Another Condor Disappointment...

Respectfully, combining the word "excellent" with a description of the goods as below industry standard and "behind the [quality] curve is a bit of a stretch - as is comparing Condor to Opinel, Svord, Mora, and Victorinox IMO. When Condor can reasonably be compared to MORA, they will have arrived.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I've got one of their Hudson Bays, and it is a great knife, especially for the money. Scott Gossman recently put a convex edge on it. Great user.
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Mine came with a convex edge already?

I did thin it out behind the edge more.

Great knife for the money.




OP, you are telling me you got a $60 axe, made in a third world country, and shipped to a dealer in the US, marked up to retail, and shipped to you for a total cost of $60, and it had a wiggly head? Shocking.

Not meaning to be a turd, but by the time you count in shipping and mark up, it is probably a $30 axe.

One thought, is to get in touch with a dealer who does an inspection, and willing to check for you (fourtytwoblades comes to mind).

Yes, you should expect an axe to be delivered with a solid head/handle fit. One thing to note, though, is that wood shrinks in dryer environments. A tight eye in El Salvador may loosen up in the dryer environment in North America. Just a thought. I have a $170 axe that has a wiggly head from the wood shrinking a bit. It was tight when delivered, but a few weeks in my dry climate and it started to wiggle. It had never hit or cut anything when the wiggle appeared. The wood visibly shrank away from the eye.

I only own two Condor's, but am more than pleased with them for the little money I spent on each.
 
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Thomas Linton said:
Respectfully, combining the word "excellent" with a description of the goods as below industry standard and "behind the [quality] curve is a bit of a stretch - as is comparing Condor to Opinel, Svord, Mora, and Victorinox IMO. When Condor can reasonably be compared to MORA, they will have arrived.
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Respectfully

I purchased a Bushlore with a very nice sheath for $25.
For what I have for the price, it is excellent.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Respectfully, combining the word "excellent" with a description of the goods as below industry standard and "behind the [quality] curve is a bit of a stretch - as is comparing Condor to Opinel, Svord, Mora, and Victorinox IMO. When Condor can reasonably be compared to MORA, they will have arrived.
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No not behind the quality curve--behind the quality CONTROL curve. Condor is solidly in the same class as those other tools when it comes to price vs performance, but their tools are different from those put out by those other respective brands. Condor could pursue the Mora strategy if they wanted, but it would be a poor business decision as Mora has their process down to a science, relying heavily on automation whereas Condor presently is still using tons of hand processes. The do keep upgrading their equipment, but it's very expensive and takes a lot of time. Moras reach the quality they do by by producing relatively small knives that have a grind that is cheap to belt out via automated process. Most of their models have injection molded handles and plastic sheaths--again, making them inexpensive to produce. They reuse numerous components across multiple models as well, which divides the cost of tooling amongst multiple models. Mora is follows a completely different manufacturing strategy than Condor does, and so we're NOT directly comparing product so much as comparing the role of those tools in the market as low cost high value tools. The precision of Condor isn't "there yet" compared to Mora, but the performance is providing you don't get a lemon. And Mora has lemons that slip through too, you know. Though I don't see them as often as from Condor I actually do see them more frequently than I do from other companies I carry.

Respectfully, as someone who handles and inspects hundreds and hundreds of Condors a year, I stand by my statement. ;)
 
It's good to hear guys like 42 blades will check those thing out before passing them on. In fact, I almost bought a bushcraft blade from them off of 42 blades site, but I think that a good interpretation of the words "cheap, and inexpensive" come to mind when I think about this company. I'm still on the fence myself.
 
I have both a Speed Bowie and a Combat Axe. Neither one will take an edge. I have tried for a year and a half to get the Speed Bowie sharp. I have tried mill files, a bench stone, and DMT diamond sharpener. I have felt a burr on the Bowie but it will not flip. The burr just comes off without leaving the Bowie sharper.

You may be able to polish a turd but you can't sharpen one.

EDIT: I can get both my Ontario and Marble's machetes shaving sharp with a mill file. Touched up with a ceramic rod they are scary sharp.
 
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I don't have a bench grinder or a belt sander but I should probably get one or the other. However, when I add up all the sharpening equipment that I have purchased and time used, I could have had a Becker or maybe even an ESEE.

As soft as the Speed Bowie's steel SEEMS to be, I think a bench grinder would be overkill.
 
Squashfan said:
I have both a Speed Bowie and a Combat Axe. Neither one will take an edge. I have tried for a year and a half to get the Speed Bowie sharp. I have tried mill files, a bench stone, and DMT diamond sharpener. I have felt a burr on the Bowie but it will not flip. The burr just comes off without leaving the Bowie sharper.

You may be able to polish a turd but you can't sharpen one.

EDIT: I can get both my Ontario and Marble's machetes shaving sharp with a mill file. Touched up with a ceramic rod they are scary sharp.
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If you pay for return shipping and send it to me I'll sharpen it up for you for free. Your Marbles machete is made by the exact same company that makes Condor. Marbles contracts their machetes through Condor's parent company, Imacasa. Same steel, same heat treatment, same workers. If for some reason it's actually a heat treatment issue the company will pay for you to ship it back to them for free replacement.
 
Bigfattyt said:
OP, you are telling me you got a $60 axe, made in a third world country, and shipped to a dealer in the US, marked up to retail, and shipped to you for a total cost of $60, and it had a wiggly head? Shocking.

Not meaning to be a turd, but by the time you count in shipping and mark up, it is probably a $30 axe.
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Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying. And, as I also said, I went out yesterday and spent a mere $9 more, and purchased a different axe, also made thousands of miles away, shipped to a dealer in the US, and marked up to retail, and it isn't even remotely comparable to that Condor axe. I really don't care about the cultural differences between El Salvador and Sweden, etc. - at the end of the day, all those secondary factors aside, all that really matters is the quality of the product, and these two options are night and day for essentially the same price.

This isn't my first axe, and I'm fully aware that handle shrinkage can be an issue when taking an axe from one environment to another. As mentioned before, this was only one of the issues with it. The basic quality of workmanship was disappointing, given other options that are out there. And for those who think they represent a "good value" for the money, I would encourage looking at Council tool and Husqvarna, to name just two companies that somehow seem to be able to deliver far more consistent quality in the same price range.
 
Smithhammer said:
<snip> And for those who think they represent a "good value" for the money, I would encourage looking at Council tool and Husqvarna, to name just two companies that somehow seem to be able to deliver far more consistent quality in the same price range.
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Actually I've heard plenty of problems with Council's and Husqvarna's models. For the purposes of the discussion here I presume we're excluding Council's more expensive Velvicut line. In spite of those problems often being just as bad as those experienced with Condors, people aren't as concerned about them for some reason.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Actually I've heard plenty of problems with Council's and Husqvarna's models. For the purposes of the discussion here I presume we're excluding Council's more expensive Velvicut line. In spite of those problems often being just as bad as those experienced with Condors, people aren't as concerned about them for some reason.
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Nothing is entirely problem free, and if you search around enough, you'll find people having had issues with axes costing twice as much, but I take it as more than coincidence that I own two Husqvarna (Hults Bruks) axes and they are both really impressive for the money, while the two Condor products I've purchased (a Pack Golok and this Michigan axe) were going to be projects, right out of the box, before they would even be remotely usable. Maybe I've just been lucky with one brand and unlucky with the other, but I've seen a lot more people complaining about the latter than the former. Just sayin.
 
Smithhammer said:
Nothing is entirely problem free, and if you search around enough, you'll find people having had issues with axes costing twice as much, but I take it as more than coincidence that I own two Husqvarna (Hults Bruks) axes and they are both really impressive for the money, while the two Condor products I've purchased (a Pack Golok and this Michigan axe) were going to be projects, right out of the box, before they would even be remotely usable. Maybe I've just been lucky with one brand and unlucky with the other, but I've seen a lot more people complaining about the latter than the former. Just sayin.
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Council's standard line are projects out of the box as well. Just sayin'. ;) But that doesn't make them bad tools or a bad company. :)

And as mentioned, I've read quite a few threads about problems with both Husqvarnas and Councils. But we all have our own experiences, preferences, and biases, so it's ultimately up to the individual to decide. I'm just sharing my experiences and observations to help contribute to a big-picture cross section.
 
Smithhammer said:
Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying. And, as I also said, I went out yesterday and spent a mere $9 more, and purchased a different axe, also made thousands of miles away, shipped to a dealer in the US, and marked up to retail, and it isn't even remotely comparable to that Condor axe. I really don't care about the cultural differences between El Salvador and Sweden, etc. - at the end of the day, all those secondary factors aside, all that really matters is the quality of the product, and these two options are night and day for essentially the same price.
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Use the new axe for a while and let us know how it goes. :)
 
Thanks for the information FortyTwoBlades. I've read enough of your posts in the maintenance & sharpening area to feel more than comfortable buying an axe or knife hand picked by you.

It should also be noted that the Condor leather sheaths that come with their products are of a much higher quality than one would expect from the price point.
 
Brisket said:
It should also be noted that the Condor leather sheaths that come with their products are of a much higher quality than one would expect from the price point.
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I would agree. Their sheaths are surprisingly good...
 
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