I did not see it, but as told to me by a well known stocker who was with the other Brit who observed it, it was a superb job but totally out of line in time. In fact, the observer was at first extremely impressed then incensed when he was told of the time involved. And that IS a good point. It is one thing to create a masterpiece, but totally another to use such a piece as a example of a typical product to gain customers.
There are some dirty little secrets in the American knife and gun guilds. For example, some knife guild types use pre-cut and ground blanks and simply polish the blades and add handles. Some guild members have quit the guild in disgust because of this. In the gun arena, some members will take a stock designed by someone else, bondo it up so it is a bit different, send it off to someone with a Hoenig machine for a close match to the metal involved then either finish it from there or have a helper do some of that work. Then the metal work is another area where that "name" person may not have any hands on work. All is fine unless you are paying a premium for the "name".
