Bear and Son experience.

williamsld8

williamsld8

Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
226
So I recently picked up a Bear and Son Little Trapper, yellow handles, carbon blades. I like the overall feel of the knife, but I noticed the edge was rolled and uneven and straight up garbage when I got it. This is on both blades by the way. I fixed the clip blade and am still working on the spey. But the biggest issue is the face that from heel to toe of the blade, the width is uneven as well. There is in fact pretty much a recurve in the blade, making sharpening the lower 3rd of the blade dang near impossible. I have still yet to grind enough off the spey blade to get things evened up. I went back to the store to take a look at the other Bear and Son knives in the case that I got mine from, thinking it could just be a bad one, and low and behold every single blade on every one of their knives in the case was ground that way. I really like these knives for the look and feel, as well as the fact that they are US made with carbon blades. But the factory (lack of)edge and the recurving of what should be a straight edge blade on all their products led me to send them a nice email asking to see some higher QC. Just thought I would share this observation as I see a lot of questions about Bear and Son posted (as I searched for them having the same questions myself) and most responses being vague but cautious, as if people are weary of trying them. I decided to take the chance and now I see why. Checked my Case trapper in yellow handles and CV that I bought the same day out of the same case for 10 dollars more, and the edges are evenly ground, and straight from choil to tip.
 
Hi,

I have had a similar experience with Bear and a Stockman. General opinion is it's best to pick a Bear and Son in person.

On the upside, it can be fixed with a bit of work.

Dale
 
Like others have said, I want to like them, but the low spot in the spey blade I have been working on and is still not fixed. It's getting aggravating. Would be worth 10 more dollars I think to get a Case that comes already ground correctly right out of the box.
 
I bought one of their large trappers in the carbon series also, for a discount price thought I would try it out. The clip blade did have a recurve shape to it also, but the overall fit and finish was nothing to brag about. I pulled over half a dozen metal slivers from between the spacers and springs on the back of the knife, and eventually ended up sanding the entire back of the knife from one bolster to the other. Worked my way up to 600 grit before I called it good enough, took about 30mins because I'm slow. It was a fun project to play with one afternoon, I also plan on trying to do some file work on the blade just for fun when I get some time off around the holidays.
 
I own 4 of their knives and have their folding hunter lock back on my belt now.

Have and use a 4 1/4 Rosewood Trapper in SS. It's a good work knife and the F&F is OK, but not like the Case and Queens that I also carry.
Both blades have what I call, a holy cow what is that, recurve. The spey is getting better each time it gets sharpened, the clip is OK and I can live with it.

The folding hunter lock back is in SS and a slip joint folding hunter in carbon, have an uneven to poor F&F. They work well as everyday work knives, but not something that most would show off.

BTW Their SS seems to take and hold a fair edge for what it is, but I've been spoiled by Queen's D2 and blade steel hasn't been the same after working with a Queen.

The last Bear I bought was a limited production and numbered jumbo trapper in stag. The F&F on the knife is great compared to the others that I own and use.

Half the fun of knife collecting is test driving different knives and steels in a real world setting.

If the right knife comes along, I might buy another Bear, but odds are against it, because I've had my run with them and with GEC, Case & Queen in my backyard, I think I might play at home for awhile straying to Buck and others now and then.
 
Ive given up on their folders.They need to bite the bullet and junk the old Parker tooling.I actually dont know thats the problem,but i do know they have a problem.I bought 4 small locking soddies trying to get one without massive blade play.
 
Well the one trapper that I have from them has zero blade play. As a matter of fact everything seems pretty tight on it. The only thing I really have an issue with is the rolled over butter knife edge (Literally. I know it sounds dumb but as rounded as that edge was I tried to cut some paper, my fingernail, even my finger as stupid as that sounds. Guess what. It cut none of the above.) and that recurve in the middle of the blade. If they could fix that I would probably buy them as loyally as Bucks, Cases, and Kershaws that I already buy with blind faith and am never disappointed.
 
My first bay purchase for myself (wife was first With a Spyderco Q) was a Bear MGC Damascus peanut I got for $15. It is a pretty good little knife- fairly sharp, good pattern, nice pearl with one small crack. Not much but good for the price. Later I found a hunting knife in stag. Handle scale fell off, burnt tip, poor finishing. Sent it back based on phone conversation. 3 months later- nothing. I call, they look around for a while, come back to the phone and tell me they found it so it will get started on! 3 months sitting in a corner isn't a good thing. Finally it gets returned- very fat stag on one side, thin on the other, burnt tip visible, edge reground/"sharpened" horribly, with scratches along the blade that were not there. Traded it as used, and put Bear on my "do not deal with" list.

Other mileage may vary but that is my experience.
 
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