Some reassurance for Kult of Athena buyers

[hso]

From Sword Buyer's Guide a tale of betrayal by KoA's suppliers and the good outcome to give buyers confidence in their products.

It came to pass that in March and April of this year, three customers called into question the specifications of some blades purchased by Kult of Athena's inhouse brands - Devil's Edge and Balaur Arms. Taking pride in their brands as might be expected, KoA's management began digging deeper - and it turned out that they had been misled..

You can read the whole saga of how it played out, and how Kult of Athena went above and beyond to fix it and address the fact that their suppliers had lied to them on their blog here - but the most interesting development is the steel certification program that this event has been the catalyst for..

You can read more about the program here - but in a nutshell, after testing the steels of their Balaur Arms and Devil's Edge blades and finding that Balaur Arms in particular was using different steels than what they claimed - KoA decided to tackle this common problem by introducing a certification program and inviting their major suppliers to participate..

As is often the case, out of bad things something good can be found - often much greater than the original misfortune it grew out of, and we wholeheadtedly support this effort to improve the industry and make it more transparent and accountable as we navigate increasingly choppy waters..

 

[Boattale]

In a nutshell, that's a big part of why I simply will not buy a knife from a Chinese maker. My trust level there is very very low. On the other hand, the major American and European manufacturers, I really do trust to be getting what they advertise

 

[hso]

It used to be that CAS IBERIA/Hanwie was the only place you could trust. I will certainly give my business to KOA if I'm buying.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I got the same email. It speaks well of their integrity.

 

[entropy]

Gives me even more respect for KOA than I already had. To investigate complaints and take action that changes things instead if just handing out new product with the same defects, that is a business I will not hesitate buying from.