13" AGA Campolin Batwing copy?

[whippersnapper]

It seems like some contact must have been made, or you would think we would have heard something back from meridianfrost?

[Bonzo]

It seems like some contact must have been made, or you would think we would have heard something back from meridianfrost?

Mr. Whipper,

Personally, I think the original post was in poor taste without first giving the seller a shout. I don't care who the seller is, they should be given the first chance to correct the problem before the buyer goes public, especially a seller who is on the good ones list. Just my 2 cents...


Best regards,

Bonz


PS- Pardon me while I wring out my crying towel from all my bad knife experiences.

[Viking45]

Personally, I think the original post was in poor taste without first giving the seller a shout. I don't care who the seller is, they should be given the first chance to correct the problem before the buyer goes public, especially a seller who is on the good ones list. Just my 2 cents...


Best regards,

Bonz


PS- Pardon me while I wring out my crying towel from all my bad knife experiences.

My "bad" experiences can be counted on one hand but I am not a huge volume collector like many here and the majority of my Italian/German collection were bought in the old Blade Auction days from known dealers/sellers and I only bought knives where they display both sides of the knife along with a detailed description.

Every single stiletto I own is superb with the list of usual things to look for- blade sits deep,lock/safety not only works but is firm without being too tight/loose,little to no play either way,blade is centered(not always dead center but good enough for me) and nice snap.

Some things I don't go in for is a banana blade,or if you look down the barrel when open and the blade is off center I can't stand that but never had that problem.
A few members are much more choosy then myself,for example,Mr. Natch sold me an 18" stiletto with what he said was a slight "banana" blade.
This is one thing I don't care for but the man's eyes are better than mine,I see almost nothing of the sort with this knife and we'll just keep it a secret.
The big stiletto has a killer snap,gorgeous tri-colored light horn and I am thrilled to have it in my collection.(Huge thanks D)

I also don't like a "gritty" button but this can usually be remedied with some oil and a few dozen open/closings.
Knock on wood but to this day not one single spring has broken or has a safety failed.
I make it a point to sit down with a dozen or so stilettos and "get to know them" and this helps me understand the little quirks.

Like my dad once said,you can take a dozen identical cars off the assembly line and each will have it's own little quirks.
These knives are hand made from mostly stamped parts and are going to have strong and weak points.

[Belmont800]

Campolin makes good knives, and "rough" knives like this. They always have. I have received BOTH types from both "reputable" and "non-reputable" dealers. Good dealers will send crap, and crap dealers occasionally send nice knives.

Bottom line is the dealer gets a bunch of nice knives, and maybe some crap ones too in a shipment -- they all have to be sold to SOMEONE ... I know it sucks, you just have to ask for a new knife or your $ back.

No dissing HB, I love them, however sometimes you get crap, it happens, it sucks, you have to deal with it.

[Citruna]

The knife you've received is likely an original Campolin with all the characteristic defects they can muster, and send off to unsuspecting buyers. AGA Campolin is VERY hit and miss w/quality. I own a dozen of them, and absolutely half have some slop in the blade, liner/scale gaps, etc.

Don't know why AGA would send a 400+ dollar (dealer $$$) w/known defects. Unscrupulous sellers over in Italy I guess, or they just don't give a crap! I bought a WASP body Limited Ed 13", 5mm, slip-in spring, D-stamped liners (made old school way) and only 5 or 6 made w/the particular scale material I got. The release button was all but impossible to push one-handed (thumb). Needed two-literally! The metal-on-metal grinding was very annoying when attempting to push the button, and it "caught" in several areas as it was pushed, then I had to really get on it nearing the release point at about 3/4 of the way down. The button could be pushed in 3/4 of the way and stick, (two hands) then the remainder w/one hand, but still with considerable force. After several tries one-handed, I gave up, tried two, and said, this is riduculously stupid; never had sore thumbs like that before! Anyway, the seller swapped it out, and I received a perfect specimen, a beaut! Thats the only knife I ever sent back, and have done quite a bit of business with him/her, and will continue because of excellent service/communication.

That being said, I'm not sure the reason for not checking them before re-sellimg. I certainly would. The sloppiset-bladed knife I've got is an AGA flatguard...2011; left/right; up/down...bad! The blade pin appeared to be hammered on one side, semi-mushroomed, but not the other. Frank Beltrame knives I can vouch for, and only very rarely have I recieved one that has any real defect, except maybe for some light blade scratches, but typically not. They seem to be the best at quality control, at least in the Italian auto knife business.

[METALGOD]

i have a few of the new 13" batswings as well , i received 10 myself and 2 were defects , defects are listed on auction as "defects ". the knives are of very good quality if you get a good one . contact me if your not taken care of properly ill do you best deal on net guaranteed .
Thanks Bernie

[Flicknifer]

I have been fascinated by them and wanted one for my collection but found it prohibitively expensive. I've paid that much for knives in the past but they were vintage and rare.

That said, I own a few Campolin knives and love the quality and craftsmanship. I find them consistently well made with the exception of the 12" ring pull which, for some reason, doesn't fire all the way and never did. I can't explain it except that the back spring must not be strong enough for a knife of that construction. All others (6 total) I own of theirs works great.

My experience with "Italian" knives is that not all are truly made in Italy. Most of the Italians I own are made by reputable companies and the knives are all sturdy. The "italians" that I own that were made elsewhere (or not marked) are cheap.Even ones that say "Italy" on the tang are not necessarily real Italians.

Just wanted to say this in response to the gentleman that has had bad luck with them.

[ILikeStilettos]

I hope that you can forgive a relative newcomer to this forum for chiming in, but you and your excellent lady seem to have gotten all the possible bad luck in one knife.

I own quite a few Campolin's, big stilettos (actually just sold my 15's [38 cm] and 18's [45 cm]), Siciliano's from 9" (23 cm) to 16" (40.5 cm), Scallop bottoms in eared, shell puller and Maltese (23's and 28's, the 40.5 Danuvius is out of my range) and what a friend calls "the big 13's" - 33 cm with swinguards. This last group is available from a number of sources, and the prices vary due to rarity. The most common seem to be the regular round button and safety, after that, they're all rare. There are Kris, bayonet and spear versions, oval buttons, shield buttons (like the Danuvius), regular swings, batwing swings, diagonal bolsters and diamond buttons, in pretty much any combination. Typically they start trading at about $250, but $500 is not unusual. Naturally if you mean MOP or abalone, those go higher. There are even 45 cm swinguards.

Staying within the confines of 33 cm I think the diagonal bolster diamond button batwing is the rarest of the rare. But even those do have some issues. I do not think that you did anything wrong by asking here on the forum. The only bad question is the one that you do not ask. I ask many, many questions and now that I have been really active in this for six months (on top of 50+ years of casual) and talked to builders from both sides of the Atlantic, I'm starting to have a few answers that other folks want to know. I sincerely hope that if your issue hasn't yet been resolved to your satisfaction that it soon will be. Renzo Pascutto is the consummate craftsman, but yet I don't own any of the knives stamped with his name and logo. I know that he built many of the knives I own, or designed them, or touched them somewhere in the process. Yet Renzo only signs the best of the best, and the price reflects it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZvUlVJl9m8

There is an old video from Campolin that reflects just how much this is a cottage industry. On one hand it's informative, and historical, and interesting. On the other, it's horrifying to see the way things are being bent deliberately and tossed around like abused tools.

The first two shots are my collection of 13's. My favorite is the white horn diamond button, which has a story all its own. I bought it and the dealer noticed it had a broken kick spring. So he ordered a replacement part from Italy and sent it to a fixer, who did the repair and sent it on to me. The seller said, "You know that they don't clean these things up. I was lucky to catch it." It was fine when I got it, and I didn't even close it, just put it on my desk under a protective cloth. When I got it out to take the pictures and fired it, it bounced off the back spring and didn't lock. The scale has warped a little and bent the liners. If I squeeze them together at the top bolster, it fires fine. RIght now, I'm holding what I have and am not going to pursue a repair (especially since I think it will get worse.) I love the scales and for me it's adequate, if not perfect. I just got back a 16" dark horn Siciliano (another $300 knife) that had really warped, and $100 later it's fixed. It arrived chilled to 20° F with a note saying not to operate it until it reached room temperature. Once I unwrapped it, it fired on its own. The next day it was working great. The bigger the knife, the more steel and horn, and the more temperature and humidity seem to impact it. Smaller knives have relatively strong springs and are more forgiving.




This final shot is included to show the wide variety of knives available, if you have the patience and funds.



As I said, lots of things can go wrong, only they don't usually happen all at once to one customer. Your lady has a great heart, she just had a bad draw of cards, which can no doubt be rectified. Please keep us posted as this story plays out.

Regards.

[Danny Bailey]

I

Nice!!!!!!!!!!

[ILikeStilettos]

Well, I needed a picture of lots of them and I didn't think that you'd mind.

[Danny Bailey]

Well, I needed a picture of lots of them and I didn't think that you'd mind.

No, of course not!

[Viking45]

On a basic every day stiletto I like the bayonet blade but on the 5mm Cat stamp I prefer the dagger grind.
However this "bat wing" design just begs for a dagger blade. The symmetrical lines of the body,guard and bolsters are made for the dagger grind.

On the other hand that diagonal button/lock number is just insanely awesome.
To be quite honest there have only been a small handful of knives truly blew me away and this is one of them.
It would not have the effect if the bolsters were straight but the whole concept is simple yet stands out in a category all it's own....and being a swinger really makes it.
I raise my glass to that one.

[john]

Hello Viking and everyone,
The diagonal is out standing. The lines are amazing. I'd really like to have one in my collection. I only have one bat in stag from the 2010 run and it too is outstanding.
John.