Not sure if you were inferring anything toward myself directly, but since you don't know me I'll state for the record that "counterfeiting" or engaging in "unscrupulous" or unlawful behavior has and never will be my intent, regardless of whether I do ten such procedures or ten thousand in the future.Bill DeShivs wrote:I'm sure you will be deluged with requests to weld new blades on old tangs.
While your post references user knives, doing this on collector knives is referred to as "counterfeiting" and is frowned on in the collector community.
Used judiciously, by honest and reputable repair persons-laser welding can be a great tool.
In unscrupulous hands, laser welding can be detrimental to the hobby.
In posting this, I wanted to share a discovery that I was excited about, a procedure that allowed me to enjoy a few interesting but broken knives I had laying around. As a businessman responsible for making my own way in the world, I can also see benefit in offering the service to others. In the event I get swamped with requests to fix broken blade tips I am in business to oblige, same as if somebody walks into my shop with a broken piece of jewelry.
I am perfectly willing to acknowledge your point that some people are indeed dishonest....but reciprocate if you will and consider which repairs, in your professional opinion, should be deemed kosher or "honest" and which should not.
Is this type of repair different from a collector's standpoint than the gentleman earlier who described having someone use the laser to rebuild the back of the tang to improve the function of his automatic (many automatics are quite collectible I've noticed)? Now I don't know that fellow but I'll assume he is on the up-and-up and discloses the nature of the repair to potential buyers... but let's say he does the repair for someone who sells it, intentionally failing to make such disclosure? Or let's assume he does the repair for an upstanding honest guy who dies 6 months later and the knife is inherited by an unwitting non-enthusiast who knows nothing about the alteration, posted to eBay as part of an estate settlement?
Or what about somebody who innocently replaces a worn or missing cover or rivet or spring with a new one that is visually identical to the original one, a repair only 1 in a hundred experts, if that many, would ever notice? These repairs, among others I'm sure, are probably far more concealable than welding on a piece of a blade.
At the end of the day, it's all about what the owner of any collectible does with it, whether he chooses to misrepresent it when selling it. That falls on him or her, not the person who, in good faith, repaired it to the best of his ability.