Is there any help for when you think the knife that you received from RMK is ugly? Any recourse? Can you get a do-over? Send it back for a refund?

I've been ordering one knife a year on my birthday for the past few years. In 2013 I ordered a #2-4 with a natural-shape stag handle, NS double forward-curved hilt, and duralumin butt cap. This is the knife I just received.



Honestly my heart sank when I received it. I think the handle is out of scale and *way* too thick/fat for the size of the blade, and that most of the character of the natural material (the bark) has been sanded away where it necks down. IMHO the handle should be roughly the same width as where the blade necks down at the ricasso, flare out slightly to the natural material, then back down to roughly the same width. In this case the width at the ricasso is ~0.6" vs. ~0.9" width of the handle behind the hilt. All of the images of #2-4 knives on their website show that the width of the ricasso and grip are roughly equal - with this knife the handle is 50% larger.

I thought that the fatter stag was the harder material to find - if anything a narrow section should be easier, right? They did use a more slender section on the #26 w/#25 grip I received last year.



I'm also less than happy with the lack of character of what little natural stag remains - I know that popcorn is hard to get, but a bit more bark would be nice.

So is there anything I can do with this knife, other than sell it at a loss? Can I send it back?

And how can I avoid this issue in the future? Of the four more knives that are in the pipeline, three have stag handles. (A #12-9 with #25 handle, a copper companion, and a #6-9 set) I was going to be placing this years' order in a couple of months, but now I'm not so sure I want to do so.

I don't mind the wait. If anything the wait adds to the enjoyment - I get five years of looking forward to getting the knife, and appreciate the knife more because I've been waiting for it for so long. What I don't like, though, is disappointment after five years.

So how can I avoid the disappointment? Can I ask for more bark and less sanding down to size on the orders that have already been placed, or am I just SOL?

I see 1 option for the future - to negotiate with one of the dealers, pick up a piece of horn in advance, which is most suitable, and make an order.

While I do not agree with the idea of posting your complaint on here without contacting the shop first, I DO agree that your knife IS a real disappointment.

Not to stick my neck out too far here, Tat is right, this is not the place for a complaint upon the shop...that said....it looks to me that you got exactly what you ordered. The problem here appears that maybe you should have chosen a longer blade. The set up you ordered is not proportionate to the blade length, which is not the shops fault. When working with a smaller blade, you have to be careful of the options that you choose, or things happen. Here are 2 of mine...they come close to what has happened to you, however the selected options blend a little bit better....it's hard to work with such a small blade length.
If you do not like it, sell it....if you take a loss, chalk it up to the learning curve....
Also, if you had ordered the knife through a dealer, there may have been the possibility of a return. Many dealers will help their customers like that.
:-)Rocky

I posted the question here because I have no experience with the shop, and don’t even know if there is anything that they would do. Is there? Do they ever refund a knife, or make it over?

Rocky, I don’t know how you think I got what I ordered. Yes, the component parts are correct, but the proportions are off. I certainly didn’t ask for a fat handle. Every photo of a #2-4 on their website shows the grip behind the guard to be of similar thickness to the ricasso. In this instance it’s roughly 50% larger, which makes it disproportionate.

They clearly work with thinner pieces of stag, as shown by the #26 I received.

I’ll contact the shop if there is anything that they might be able to do, but don’t want to waste my or their time if there is nothing to be done.

Another option is to take it to the Blade Show.Pretty sure you
could sell it there if other options don't work out for you.

The "problem" with this order, in my opinion, was ordering a huge nickel silver double hilt...and forward curved to boot. The tiny 4" blade is too thin, small, lightweight, etc. to support such a large hilt. I will give you all of your original order money back if you would like to trade it on something I have in stock (or coming) a little less "butch"!
I would also offer the same swap if you wanted to custom order a Randall with material chosen from my "Stash".
Best, Capt. Chris

Excellent offer Cap. Well played.

Problem solved !!

AR-Trvir,
Sorry, I didn't mean my statement to be argumentative. It simply appears to me, that from the photos, you did get what you ordered. You are right about the size/proportion of the stag, however it goes, as stated to the remainder of the options specked...anyway, glad to have you on board(neighbor), and it looks like the Capt has you taken care of, as usual.
That would be a beautiful set up, if you had 2"-4" more blade.
you should join the club, and come to the 8am meeting on Saturday of BLADE you will find it quite interesting
:-)Rocky