Arthur Wright & Son, Sheffield: Quality of six knives received in 2022 - happy customer

[Jack Black]

It's really easy to centre and sharpen a Blade though so i don't understand why people return them for something so trivial.

Because you don't pay extra for promised first rate quality, buying a run of 20 knives as an SFO, and then send out second rate rubbish to your customers. The samples I collected at the same time were also terrible. I didn't return any of those knives, because they weren't the first bad knives I'd had from Wright's. I severed a 5 year business relationship I'd had with the firm, under their previous owner, and I gave almost all of the knives away.

I had an A. Wright knife a few months back from a UK dealer, who had an SFO made up. I know Wright's knives well enough to know that the knife I received had been wrapped at the factory. I imagine, like they did with me, they faithfully promised the guy they had thoroughly checked the knives, and they were A1 quality, and that he sent them out to his customers in good faith. I'm not going to complain, I can sort the bad edge out, though it remains ugly, and hopefully, one day I'll be able to open the blade without using pliers! I've opened thousands of Sheffield knives, and only ever come across two that I haven't been able to open, this recent one, shown below, and one of the knives mentioned in paragraph one above.

Nobody here, has anything like the experience I've had with this company, but if you order from them, you're definitely taking a gamble, they're very hit and miss, and best chance of getting something decent from them is to find a good retailer who carefully checks their stock when they receive it from Wright's, and checks the knives that they are shipping to customers, themselves.

 

[Jack Black]

I'm from the UK, and have always called it "Lambsfoot".

Because that's what it's called

 

[Hatchet_Jack]

Jack Black know its in the past, but I'm curious mate. Did they ever apologise or try to make it right after thate last SFO?

 

[Johnnythefox]

Because you don't pay extra for promised first rate quality, buying a run of 20 knives as an SFO, and then send out second rate rubbish to your customers. The samples I collected at the same time were also terrible. I didn't return any of those knives, because they weren't the first bad knives I'd had from Wright's. I severed a 5 year business relationship I'd had with the firm, under their previous owner, and I gave almost all of the knives away.

I had an A. Wright knife a few months back from a UK dealer, who had an SFO made up. I know Wright's knives well enough to know that the knife I received had been wrapped at the factory. I imagine, like they did with me, they faithfully promised the guy they had thoroughly checked the knives, and they were A1 quality, and that he sent them out to his customers in good faith. I'm not going to complain, I can sort the bad edge out, though it remains ugly, and hopefully, one day I'll be able to open the blade without using pliers! I've opened thousands of Sheffield knives, and only ever come across two that I haven't been able to open, this recent one, shown below, and one of the knives mentioned in paragraph one above.

Nobody here, has anything like the experience I've had with this company, but if you order from them, you're definitely taking a gamble, they're very hit and miss, and best chance of getting something decent from them is to find a good retailer who carefully checks their stock when they receive it from Wright's, and checks the knives that they are shipping to customers, themselves.

Probably should have sent it back Jack,his Chinese traditionals where Better value and better made (but not the real deal) I sold the one I had.

I was lucky the one I got I could open (a clip point),I am not as experianced as you though.

I think the blade was OK but didnt look to close,do you think it was made personally by Ashley?

Anyway I sold it on in England it was OK I thought, but nothing special and I have plenty enough that I can hard use if need be.

Perhaps I should have sold it here to a enthusiasts,but at the price with postage it would perhaps not have been wanted.

 

[Jack Black]

Probably should have sent it back Jack,his Chinese traditionals where Better value and better made (but not the real deal) I sold the one I had.

In retrospect, I probably should have mate, but he's a nice guy, and I figured he'd just been stiffed like I was. I'd definitely buy from him again

I was lucky the one I got I could open (a clip point),I am not as experianced as you though.

Yeah, they couldn't ALL have been like the one I got. Hopefully it was the only one.

I think the blade was OK but didnt look to close,do you think it was made personally by Ashley?

I had some other knives with similarly badly-ground edges, and they're not Ashley's edges. I couldn't say for sure with the rest of the knife, but it's not like any of the ones he made for me.

Anyway I sold it on in England it was OK I thought, but nothing special and I have plenty enough that I can hard use if need be.

Perhaps I should have sold it here to a enthusiasts,but at the price with postage it would perhaps not have been wanted.

Yeah, I'd had half a mind to put mine into a giveaway when I ordered it, but need to do something with it first. I've got a LONG 'To Do' list at the moment!

 

[Jack Black]

Looking forward to the day this thread eventually dies for good!

 

[echoscout]

Looking forward to the day this thread eventually dies for good!

Me too.

 

[Leslie Tomville]

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Jack Black , you obviously have a personal grudge against Wrights resulting from failed business dealings. As a result, you cannot resist any opportunity to write something negative about them. Of course you would want this thread to go away, because it relates the positive experiences of many people. The irony is that the thread would have faded away long ago, but you have kept it alive by publicly airing your personal grievances and biases over and over again.

Wrights simply makes low priced run of the mill knives. Some are bad, some are good, and many are in the middle. They do not pretend to be otherwise. The knives made by Ashley are far better and come close to GEC quality. He is a fine young man trying his best to carry on the Sheffield knife making tradition. I urge everyone to support them. Many of us enjoy these knives tremendously, especially in light of their low cost. If they interest you, try one for yourself, and let us know what you think.

 

[Jack Black]

Jack Black , you obviously have a personal grudge against Wrights resulting from failed business dealings. As a result, you cannot resist any opportunity to write something negative about them. Of course you would want this thread to go away, because it relates the positive experiences of some people. The irony is that the thread would have faded away long ago, but you have kept it alive by publicly airing your personal grievances over and over again.

You're a strange individual Greg, what a bizarre accusation. It's not me that keeps resurrecting this thread. I carry a Wright's knife at least once a week, and post photos of it.

Wrights simply makes low priced run of the mill knives. Some are bad, some are good, and many are in the middle.

I've said much the same thing many times. I think people should know what they're getting, and how to increase their chances of getting a reasonable quality knife from them (ie from a discerning dealer).

The knives made by Ashley are far better and come close to GEC quality. He is a fine young man trying his best to carry on the Sheffield knife making tradition.

I've known Ashley many years, and he's a good cutler, and good lad. This thread is about Wright's standard line, not about Ashley's custom knives.

 

[Jack Black]

Just for the record, this thread was started on May 5th 2022, and resurrected on May 23rd. I made one post on the 24th.

It came back to life on June 15th, and again on December 11th. I was quoted twice on December 11th. I made my second post in this thread on December 12th 2022, in response, and made 4 more posts replying to subsequent posts.

There were further posts on January 4th 2023, January 17th, and then February 10th. I posted 3 times on February 10th, firstly responding to a question.

There were 2 posts in this thread on February 19th 2023, and another on March 13th. I posted twice on March 14th to correct an inaccuracy not directly related to Wright's.

The next time this thread was resurrected was April 4th 2023, and then again on December 6th 2023. It then slept until last Sunday, when my post from last May was quoted in such a way that it was necessary for me to do so, otherwise I would not have posted here. There aren't many of them, but my posts can be easily found, and read

 

[Leslie Tomville]

Jack Black , if you have to resort to name calling I suppose my point was well taken. I only know about this because you have written about it so many times in various threads, not just here. Many of us enjoy this thread. If you do not like it, you can just ignore it. Stating that you are looking forward to the day this threads dies seems like a clear indication of your bias and motivation to me. Your defensiveness is also revealing.

 

[birdsbeaks]

Wrights simply makes low priced run of the mill knives. Some are bad, some are good, and many are in the middle.

I believe this is the commonly accepted definition of "hit or miss."

One of the issues for me is that they seem to charge more than "low priced run of the mill" prices for certain models - but there doesn't seem to be an attendant increase in quality, it's still just luck of the draw. Pay no attention to the Richartz sheepsfoot (above in the following pic), but I've had this Wright's stag for over a year and can barely get it open even with uncountable flushes and excessive manipulation. The stag is okay, I suppose, but quite pithy and porous - and there is some minor gapping between the spring and liners. Put all those together and it doesn't see a lot of carry. If a friend were looking for a working lambsfoot knife at a reasonable price, especially a first one, I'd do my best to steer them in a different direction. I get it, sample group of one, but that's the one they decided to send me so that's the one I formed my opinion on. I guess I could've easily wound up with a real winner, but I didn't.

I've no experience with any custom lambsfoot knives, but I'd assume they would demonstrate better quality - for a price.

 

[Leslie Tomville]

birdsbeaks , you are correct, “hit or miss” is a good description. It would be so much better if we could walk into a knife shop and pick through a few. I have the same problem with Case knives. They are also hit or miss, but the good ones are extremely nice. I will only order a Case knife from a dealer who accepts returns. I suppose this is the best way to buy Wright knives as well. Sorry to hear about the Stag. It looks beautiful in the photo, but I also dislike pithy Stag.

Ashley’s knives are not custom in the way I think of custom. I believe that for the most part he uses the same blades and parts that the factory uses, but he assembles them with more care. The fit and finish is better. He also offers additional handle options. They are much less expensive than a usual custom knife. They only cost slightly more than the factory knives, less than $100 in my experience.

 

[Jack Black]

Jack Black , if you have to resort to name calling I suppose my point was well taken. I only know about this because you have written about it so many times in various threads, not just here. Many of us enjoy this thread. If you do not like it, you can just ignore it. Stating that you are looking forward to the day this threads dies seems like a clear indication of your bias and motivation to me. Your defensiveness is also revealing.

What?! Because I said you were a strange individual?! I could have certainly said worse, but I have stuck to your unwarranted attack on me, (I notice your post is edited), and its bizarre nature, and false accusations. I didn't start this thread, nor do I keep resurrecting it. On this very page, I posted: "Nobody here, has anything like the experience I've had with this company, but if you order from them, you're definitely taking a gamble, they're very hit and miss, and best chance of getting something decent from them is to find a good retailer who carefully checks their stock when they receive it from Wright's, and checks the knives that they are shipping to customers, themselves." Are you saying anything much different, when you say: "Wrights simply makes low priced run of the mill knives. Some are bad, some are good, and many are in the middle."? This thread is hardly a popular one, and when it has been resurrected, I've usually ignored it, except when I have been quoted, or asked questions, and even then, I've sometimes found it easier not to respond, as with my friend Hatchet_Jack above. As for my defensiveness, you maligned me in your post, in a way that is not only unreasonable, but unsupported by the evidence in this thread, which posters can read for themselves. I don't think my response to you is unreasonable.

 

[Peregrin]

I have no desire the get in the middle of this. Just knock it off. The negative personal references don't belong here. Discuss the knives, not each other.

 

[birdsbeaks]

It would be so much better if we could walk into a knife shop and pick through a few. I have the same problem with Case knives.

In my area, there is zero chance of having a local knife store - they'd never be able to support the rent payments. I also have the same problem with Case. What would really be great is if both Wright and Case could get their acts together and quit allowing lemons to leave the factory. Not that they've never allowed a defect out the door, but Victorinox, GEC, Boker Solingen, and a number of other manufacturers have demonstrated that it need not be a regular occurrence. Personally, I have a hard time gambling on a knife when there are other solid options from more consistent manufacturers available. I'll leave the door open for an Ashley Harrison if I ever come across one.

 

[Leslie Tomville]

birdsbeaks , I cannot disagree when you say that Wrights and Case should up their game. I have had a chance to speak with Case executives about this. Their response was basically that the extra cost involved in making sure that every blade was centered and tight, that there was a deep dark dye job, and that there were no liner gaps, would make their knives cost too much and reduce their production. This would make them less competitive as a result. I suppose that both Wrights and Case have made similar business decisions. They seem to feel that their niche is higher volume and lower prices at the expense of quality. I can understand the business rationale, but I don’t like it any better than you do.

Unless he has recently made. change, Ashley’s knives do not bear a unique to him tang stamp to identify his knives as opposed to regular factory knives. They appear to be regular factory knives, but with better workmanship and handle materials.

 

[Will Power]

In late November ordered a Peach Pruner knife by A. Wright and was immediately warned that they might not be able to deliver before Christmas due to ordering and demand. I was impressed by the polite manner they bothered to keep a customer informed. I asked for Oak scales and hoped for a lighter colour as a change from the usual Rosewood or Ebony versions. On 8 December they e-mailed me that the packet had gone out and included a tracking number, the postal cost seemed modest. In the end the volume of mail and the incompetence of Finnish Post -privatised about 3 years ago meant it didn't arrive for Christmas. Also, Britain not being part of the EU means a Customs process delaying the delivery and adding to cost.

After Christmas or early New Year I got the packet and am delighted with the knife and here's a short review of it: The Peach Pruner is a smaller framed model than most Pruners and this makes it of interest to me as a variant. The Oak scales are very nicely finished and radiused, pleasing colour, pins all flush (GEC take note! ) blade is centred no contact with liner, no gaps on spring nor with bolsters. It was VERY hard to open at first as the pivot was stiff, a thorough wash out with soap, drying, oiling and opening fixed it and it now has 'talk' The blade had a burr on it but a ceramic stick soon knocked that off. In fact, Pruner/Hawbills can be very easily sharpened on the Sharpmaker using steps 1 and 3 (see their video) without flattening their shape. The spring was quite cleanly cut off on this one and often Wright knives leave them a bit crude & jagged.

All in all a very tidy knife and one I'm well pleased with, to own and use. They use inexpensive materials and have no pretence about them. Nor was this one some so-called SFO either, it cost 40 GBP plus the import tax of 25% which is remarkably good I'd say. Also have an Ashley Harrison Camelbone Lamb Foot and this is excellently finished nor was this very expensive either. Which knives are made by Ashley Harrison or by others including his father the current owner of the firm I cannot say but based on my experience at least they are markedly better knives since 2020 than those I have made before this date.

In a forum, all points of view about knives good and bad should be aired for others to make their own judgement and contribution. Otherwise it can become a one sided, sterile place. It is not for anybody to be wishing a thread to be dead, very insulting and boorish behaviour to the OP who had bothered to assess and evaluate a number of knives he had bought from this firm. It is for the OP to decide if a thread be closed or has run its course. There are naturally numbers of threads we may not be interested in or we regard as repetitive or in fact having very little to do with knives...but we are better served by avoiding them.

Thanks, Will

 

[Jack Black]

Hate buying discussions, but just to clarify, if you order through the A. Wright & Son website, you are not ordering from A. Wright & Son, but from one of their retailers - nice people, who run the website, and who return plenty of knives back to the factory, as I know first-hand.

Apart from discussion which borders on schilling, and the buying discussions here, my grumbles about this thread are because I have been asked questions here about my dealings with the firm, which I would rather not answer, frankly, certainly not on an open forum. I don't know why my comments that their knives are hit and miss was controversial, since that seems to be a widely held view. I've shown far more photographic examples of the knives produced, over the years, than any other poster by far, good and bad. Like other posters, I relate personal experiences, and my experiences over the past few years, are not good, my most recent purchase being a glaring example.

The last time I spoke to Michael Harrison, he had retired from making knives himself, which is a shame, because along with Ashley, he was the firms best cutler. It's almost impossible to recruit cutlers in Sheffield, even to train as apprentices, so they don't exactly have their pick of talent. This is the main reasons for the variable quality, along with virtually no QC, and a lack of ambition. I am pleased to have sponsored better quality knives, by being willing to pay for the extra time they take, and give the cutlers something different and more ambitious to work on, rather than simply turning out the same unremarkable knives, which are for the most part, what the buying public wants.

Peach Pruner is a very handsome pattern

 

[waynorth]

Hate buying discussions, but just to clarify, if you order through the A. Wright & Son website, you are not ordering from A. Wright & Son, but from one of their retailers - nice people, who run the website, and who return plenty of knives back to the factory, as I know first-hand.

Apart from discussion which borders on schilling, and the buying discussions here, my grumbles about this thread are because I have been asked questions here about my dealings with the firm, which I would rather not answer, frankly, certainly not on an open forum. I don't know why my comments that their knives are hit and miss was controversial, since that seems to be a widely held view. I've shown far more photographic examples of the knives produced, over the years, than any other poster by far, good and bad. Like other posters, I relate personal experiences, and my experiences over the past few years, are not good, my most recent purchase being a glaring example.

The last time I spoke to Michael Harrison, he had retired from making knives himself, which is a shame, because along with Ashley, he was the firms best cutler. It's almost impossible to recruit cutlers in Sheffield, even to train as apprentices, so they don't exactly have their pick of talent. This is the main reasons for the variable quality, along with virtually no QC, and a lack of ambition. I am pleased to have sponsored better quality knives, by being willing to pay for the extra time they take, and give the cutlers something different and more ambitious to work on, rather than simply turning out the same unremarkable knives, which are for the most part, what the buying public wants.

Peach Pruner is a very handsome pattern

Nice collection, Jack!!