Just a little warning......

[Ed Caffrey]

I'm not sure how everyone might feel about this, but I think I would be remiss if I did not pass it along.

I recently was contacted by an individual who wanted to come to my shop for a damascus class. The individual openly admitted that they had no previous forging experience.
As is stated on my website, "Individuals must have completed the basic class, or demonstrate their ability to forge, prior to beginning." Which is what I told the individual.
I was concerned that it would be too far over the person's head, and that they would be wasting their time/money. The individual then told me that they had no interest in knives, and that they wanted to learn damascus in order to take it back to his overseas factory.

I grew suspicious, and in order to find this person's intentions, I told him that he would be required to sign a document stating that IF he took the knowledge to a factory, and produced damascus for sale, that I would receive a royalty from the profits.

The individual refused, telling me that he "would not pay nobody any royalties", and that he would find someone else to teach him Damascus.

I personally feel that the majority of imported Damascus steel is being made with improper materials, and/or is of very poor quality. With this in mind I told the individual that I was sorry we could not come to terms, but I would not be a part of introducing another inferior pattern welded steel to the U.S. market. I also suggested that if he was truly interested in creating a quality product, that he should consider hiring a bladesmith to go to his factory and teach.

It's pretty obvious to me, that this individual is out to make money from somebody's knowledge, without taking the time and effort to learn how to correctly create Damascus steel, or compensate the individual whom he learns from.

Just a word of warning to those it might concern. If your contacted by someone who wants to be taught Damascus steel, and has no previous forging experience, look into it closely, before agreeing to teach. If you want to know more, email me and I'll be happy to give you the specifics.

[jdm61]

Hmmmm......Ed Caffrey damscus made in Karachi......It has a nice ring to it I was actually going to write you about classes. I wasa thinkingabout doing the Intro class in Arkansas in February, but it is going to be tough to take 2 weeks off. When could you spare 5 days for a "basic screwup correction, grinding and finishing" class with maybe a little guard and handle instruction? And by the way......how does one get to Great Falls?

[Bob Warner]

Ed,

Can you email this guys name to me?

My wife said I got a call about giving a class but the person did not specify damascus. He just asked about knifemaking and since I was not here, he did not leave his contact info and said he would call back later. that was three days ago and no call so far.

[TexasJack]

Good for you, Ed!

It seems like people with principles are becoming a very rare breed. You don't have to look at politicians or anything-for-a-buck CEOs - you can see it right here. How many knifemakers or dealers have been burned because the promise of a big score blinded them to a crooked deal?

[TDriscoll]

Excellent response Ed, I am a firm believer in the forged blade. I am still a "newbie" but even I can see what makes a forged blade superior. There will always be someone who is looking for the fast and easy way to do things, and then they will look for someone qualified to clean their mess up. The up-side to this is that there will always be an example of what "not to do" when making knives, it makes the forged blade look that much better in comparison.

My two cents.

Tom

[EdStreet]

Do you know what country and factory this person was from?

Ed

[Ed Caffrey]

I know the country, and the person's name, but that's not something I would post in an open forum. If you'd like to know the details, I can email them to you.

[mete]

That may be more common than we think. My friend was exhibiting at the large woodworking trade show in Atlanta . The were people from Japan who were trying to get as much info as possible about the manufacturing details of the tooling !! He asked around and found that they apparently they are there for many types of shows !!! And they were not at all subtle !

[jdm61]

The big problem is that there are some very skilled people in places like India, Pakistan, The Phillipines, Indonesia, and other places who already know how to make a pretty decent blade by hand and they probably wouldn't need a whole lot of info to reproduce some of your stuff. They could buy your videos and 'extrapolate". This guy sounds like he was fishing to see which of your patterns could be produced on a large scale cheaply, which is more scary than some poor schlub in Bangalore knocking out a few blades.

[Larrin]

Originally Posted by mete

That may be more common than we think. My friend was exhibiting at the large woodworking trade show in Atlanta . The were people from Japan who were trying to get as much info as possible about the manufacturing details of the tooling !! He asked around and found that they apparently they are there for many types of shows !!! And they were not at all subtle !

You have to remember, too, that Japanese business is pretty darn screwy compared to U.S. If I had to guess, there's probably at least one book on Japanese business practices.

[Gene Martin]

The book that is required reading in Japanese business classes is the Book of 5 Rings by Musashi. He was the greatest swordsman Japan ever produced and his book is on warfare, which is the Japanese treat business.

Gene

[Don Robinson]

Recently I got an email from someone wanting one of my folder designs. He said he had large orders and wanted to make a batch of 150 pieces.

When I replied that I'd need a royalty for mass production and recognition for the design he went away. Same kind of deal, probably.

[Andrew Garrett]

Hey, at least they weren't wanting flying lessons...