double-edged knife

In my search for a possible future fixed-blade knife, my stumbling and bumbling about the internet resulted in the interesting find of Mantis Knives, a company purportedly interested in pushing the limits of conventional knife manufacturing. A quick look at their product line clearly shows that they are testing new design styles and forms (and I will admit it – I like a fair number of their designs, and some of the stylistic elements included in them), and have absolutely no qualms about creating unconventional pieces of hardware, but one always has concerns about the quality of an item, especially when it claims to be on the cutting edge (pun intended).
Well, coincidentally enough, Jared West, the president of Mantis Knives, appeared on Gun Nuts Radio last night, and I was able to catch most of his interview. He sounded honestly interested in producing high-quality, interesting products, and very intererested in what people had to say about them, offering up the example of his “Mantis Militia” as a way of reaching people, getting their feedback, and using that to design newer and better knives. Furthermore, his story seems like pretty much the American business ideal – he started out liking and collecting knives as a kid, started making them as a teenager, started associating with some big names in the industry as a young adult, and finally was prompted/decided to launch off on his own design business a few years ago. Since that launch, his company has grown, and has been at the past couple of Shot Shows and featured in magazines around the country.
Shiny. But what do people who have used his product think of them?
Well, a quick Google search yielded two prime links, one useful, and one interesting. The former pointed me towards a very useful knife review site, with a large selection of Mantis’ offerings featured down towards the bottom. The latter pointed me towards a rather massive, and initially quite confusing, thread at BladeForums.com.
The story, as short as I can tell it, is this: Jared West saw some potentially negative reviews of his products on a variety of knife-related forums around the internet, and sent out an email to his “Mantis Militia” requesting that they go to those forums and “start a buzz”, putting up posts about the quality of the knife and company. To the three people who presented the most positive, loudest position on those forums, Jared would provide a free knife, from the entire production line at Mantis.
Understandably, the established members of these forums were not amused.
So Jared put up an apology, with an additional addendum. Being the kind of person who takes what another person says at face value, I would have simply accepted the apologies and kept moving. Unfortunately, I also came to find out how Jared handled a concern regarding one of his knives, addressing the potential customer as a “loser“. Further down in the thread, it is revealed that Jared went ahead and followed through on his “free knife” reward less than a week before penning his apology.
Now, let me be perfectly clear – I have no horse in this race. I do not know Jared West. I do not own one of his products. As an American business owner, I wish him the best of luck in his endeavors. However, I cannot quite surprass the slightly-negative vibe I have been receiving since starting my homework. Apparently there were some questions about the metals he uses in his knives, and whether or not what he advertises is what is actually in the knives – these have been left unanswered, apart from the scant documentation on his webpage. There were some questions as to the country of origin of the knives, in that they were frequently advertised to be designed in America, but they bear no country stamp, and no real mention is made of where they are produced. It turns out that Mantis knives are produced in the same Taiwanese plants that handle Buck, Benchmade, and Blade-Tech knives (as per Jared’s interview in the September 2008 Blade Magazine). And the customer supoprt… well, they advertise “an unconditional lifetime warranty”, but does that come with or without namecalling?
I admit it, I want to give Jared a break (Lord knows I have received more than my fair share of breaks in the past), and I full-well believe that some of the comments on the BladeForums.com threads were more than a little unwarranted. I completely understand how people can sometimes be so passionate about something, that they occasionally make some rather stupid decisions, decisions that might have even seemed like a good idea at the time (again, something I never have done… [/sarcasm]). I may even end up with a Mantis knife in the near future – for its price, the TA-2 Seymour looks like it would suite my needs perfectly (though I wish they made a fixed-blade karambit). But for just a little more, I can procure a CRKT N.E.C.K., and deal with an established, known company, and have absolutely no qualms at all.
In reality, I should probably just call/email Mantis and express my concerns… Might just do that here in a bit, in fact.
I will freely admit that I am probably being paranoid, but, as always, caveat emptor.