Durston Tools is manufacturing and selling an obvious knock off of my Wolf’s Precision Wax Carvers that won MJSA’s Innovation Award in 2004.
I am a one person business-- to be knocked off by an industry giant is extremely frustrating.
Since I posted about this, I have heard from 6 other jeweler/tool inventors that had similar experiences with Durston Tools. Together we can fight more effectively.
Shame on you Durston. I will fight this, publicly, every day, until you remove the knock off carvers from your website and stop selling them.
I did a search on Durston Tools website with just my last name in the search bar–this is what came up: Shame on you Durston Tools.
I don’t carve wax, so I have no personal experience with wax carving tools. Are there kind of standard tool shapes that you might see in any tool collection regardless of who made them? I do make my own chasing and repousse tools and they look a lot like those that I can buy because, in either case, they are made for a purpose and this purpose drives the design of the tool. It would be my hope that Durston didn’t copy Kate’s tools. They already make world class tools. I own several to include a very large rolling mill. While there are other mills on the market, I have never seen a Durston copy. We aren’t likely to hear anything from Durston, but I sure would like to hear their reply…Rob
Kate is a great person and a valuable contributor to our entire field. I’m very glad that this product has been taken down from Durston’s website!
Many folks aren’t aware that in the jewelry tool industry knocking each other off is kind of normal. It happens all of the time. I’m honestly amazed by how often it happens. Durston isn’t the only jewelry tool manufacturer who does it.
But as Jo says, it’s one thing when big companies knock each other off. It’s another thing when a tiny company like Kate’s gets knocked off by a huge company.
I’ve got a friend, who like Kate’s company is a small, one-person jewelry tool business. A major jewelry tool company (not Durston) knocked off his products exactly. At one point my friend and the owner of this tool company were at the same jewelry industry party. They talked it out face to face and the major jewelry tool company made it right. I know that not all of these stories have that kind of ending, but confronting it directly is usually the best path.
Either way, I’m glad that Kate’s tools are off of the Durston website!