What happened to autoknife.com

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muskrat man
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by muskrat man »

Was an odd fellow but was a good source for replacement parts for gravity knives. guess i should have stocked up while i had the chance. Anyone have a source for replacement levers and lever springs for Luftwaffe gravity knives? If I can get ahold of one at least for dimensions I can have some machined
PlatonicSolid
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by PlatonicSolid »

I looked at his site a few times really itching to pull the trigger on a couple Walts 9” in nice b/w horn.. checked here for reviews and found them mostly bad plus some of his crazy rants so I held off. I guess for anything he had that I wanted someone more trustworthy will likely have it at some point later on.. c’est la vie
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Bill DeShivs
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by Bill DeShivs »

Buy Walt's knives a www.latama.net
Why would you buy them anywhere else?
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Luke_of_Mass
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by Luke_of_Mass »

I second buying them direct from Walt, but additionally I would strongly recommend people just buy from Walt in person if possible, QC issues in recent years make it considerably favorable to inspect the knives before you buy them; but that's sort of moot in the current situation where no knife shows can safely take place. In any case Walt is a lot more reputable than Benson and will work with you if you get knives with problems.
Knee-deep in the hoopla...
PlatonicSolid
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by PlatonicSolid »

No offense to Walt, he just can’t sell me what he doesn’t have.. I would much rather buy directly from him and in person but I guess that’s why I’m sitting here without a nice nine incher.
button_man
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by button_man »

I did business with "JB" last year. He had some blades purported to be left over from the Superior company, run by Mr. Santini. The prices were surprisingly reasonable (compared to his asking price of $600 for an ordinary Rizzuto, for example) so I bought them. Two of the blades had 'Superior' etchings on the obverse, but were clearly marked "REPRODUCTION / EXPORT FOR GERMANY" on the reverse ricasso. Others had stampings that looked "muddy" or scruffy. (Of course, they could have been poor quality stampings that didn't make the grade to be used in the knives, which could explain why they were leftovers.) I complained about the repro blades and questioned the authenticity of the scruffy ones. "JB" absolutely refused to comment on the ones marked 'reproduction'. My messages to him were civil and respectful; and his responses were accusatory, vitriolic, and hateful. I have literally never been treated so badly by anyone in the knife collecting community.

(Attached are photos of the blades described above; the "scruffy" stamping is shown next to a genuine 'Superior' for comparison)
Attachments
scruffy__9392_A.jpg
scruffy__9392_A.jpg (117.02 KiB) Viewed 2887 times
marked_repro__comparison__9385__R_closeup.jpg
marked_repro__comparison__9385__R_closeup.jpg (151.63 KiB) Viewed 2887 times
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Jackalope
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by Jackalope »

I wonder what the Germans think about the repro stamp. Why would they want to settle for seconds?
button_man
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by button_man »

And furthermore, to use English on blades made in Italy for export to Germany? Wouldn't the etching be either in Italian or German? And why even bother making them at all....? Once the blades got to Germany, what would anybody DO with them? There certainly weren't enough 'Superior' knives made to create a market for replacement blades.... and if the 'muddy' blades are authentic, then they would have been available to anyone needing a replacement; and this removes any need for repro blades. None of this makes any sense to me.
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whippersnapper
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by whippersnapper »

I have never heard of Superior knives.
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natcherly
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by natcherly »

whippersnapper wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:55 pm I have never heard of Superior knives.
I seem to recall a new knife maker hit the scene a few years ago promising knives that were far better than what was available from AB, FB, AKC, etc. The realities of how difficult it was to penetrate this market was a hard lesson. After maybe a year he and his Superior knife line vanished.

I may have this confused with some other line, but that is what I remember. In any case, these "extra" blades and the story behind them is murkey to say the least.
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Bill DeShivs
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by Bill DeShivs »

You are correct, Natcherly. His name was Antonio Contini. He was working with Armando Beltrame, but there was some connection to Jon Benson.
Bill DeShivs, Master Cutler
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whippersnapper
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by whippersnapper »

Ah yes, I do remember them them now.
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jim d,
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by jim d, »

I too remember the brand, and thanks for the clarification Bill.

Jim
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JulesVane
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by JulesVane »

Wasn’t there a name “Santini” involved with Superior? This is the only one I have and it's etched instead of the deep stamp shown above. I really don't know much about them...

Image
Last edited by JulesVane on Thu Nov 19, 2020 2:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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JimBrown257
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Re: What happened to autoknife.com

Post by JimBrown257 »

natcherly wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:03 pm
whippersnapper wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:55 pm I have never heard of Superior knives.
I seem to recall a new knife maker hit the scene a few years ago promising knives that were far better than what was available from AB, FB, AKC, etc. The realities of how difficult it was to penetrate this market was a hard lesson. After maybe a year he and his Superior knife line vanished.
I remember that. In fact, I remember thinking that if he was going to try to do something different he should do something, you know...different. The slight variations of the grind and solid bolsters (which most people probably wouldn't even notice) were not enough to make them stand out from the standard stilettos. If you are making your own parts come up with some new design.
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