Bear and Son...thoughts?

Bear and Sons is local here to my town. I've toured their plant and had a few college buddies work there while going to school. Quality is horrible and the owner is not very nice. All he sees are dollar signs and no quality. I hate that a local to me knife company can't put quality ahead of quantity....
 
I really wanted to like Bear and Son, but after giving them two tries, it just isn't working out. The first knife I got from them I thought must have been an anomaly. The surface of the rocker bar that rides on the tang had visible tool marks, so that the action was notchy. I mean gravel road kind of notchy, more like a navaja than a lockback. The second knife was better, but the bone was cracked and the finish was rough. You like your Bear and Son knives and so do many other people, so I suspect that I got two at the low end of their QC tolerances, but I won't give them a third chance.
 
Poor F&F, crappy grinds, asymmetrical scales, rude customer service. Two knives was all it took to form my opinion. The older knives seemed a little better but not much.--KV
 
BatJak said:
I've seen better quality come out of china.
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Me too on the cheaper lines. I'd choose a Rough Rider slippie over just about any Bear & Son slippie. Bear & Son needs to do some self reflection on quality control.

I used to buy the Remington bullet knives until I learned that Bear & Sons are making them since Camillus died. Haven't looked at one in a couple years to make a revised judgement. For now, they're out of my consideration.
 
I’ve got several of their Bowie’s. All good value for the $$, and 200x the fit and finish of anything I’ve seen from China. Not the level of perfection or qc seen on more expensive Bowie’s though. But better than expected.
 
I have one Bear & Son folder that I bought quite a few years ago as I started to branch out into modern folders. At the time I thought it was a pretty decent knife, but as I became more discerning and bought better quality knives, I began to see that the knife was lacking in general F&F, action, steel, and design. I've kept the knife as it has some sentimental value, but soon lost interest in picking up any more from that maker.

The Bears I buy now are all Shiros. :D
 
MolokaiRider said:
i have a few Bear and Son folders, I kind of like them. They seem to get a bad rap...what am I missing?
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That they are absolute shit? Worst fit and finish of any knife I have ever handled. Period.
On my sodbuster the backspring was so misaligned and the gaps so big it only made contact with about 1/3 of the blade tang. It was so f'd up that it didn't even hold the blade open. Apparently it was "within tolerances".
 
Wow, I didn’t realize their folders were so bad! I guess fixed blades are harder to screw up.
 
in the past...maybe still true today? very poor fit and finish. questionable heat treats sometimes...least in the ones I've owned. very shoddy assembly. almost nonexistant quality control. the only good thing is the lower price points and i guess american made.

that may have changed as i stopped buying them after seeing failure after failure many years ago.
 
Mo2 said:
I think they are not American made at all from what I remember reading in another older thread.
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yeah i dont know. just guessed from seeing some of their marketing and stamps on knives i have from them. i assumed and you know what that gets ya.:)
 
Yonose said:
I’ve got several of their Bowie’s. All good value for the $$, and 200x the fit and finish of anything I’ve seen from China. Not the level of perfection or qc seen on more expensive Bowie’s though. But better than expected.
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I've been thinking of getting one of their bowies, the 9 inch blade in the Sandvik stainless steel. I've been hesitating because of their lousy reputation. Somewhere I read that one of their damascus bowies had poor heat treat on the edge. Somebody allegedly used it to cut a branch and his knife is all screwed up, damascus de-laminated. Have you used yours on a two inch thick piece of wood?
 
91bravo said:
They are American made for sure. Their shop is just a few miles down from the college I graduated from. Whether the raw material is American or not, I can't really attest to that...
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I think the Sandvik steel they use in some of their bowies is made in Sweden.
 
It's hit or miss with Bear. I have one of their large folding hunters with bone scales and I really like it. There's nothing bad I can say about it and I've used it to field dress deer.
A buddy of mine has one of their bowies and it too is very nice.

On the other hand, I have a few of their Remington branded "year" knives and those are lacking in terms of fit and finish.
 
I really appreciate the replies, thanks all.

I was lucky enough to get two slipjoints (trapper and stockman) in carbon steel that are decent enough but definitely not perfect. The handles and springs are good, but noticeably less attention to quality than Case.

I wonder if after this generation of ownership retires if this company will continue.
 
Their Balis are "classic" entry level flippers. I had one I used as an EDC for years. Held its edge OK. It loosened up, but a friend still flips it. Good training for when I moved up to a Benchmade:)
 
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