Bad Chris Martin AKA Phantom Steelworks!

I figured at this point there's not much else I can do. Kinda hoping that if enough of us file a complaint, maybe the FTC will then do something.

 

"Phantom Steelworks"

What a perfect name. Vanished to the neatherrealm

 

I have been here for going on 17 years. And seeing these kind of posts all of that time. You don't learn!

 

Team, I know a lot of you have struggled getting these knives. I have a few dubs from back in the day. If anyone wants one I’m more than willing to make a trade. Really so sorry for what you guys have been through.

 

This is what Phantom "Puke" Works knives remind me of.....

 

Just read this entire thread, any updates?

 

Nope, not for my situation.

 

None here too. I hope the guy is in jail, but I am sure he's scamming people in another industry.

 

Sorry to hear that. Is he still even making knives?

 

Funny you mention that. Since I am getting back into knives I started thinking about this too. Same exact situation. I actually emailed him last week just to test the waters. Nothing yet (as expected). I still feel like an idiot for 1) Paying upfront 2) Not getting PayPal involved before the 90 day limit. I guess hindsight is always 20/20, but it still hurts to think about my missing money. I have tried looking for him through Google, and his name is so generic that it's hard to come up with anything. Also, I don't even know what his face looks like, so that also makes it harder to track him down.

 

Its a shame to see a really talented knifemaker be such a POS

 

It really is. This was the only custom knife I ever commissioned because I liked his work that much. After that incident I got turned off to the whole knife world as a whole. Even to this day, I don't care about custom knives anymore. I would rather have a factory made knife that I can trust the company to be there.

 

TEST THE SMELL OF THIS: https://www.facebook.com/chris.martin.54738943

 

So I know of that one, but its untouched since 2016 and there's no info on it. I was looking to see if he had an alt account on there on IG or something too.

 

For the amount of money here discussed I would make a personal visit to his house. Old school here.

 

I see a lot of hillbilly, redneck country boys starting knife business, but does not have a clue on how to run one.

 

Not worth the money spent or jail time hahaha. I would love to know how much money he has stolen though. I know only a few of us have posted on this thread who are out money, but I am sure there are much more who are out a lot.

I think people who have never run a business should just stick to making knives, then selling completed projects. I don't understand how many knife makers get themself into holes with pre-ordering and then give up. I was part of the problem by pre-paying mine, but I will NEVER pay a cent before I see a final product now. Live and learn I guess.

 

A "completed product" "seen" on line, may exist, and if it exists, may be delivered.

 

That's the trap that many makers run into. They post a few knives on Instagram and pretty soon they have more orders than they could possibly fill in a reasonable amount of time. What makes it worse is that they take payment up front. Orders go unfilled and refunds never happen; they just up and disappear. It makes all knife makers look bad which is a shame.