This is what Quality looks like after a 2 year wait for a knife

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I've had probably 10 Kosters and they were well within the range of acceptable quality. I don't see the part where the purchaser of this knife contacted someone who could address these issues. Yet the writer of this review was alright to attack Koster reputation over one knife and you knife chop was so quick with your snarky post. Show me something you made by hand that you think is superb and unequalled in quality.
 
I've had probably 10 Kosters and they were well within the range of acceptable quality. I don't see the part where the purchaser of this knife contacted someone who could address these issues. Yet the writer of this review was alright to attack Koster reputation over one knife and you knife chop was so quick with your snarky post. Show me something you made by hand that you think is superb and unequalled in quality.

When you say "Koster reputation" are you referring to the numerous instances where he has taken people's money and not provided them with a knife? Are you referring to the other posts in this forum where customers bemoan the poor quality of the product that they received after waiting for an extended period of time with little to no communications? Are you referring to the incredibly numerous posts in this forum where refused to communicate with people from whom he has taken deposits? Are you referring to all the times Koster has told customers that their knives are almost done, had the customers send in the remainder of the payment that they owe, then never sent them their knife nor communicated with them again?

I looked at the pics posted by the OP, and the Koster knife that he purchased is of poor quality. Regardless of what you got from Koster in the past, the OP's knife sucks. Koster's doesn't reliably respond to any form of communication, doesn't keep promises and doesn't deliver product with any reliability. With that in mind, why in the world should the OP bother to contact him? Based on Koster's behavior, there is no way he is going to address the issue.

Based on stuff written about Koster's work years ago and the cool website, I thought about buying one of his knives. He was quick to respond to my e-mails and all to ready to take my deposit in 2015. I did a search, learned more about Dan's business practices and walked away. To me, the most important point about my experience is that he was willing to correspond to me while he ignored a lot of folks from whom he had taken deposits.

High Desert, I am really glad that you got some good Koster knives. I think there was a time when Dan made a quality product. He might have even had a good reputation at one point. Unfortunately, it appears that Dan is now better known for poor business practices and mediocre knives.
 
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It's been just over 2 years, 3 months since I made my nonrefundable deposit. I know, my first mistake, I was new to the world of ordering a knife from a maker to my specs and just assumed this was par for the course.

Anyway, he sent an update list last October, for only the Bushcraft model, and I was still #500 something on the list of knives to be completed.

I don't expect to see my knife for a very long time, but if it showed up yesterday looking like the one in that article I wouldn't be too happy about it.
 
Well, we can rule out when he say quality takes time. I've also read that his 3v's HT might be a suspect. He has said that he heat treats his blades using a friends equipment and or using Peter's....So which one Dan?
 
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I can honestly say that my opinion is many of his orders will never get filled. All of us can either suck it up and walk away or file some sort of action in his home state for bad business practices.

IMO, I have been robbed of my deposit!!!

Martin
 
It did take a long time but he did a great job on my folder.
It is unfortunate that he hasn't made all of his customer's as happy.
 
As of today I'm inclined to add my opinion about this knife maker: his words are very polite, but his actions are extremely rude. I like what I have from him, but if you want one of his knives buy it from someone else: eBay and DLT were my sources (the eBay seller had waited 2 years for his MUCK). Don't send him a knife for any reason if you can avoid it. Get repair/modification done yourself or by someone else. He's reset his own deadlines twice, then didn't get back to me for a week and a half (communication via Facebook): today I messaged him to the effect that I'd like either followthrough, or my knife back: turns out he has blocked me on Facebook. My brother summed it up pretty well: "Life's Tuition". DLT still has some of his product, but I'm not inclined to recommend it anymore.
 
too bad the mods ain't doing crap about it....

Really? We participate in many threads, advising against deposits, posting in Feedback on how to avoid scams,, on avoiding makers with long waiting lists.

Bladeforums is an excellent source of information. Do your homework. The moderator staff is not your personal legal team.
 
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I can only Judge a person by my interactions with them. In this case my interactions with Dan have been nothing but positive. I sent a woodlore that I bought second hand on a skelotonized version. Dan put a handle on it and fixed a chip by reshaping the knife. I also own a MUCK. His quality of knives is one of theist I have seen. His emails and phone conversations were polite and his word was good. Dan and his work is a A++ in my book. This guy does quality work.
 
I can only Judge a person by my interactions with them. In this case my interactions with Dan have been nothing but positive. I sent a woodlore that I bought second hand on a skelotonized version. Dan put a handle on it and fixed a chip by reshaping the knife. I also own a MUCK. His quality of knives is one of theist I have seen. His emails and phone conversations were polite and his word was good. Dan and his work is a A++ in my book. This guy does quality work.

Cannot deny the work is good, but he work ethic is the pits!!!! No one should buy his knives unless second hand in my opinion. Support should end for his business by all until he can fill all his customers orders to satisfaction....period!!!!

Martin
 
Well, we can rule out when he say quality takes time. I've also read that his 3v's HT might be a suspect. He has said that he heat treats his blades using a friends equipment and or using Peter's....So which one Dan?
Yeah I have one of those so called quality takes time knives also. I have a Bushmaster that has ripples in the spine from the handle to about midway to the tip and the grind is noticeably off on the B side(opposite makers mark)where the plunge line looks somewhat washed out. This side has been ground more giving it an uneven(offset)grind. And any attempt to contact him concerning this issue has been like many of you have experienced-----------------non existent!
 
Yeah I have one of those so called quality takes time knives also. I have a Bushmaster that has ripples in the spine from the handle to about midway to the tip and the grind is noticeably off on the B side(opposite makers mark)where the plunge line looks somewhat washed out. This side has been ground more giving it an uneven(offset)grind. And any attempt to contact him concerning this issue has been like many of you have experienced-----------------non existent!

Nice! pictures would be great as a basis of his so called quality workmanship.
 
Really? We participate in many threads, advising against deposits, posting in Feedback on how to avoid scams,, on avoiding makers with long waiting lists.

Bladeforums is an excellent source of information. Do your homework. The moderator staff is not your personal legal team.


Then why we don't see this person being banned considering his past business handlings???
 
Hi Knife Chop,

The OP certainly has a heck of a failure-of-quality-control, that is something I won't defend because it's just not defendable. That being said, I think the reason behind Koster's staying power is because he used to do solid gold work, but he got overextended by orders/stressed/life happened/etc, and his knife making enterprise began to slowly reflect those stresses.

In a post above I describe a condensed description of why I'm no longer a Koster fan - but it's based upon failure to follow through with his timelines and what is evidently a pattern of appeasement rather than straight-talk: it isn't the quality of his work, from my experience. I have 4 of his knives: Ironwood Bushmaster (perfect), Ironwood MUCK (almost perfect: the MUCK's edge grind was off by less than a millimeter toward the back and I fixed that quickly with the diamond rods on my Sharpmaker. The swedge is only just perceptually off - you really have to look to notice.), G10 Survivor (perfect, fun as hell, but not tremendously utilitarian for my purposes :p), and a G10 Bushmaster, which has handle ergos that are not for me, which is what led to me contacting Dan and sending it out. I may as well mention he only asked for return shipping payment - no cost to modify.

Regarding my conversations with Dan Koster on Facebook, he was very quick to respond and very helpful about some questions I had: one being what angle to touch up the MUCK, and the others were a number of questions about the Survivor series. We had a long conversation (again, FB) about modifying the handle on my second Bushmaster, and he was very professional and thorough, asking for photos of the kind of handle I wanted for comparison, photos of the Bushmaster I wanted modified (G10 version), etc, so that we both were confident that he knew what I wanted done.

I didn't have an issue with him until deadlines began to be revised upon inquiry. Initial quote for my knife to be sent back to me was 1-2 weeks. Waited about three weeks after tracking said it had been delivered and signed for, touched base with him, he apologized and said 1-2 more weeks - and this was around the time of this year's Bladeshow, so a lot of people in the business were busy. As such, I wasn't suspicious of being blown off at this point.

The third time I talked to Koster, I explained that I minded not the waiting for the knife, but the limbo of what was going on with moving deadlines and whether an honest deadline could be reached (months from now would've been fine, as long as I knew I could count on follow through). Again, he apologized, said the knife was on the bench and next in line, and he'd get back to me on Wednesday. A week and a half later I tried to message him and either I was blocked, or there was a message system change on the Facebook page of Koster Knives - so I may have been wrong about being blocked in my message above. Either way, he never replied to me.

It's this development of less-than-trustworthy communication and lack of follow through that has me thinking about not buying the WSS knife that DLT is expecting "someday" from him, for which I am on a notification list. It isn't the quality of the knives, for me, it's the work ethic, the moving deadlines, the failed promises, the putting off, etc. I know you already know this, so I apologize for this long, somewhat repetitive post.

What I've written above is why I think we aren't seeing a more vitriolic attitude to Koster Knives. Some (most?) people have had great experiences - I did until I began to feel like I was getting the runaround. I hope Koster gets everything squared away, for his sake, because no one likes letting other people down or hearing bad things about them, and for our sake, because on balance his knives are good and worth owning.
 
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Hi!
Some days ago I got my bushcraft folder from Koster. I have been writing about it before. Payed it May 2015 when Koster told that it was ready to ship but ... I never thought that it finally would be finished. I was also worried about that the quality would be less perfect than on earlier knives from Koster because of the pressure on the maker.

But I am happy to tell that the knife is perfect, it is flawless, very robust and I think it will work as I very good alternative to someones fixed blades. The way Koster has made the liner lock is wonderful. Not sticky and very secure. I also have to say that I have had communication running with Koster all the time. He has answered - but something always came up when he finally was going to send the knife.

To sum up: The knife is top notch. BUT It is far from ok when the maker says that the knife is ready to ship years before it is. Everybody nows the rule: never pay before the knife is ready. But if the maker not is honest with the process is the rule worthless.
 
Hi!
Some days ago I got my bushcraft folder from Koster. I have been writing about it before. Payed it May 2015 when Koster told that it was ready to ship but ... I never thought that it finally would be finished. I was also worried about that the quality would be less perfect than on earlier knives from Koster because of the pressure on the maker.

But I am happy to tell that the knife is perfect, it is flawless, very robust and I think it will work as I very good alternative to someones fixed blades. The way Koster has made the liner lock is wonderful. Not sticky and very secure. I also have to say that I have had communication running with Koster all the time. He has answered - but something always came up when he finally was going to send the knife.

To sum up: The knife is top notch. BUT It is far from ok when the maker says that the knife is ready to ship years before it is. Everybody nows the rule: never pay before the knife is ready. But if the maker not is honest with the process is the rule worthless.

It's great the you're satisfied with the knife. It's really pathetic and disgusting on how dishonest Dan is...
 
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