This page is for my existing knife clients, news and information about your knives, purchases and orders.
- IMPORTANT! If you are an existing client
waiting on a knife and have changed your address, telephone number,
email or other contact information, you must let me know! Otherwise,
when I've completed your project and I can't reach you, I'll have to
sell your project to the public!
- Page Not Found errors: If you've had one of my pages
listed in your favorites of your browser (Internet Explorer,
Firefox, Opera, etc., or if you are coming to the site from a link I
sent you, and are receiving "Page Not Found" errors,
do not worry. The names of the pages on the site have had to
be renamed, as part of the site restructuring and upgrade. If you
make it here, you can get anywhere on the site, and a good place to
start is my Home Page or my
Table of Contents page. Sorry
for any inconvenience, and once this is finished the page names will
never change again!
More details here.
- Starting in January 2011, Rusty Russom, my stepson and a
former professional restaurant chef, will be making the transition to full
time knife making, right here in Enchanted Spirits Studio! We well make commemoratives aimed at
a quicker delivery time in the less elaborate knife orders. Learn
more about the collaborative works in the studio on
this page.
- Long term knife care: For all of my clients: Please be sure and keep those
knives clean and stored in a dry place, and NOT in the sheath. I talk
about that in great length on my
knife care page here.
Here's a clip from an email I sent to a client detailing how to care,
long term, for his knives:
These stainless steels have carbon in
them and are NOT stain or corrosion
proof, only
corrosion resistant. They need access to dry air,
and need waxed occasionally, a light coating of Renaissance wax is
perfect for display pieces. Don't leave fingerprints on them, even dry
ones, especially long term (there are acids in hands and fingers).
Don't store them in the sheath! And if you put them in a case, desiccant
is always a good idea, and always occasional waxing. Wax what you've got
right away with Renaissance Wax.
Here's the link. One 200 ml can will last you the rest of your life,
as you only put a tiny bit on. Rub out with an old cotton tee shirt (a
clean and dry one that has not been washed with fabric softener).
- Knife storage and display: I often wonder how
you've stored your custom knives. Are they in a safe, a drawer, or a
box? It's always interesting to me to find out how a few knives become a
collection and then a client has to have a place to put them, hopefully
where he can enjoy them. Some of the storage ideas in action are:
credenzas, china cabinets, glass-topped coffee tables, and safes. A very
neat idea is a locking mechanics tool drawer cabinet. These cabinets are
getting better made and less expensive every year, they now have stainless
steel models that offer some worthwhile security. If you want to go for
a wood look, perhaps a wooden carpenter's tool cabinet would look great,
with lined drawer bottoms and made from hardwoods, this would be a great
way to store your custom knives and sheaths. Give me your ideas if you
like and I'll post them for others.
- Your knives and their value: If you've bought
knives from me, you probably realize that your knives are worth more
today than when you bought them, in some cases several times more! This
is because popularity of my work continues to grow, and I know that is
because of you, my knife clients. Sure, I'm always trying to improve on
every knife or project, but I could do none of this without your
patronage and support. Thank you!
- Pictures on this website and your monitor: As I
update the site, I'm trying to go to a larger picture format overall.
I've received some great feedback about the larger pictures, and since
most users are going to larger monitors, it makes more sense to have
big, clear photos. I'll get some comments about having to scroll around
to see the pictures from people who have smaller monitors, but the hard
truth is most of my clients have substantial monitors and prefer large,
clear photos, and you are who this site is made for. I'm taking
some time to update and enlarge the older knife photos too. Some of
these were put on the site back in the mid-1990s when the internet
was in its infancy, and bandwidth and download times were critical,
so the pictures were kept small. If I have larger images, I'll put
them up.
- Order times: As you've probably noticed, my
order times have increased dramatically in the last two years. Some
guys are questioning whether or not to order a new knife or to wait
for the possibility that one that interests them may come up for
sale in my regular new inventory. They might think that perhaps
orders and interest will taper off, and then would be a better time
to order. Currently (JULY 2010),
new orders are continuing to come in, and the order list remains long. I
can't make any predictions, and I won't give specific advice, but will
do my best to keep making knives!
- Knife sales policy: On inventory knives, I
guarantee your satisfaction upon receipt. Please
click here to see the complete
details.
- Shipping: Starting in 2009, I've been shipping
strictly
by FedEx. Shipping page here.
FedEx has been very good, with zero problems, even on international
shipments. With FedEx, you get on time delivery, tracked from point
to point, and full insurance. This is, simply the best way to ship
and you deserve that.
- IMPORTANT! If you are an existing client
waiting on a knife and have changed your address, telephone number,
email or other contact information, you must let me know! Otherwise,
when I've completed your project and I can't reach you, I'll have to
sell your project to the public! I've had to chase a couple clients
over the continent with expensive certified letters and unanswered
emails, getting disconnected telephones and bad addresses. Please,
please, keep me updated!
- Knife Storage, long term. Please avoid the
soft, puffy shelf liners when storing your knives long term. I've
seen this plastic stuff outgas and stain even the acrylic coated
aluminum belt loops on my military and combat knife sheaths! The
best material to lay the knives and sheaths on is cotton or felt, clean and
dry.
- Starting in 2010, I stopped sending copies of my bio,
care sheet, cover sheet, and detailed military care sheet
if you have ordered from me before. I realized that some of my
clients have many copies of this material, and do not need more. If
you are a client and want any of the sheets and inclusions, let me
know and I'll get them to you.
- Please
let me
know if you have any comments, or would like me to add any
information or topics here. Thanks for your input!
- New Server: In March of 2011, I finally had enough of my old server, and
they could not deliver reliable downloading and uploading of my web
site. I had numerous problems over the last several years, and it
was starting to effect how clients and people were viewing the
web site. I wanted to add some upgrades and new capabilities, and
that just wasn't happening with my old server, and they
could not help. So, in early March 2011, I moved my site
to a newer, more modern, more professional server. This
was a lot more effort than most people realize, but it's
finally done. This will allow me a better site, more
professional delivery and even some add-ons that will be
coming in the future. It's exciting now to see how the
site will be able to grow!
