Frank Beltrame from 3knives

[jerryk25]

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[jerryk25]

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[Luke_of_Mass]

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Luke ~ I thought Walt's knives went through really rigorous inspection before they shipped....!
Frankly, I'm shocked to see something like this. Did Walt's repair or replace to your satisfaction?
(I have 4 Walt's and they are all very nice.)

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The knife with the rough safety was after two rounds of returning them to Walt for repairs. All three of my knives originally peeked and he fixed that fine... One knife had a loose safety and the other had a safety that didn't work at all. He fixed the non-working safety OK but the one with the loose safety it looks like instead of properly tightening it, he just took a pair of needle-nose pliers and twisted it around and took an exacto blade to the slot. After sending my shit back twice I was coming close to $100 in postage alone between the original shipping price and sending it back twice, so I decided to cut my losses since he was going to charge me like $40 in restocking fees per knife if I returned them. I ended up having to find someone who didn't care about the haggard safety to buy it at a loss and then I offloaded the other two also at a loss several years later. Bottom line is, if you're going to spend well north of $500 on knives, you might as well just buy a real Latama...hell, they're basically the same price these days anyways, depending on condition.

In more recent years, I learned that Latamas in general aren't really all that rare, they're just expensive, largely due to modern hype and the way they're portrayed in some modern publications - granted, some of them are indeed built superior, but often they're no different from your average Mario with a more expensive stamp. But it's not like you can't find other picklocks built like tanks. I imagine I might lose some friends by saying this in public, but oh well. The ones who get me are the ones who matter

And Jerryk, those are some really informative graphics! Thanks so much for sharing those! I'm going to download them in case I ever wind up getting into fixing my own stuff

[Bill DeShivs]

The safeties on modern Italian knives are shit. I have showed the makers how to install a good safety-like the 1950s knives-adapted to the modern button assembly, but it's apparently over their heads. They keep using the same stamped steel crap safety that all the modern stilettos use. It's not feasible for Walt to pay to have the knives disassembled and proper safeties installed.

[Luke_of_Mass]

Well, AGA has figured it out at least (or rather, Pascotto has, and they've sold some good knives of his). Understandable that it's unfeasible for Walt to modify each of his knives, but there's nothing unfeasible (or unreasonable) about properly fixing a one-off loose safety without making it stick up and messing up the scale in the process.

[button_man]

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Luke ~ Geez, that is a really sobering tale. I had no idea. People talk about Walt's stuff like it's custom-built by wise elves in Middle-earth.
I feel that I was fortunate to buy my Walt's knives from honest people who accurately described them as being problem-free.

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[Bill DeShivs]

Walt does the best he can with what he gets.

[Luke_of_Mass]

well he gets you to do the repairs so... there shouldn't be any problems.

[Bill DeShivs]

But, I can't justify charging Walt what it would take to disassemble a knife and put a real safety in it.
What do you suggest?

[Stilecttor]

Wow Jerry! Thank you so much for sharing all this knowledge!
I don't have a knife vise so I put my stiletto on a table and still managed to bend it a little bit with my palm pushing down on the right side of the lock tab so now from the top-down view it's not as bent to the left anymore! Upon further inspection it seems that the knife is actually pretty straight and it is the lock tab area where the bend occurs.

[button_man]

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Overall, if you're a big fan of 1950's americana, getting an actual vintage Italian piece really is your best bet.

Okay, let's say that somebody wanted to do this.... leaving aside the possibility of finding a bargain at the local flea,
what kind of dough would an 11" 1950s picklock cost? Let's say that it's just marked "Italy" or maybe no markings at all,
so that you're just paying for the knife and not the name.... what's the general price range these days for something
that's in decent shape? (No blade wobble when open; no peek when closed; doesn't need any repairs.)

It would also be interesting to see if values vary in different parts of the country (or world)..... or whether
the internet has leveled the playing field and it's pretty much the same everywhere. (I have no idea what the
price tag would be in northern N.E. -- no big shows in this area..... I just scrounge at the local flea markets.
That being said, I have paid as little as $50 for a clean 11" and as much as $200 for a 9" that DID need repairs.)

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[Killgar]

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Overall, if you're a big fan of 1950's americana, getting an actual vintage Italian piece really is your best bet.

Okay, let's say that somebody wanted to do this.... leaving aside the possibility of finding a bargain at the local flea,
what kind of dough would an 11" 1950s picklock cost? Let's say that it's just marked "Italy" or maybe no markings at all,
so that you're just paying for the knife and not the name.... what's the general price range these days for something
that's in decent shape? (No blade wobble when open; no peek when closed; doesn't need any repairs.)

It would also be interesting to see if values vary in different parts of the country (or world)..... or whether
the internet has leveled the playing field and it's pretty much the same everywhere. (I have no idea what the
price tag would be in northern N.E. -- no big shows in this area..... I just scrounge at the local flea markets.
That being said, I have paid as little as $50 for a clean 11" and as much as $200 for a 9" that DID need repairs.)

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If someone asked me where in the US they could buy a vintage, Italian stiletto switchblade, like from the 1940's-1950's, and without scouring pawn shops, estate sales, flea markets, etc, but instead actually order one, I would direct them to lathams-vintage-knives.myshopify.com. He has several ready to purchase.

But they sure ain't cheap.

[button_man]

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I can see why Latham's has them in stock.... the prices are prohibitive.
An Edwin Jay 23cm with horn scales for $900..... an IMCO 28cm with horn scales for $1,350.....
a "1948 to 1950" Latama 9-inch flat-guard for $2,250..... a late 1940s Latama 12cm flat-guard for $2,800!

Having a name stamped on the ricasso instead of just "Italy" often more than doubles the price!

I realize that time is money, and that it takes significant time and effort to find rare knives.
I just wonder if there are enough collectors with deep pockets to support these price levels.

I get the feeling that a site like this caters basically to either (well-to-do) one-time buyers who aren't actually collectors,
but just want a knife or two for fun; and hard-core completists, who simply MUST have a 1920s picklock with stag scales
and are willing to pony up $3,150 (an actual listing on page 5 of Latham's "Italian Automatics" section).

This reminds me of "JB" who ran two sites a few years ago: autoknife.com and switchbladekits.com --– this fellow ranted constantly
about his hatred for Americans: we are all spoiled, lazy, stupid, etc. His prices were beyond ridiculous: first of all, if you wanted to buy
a Rizzuto you had to swear that you owned a Rizzuto as a youth and now wanted to recapture that first magical experience. If you made
the mistake of admitting to being a first-time buyer, he claimed that he wouldn't sell to you. Then, if he deemed you worthy of buying
from him, he would allow you the privilege of purchasing a Rizzuto for six hundred dollars. Yes, you read that right. Six hundred.

Out of curiosity, I checked last week; both websites now appear to be defunct. What a loss to the hobby.

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The biggest surprise was seeing Latham's prices for manual-open stilettos! A late-1960s 14.5cm manual with plastic scales for $250!
A "1958 to 1968" 28cm lockback with horn scales for $300. Do people actually pay this sort of price for old manual stilettos...?

Here are 3 manual lockbacks that I got from the flea last year. All have brass-lined guards and horn scales.
The top two cost me $20 each; the fake-button piece cost me $50. I can't fathom paying three hundred for one of these.
Is reality somewhere in the middle.... perhaps these manuals are worth more than $50 but less than $300....?
Honestly, prices seem to gyrate all over the place with very little rhyme or reason to any of it.

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[Bill DeShivs]

The man that owned those 2 sites (and many others) is a sociopath and a crook.
He sold faked knives for ridiculous prices. His hack "cutler" is on Facebook putting skulls on modern knives and selling them as "customs."
No loss at all.

[sammy the blade]

He seemed to thrive on conflict.