We have always had our blanks water jet cut. This is nothing new and it's not a secret. The only thing we don't do is cut our blanks with a band saw. Water jet cutting is faster (normally) and enables better lock designs (for folders) and a repeatable tolerance. Everything still has to be made be hand. Everything is still freehand ground without fixtures, every bevel is freehand ground on a blade or handle, every sheath is molded/formed and ground by hand, etc. This isn't a secret. It's been put out that way since we started making knives. Just because something is water jet cut doesn't mean it's even close to being finished right off the machine or not hand made, you could say the same about cutting pieces with a band saw, or not forging your own blanks. We've always tried to keep costs down as low as possible and use better material than everyone else. Instead of sitting at a band saw for hours and being limited to one kind of lock design, or having a lock cut that's an 1/8" wide and weak we water jet cut it.
No one has changed any name to get away with anything. The name on the PayPal account was changed a year ago because of people leaving and new people coming on board. there is nothing holding anyone back from suing Nocturnal if they wish too. All I want to do is get knives or refunds out and that's all we're working towards. You can see from the list above that we're getting refunds out to the folks that requested them. No one person will not get a refund if they requested it. The PayPal situation with Adian above was a unique situation that we've never run into before. A dispute was filed, funds were held, the case was closed, but no funds were transferred to him or back into the PayPal account. PayPal is obviously telling him one thing and telling us something different. Either way we'll get the refund out. If we were trying to scam someone we wouldn't refund one person over $2K but hang on to $262.
I've said this a few times now, but it's still relevant. We've put out a lot of knives in the past four years and always had a good reputation. Sometimes things don't go as planned, but we've done our due diligence to work through it and continue to make progress and solve problems that come up. We could have communicated much much better. Until the problems we had with the folders, everything had always gone according to plan, or had a quick fix that had a good solution. So yes, this situation was very different, and very consuming. We can't say we bit off more than we could chew because we had done the same work load many times before. But, when things started to get off track it definitely became overwhelming. I've put this out many times before and that hasn't changed. I've been as transparent as I can be. Even with time frames on shipping folders. We don't like giving a date that doesn't happen and we've communicated that many times via email, phone calls, etc. We get a date parts will get to us and we pass it on to the customer...then something happens and parts don't get delivered, or there's a problem and that date gets moved. That's not a catch all or an excuse. That's still our responsibility and concern. I don't say that to put blame elsewhere. I've said that to put the information out there, good or bad. That's where we should have communicated better and reached out to each customer instead of waiting for the customer to reach us. That is where it got overwhelming.
As far as money goes, like I said above, anyone that wants a refund will get it, has gotten it, or has received what they ordered. That will continue to happen. If I was running off and hiding somewhere I wouldn't be here, wouldn't be setting up better ways to do things, or wouldn't be making knives or giving refunds at all. I've put my personal life out there and made it public so everyone would know what is going on. I realize the situation, but I didn't expect that to be turned around into something where I'm accused of stealing money, using money to adopt children, etc. That is where the "people can say what they want on the Internet" comment came from. That's overblowing the situation a bit. First of all the adoption was unexpected. We weren't actively seeking an adoption (we really have enough on our plate). Second, it wasn't through an adoption agency, so the folks that suggest "adoptions are expensive," $10000 this and that, don't know what they're talking about. Third, even if it worked out to cost $30,000 I would have found a way to make it happen, from family, or church, or wherever. I would not let the kid go to some state care if I could help it. I'm not trying to save every kid in Ethiopia, but I will help when I can especially if I'm asked to help.
I don't expect to persuade anyone of anything. That's not what this is about. I will continue to issue refunds and complete orders as I have been doing. Once all the refunds are out, or orders are completed that will be all the persuasion necessary. We appreciate everyone that's hung in there, and the folks that have been refunded will get they're order shipped too. Like I said, we just want to get all this done just like everyone else does and that's what we're trying to do.
