All About Pocket Knives

This is another case where Sporty should certainly know better. In his item specifics he describes this knife as original, but the fact is I don't think there is anything at all original about it. The blades are mismatched. One has the diamond tang stamp and the other is straight line. Has anyone ever seen an original Russell Barlow without an R on the bolsters? The pins have been crudely peened and the knife has obviously been taken apart and put back together. Most likely the Russell blades have been put into this frame. The point is the man knows knives and buys huge collections at a time. Any person with that kind of knowledge should list an item like this as parts/ repair, calling it original is heresy and he should know better. Kind of makes you think he has others working for him doing the listings with little knowledge of knives?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-Russel ... Swe~lchrGY

That isn't the only bad one he has.

The hits just keep on coming! How can this guy have a legitimate business listing things like this over and over without any remorse?

just bob wrote:Kind of makes you think he has others working for him doing the listings with little knowledge of knives?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-Russel ... Swe~lchrGY

If he does have others working for him he is still the responsible party in the sale. With so many bad knives that pass through his eBay listings I don't think he cares in any case.

He lists 200+ knives per week. Can one person take all those pictures and pack them all up to be shipped ? I could not. He must have at least 2 or 3 people helping him. This does not take away the responsibility for the listings. I think Bill might be getting a little 'jaded', burned out & fed up.
I know he puts in a lot of time for the money earned and he has been doing this for a long time. Easy to understand how a person might end up 'caring less'.
kj

Bill Swan's listings suck, and are getting worse all the time. But I do not think that he is in any way dishonest or disreputable. His business is in fail mode I think because of his age and poor help. Still... his groupies continue to pay 300% of market for his offerings. Caveat Emptor.

kootenay joe wrote:He lists 200+ knives per week. Can one person take all those pictures and pack them all up to be shipped ? I could not. He must have at least 2 or 3 people helping him. This does not take away the responsibility for the listings. I think Bill might be getting a little 'jaded', burned out & fed up.
I know he puts in a lot of time for the money earned and he has been doing this for a long time. Easy to understand how a person might end up 'caring less'.
kj

Actually at least in my experience, listing 200 knives in a week is not that unrealistic for one person to do.

Starting from scratch, photos/descriptions and putting up the listings, I can (and have) put up 200 listings with about 2-1/2 eight hour days total of work.

Of course, if my listings were as skinny on descriptions and photos as Bill's are, I could do twice that many.

What about packing up 200 items ? It takes me about 30 minutes to pack up one box for shipping but i tend to 'over pack'. It would take me a week to pack up 200 packages.
kj

It’s been a while, but IIRC the last time I bought a knife from him it was mailed it a small “bubble-pack” lined envelope. Just stick an address label on it, drop the knife in the envelope, seal it, and you’re done. Could probably do at least two or three a minute, including the time to print the address label. Especially with some automated software to print labels.

Ken

My Mom always said, "if you can't say something good about someone, don't say anything at all".
Nuff said!

Paul

The Barlow has a frame and bolsters that look an awful lot like my old Wolfertz. I am still not totally sure but my read of it points to a Camillus build.