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#1
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admiral woes
I'm only in my third year of knifemaking and certainly don't use the quanities of steel like most of you. However, the 1095 and ATS-34 I have used came from Admiral steel. All of the bar stock was fine, but for my 1/16" pocket folder blades and springs I was disappointed. The first time I purchaced ATS-34 in 1/16" x 6" x 18" sheet and it was acceptable (very flat and scratch-free). This most recent shipment (which also included 1095 in the same size) looked as if it had been kicked around the shop floor for a few days. I called and they allowed me to send the sheets back for replacement. I thought this would be the end of it. Now I'm looking at two sheets of steel that are no better than before. My work will be doubled and my question for you is; am I buying the wrong type or size steel OR do I have a right to be upset? P.S. they do market the product as 'knife steel'.
Thanks, Walker |
#2
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Over in the "General Knife Related Discussions" forum, Dusty Moulton posted a thread on this very subject under the heading "Unusable batch of ATS-34"...
Here's the link: http://www.ckdforums.com/showthread....threadid=20166 Dennis Greenbaum Yeah Baby! |
#3
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Admiral more than sux of late. I bought a 7 foot bar of S30V, expensive steel. When it arrived, it looked like a sidewinder rattler, warped all to heck. I complained, and they could care less.
Admiral Steel can kiss me arse for any more of my business. |
#4
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Guys, I took the liberty of emailing Terry Sommers at Admiral with a link to this discussion. If it were my business, I would want to know about any unhappy customers. Here is his response:
2/16/04 Don - I was contacted by Dusty Moulton about a problem with 2 pcs of ATS-34 we had furnished him. He is sending me samples to show problem and I am following up with the mill (Hitachi) and soon as I receive the samples. He has also contacted me by e-mail earlier today concerning these comments about Admiral Steel. These comments about steel are one thing. As I told Dusty we have not had any recent calls about the trouble with our ATS-34 concerning grain structure. I am concerned with comments about our service. We are concerned any time any customer has a problem with any of our steels. We try to resolve any problem by working with our mill sources. We alway try to make things "right" for our customers. We cannot do either of the above if the customer does not inform us of a problem. We deal with thousands of knife makers - every one of them is very important to us - from the 1 pc at a time buyer to the full sheet buyers by 500# at a time. Please forward this message to knifemakers you have contact with. We have been in business for 55 years dealing with specialty steels in small quantities to mainly small customers around the world and by providing them quality products and outstanding customer service. Thanks for the "heads up" Terry |
#5
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That's a top-notch reply from Terry over there!
Sounds to me like a glitch in their system that made it through the cracks. Based on what he's saying, I'd say you're in pretty good hands. They may not get it right every time, but from what he's saying, they'll take care of it no matter what. Alex __________________ Alex Whetsell [======]~~~~~~~> Atlantavirtual.com Atlanta NOC |
#6
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Admiral seems to have had its share of problems of late. I hope this all works out well for all involved.
One thing I have mentioned on this and other forums in the past is to specifically ask for Terry Summers. He has done right by me in years past. For example, some years ago before everyone started talking about dirty 5160, I got a load from Admiral that had the dreaded inclusions. I called Terry Summers. This was at the time when I was thinking about migrating over to 1084 anyway. Terry rush shipped me a load of 1084 of an equal amount to the 5160 that I had received, at no charge, and even told me not to worry about shipping the 5160 back. |
#7
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I just placed an order a couple of days ago for a 6 foot piece of 3/16"x2" S30V (not cheap) with Amiral Steel. So far my over the phone dealings with them on this order have been good.
I will let you know what the steel looks like when I receive it. This is my first order with Admiral so reading this thread is scaring me a little! Sean __________________ Sean O'Hare Knifemaker's Guild - Voting Member Custom Knife Collectors Association Homepage: www.oharecustomknives.com Email: sean@oharecustomknives.com |
#8
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I don't think Admiral is the problem. I think thay may have a supplier problem IMO. I have four ATS-34 blades that won't harden because the alloy content is way out of spec. and this is according to an analysis done by Admiral Steel. They replaced the steel and I put it away untill I have my own heat treating setup. My current heat treater requires a minimum batch and I have to have steel I can trust before I blindly make 10 or 15 knives. Lets just say I am now using 154CM from another source. Until I can test every batch I won't be able to trust Hitachi steels no matter who the supplier is. I think it is time to go American anyway.
Tom |
#9
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Terry is a very nice man, and dealing with him has been excellent in the past year for me. However, he does have subordinates, and when you call with a complaint, ("Terry is not available", several times now), and get blown off by his subordinate, then that is not the fault of the purchaser, especially when one has been polite in their complaint.
I'm certainly not looking to start an argument over this, but I will give my word I have been sincere in my description of how I was treated. The guy laughed when I told him the steel looked like a snake. I got off the phone and told my wife "well, that's the end of me and S30V from Admiral." If Terry wants to call me and discuss this, I'll be happy to supply my name: Mike Fitzgerald, Waukegan IL . I should be in their customer list. |
#10
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Admiral has been good to me. I had a small problem recently with soem steel being delayed and Terry called back and left a lengthy message. I was very appreciative that he took the time to do that rather than leaving me twisting in the wind. Also, I had changed my order last time and one of the other sales people called me back a week later just to confirm that I had everything I needed. I got no complaints at all.
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