Condor Axes: any reviews?

[scotchleaf]

I like their machetes, but are there any reviews of Condor Axes? Does anyone have one?

 

[cckw]

Made in El Savador? I have no experience with them. However, a machete and an axe have two different expectations. A machete is expected to be cheap and easy to resharpen. (easily replaceable) An axe most folks will pay more to get a higher quality product and have higher expectations and maybe expect it to last their life time. I would guess these are made from a machete makers point of view. If that makes sense.

ETA: seems I'm alone with this negative attitude towards the brand. As stated in my opening line, I have no experience with them so don't count my opinion as worth much. Although for my own purchases the below hasn't changed my mind

 

[Halfneck]

Pretty interested in the small (10" OAL?) Condor Hatchet I saw.

Interested in feedback on the Condor Axes myself.

 

[Joezilla]

Good stuff. The new forged axes especially. I'm completely biased though, and will admit it. I've seen their low end (Imacasa) axes used HARD. They get used every day basically. Performance wise, the edge retention on the axes I've played with are right with wetterlings, and more or less (nothing official) a snow and neally. My gransfors is maybe barely noticeably harder.

 

[Carolina River Rat]

I have their C&S Cruiser (20") axe. Great tool. A bit light for heavy wood processing, but fine for the camp, and the light weight means I don't mind packing the thing. Haven't tried any of their larger axes, but I'd like to. That is a well-loved axe in your picture there, Joe.

 

[BChou-E29]

Well loved and maybe a bit dangerous! Those hickory hafts aren't like your polyprop. machete handles and will fail Joezilla. Especially when they start to split like the one in the pic. I'd hate for Joezilla to turn into No-zilla (sorry, had to). Get ye a new haft!

 

[coloradowildman]

Good stuff. The new forged axes especially. I'm completely biased though, and will admit it. I've seen their low end (Imacasa) axes used HARD. They get used every day basically. Performance wise, the edge retention on the axes I've played with are right with wetterlings, and more or less (nothing official) a snow and neally. My gransfors is maybe barely noticeably harder.

Joe, if you're going to hype a product you are involved in designing then you should disclose it anytime you respond to one of these threads. You guys wouldn't let Council Tool come on here (or anyone else) to do the same so it is a major conflict or interest to be doing this my friend.

You guys need to fully develop your product FIRST instead of throwing them at people with hype. I see this as a way to make easy money through unsuspecting forums members and is not good business. I've seen a bunch of Condor axes and they are NOT up to snuff.

If Condor makes a truly excellent product then word will get out on its own, not the other way around. As a moderator I guess you can delete my membership over saying this, but everyone knows I'm right, and is from your own rules here as well.

I'll get off my soapbox now.....

 

[kalama]

this is a discussion forum,is the discucussion closed to moderators,personally i like joes advice,he has alot of knowledge on tools,ect.,being a moderator or not its one mans opinion,didnt seem to me he was plugging away at there products,,just a guy trying to design better tools for us gear heads,just my opinion..i own the doudle bit 12" hatchet,i like it i had no problems so far..

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Just because Joe does design work for Condor doesn't mean he's their employee. Second of all, Condor seems to have worked really hard at getting the 2011 run of axes up to snuff.

I have a fieldworker-grade Imacasa axehead that was covered in dents, dings, gouges, scratches...you name it, and I've been working at filing it down to remove them. Once I do it'll one heck of an axe--it's a nice pattern and profile with good steel. It'll take a lot more elbow grease to get it there, but it's a fun project and it cost me a song and a dance so I'm happy.

Consider me one of the first in line to take the chance with the new 2011 axes. :thumbup:

 

[adaman04]

Looking forward to seeing them. Got my eye on the 16" models, but we'll see.

 

[cramsey3006]

Joe, if you're going to hype a product you are involved in designing then you should disclose it anytime you respond to one of these threads. You guys wouldn't let Council Tool come on here (or anyone else) to do the same so it is a major conflict or interest to be doing this my friend.

You guys need to fully develop your product FIRST instead of throwing them at people with hype. I see this as a way to make easy money through unsuspecting forums members and is not good business. I've seen a bunch of Condor axes and they are NOT up to snuff.

If Condor makes a truly excellent product then word will get out on its own, not the other way around. As a moderator I guess you can delete my membership over saying this, but everyone knows I'm right, and is from your own rules here as well.

I'll get off my soapbox now.....

He says in the post that he's "completely biased". You act like Joe is an employee of Condor... Designing a tool and being responsible for the manufacturing and quality are two COMPLETELY different things.

 

[gohammergo]

I have the Hudson Bay double bit hatchet. GREAT tool. Very sharp and a top notch sheath as well. I have used it some, not a lot, but enough to know that it will be a pretty durable tool.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Well, I've sent a message to Condor asking about their expected 2011 time-line. I plan on getting an axe or two out of their new selection, so expect pictures then I guess.

 

[Joezilla]

Joe, if you're going to hype a product you are involved in designing then you should disclose it anytime you respond to one of these threads. You guys wouldn't let Council Tool come on here (or anyone else) to do the same so it is a major conflict or interest to be doing this my friend.

You guys need to fully develop your product FIRST instead of throwing them at people with hype. I see this as a way to make easy money through unsuspecting forums members and is not good business. I've seen a bunch of Condor axes and they are NOT up to snuff.

If Condor makes a truly excellent product then word will get out on its own, not the other way around. As a moderator I guess you can delete my membership over saying this, but everyone knows I'm right, and is from your own rules here as well.

I'll get off my soapbox now.....

Note "Completely biased" remark above. If people have a question that I can help with, I'll help 'em. I'm not starting posts myself, and I happen to have the info first so I try to help. If you helped out with a product you were proud of, you probably would too. Every day these guys strive to do better so there won't be posts such as yours. But since you've said this on multiple forums, its obvious that you have it out for 'em (or just me).
Anyways, Changes to the Line include better quality control, old style fit and finish, plus a life time warranty and satisfaction warranty. Hickory Handles are being shipped from the US, and placed on the new axes.

And I'm not completely Condor Biased:

 

[fishunter219]

I bought a Condor Danish axe and a Greenland hatchet 2 yrs or so ago . They are ok but not up to my S&N or Norlund camp axe or Hudson Bay in edge holding. Don't know the rc of any of them but from my use i would say the Condor rc is noticeably lower. Myself, i would pay the difference for a S&N. I don't have any experience with G&B or Wetterlings to date but plan to change that soon.

 

[coloradowildman]

He says in the post that he's "completely biased". You act like Joe is an employee of Condor... Designing a tool and being responsible for the manufacturing and quality are two COMPLETELY different things.

I think some of you folks need to look up the definition of "conflict of interest", seriously. I'm not being condescending, but I think some people here don't fully understand what that means.

As for Joe designing vs directly employed is meaningless if one gets payed by the company they're promoting.

And as for Joe commenting that he's "completely biased", it should be "I'm completely biased because I design these axes for Condor" which lets everyone know why he's biased. I own a Wetterlings so I am "biased", but that's a big difference from if I got payed by Wetterlings to do anything.

I'm sorry folks, but if ANY company was marketing their products here without full disclosure I would say the same thing. Yes, I am especially harsh on Condor because aside from not disclosing who they are here (new people have no idea who they are) they are also breaking the time honored tradition of making a high quality product FIRST and then marketing it or letting word of mouth do the marketing. They are marketing unfinished and untested products here to people who's money is very hard earned nowadays, essentially using them as guinea pigs while making a profit off of them. I consider it unethical and rather immoral and if certain folks here don't like me because of what I say about it then so be it.

I'm definitely not in the popularity club here, so I doubt any of this will hurt my standing anyway, but I know what's right and what's wrong, and regardless of what others think, I think it's wrong what's going on here. That's my 2 cents

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

He didn't design most of them, actually. And they aren't releasing stuff unfinished as a way of duping us out of our money. They have a 100% satisfaction GUARANTEE so if you have beef with their product for any reason you can send it back to their US office with a copy of your receipt and they personally will refund the purchase price. That means they're willing to take a loss in order to make their customers happy. As a Central American company their workers are used to producing at a lower standard than we are used to here, but the company has been making a huge effort to bring overall quality and quality control up to that level. And most would consider adapting product based on customer input a plus. Just saying.

 

[coloradowildman]

Fortytwo, why is it that folks who make money from Condor as designers or vendors get free reign to promote Condor products here and at the Bushcraft USA forums, whereas everyone else must practice this in the vendor forums? There are also lots of suspicious posts in the forums with titles like "Who's buying this Condor xxxx product?" etc. Who's behind those? That's my biggest problem.

These forums are being used by certain moderators to promote and sell Condor products while denying other people the same rights and privileges. It's hypocrisy and you guys know it.

And as for the products being made by folks with a "lower product standard" that's BS too. Condor knows what Americans expect of quality, so it sounds like they are knowingly selling lower quality products and letting people buy them while Condor "brings up the standards". Thanks for admitting what I originally stated, in that Condor is and has knowingly sold low quality knives and axes to people while hyping the product like crazy in these forums.

Maybe Condor should read the story about how Buck Knives formed, in that they created a truly high quality knife by anybody's standards FIRST, and then business followed. As for the Condor warranty, it still costs people time, frustration, and shipping costs if the product fails. Get the product right using Condor's time and money, not the public's.......

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

For the record I'm not a vendor of Condor products at the moment--I just enjoy them. I have a dealer membership on the forum here to sell stock machetes that I modified with my own two hands, and...soap. Likewise I can't recall Joe EVER starting a thread on a product he designed--he has only answered questions or chimed in with information in threads that other people started. A lot of people (such as myself) appreciate Condor's products for the low cost and high utility they provide. Those are the folks starting threads asking about where to buy particular items. So perhaps you're reading a bit more into things than you should be.

As far as the quality control thing, the COMPANY knows what Americans want, but the CEO can't be expected to personally inspect every single piece that leaves the factory. Machetes and knives in Central and South America are usually pretty rough around the edges, and so the workers in the factory genuinely think that a piece is fine when it leaves the factory--in fact they probably wonder why we're so persnickety when it comes to a beat-it-the-hell-up tool like axes and machetes. This discrepancy of standards is what they've been working so hard at to correct, and they seem to be making some pretty good progress.

With regards to the warranty--of course no one wants to have to use it, but it is what it is and standards are improving. They haven't been in the business that long, and they've come a long way in a short time.

Fortytwo, why is it that folks who make money from Condor as designers or vendors get free reign to promote Condor products here and at the Bushcraft USA forums, whereas everyone else must practice this in the vendor forums? There are also lots of suspicious posts in the forums with titles like "Who's buying this Condor xxxx product?" etc. Who's behind those? That's my biggest problem.

These forums are being used by certain moderators to promote and sell Condor products while denying other people the same rights and privileges. It's hypocrisy and you guys know it.

And as for the products being made by folks with a "lower product standard" that's BS too. Condor knows what Americans expect of quality, so it sounds like they are knowingly selling lower quality products and letting people buy them while Condor "brings up the standards". Thanks for admitting what I originally stated, in that Condor is and has knowingly sold low quality knives and axes to people while hyping the product like crazy in these forums.

Maybe Condor should read the story about how Buck Knives formed, in that they created a truly high quality knife by anybody's standards FIRST, and then business followed. As for the Condor warranty, it still costs people time, frustration, and shipping costs if the product fails. Get the product right using Condor's time and money, not the public's.......

 

[stabman]

So much pointless rage...