Hubertus Knifs a BIG thumbs down

[glocking26]

My god what happened to the quality of Hubertus Knifes? I haven't bought one in about ten years or so so I was shocked when I opened the packages. The blade did not open all the way,one of the scales was loose and the pin fell out, the blades finish was not finished all the way, and there was space on the back liner about 1/16" I have two from years ago there perfict. This was my 2nd attempt The first one was a shell puller that one was even worst. I thought that one was just a fluke but two in a row. Needless to say I done. Did any of you guys buy one recently? If so how was it?
Thanks Mike

[Bigfatts]

Wow, that's sad to hear. Hopefully it's not the norm. I have had one on my list for a while now and was thinking of getting one soon. The ones I've seen in person have been beautiful. Maybe I'll hold off a while.

[glocking26]

Yep from two different dealers to.

[Bill DeShivs]

Some of those knives are assembled here, by people who have no cutler skills.

[wazu013]

Bill,
Who are the sellers that do a quality job with assembly? The last two I bought had issues. One was a Lilyput that peeked out and the second was a 4 incher that I fired a few times then the kick spring fell out to the ground. If you feel you can't comment publicy I understand.
Thanks,
wazu013

Some of those knives are assembled here, by people who have no cutler skills.

[glocking26]

Bill,
Who are the sellers that do a quality job with assembly? The last two I bought had issues. One was a Lilyput that peeked out and the second was a 4 incher that I fired a few times then the kick spring fell out to the ground. If you feel you can't comment publicy I understand.
Thanks,
wazu013

Please me too??

[rattler12]

I've heard mutterings that Hubertus QC has fallen off, and that support at the manufacturing end has fallen off too.

I would be glad to be proven wrong... especially since Hubies were on the expensive side last i looked.

[button]

Sounds to me like just another example of the sign o' the times.
I have noticed that when a distributor mails a knife they pick out the culls(scales that are so mismatched that no one would buy them for example.)
If you can,try to find one that you can check out before you perchase it.
Bill gave an example of why we can't trust buying knives through the mail,ya' just have to take your chances if you do.

[TomTerrific]

Whenever I order a knife online, I ask the vendor to check the knife for defects, quality issues, blade centering.

I did get an email from a vendor I think quite a bit of that the knife I ordered was the last in stock and had defects, so they cancelled the order.

YMMV

[glocking26]

I would love to post the name of the vender were I got the knife who let it go out that way but I guess thats no no. Oh and buy the I did include a note asking him to check it out before he sent it. I won't even go into all the emails and phone calls trying to get him to ship it. Most of us who post here know who he is. That all I guess I can say.
Mike

[Bill DeShivs]

I honestly don't know who sells knives, who sells good or bad-as I'm not in the knife selling/buying business. I do see some come through the shop that are assembled by someone with no knowledge or skill.
Hubertus quality is not as good as it once was because there is no one in Solingen who wants to be a cutler. Skilled labor is very hard to come by. To Hubertus' credit- they are to my knowledge, the only Solingen maker of automatics left.

[tom19176]

Bill has stated most of it as I see it too. It would seem the quality first went down at the point where East and West Germany re united. The older West Germany ones are by far the best. The last few years has produced many bad examples, almost making the high end China knives a better choice ( most of the other German knives are now made there). The non auto ones are not much better. I recently bought two of the large non auto single blade lock backs for the $200 range each ( and that was a bargin vs the list price) and they were far from well made. I will no linger be a customer of their new products....

[Witterings]

Recently bought a Big Horn special edition, 1st one wouldn't fire to open out of the box but did after some lube but also the blade didn't recess into the handle and the sharp point was left sticking out by 2 / 3 mm, just enough to catch a finger or rip a pocket so sent it back.
Replacement ..... the spring lasted 2 weeks and took a chunk out of the blade when it broke ....... I fitted another spring which was sent to me by mistake and I think was too large and tried sanding it down but didn't really work so ordered a new spring and fitted it. There's now a rough patch where the blade rubs against the spring and it catches horribly every time you close it. I think this was caused when the 1st spring broke !!!
I've tried filing it down which seems to smooth it out for a few closes and then it's back to being horrible again, I also had to prize it apart a little to get a reasonable fire which means the blade now has some play so no not overly impressed I must admit, I thought I was buying a decent piece of kit !!!
What makes it more of a shame is it looks absolutely lovely and I'd earmarked a couple of others of theirs I liked, especially one of the shell pullers and a little pocket one as well for everyday use but this experience has certainly out me off unfortunately !!

[rattler12]

That's a frustrating experience, Witterings.

[Ed E]

I wonder to what extent these kinds of problems are connected with the fact that automatic knives are illegal in the USA - while at the same time, there is a flourishing demand...

[glocking26]

I just found one of the older ones on ebay and WOW! what a difference in fit and finish. Yep I'm done with the world
Hubertus also.

[Witterings]

I've heard mutterings that Hubertus QC has fallen off, and that support at the manufacturing end has fallen off too.

It'll be interesting to see if their sales start falling off at the same rate !!!

[Witterings]

I would love to post the name of the vender were I got the knife who let it go out that way but I guess thats no no. Oh and buy the I did include a note asking him to check it out before he sent it. I won't even go into all the emails and phone calls trying to get him to ship it. Most of us who post here know who he is. That all I guess I can say.
Mike

No I'd say name and shame, if nobody does they'll continue with the same practices and get away with it !!!!
If someone sells you a piece of junk I can see no defensible reason not to say who it is especially if you asked them to check it 1st !!!
It needs people to go back to them to say not good enough and if enough people do it enough times they'll send that many back to the manufacturers that they'll HAVE to up their game .... it's the only way we'll ever get a level of quality maintained.
I don't mind paying German prices to get proper German quality but I do object to paying German prices and getting low end Chinese quality just so someone can improve their profit margins !!!

[glocking26]

No I'd say name and shame, if nobody does they'll continue with the same practices and get away with it !!!!
If someone sells you a piece of junk I can see no defensible reason not to say who it is especially if you asked them to check it 1st !!!
It needs people to go back to them to say not good enough and if enough people do it enough times they'll send that many back to the manufacturers that they'll HAVE to up their game .... it's the only way we'll ever get a level of quality
maintained.
I don't mind paying German prices to get proper German quality but I do object to paying German prices and getting low end Chinese quality just so someone can improve their profit margins !!!

Well said. Ok I hope I don't get banded from bladefourms for telling: one of the two knifes was from Josh from PVK knifes. In all fairness to him I did not try to send it back because of all the trouble I had trying to get him to ship it in the first place. I will never buy anything from him again.

[Boley]

About this time last year my Brother gifted me a new 8cm Big Horn Edition.I can't find anything wrong with it.The fit,finish,and operation are all fine.