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Steve Corkum does not deliver on paid orders

I had the same problem with him a few years ago. What I found amazing about him is that he would call me at home and talk for an hour or more. He would call almost weekly to talk and keep promising me my two knives that were on order. The following week he would promise their arrival the next week then the next and the next........... On and on it went. I finally started thinking, "If this guy would stay off of the telephone he might get some of his orders complete." I finally cancelled my orders with him.

I honestly like Corkum's blades because I focus my collection on Japanese inspired tacticals. Unfortunately you just cannot rely on Corkum to fill your order in the time frame that he promises. It is how he keeps his cash flow circulating. I would much rather that he tell you that it will be a year or two before receiving your knife instead of making promises that he cannot keep.

I also noticed that while I was waiting for my orders he was continuously cranking out new designs and some of his retailers seemed to be getting a new supply of his knives in. Meanwhile I received nothing.

If you really want a Corkum your best bet is to locate one for sale on the various knife forums or find a retailer with one in stock. Also, you can check ebay. A Corkum custom will surface on ebay every once in a while.
 
Bimmer1 said:
I had the same problem with him a few years ago. What I found amazing about him is that he would call me at home and talk for an hour or more. He would call almost weekly to talk and keep promising me my two knives that were on order. The following week he would promise their arrival the next week then the next and the next........... On and on it went. I finally started thinking, "If this guy would stay off of the telephone he might get some of his orders complete." I finally cancelled my orders with him.

I honestly like Corkum's blades because I focus my collection on Japanese inspired tacticals. Unfortunately you just cannot rely on Corkum to fill your order in the time frame that he promises. It is how he keeps his cash flow circulating. I would much rather that he tell you that it will be a year or two before receiving your knife instead of making promises that he cannot keep.

I also noticed that while I was waiting for my orders he was continuously cranking out new designs and some of his retailers seemed to be getting a new supply of his knives in. Meanwhile I received nothing.

If you really want a Corkum your best bet is to locate one for sale on the various knife forums or find a retailer with one in stock. Also, you can check ebay. A Corkum custom will surface on ebay every once in a while.
Click to expand...


Best advise Ive seen in this thread so far. Thanks for the input Bimmer.
Loandr.
russ
 
Hi Russ. I'm still working on my knives. The process has been slower than I imagined due to the lack of time. Collaboration damascus pieces coming this year.
 
WoodWorkGhost said:
Class Action Law Suit...No

Small Claims Court...Yes.
Click to expand...

Start a legal paper trail here:
PA Attorney General's Office:

"The Bureau of Consumer Protection represents the public at large by enforcing laws prohibiting fraudulent or deceptive trade practices.

In certain instances, when there is a compelling public interest or where there are a number of complaints against the same business, the Bureau may file a lawsuit in state or federal court seeking relief on behalf of consumers..."


If you do the tax write off route, Corkum has to claim that as income...SO make sure he is notified.
 
has any one ever qustioned that steve might not even been the maker because my friend went too his shop to get our knives and mr. corkum said he would teach him too make knives but instead mr.corkum justed played games on his cell phone all day when he was not disapearing to the bath room for hours at a time while he was there my friend profiled about 20 knives for some of his new distributers or at least that is what corkum said i was under the impression that a custom hand made knife was to be made by the maker from step 1 too fin. also has any one ever seen his joke for a shop one last thing has any one heard that the clay temper line was fake just ectched on because one of his reasons for not sending was he was having the knives cryo treated how can this be done if it is supposed too be a traditional jap. knife with a clay temper line i was unaware or do not even know if this is possible pizzed off in n.c. :mad: :mad:
 
It would be interesting to hear from someone, if it is possible to etch a clay-temper line on to a knife. Also if this can be done, is there a way to tell the difference between the fake, and the real thing.
 
There are a lot of ways - the first thing to realize is that the line between "etched" lines and "real" temper lines is not so obvious. Most American smiths use a bit of acid in the polishing process, to enhance the contrast between the edge and spine steel. Without this treatment, and depending on the polish of the blade in general, the hamon can be nearly invisible. Thus, many of the real temper lines you see nowadays have been etched, to a certain degree. Fraudulent etching can generally be revealed by the sheer ugliness of the resulting fake temper line. However, there are some people who are extremely good at faking the "look" by careful polishing and etching. However, you will not encounter such a fake at the price of a Steve Corkum knife - or even higher, for that matter.

To be able to consistently determine whether or not a hamon is fake, you have to have some experience with real ones. A real hamon has activity on and within its border with the spine of the blade. Go to www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99, and look through their catalog and gallery. They have some nice shots of real hamon lines. There's a *lot* of activity in those lines, much of which is visible even if you don't have much experience with Japanese swords.

Finally, keep in mind that the ability to create convincing fake hamon lines is just as hard and just as time-consuming as creating a real hamon - perhaps even harder. That sort of fraud is usually reserved for old pieces, which may have had their hamons burned off in fires. In cases like this, successfully deceiving a collector can mean tens of thousands of dollars.

If you see a real hamon (etched or non-etched) and a fake etched hamon next to each other (hopefully in real life, because pictures are deceiving), the difference is like night and day.
 
As was mentioned by someone in another thread, this issue needs to be kept near the top. People need to be able to read about how Steve Corkum treats his customers.
 
This thread has prevented me from buying one of CRKT's Steve Corkum designed fighters. That and below average blade steels...

Although to all of the CRKT lovers out there, I still like my M16-13!
 
I have several crkt knives myself, that I am proud to own, one is an m-16 with a straight edge,and another is a "greg lightfoot m-1". They are solid well-built knives, especially the m-1.
 
This would be a good thread for everyone that has had problems with Steve Corkum to post and let others know of their experience with this maker. He is obviously a lowlife and folks need to be warned.
 
i was able too get corkum on the phone the other day he said the same stuff as allways he gave me a date of the 20 i guess all i can do is wait but i have been told so many things i am not putting much faith in ever getting any thing from corkum butmore lies
 
Form a posse and head o over. ;) I have a customer who has been taken by Corkum for alot of $$$. So, I tried my hand at contacting him as well, no reply forthcoming. That was several months ago. Unfortunately this has turned said customer off to custom knifemakers all together!. He is a heck of a guy and an LEO also and sends holdiay wishes whenever they come around. But it left such a bad taste in his mouth he won't buy from anyone now. Too bad. Thanks Corkum, you give us all a bad name! :mad:
 
http://www.rjcutlery.com
I was just checking out some stuff,
but this site has Corkums for around 1/2 price if anyone's interested.
NOTE: The discounted prices won't show up until you click on each specific's knife bio page.
 
those are some good prices but i think i'll pass on anything made by corkum myself...
 
Being a relatively new maker, hearing this sort of thing bothers me. How does this affect the custom knife makers in general? Does it leave a bad taste in peoples' mouths for all customs or do they just avoid the individual maker? It has to have some negative connotations for all makers.

I think it is piss poor what he is doing to his customers. I can't even get a waiting list established or sell what I have available, and here is this guy who is stealing peoples' money. What a sorry SOB, he doesn't realize how good he had it. :mad:
 
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