Any Experience With Schatt and Morgan Heritage Cattle Knife

belljs3

belljs3

Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
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I've had a cattle knife on my list for a long time and recently have been tempted to go ahead and buy a Schatt and Morgan Heritage Cattle Knife.

I was wondering if anyone on the forum owns/owned one and could tell me what they thought of it?
 
Got the Woodsman which is similar.

I have mixed reactions, largely positive though. Nice bone, blades sharpen well, looks very attractive.

On the other hand, weak snap and general W&T can't be ignored. Quite a heavy knife too, but this is a moot point, some may like or loathe this.

Very glad it's in my fleet though and I would not trade or sell it.

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You need to conjur up Blues for this. He knows all things related to Cattle Knives.
 
i also had a woodsman. to many issues with mine to keep. week snap on all blades. more blade play than usual. and the blades rubbed each other really bad when closed.
 
I tried one. Posted my thoughts on it here. Looking back, maybe my expectations going in were too high, and maybe I could have given it more of a chance. But at the time, my initial impression just left too much of a sour taste.
 
I have one and being a S&M offering I expected it to be right up there like other S&M's I have. What a disappointment, the blades were ground down too far and it looked like a five year old had sharpened it. Complete with no snap, on any blade. I sent it back listing what I thought was wrong with it. I think they just put it back in the box and returned it untouched. That was the last time I thought anymore about the heritage series. The whole group of heritage knives were a poor decision to be manufactured the way they were.
 
I bought a S&M Heritage Cattle knife a while back. I remember reading somewhere that it was made with the same tooling as the originals. I liked that concept and that's what sold me on the knife.

I didn't like the knife when I got it in my hands. Mine had that same spongy action that Kirkwood mentioned in the thread he linked. It was very strange and hard to describe. A thorough flushing and cleaning of the action did nothing to improve it. On a positive note, the knife was an absolute brute of a knife. Heavy for its size, (a feature that I did like) and I suspect it would have taken on some serious tasks with flying colors. I just couldn't get past that strange, spongy walk & talk.
 
Like Will, I have the similar "Woodsman model". Also like Will, my reactions are a bit mixed.

Sharpness has never been Queen's long suit. This one was not absolutely terrible and 1095 is easy to sharpen.
The bone is to die for.
The fit and finish is excellent, but the action is odd. Strong spring action holding it open or closed, but is listless in the middle of the swing between open and closed positions. It has the same action on all three blades, as if it were intentional. Now actually, I kind of like the action, but it is odd and I would expect that a lot of folks who need things to be "just so" might despise it.

Big heavy solid knife. I don't mind it in jeans, though.
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I've found a few cattle knives in junk malls and at knife shows, from Imperial and other brands. Very well made and inexpensive if you will settle for a knife that has been sharpened a little bit, and isn't brand spanking new.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone, I think I'm going to go the route silenthunterstudios suggested and try to find an old imperial in jigged bone. I've seen them on the big auction site several times but the bids always got a bit too rich for my blood.

I would like to see GEC do one on the 68 frame eventually, maybe just some wishful thinking :p
 
One of the trusted vendors here that sells a ton of traditionals actually steered me away from the purchase of that knife. He told me that it wasn't the factory's best effort and he didn't want the hassle of getting it back. That was gospel to me and I went in another direction at his suggestion.

Robert
 
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