Is anyone else overall disappointed in the casting quality of there Lumberjack head? I did put in a support ticket and sent a message directly to the company.
JHeuerHi JHeuer. I reviewed the head as requested by KlaxyLady and having designed a lot of knife/tool products in the past including many designs while at Leatherman, the level of quality is consistent with what should be expected in this type of design. Some people had seen earlier image of our prototypes which were made by grinding and assumed that to be the final finish. Our product photos of the KLAX® Lumberjack on the website are of the final cast steel version (same as was shipped out). Those images replace earlier machined versions right after we got them in early last summer with our first big production run. If you aren't fully satisfied, we are more than happy to give you a full refund. We have a lifetime warranty as well in case you keep it and anything doesn't seem right (even the finish when you first get it).
GlennKleckerGlenn, I can understand JHeuer’s confusion as the actual product looks very different and in my opinion not as good as the pictures posted at Massdrop. However, I want to acknowledge the stand-up way you responded to his concern’s. Your willingness to focus on the customer and guarantee complete satisfaction is commendable.
JHeuerIt is extremely disappointing that Massdrop *still* hasn't updated the product photos. The machined prototypes are striking in the photographs - that's what drew me in to this product. The fact that the shipping version looks completely different will undoubtedly disappoint some people participating in this drop.
bucktenSeveral years ago when I worked on the design team and we designed the Cast Jaws for the Leatherman Multi-tool family we designed them for strength. If you look at the KLAX, the cross-sections of the head are huge compared to a multi-tool jaw and those jaws can take a wicked beating and hold up well. The reason why people assume it might not work is because they normally expect it to be very hard steel (Rockwell C 50+) which would make it brittle during impact. We keep the KLAX head in the mid-40's to give it a better balance of impact resistance and sharpness. It's a multi-tool like the Skeletool which I also invented and as such, it is great for getting you by in more than one situation.
As far as "trust" goes. It has a lifetime warranty, so on the off chance that someone ever breaks one, it's covered...for life. We'll fix it, replace it or give you your money back.
gaknakThe Lumberjack has some "contour" to it and as such it cannot be easily "finished" like the Feller. The flat sides of the Feller make it easy to put a nice scotch brite finish on it. We tried that on the final version of the Lumberjack, but with all the details in the surface, it did not look good partially finished.
AWARIf you look at the comment I originally replied to, you can see the pictures @JHeuer posted showing the shipped product. I do not have one to post pictures of. The vendor has also confirmed in the comments here that the pre-production units (as pictured by Massdrop) were machined while the production ones are cast. While I'm sure that their assertion that the functionality and durability are the same is valid, they do look different.
rbtblI did get in contact with the manufacturer and they sent me out a new one that the casting was far better than the initial one I received. I have sense put one in my Jeep.