Walt's 23cm

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sprink
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by sprink »

Are the ears on these knives all solid or at least brass lined ? kinda hard to tell from pictures
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Luke_of_Mass
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by Luke_of_Mass »

Not lined - Solid N/S I love this feature!!
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omega
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by omega »

Luke_of_Mass wrote: I heard on the grapevine at the Marlborough show this weekend that apparently Frank is having some serious health problems, perhaps this could have something to do with it? I'm more worried about this iconic cutler than his pieces to tell you the truth, hope things are ok for him... :(
Rumors like this seem to surface every few years. I don't know how or why, but I've heard them before. My only guess is that someone is looking to increase the rarity factor of their FB knives by scaring us all to death that there won't be any more. I'm not inclined to believe rumors, without first hearing that <whomever> is retiring, etc..

That said, the old guard in Maniago are all at or near 80+, so we should all be looking for changes in short order. It is widely known that the daughter, Sara, has been handling the front end of the business for a while now and that Ivano, the son, has been involved with production. Who knows...... Grandpa Campolin was still at it WAY past retirement age. Maybe Frank will be too! :)
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Luke_of_Mass
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by Luke_of_Mass »

Well, got the two that I had to send back a second time with safety issues today ... One was fine, nice tight safety. Not the tightest, but tight enough. This was the knife with the non-functioning safety though, so it was tight to begin with. The second one on the other hand, was loose when I got it, and it looks like it's been a bit mangled in a bad way... I guess it's technically tighter but, well, let's begin with some photos:

First I'd like to point out the damage to the scale - it appears that someone decided to tweak the safety from the outside instead of going to the trouble of removing the scale I guess...

Image

The safety also stops here and will not go any further... I guess it's better than flapping up and down loosely though, although I sort of feel as if I'm splitting hairs here:

Image

It's tough to get on camera, but basically the way this was "tweaked" was it appears needle-nose pliers were used to horse the safety slide to the side, effectively twisting the stem around so that it would meet more resistance as it moved up and down the safety slot in the scale. I guess that's one way to make it "tighter"...

Image

I guess this could be somebody's version of alright, but at $270 I would call it my version of a stretch:

Image

Now, Walt said that these issues were not very common and perhaps it hasn't been in past years, but a quick look at his website indicates that there's some peeking issues with a number of pieces that he's got left (take a peek at the cocobolo ones in particular). I feel like this is something where if you weren't expecting it, you'd easily overlook it in the pictures, but once you've dealt with this issue, you look twice, and it jumps out at you a but more than it would otherwise. All I can say to prospective buyers is be very inquisitive of the pieces you wish to buy, and take a long, hard look at the pictures.

Some final thoughts:

OK so, I don't really blame Walt for all of this, after all, he isn't the one who built these knives, and he's got orders to keep up with, ect. He claims this has not been the norm with his pieces, and I suspect that he really is telling the truth, but there's already others on this forum who have had these same issues that I've had, and, while they didn't return to Walt directly, returned their knives nonetheless. These retailers carrying the new 9'' pieces will probably in turn send them right back to Walt so god bless him for bending over backwards to try and make things right for everyone at probably the same time. With all the back and forth postage and whoever he's contracting to do the laser welding I hope he's making out ok on this run. I know I've taken a hit of my own from this ordeal, from postage money alone I know I could have bought a "normal" stiletto for a similar sum. Just think what he's paid to fix all of these knives.

Overall, I'd say he's a stand-up guy but I can't see myself ever buying another knife like this from him again unless it was in person and I got to closely inspect what I was paying for. As such I still have 2 of the 3 that ended up alright after two rounds of repairs and I suppose I could ask to send this one Brazilian horn back a third time for a "proper" fix, but enough is enough and this is the end of the line for me. What was a high expectation to start out with has ultimately left me with a situation I'd rather wash my hands of and try to forget about.

For close to a decade I heard nothing but praise for the famed Walt's Classic Latamas and their tight quality control, exceptional look and functionality and overall just being in a totally different league of their own, but perhaps I waited long enough that by the time I tried climbing on the band wagon, the casters had burnt out. Oh well, live and learn.

On the off chance anyone wants to buy this piece shoot me a PM I'll be selling it well below list price lol
Last edited by Luke_of_Mass on Fri Oct 26, 2018 6:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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whippersnapper
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by whippersnapper »

I would be disappointed too.
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barshoo
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by barshoo »

Luke_of_Mass wrote:Here's the direct quote from Walt regarding what he planned to do with these knives:
Blade not sitting deep, and peaking has not been the norm.

The peaking fix, we can laser weld the sear holes.
Never even heard of laser welding sear holes before but he mailed me a package the other day (got an email confirmation about it, no actual email from Walt himself) so I guess we'll have to see! I'll keep you guys updated for sure

I bought a Sicilian from PVK that peeked, but I only paid $150 for it. I sent it to Bill DeShivs, and he did the same thing...laser welded the sear hole. It is nice to know what the fix is, and it was pretty reasonable.

Thom, thank you for posting those purdy, purdy pics of your 23cm Walt's!!! They are a mighty impressive group, just beautiful!! :shock: :D
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big_slim
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by big_slim »

A $270 knife shouldn't have those issues--having to send multiple knives back multiple times for repairs is messed up and that ghetto safety repair is just sad. They charged you shipping to repair defective knives??
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barshoo
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by barshoo »

I posted above before reading through the ENTIRE thread! I'm really sorry, Luke, that you had that heartache with your Walt's! I was fortunate enough to buy my 23 cm years ago, as well as a 28cm 5MM Walt's. With these kind of issues, and from what I have heard about Frank's health, I don't think that Frank was making these knives that have the issues. There MAY be something to the health rumors, IMHO.
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Luke_of_Mass
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Re: Walt's 23cm

Post by Luke_of_Mass »

big_slim wrote:A $270 knife shouldn't have those issues--having to send multiple knives back multiple times for repairs is messed up and that ghetto safety repair is just sad. They charged you shipping to repair defective knives??
Well I had to pay to mail them back, and when you're mailing the better part of a grand in knives, full insurance is an absolute must. So the first mailing from Walt to me - roughly 20USD, then mailing them back twice, so there's around 40 more..

Shout out to all all the HDC's, Wackysharpboys, Alajohns and jackknifes on sharperdeals selling standard 'lettos by Frank Beltrame that don't peek and have working safeties all for less than 60 bucks on a good day. God bless all of yuz

Thanks for the condolences Terry and Barb, remember folks in tragic times such as these, 1 "Like" = 1 Prayer :lol:
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