Update on my Athame…

I left it with Craig, who owns a really neat shop where customers can learn woodworking and rent the shop to use the tools instead of spending thousands of dollars on equipment for their woodworking hobby. When I left it with him, he called it an Athame (not “knife”… he even pronounced it correctly). I was impressed, having the impression that even if he isn’t Pagan, he has an understanding of my path and the importance of the Athame. He promised to have it done in time for Samhain. He made a couple of handles and I picked the one I liked best last weekend. He varnished and assembled it but didn’t complete it in case I wanted to change anything. We looked at it yesterday, and I have to admit I’m disappointed. It isn’t what I expected. I really should have brought my camera to document it. The handle isn’t perfect. Not even close. It is higher on one side than the other, higher, in fact, than the guard, by a good 1/8”. That will have to be fixed. So will the deep scratches on the tang. The scratches weren’t there when I brought it in to him. And the pins are cut too short – they should be flush with the handle.

So yeah, I’m pretty disappointed. Not only will it not be ready for Samhain, I expected higher quality workmanship for what I’m paying him ($45/hour!). My husband could have done better if he’d had the right tools. I sent Craig an email last night in addition to the notes his employee made yesterday since he wasn’t at the shop when we were there. Not only am I paying a premium for his work (another woodworker who specializes in knives told me he charged $25/hour but he’s 45 minutes away), it isn’t anywhere near right. It isn’t a problem with communication. It’s just shabby workmanship. I considered just taking it home with me and telling him that it wasn’t acceptable, but that’s not my way. I want to give him the chance to make it right. I know we’ll have to go in this week to talk to him about it, and I’m not looking forward to it. I’m not good at putting my foot down with people. I don’t like being brutally honest, but I know I have to communicate my disappointment. On Saturday he sent me an email telling me it would be essentially finished on Sunday, and that I’d be “pleased”. I was anything BUT pleased.

*sigh* I’m just so tired of being screwed by people. I’ll bring up the fact that I could have had it done much cheaper too… I’m not pleased about his hourly rate if this is what he calls “taking pride” in his work.