ask for a photo of the material before he and you both sent your packages to a third party. That was the first mistake.

There is a photo of a nice Neil Blackwood knife on the opening page. It definitely does NOT refer to it as camo fibermascus. www.fibermascus.com

How was Jay to know what 'look' you wanted? Referring to a photo of material from another maker's work, is as wishful as me wanting the same ironwood as Bob Terzuola's knife from Don Cowles (for example). Ordering from a third party. It's a wild card.

Did you want Gary to refund the cost of rehandling the knife? Now he has a chunk of used material. From his end this went too far.

That said, I think the customer's concerns should always be paramount. It's all in how they are handled by both parties. Without Gary here to counter, This argument is only half the story.

Disappointing that this happened, but just as disappointing is that you took the time to register and post only to slam someone. We call that spiteful.

Let's see if Gary at Fibermascus can respond.

Coop


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  #3  
Old 11-13-2007, 06:30 PM
Gary Riner Gary Riner is offline
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I supplied what the customer requested.

I made one piece of burlap cammo material 1 1/2" thick from the same bolt of cloth used in the Blackwood knife. It required special tooling to accommodate the extreme thickness. I spent most of 4 days finishing this custom order plus $75 in materials not counting tooling material cost. The material was never represented to look the same in a thick section as in Neals thin knife handle. The customer was advised that it would not look the same.

Thanks
Gary


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  #4  
Old 11-13-2007, 08:15 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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I am borrowing a camera tomorrow so I can take some pictures. I was always advised that it would not look the same as Neils Knife as there would be alot of cross section on view which would not show colours. I was always aware of this. The issue I have is the colors of the face of the material the are both extremely dark so there is no noticable difference. I was not made aware of this. Days and costs do not mean anything to me when I do not have what I wanted. I would of payed more to have it right and if he had said that it will come out just looking like brown micarta I would never had bothered. Granted I should of asked for a photograph but when I sent the link of the Knife Neil had done to Gary he never mentioned anything about the face of the material being so dramatically different in the piece I was ordering, I understand the colours/patterns varing but this is ridicolous it is just plain brown.

My apologies for putting this in the wrong section, I do not know how to transfer it all over. Can you not do that ? Also I felt that it would be good for everyone to be made aware of these issues, I`d of sure appreciated the advice prior to ordering, I know this is my first post but I am only just getting into knife collecting n everyone has to start somewhere dont they ?
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  #5  
Old 11-13-2007, 09:26 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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Yeah I guess that it is quite rude of me to just join a forum and start blasting people. Okay, to start I am relatively new to the whole knife collecting even more so to forums. This first knife I was having redone was or is eventually going to be my main utility knife. When I first started out on Bladeforums.com I spent many hours researching the type of knife I wanted that would work good for everyday which includes fishing and hunting. Not so much of the later yet as I have only just got residency into Canada so I am not allowed a gun yet.

I grew up in North England on a farm all my life and spent way more time hunting there for deer, pheasant, and duck and loved fishing although it can be pretty boring in England. I also wanted this knife for any survival situation I may get into wondering around Canada s wilderness getting into trouble. I have moved to Canada for my daughter as a couple of years ago I impregnated a Canadian lass who no longer wants anything to do with me. We are now going through the whole court battle which takes up a lot of my time as does my girl in her terrible twos, considering this I am a pretty happy person. I was sponsored to come here as a carpenter which I have done for 12 years and that?s it in a nut shell.

I have always had an interest in knives and guns and after spending many hours searching have found some pretty amazing knives from custom makers. I wish to collect at least 20 over the next few years. The knife I chose for my first was a Fallkniven A1 I really did not like the handle so I got Gary to make the material and Jay at Sunrise River Custom Knives to redo the handle then I was planning on sending it to Robert at Survival Sheath Systems to make me a shoulder sheath for my knife then I would have been happy for the time being. Although I do not know much yet about knives I tried to give a good input of what I had learnt to help other people on Bladeforums and I am added as Harrybobble under all of the sites I have joined as of recent.

I hope to get pictures up tomorrow for you all to see what I was given by Gary, please bare with me I am new to this again and I am not out to just cause trouble. I would have been happy if Gary had just offered to make me a new piece but he was completely blunt and just disregarded every concern saying he had ceased doing business with me. I would of foot the cost of every other expense without argument. I sure wish it looked like the links some of you guys have added. You will be amazed with the crap I have got instead when I show you the pics. Just to add I am not a compulsive complainer or anything I thought Peter at Fallkniven was fantastic to deal with and would recommend him to anyone. Jay was good to deal with too from SRC considering what he had to put up with and was most certainly a fair man.

Last edited by Harrybobble; 11-14-2007 at 08:14 PM.
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  #6  
Old 11-15-2007, 12:23 PM
likes2watch likes2watch is offline
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STOP IT ALREADY...

You posted this on another forum and the bottom line is you knew the material would turn out different that what you expected but you went ahead and ordered it anyway (mistake #1). You never inspected the material but had it sent directly to a psudo-knifemaker (mistake #2), who just puts together kits and calls them custom knives (mistake #3). Now you're complaining about how it turned out (mistake #4). You want the seller of the fibermascus to make it up to you (mistake #5). The material isn't defective (mistake #6).

ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FEEL SORRY FOR YOU????

Well... I don't. It's an unfortunate situation, with only you to blame, and hopefully you've learned from it.


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Last edited by likes2watch; 11-15-2007 at 01:30 PM.
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  #7  
Old 11-19-2007, 09:16 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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haha wow I do not want your sympathy!, this is a genuine issue and if I had read this link when I ordered from Gary at fibermascus I would of looked into ordering elsewhere. This should help people not to make the same mistake I did.

#1: I was made aware of the fact there would not be much colour shown through the cross section. I was ordering a thick peice to make a solid handle and was fully aware of that.
#2:Yes granted this was a mistake, but it wouldnt change a thing. As soon as I brought up my concerns to Gary he just shut me down saying he was not doing anymore business with me. Never did he ask for samples, photos etc. he simply couldnt give a #### either way.
#3:I had no problem with Jay, he makes good handles and was completely fair. I was not ordering a kit !
#4: I have valid issues
#5: I dont want him to make it up to me, I want either a refund for the material alone or for him to make me a peice as I requested.
#6: I have included a link below of pictures of my knife and the link to Neil Blackwoods knife that I reffered to in my communication with Gary when I was ordering the material. I will let everyone else judge.

AGAIN I DO NOT WANT SYMPATHY, I want my issues to be known so other people do not make the same mistake in ordering from someone so ignorant.
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  #8  
Old 11-19-2007, 09:18 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/c...sCamera022.jpg
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  #9  
Old 11-19-2007, 09:18 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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These are the pictures of the material and finished knife, with the fibermascus of Garys`. Sorry it took so long my internet went down. Included in my album is the Neil Blackwood Knife I referred to with the Camo Burlap that Gary did. I still dont know how to post photographs directly to the thread, I hope this link works.
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  #10  
Old 11-19-2007, 09:41 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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  #11  
Old 11-19-2007, 09:41 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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  #12  
Old 11-19-2007, 09:43 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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These are two of the pics, I finally figured it out. I wont put anymore up as I think people will get annoyed but you can see them on the link I used above. There are 7 pics
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  #13  
Old 12-02-2007, 02:17 PM
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DiamondG Knives DiamondG Knives is offline
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Harry
Sorry for your troubles, but it sounds like Gary informed you that the material would look diffrent in a thick handle cross section. It looks like your handle is much diffrent than the Blackwood piece in the photo. Thinner cross sections. I have known Gary for a number of years, as well as know several makers that use his product. I think you may want to do some more research before your next product.

God Bless
Mike


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  #14  
Old 12-02-2007, 04:27 PM
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????

I have a question here. It appears on the picture you posted of your knife there is a full layer from end to end showing on your knife. On the Blackwood knife you posted I can see 3-4 layers showing on the surface.

This appears to be a case of not using the material the same way as it was before.

I obviously can't tell for sure without both knives in hand, but the material appears to be the same, just manipulated differently.

--Carl


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  #15  
Old 02-01-2008, 04:57 PM
Harrybobble Harrybobble is offline
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Hey sorry I took so long to reply. There are layers showing through on my knife but only under high powered flourescent lighting. There is no way in my mind that my material would ever achieve the same look. Someone mentioned on one site that the material could of been burned due to the thickness he was molding. In my mind thats what happened he has messed up and is not willing to accept responsability for his error.

I sent some of my material to a guy on blade forums in the same thread and he is going to try his skilled hand at acheiving a better finish but I cannot find the link on there for the life of me.

Could someone have a look for me on blade forums ? I am to broke to become a member and get the search options. It will be under the same title and was in the good the bad the ugly section.

Also I am Harrybobble on there also, Cheers
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