Bear and sons cutlery?

[Hammer67]

i sent a couple of the worst knives back to Bear. The owner of the company called me to tell me I didn't know anything about pocket knives and wouldn't know quality if I saw it.

He went on for 15 minutes.

I packed up all of the Bear and Son knives I had and sent them away.

And there you have it. What a shame.

 

[trevytrev]

What really baffles me is how/why Moore Maker would contract production to Bear. It actually seems borderline suicidal to me.

-- Mark

I wondered that too but it seems that only their cheap/budget/advertising knives are made by them, though some are still higher priced for that line of thinking. I believe that Camillus and Utica used to make their budget line. The pricier line is made by Queen and I think even some are made by Canal Street.

 

[Curtis_Lowe]

Funny, after writing what I did, reading the ongoing responses and thinking about it some more, I was going to say, "They look like knock-offs."

~ P.

I use to always use wonder why their knives looked like Parker knives, until I found out they use to be owned by Jim Parker (everyone's favorite scoundrel ). From what I understand, Bear and Sons use to be Parker-Edwards. It was owned by Jim Parker and Fain Edwards whom Parker later bought out. The company went belly up and someone else bought it and renamed it Bear MGC and later Bear and Sons.

Bear just seems to be selling the made in the USA stamp rather than the knives. If they wanted to they could make some nice knives but they just don't seem to care.

 

[Beard&Owl]

I have a small Moore Maker lockback with the yellow handles made by Bear and Sons. I bought this knife thinking I was buying a knife made in Texas and boy was I wrong. The fit and finish on this knife is just straight up awefull. The blade when locked has forward and backward play and the liners, yellow handle scales and locking mechanism are all catywamperjarred. Basically this is the worst fit and finnish I have ever seen. I know the knife was only around 30 bucks but c'mon. A good buddy has the same knife but the two bladed version and he has recently told me that he wont even use his anymore cause he feels the locks are about to malfunction. I will never buy a knife from them again.

 

[mtangent]

I have four of their knives.

I have one of these, it is very good.
I also have a small equal end stockman, which has obvious fit & finish issues, but is useable.

I wouldn't buy any more of their knives without inspection first.

I've got to say, most buyers are not discerning: price is the only issue.

 

[shrapne1]

at this point u guess we're all just preaching to the choir but I also was led to buying one off their knives as well, it was a trapper,looked good from far away, but when you held it, the disappointment shines through. terrible fit and finish and apparently they could save some money by not even putting on backsprings because I honestly couldn't tell the difference anyway ( no walk and talk or snap ).

 

[RobbW]

I bought a Bear knife for my father in law 5-10 years ago. It had fit and finish problems, even though it was one of their higher-priced knives. I might have given them a second chance, but there were also heat-treat issues. The steel was soft and would not hold an edge--better than a butter knife, but not by much. Even if I could handle Bear knives in a store and personally check for fit and finish, I would not buy one because handling would not guarantee me a good heat treat.

 

[okbohn]

They told me they hand picked all of my stuff because I complained so much. Complete Garbage. Or rather if that was the best they had, they should take up another craft.

 

[22-rimfire]

Aren't the Remington knives also made now by Bear & Sons?

 

[neeman]

I have a little stockman in oak
It is like a high school project. the F&F is so outragous
I love it for its idosincracy!!!

My first and last

 

[Thomas Linton]

With a rich tradition, high quality materials, and years of experience in knife making. Combining to make our knives comfortable in hand, a beauty to behold, and still tough enough to go the distance.

Since its "Bear and Son," this thread does not show up on Google for reviews of their knives.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

What really baffles me is how/why Moore Maker would contract production to Bear. It actually seems borderline suicidal to me.

-- Mark

I suspect that had a lot to do with the closing of Camillus, and probably only because of that. It appears Bear & Sons lucked out and wound up with at least some or all of the tooling used by Camillus for the work done with Moore Maker, after it was auctioned off, and/or they acquired rights to the affected Camillus patterns themselves. The patterns produced by B & S afterwards were previously Camillus exclusives (like the two double-lockback trapper patterns, in large and small versions). I have one of the large Moore Maker branded double lockbacks from Camillus, and mistakenly bought two more after Camillus' closing, unaware the newer ones were B & S products. The difference in fit/finish, between the two producers, is night & day. All at the same price point. The Camillus knife was well worth it, and the B & S versions not even close. Both B & S knives have vertical and lateral blade play (downright sloppy & clunky), and blade edges which actually rest against the backspring when closed. These are the worst-made production knives I own. I don't like to slam any manufacturer this way, so it pains me greatly to say it. But the quality issues with these knives are too egregious to ignore.

I see no other logical reason why Moore Maker would've deliberately chosen B & S to continue production of those knives, if they in fact had other options. I suspect they didn't.


David

 

[Will Power]

Beginning to wonder if Bear S*** rather than & Sons might be more appropriate......

 

[brownshoe]

"Beginning to wonder if Bear S*** rather than & Sons might be more appropriate"

That's a little harsh isn't it?

The firm was called Bear, but changed to "& Sons" when the owner brought in his son.

When it comes to Camillus vs. Bear, personally, I never thought much of Camillus fit and finish on the Moore Makers. I could tell the difference in their product line before I even knew which ones were made by Queen and which were by Camillus.

If Bear & Sons didn't fill some kind of need, they'd be out of business...like Camillus, Schrade, Lone Wolf...

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

(...)When it comes to Camillus vs. Bear, personally, I never thought much of Camillus fit and finish on the Moore Makers. I could tell the difference in their product line before I even knew which ones were made by Queen and which were by Camillus.(...)

There's some truth in that. So-called 'fit & finish' comes in different tiers as well. The Camillus-made MM knives were definitely built to be 'users', as compared to the functionally solid and 'prettier' Queen-made knives. BUT (and this is significant), at least the Camillus example I compared to was actually built for it's 'user' status. Lockup was solid (no play), and blade edges stayed sharp by simple virtue that they didn't get ground away on the inside of the backspring when closed. I usually give a lot of latitude for smaller amounts of play, or even the occasional bounce of a blade edge on the backspring. But the defects in the two Bear-made examples I bought bordered on making the knives unusable and/or borderline hazardous (such sloppy and poor lockup as to erase any faith in the lock itself).

I'm sure the Bear & Sons branded knives fill a need or niche in the market. But the Moore Maker 'economy line' knives were selling at a significantly higher price point ($60+ per knife, when I bought all of mine) with no difference in price, relative to who made them. At that price tier, there's no excuse for such dismal quality. I'd still be angry with them at half the price.


David

 

[henryhide]

I have a small Moore Maker lockback with the yellow handles made by Bear and Sons. I bought this knife thinking I was buying a knife made in Texas and boy was I wrong. The fit and finish on this knife is just straight up awefull. The blade when locked has forward and backward play and the liners, yellow handle scales and locking mechanism are all catywamperjarred. Basically this is the worst fit and finnish I have ever seen. I know the knife was only around 30 bucks but c'mon. A good buddy has the same knife but the two bladed version and he has recently told me that he wont even use his anymore cause he feels the locks are about to malfunction. I will never buy a knife from them again.

I have given up on MM since Camillus went out. Their cheaper knives are bad, and their other ones are just way too expensive. Too bad, but that is the way it is.