*2nd Update* I love it, I always wanted one, and I've got to send it back

[jujigatame]

Will do.


-- Nate

 

[puukkoman]

Yeah... looks to me like that blade tang will damage the spring over time, rubbing that jagged corner over the spring surface repeatedly.

 

[hoopster]

The picture above shows the knife at a magnification that makes the knife width 6" wide on my computer screen. The "gouges" are really quite small in real life. It is an $80 knife, no gaps in the liners, good looking scales, good blade polish, good fit/finish for everything else, I'd give it a new edge and live with it. The steel is not D2, but 420HC at a RC of 56-57, thus very easy to resharpen.

From what I've been told, Canal street finishes their own blades and is very cagey about their relationship with Schatt/Queen. They also cost more than Schatt/Queen products.

Surely you can be defending that knife. The only two Queen knives I've bought had bent blades and this one appears to also, or at least a horrible grind. IMHO bent blades are unacceptable and regardless, that tang is awful. I don't expect perfection on a $90 knife but I do expect straight blades on all my knives.

 

[neeman]

Nate,

I just reprofiled and sharpened a S&M ATS34 on my DMT Aligner
I started with E Course
It was very painless
Much much easier than D2

 

[brownshoe]

Hoopster, I did not see any mention of a bent blade.

A not so perfect edge from a Queen product should be expected. Don't buy one if you cannot sharpen.

The owner has not stated that the little knicks in the tang effect the workings of the knife. The owner says it is to be a user.

The rest of the fit and finish looks very good. If the knife is replaced, you may find something bigger wrong with it. With production knives I look at the whole package, not the little flaws. For example, I bought a Case Bose that had some rough edges on the bolster, I smoothed it out with sand paper. I've bought three S&Ms and the edges were less than perfect. While watching TV, I sharpen and I've got an excellent edge that has stayed sharp for a good long while.

Early on in my collecting, I sent back knives to custom makers and gotten less than satisfactory repairs. This taught me that sending it back doesn't always make it perfect. For example, I bought a vintage custom knife from a gun show dealer and sent it to the maker for a resharpening and a polish. I paid for the work although it was offered free of charge. They used a belt sander and hogged off too much of the edge. I know take the time to do my own edges.

I don't expect perfection from a factory knife. If I can fix it myself...I do. For certain manufacturers, I bide my time and pay the extra 25% to buy from a brick and mortar store where I can inspect the knife. When I say I bide my time, this means waiting a good year or so for some knives since there are few stores where I live. When I do buy on-line I patronize small internet businesses where the owner is a knife nut and inspects the knife before shipping and will freely take my returns.

 

[Modoc ED]

The picture above shows the knife at a magnification that makes the knife width 6" wide on my computer screen. The "gouges" are really quite small in real life. It is an $80 knife, no gaps in the liners, good looking scales, good blade polish, good fit/finish for everything else, I'd give it a new edge and live with it. The steel is not D2, but 420HC at a RC of 56-57, thus very easy to resharpen.

From what I've been told, Canal street finishes their own blades and is very cagey about their relationship with Schatt/Queen. They also cost more than Schatt/Queen products.

The steel in the OP's knife is ATS 34.

 

[jujigatame]

Hoopster, I did not see any mention of a bent blade.

A not so perfect edge from a Queen product should be expected. Don't buy one if you cannot sharpen.

That spot where the edge bevel gets narrow is where I can feel the wave. The edge is not totally straight from end to end. There's a small curve in there. Rather defeats the purpose for a wharncliffe/sheepsfoot blade. At best it was just ground poorly. At worst the blade is a bit warped. You can also see the burr left at the tip.

I have highlighted part of my original post above. It's possible the blade is slightly bent/waved at the edge.

And at the risk of repeating myself from my last post, this was not an edge that I would call "not so perfect" and just in need of some sharpening. That's more like what I got on my GEC slim trapper - an edge that was well ground and just needed to be finished off so to actually be sharp. The blde and edge on the cotton sampler were what I would call legitimately flawed. It was not what a new in box knife should be based on my past experience with File & Wire. Your expectations of this knife are not congruous with mine, so let's leave it at that.


-- Nate

 

[hoopster]

Hoopster, I did not see any mention of a bent blade.

A not so perfect edge from a Queen product should be expected. Don't buy one if you cannot sharpen.

I don't expect perfection from a factory knife. If I can fix it myself...I do. For certain manufacturers, I bide my time and pay the extra 25% to buy from a brick and mortar store where I can inspect the knife.

Good advice, I also will make repairs myself if possible but usually won't attempt to bend a blade straight for fear of snapping it. The only company I've come to expect perfection from is Spyderco, I can live with most imperfections on traditional slip joints but some are quite disappointing.
I probably should find a good brick and mortar store to frequent.
BTW, I have no problem with a knife coming dull because all my knives are users and get sharpened eventually. :thumbup:

 

[zippin44]

I feel for you. It sucks to have your excitement knocked down by "issues", but I'm sure they will rectify the situation. Talk about excitement getting crushed, thank god it isn't a knife costing 5 times that. Been there too. Stuff happens, but like I said, they'll fix it and you'll end up in good shape.

If it'll help you get out of your situation, I'd be glad to give you $10 for that knife!

By the way, great pictures!

 

[jujigatame]

Some news to report on this front. I got a call from Queen today. They said they could not meet my request to replace the cotton sampler since it is out of production and don't have any more of those blades. I knew this was a possibility. In place of the sampler they offered to send a File & Wire swayback clasp knife. That's a knife I like the looks and and have had interest in so I decided to accept it.

I hope the swayback comes in much better shape as a new knife than my sampler did. If it does I think I will be content and just have to continue the quest for the sampler at another time. Fingers crossed.

To be continued...


-- Nate

 

[jujigatame]

Second and final update on the replacement of the cotton sampler. I received the swayback clasp from Queen on Thursday night. There are couple of personal nitpicks on the finish but overall the quality of the blade is much better than the sampler.

The clasp is a really nice knife but ultimately it's not a keeper for me. Part of the feeling comes from the fact that it's in the role of a substitute for a knife that I very much wanted and was let down by. Whichever knife came in place of the sampler was probably going to come up wanting to some degree because of that. Also, I don't quite connect with the clasp in person like I did in pictures so I don't see it having much chance for carry and use. I can't really keep knives that fall into that category so I'll see if I can trade it for something else that's a better fit.

I am satisfied with how Queen handled this matter for me. Their response to my inquiry was prompt and courteous. They gave me a quality knife in place of one that had legitimate problems. That it could not be the knife I originally sought or one that I ended up wanting to keep was not within their control. I wish all of it hadn't been necessary to begin with but now the book is closed and I'm moving on.


-- Nate