Spyderco Vallotton disapointment

brandoak

brandoak

Joined
Aug 1, 2015
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1,351
Just recently bought a Spyderco Butch Vallotton automatic from Blade HQ and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed at the overall quality of the auto conversion.
Ive always wanted one of these, the blade thickness and overall robustness just kept calling on me to buy one.
The design begs for a auto conversion, and for about $200 more you can order one that has been converted by the man himself Butch Vallotton. ($399 total)

I watched countless videos and looked at pictures online and one thing that stands out that separated the auto version of this knife from the regular non auto version was the metal spring in the rear. It looked to be of quality work, it was "jeweled" in appearance and the work looked to be as stout as the knife was.
However, after receiving mine in the mail I immediately noticed my knife back spring was not jeweled at all, matter of fact it was ugly and scratched with sanding marks. The sear also seemed to lean to one side quite a bit.
I was disappointed but I still loved this knife so I decided to just "jewel" the spring myself....What I was about to find while taking the knife apart was even a further let down.
captions with photos..




The knife arrived and worked well but was very easy to trigger and made me question carrying it in my pocket.
What I didn't notice on the videos and pictures (Blade HQ has the wrong picture) was the ugly notch cut out of the blade. This alone would discourage some from buying it IMHO....



After flicking the knife a few times I discovered that the auto spring was hitting a screw when deployed.....it turns out that its a scale screw that sticks out to far into the inside of the knife...This couldn't be part of the design could it? That would just be....shoddy work...


I removed the "too long" scale screw and sure as heck, that's the only thing holding in the spring! The spring falls right out of the knife now, the screw is obviously bent from the pressure of the spring hitting it and who knows how long it was going to take before the cheap screw just sheared off anyway...the spring is also dented by the screw...





Further disassembly reveals what looks to be very rough Dremel work and shoddy workmanship....yes that's a filed down or flattened nut...Maybe I'm to picky? or is this acceptable for custom knife work?


I would like to know your thoughts on this,.... am I being to picky by expecting more than just dremel work and some made to fit parts and pieces..? or am I justified in my overall disappointment?:confused:
 
Whoa. That does not look nice in a half dozen ways. You are correct to be bummed out. $200 more for that??
 
Conversions are hit and miss. Most ive seen and it isnt many were misses. I avoid them myself. This might be better in the switchblade auto forum.
 
I hate to say it, but that looks like a custom hack job. Good luck with whatever you decide to do with it. Looks like a good knife got ruined.
 
I'm stuck with it, cant return it...The moment a screwdriver touches it its non-returnable and non-saleable without disclosure...but a "hack job" sums it up very well imo.:grumpy:
 
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That is very disappointing. I would get hold of the person who did it and tell them it was unacceptable.
 
jazub said:
Whoa. That does not look nice in a half dozen ways. You are correct to be bummed out. $200 more for that??
Click to expand...

^ At least a half dozen, J! ;)

Akcir said:
I hate to say it, but that looks like a custom hack job. Looks like a good knife got ruined.
Click to expand...

^ +1

Whomever did this shoddy work, it appears, doesn't take much pride in his work. :thumbdn: I sure wouldn't be very happy, if I received this type of work, when paying for expected custom work!

Sorry that you had to learn such an expensive lesson, Brandoak. Thank you, for sharing this (pictures).
 
Honestly most times you and I don't see eye to eye on things. But that is absolute garbage work and the person who did it should be ashamed. And normally I would agree that once you open a knife you own it. But in this case I truly don't feel you got what you paid for and I would be raising hell. And blade hq should be made aware of the crap they are hocking. The only thing I don't understand is bladehq only shows two listings for these knives. One is the normal non auto and the other is one they claim is converted by butch himself. Normally even when something sells out they keep the listing up but there is nothing there for the knife you bought from them. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you on who actually converted it. Is there a V and serial number on the spine of the blade?
 
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That looks terrible, are you going to try and contact Butch about this? BladeHQ should have a picture the knife that shows the cutout though. Not cool.
 
Wow, Bro, that's just wrong. I'd go back to BladeHQ with this. They've always been a standup company by my experience.
 
Yeah, if BladeHQ is knowingly selling this kind of hacked product, I would be very hesitant to purchase from them in the future. If they are unwittingly selling this kind of hacked product, they should accept yours in a return and cease selling them to others. Disappointment.

I am very interested to learn their response.
 
Wow. Totally unacceptable. Even if this was a knife done by one of the vallotton children to learn the art of a conversion I cant imagine this was how they would teach them nor say that work was acceptable for sale. Honestly? I'm almost tempted to say someone pulled a bait and switch on bladehq by buying the valloton and swapping it with a homebrew conversion. I know of a couple dealers who would convert and sell that garbage as a real conversion. Makes me wonder if someone bought one from a notorious dealer who doesn't accept returns and instead of learning a lesson pulled a switcheroo and swapped it with a real example from bladehq. That really sucks man. I would email both butch and bladehq. Something just doesn't seem right with this.
 
Im sure BladeHQ is a stand up Co. and Ive heard nothing less and will buy from them again but I'm sure at this point they would not return my Vollotton for I have added a pin in the frame to secure the spring (instead of the long scale screw).......
 
brandoak said:
You know,.. I thought the same thing when it arrived and the clip was installed the way it was....hmmmm:(:confused:
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Yeah, I mean look at all the vallotton converts. I cant find one marked with a C. All the ones I find have 3 numerical digit serials with no letter in front. So if that's a real vallotton then they started a new serial number system or its a very very early conversion before they became popular. I really don't know. Either way? Not acceptable. Pin or no pin, they should at least be shown what we are seeing because something went horribly wrong somewhere.
 
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