The question is "are they any good." Many have answered it by expressing that, in their opinion, they are not.
Were they any good? Not the question.
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are winchester knives any good?
- Thread starter dylanbones2
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The question is "are they any good." Many have answered it by expressing that, in their opinion, they are not.
Were they any good? Not the question.
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Glad I stumbled into this thread as I am currently looking at buying a Winchester Barlow knife. Says it's made in the USA, and looks to be quite different in quality than the china Walmart Winchester gift knives. Not sure who is actually manufacturing these, nor have I been able to see one in person.
Soooo, if I may ask a similar question to those who may know... What is the quality of the current US made traditional knives with Winchester's name on it? The msrp on the Barlow knife I'm looking at is just north of $100. So I would expect it to be better quality than a $4 blade from Wally's.
Maybe where on the quality scale between say Rough Rider and a GEC?
Soooo, if I may ask a similar question to those who may know... What is the quality of the current US made traditional knives with Winchester's name on it? The msrp on the Barlow knife I'm looking at is just north of $100. So I would expect it to be better quality than a $4 blade from Wally's.
Maybe where on the quality scale between say Rough Rider and a GEC?
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It would probably work fine for the average person in my opinion. Most people pay a lot of money for knives to open the mail and cut apples. Just my opinion. Not the quality of a Buck or Case but would work just fine.
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Did you see tltt's post very early in this thread? Ever heard of the Winchester Cartridge Series? Queen made, and these current Winchesters aren't junk. I think they are over priced ($100-$175), but they certainly are neither Chinese nor junk. Link to BF dealer:
http://www2.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_store.html?usrsearch=winchester&&&s=1
Also check out this thread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/873062-Winchester-Cartridge-Series-Questions
tltt brought Queen made Winchesters into this discussion early, but those knives are available from more then just Bluegrass. eisman mention the cartridge series also.
Broad brushed statements that Winchester knives are only good for decoration, have no redeeming quality, are of poor quality and mystery steel simply are not true. Telling another not to buy a knife with a gun maker's name on it without explanation or caveat is bad advice as there are some good knives with gun maker's names on them, Winchester being one.
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Thanks. :thumbup:
I have indeed heard of the Winchester Cartridge Series. However, the "Winchester" knife the guy at work was waving around wasn't one of them. The glimpse I got of it screamed Gas Station Knife!
The low-price Winchester knives and multi-tools found at the discount department stores are indeed junk. Not even worth the very low prices.
eisman
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Just a little more in case someone here really wants a good knife bearing the "Winchester" name. In the 1980's Queen (a USA knife maker that's been in business for many years) acquired the original tooling for the original Winchester knives and began making licensed reproductions, using the original tang stamps (made with the original tooling).
I had to laugh at this. At the same time that Queen was making the Winchester Knives they were also making the Case Classic knives (not all of them, Case did some in house). The Case Classic knives, like the Queen made Winchesters, were of superb quality (some say the finest knives Queen ever made). They were certainly some of the best Case knives ever made. In other words, the best knives Queen and Case made in the 1980's and 1990's are possibly wearing "Winchester" brands (because there are some Case made Winchesters out there). The knives made at this time are known as "Black Box Winchesters" and they were sold by Bluegrass Cutlery. They were made with 1095 steel and have some of the finest jigged bone and stag handles ever seen on any production knives. Other makers (Camillus, before they went out of business) were also involved in making these knives. The boxes changed color to white near the end of the production and the earlier knives are considered to be the highest quality. My opinion is that quality holds more to pattern than to year.
As to the more expensive knives of current manufacture I would suggest that Queen is again the manufacturer. For the record they (Queen) also made many of the Canal Street knives mentioned in another post. Queen knives are very good; certainly Case quality; better than Buck traditional patterns; not quite GEC quality.
I had to laugh at this. At the same time that Queen was making the Winchester Knives they were also making the Case Classic knives (not all of them, Case did some in house). The Case Classic knives, like the Queen made Winchesters, were of superb quality (some say the finest knives Queen ever made). They were certainly some of the best Case knives ever made. In other words, the best knives Queen and Case made in the 1980's and 1990's are possibly wearing "Winchester" brands (because there are some Case made Winchesters out there). The knives made at this time are known as "Black Box Winchesters" and they were sold by Bluegrass Cutlery. They were made with 1095 steel and have some of the finest jigged bone and stag handles ever seen on any production knives. Other makers (Camillus, before they went out of business) were also involved in making these knives. The boxes changed color to white near the end of the production and the earlier knives are considered to be the highest quality. My opinion is that quality holds more to pattern than to year.
As to the more expensive knives of current manufacture I would suggest that Queen is again the manufacturer. For the record they (Queen) also made many of the Canal Street knives mentioned in another post. Queen knives are very good; certainly Case quality; better than Buck traditional patterns; not quite GEC quality.
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Ok, for the record, the pic below is the one that spurred my mid-thread re-phrase of the original question. And from eisman's info did another search and sure enough, located it on the Bluegrass site. I thought the lines looked way too close to the Primble I was also looking at, and sure enough, Bluegrass site shows both logo's as their contracts.
So has anyone handled any of the new releases?
Item # : W 20 29020 R
So has anyone handled any of the new releases?
Item # : W 20 29020 R
That's always been my take on this subject.
eisman
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People who look at the NAME without looking at the KNIFE are the reason fakes, replicas, and counterfits exist.
Holland and Holland, Army & Navy, Ambercrombie and Fitch, Tiffany's, all had knives made for them, and sold with their names on them. They also made and sold firearms. Would you really not buy a Loveless made knife if it was marked with something other than his name? You'd pass on a real Winchester made, because all you know is Spyderco? You don't know that knives with names like Sears, Craftsman, Montgomery Wards, etc were made by some of the most sought after manufactures in the world?
Quit looking at ads in the magazines and actually spend some time learning about knives.
Holland and Holland, Army & Navy, Ambercrombie and Fitch, Tiffany's, all had knives made for them, and sold with their names on them. They also made and sold firearms. Would you really not buy a Loveless made knife if it was marked with something other than his name? You'd pass on a real Winchester made, because all you know is Spyderco? You don't know that knives with names like Sears, Craftsman, Montgomery Wards, etc were made by some of the most sought after manufactures in the world?
Quit looking at ads in the magazines and actually spend some time learning about knives.
I agree to some extent. That is, the knife I saw was junk. The knives a lot of guys see marked with "Winchester" or "S&W" are junk. Just straight up minimum effort, vaguely sharp chunks of metal without grace or durability.
A better question might be, "Should those of us who have seen these travesties of the knife maker's art paint all "Winchester" or "S&W" knives with the same broad brush?"
Maybe not. I understand some of the history of the old Remington and Winchester knives, the old traditionals. And I'll give a shout out to the Benchmade "H&K" knives and even the Beretta knives (some are quite nice from what I've seen in pictures, though I've never actually handled one).
However, I'm not going to invest a great deal of time and effort into sorting through mounds of current production gas station knives in hopes of finding that one gem. There are mounds of wonderful knives I can sort through with a good probability of coming up with a gem every single time, and those mounds are marked Spyderco, Zero Tolerance, Benchmade, Kershaw, Chris Reeve, Hinderer, etc. Knife-makers all.
We only have so much time in life and I choose not to waste what little I have on questionable products. I have been lucky enough in life that I can afford to buy a good knife straight up without having to sift through hundreds of completely unsuitable choices. I get that not everyone has been so blessed; I wasn't born into this myself. I can remember when $20 was a huge amount of money for me. I can also remember when I didn't know much at all about good knives.
That said, I'm not sure we are doing people any favors by giving vaguely favorable characterizations of knives we ourselves wouldn't carry. Yes, I know we want to be friendly and helpful, but are we really being friendly and helpful when we say "Yes, your gas station knife is tolerably decent, though I personally wouldn't carry it"? It's a hard call filled with a lot of qualifiers. There is likely no one right answer; kind of like life.
That's not as true as it used to be. In the old days you could perhaps trust a store-brand product to be as good as name-brand items (I grew up shooting a Western Field shotgun and own several Belknap and Old Crafty knives). Nowadays... not so much.
What Loveless-made knives are available today under a different brand?
So post a link to a department store today that sells knives that are 'real' Winchester-made. Heck, post a link to a major retail store that even stocks the Queen-made "Winchester" knives.
If people have the impression that "Winchester" or "Smith and Wesson" knives are absolute junk, it's no wonder. Those brands have worked hard for many years to erode the public's trust, and their reputation for selling crap is well-earned. :thumbdn:
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I would love to have an Abercrombie and Fitch gun. It would match my Puka Shell Necklace.
From back in the day when Abercrombie & Fitch were an outfitter, such a gun would be worth something. Same with their knives. Just as with Winchester knives, we ought to convey the whole story.
https://www.google.com/search?q=abe...I8qtyAS6s4HwCg&ved=0CC8QsAQ&dpr=0.95#imgdii=_
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Leghog, I was simply poking a little fun 
I definitely know a thing or two about antique firearms, but I just couldn't resist the urge.
I definitely know a thing or two about antique firearms, but I just couldn't resist the urge.