Bear MGC and their "Genuine India Stag bone"?

Danbo

Danbo

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
Messages
14,985
Am I imagining things, or is this stuff plain old bone that has been jigged and dyed to look like stag(failing miserably, I might add)? I mean, that's why all their ads have the little trademark sign in little letters next to the "Geniune India Stag Bone" isn't it? Seems pretty cheesy to me. If it's stag, they wouldn't need to add the word "bone", now would they? :barf:
 
Danbo, you need to get your head out of those custom knives for a minute.
Lots of production companies use "stag bone" now. You're right, it's fake stag, and not done very well by anyone.
 
Wirebender said:
Lots of production companies use "stag bone" now. You're right, it's fake stag, and not done very well by anyone.
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Yes, but ... "Genuine India Stag bone" ... :confused:
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Yes, but ... "Genuine India Stag bone" ... :confused:
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That's my point, exactly. I can see calling it Stag Bone, but not Geniune India Stag Bone. This all stems from a listing I saw recently on Ebay. The knife in question was a Bear MGC, with this stuff on the handle. It was so cheesy looking, that the description bothered me enough to send the seller a reminder email. I simply told him that I was pretty sure that this was not real stag, but was bone dyed and jigged to look like stag. He replied back that it was listed that way on the box, and that he believed the factory would know this much better than I would. I just wonder how many people are being deceived by this marketing strategy? How many people are buying what they think is real stag, only to find this stuff?
 
Danbo said:
I just wonder how many people are being deceived by this marketing strategy? How many people are buying what they think is real stag, only to find this stuff?
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It's a shame, but I bet most of the people who do get taken in wouldn't know the difference anyway.
 
Ha. I found it, what this reminded me of. From the Cold Steel Special Projects website.

The Cold Steel Country Classics are a hearty set of folders. They each feature solid brass liners and blades made from our exclusive Carbon V® steel for superior edge holding ability. They are attractively designed too, with nickel-silver bolsters and faux jigged bone handles.
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"faux jigged bone"

Jigged bone is "faux" stag. Well, substitute stag, anyway. Fake, fake, fake. It's cheaper, and the rubes will never see the pea if you shuffle the shells fast enough. :D

The funny thing is, smooth bone or jigged bone is a good handle material in its own right, and nothing to be ashamed of.
 
I don't know if I'd call that deception, or just good marketing. As we all know, stag is a type of deer. There's Red Stag, Sambar Stag, Kashmir Stag, etc. The antlers are what is commonly used on knife handles, so anyone that buys a "genuine stag" knife is getting the antler for a handle. But these stag aren't just antlers attached to hooves. There are quite a few bones in between, so this "Genuine Indian Stag" has both bones and antlers. I kinda think that they are being quite honest. At least they tell you what part of the stag it is from. I could make a knife handle out of the tenderloin of a stag and call it a Genuine Indian Stag knife, and I wouldn't be lying. I would have just left out the fine print. I think they are just combining the price point of bone with the marketability of stag, and probably making a killing. Good for them.
 
Stag bone is bone. Whether its dyed, jigged, or burnt, or all the above to give it the appearance of being stag, whether India, European, or any other kind of stag.
 
rev_jch said:
Stag bone is bone. Whether its dyed, jigged, or burnt, or all the above to give it the appearance of being stag, whether India, European, or any other kind of stag.
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Yes, but the fact remains it is bone from a stag, therefore it can't be argued that it is in fact Genuine Indian Stag bone. If they did not say 'bone' in the description, then I could see the point. But they say exactly what it is: bone from a genuine Indian stag.

I guess they could have just called it a bone knife, but then many people would wonder what kind of bone they used: cow, stag, mammoth, dog??

I once saw an ad on ebay for "Genuine Cuban Cigar Wrappers". Did I or anyone else for a minute think these were actual cigars? Of course not, because they said exactly what they were. Just wrappers. Same little bit of common sense should be used here.
 
Big Whip said:
Yes, but the fact remains it is bone from a stag, therefore it can't be argued that it is in fact Genuine Indian Stag bone... But they say exactly what it is: bone from a genuine Indian stag.
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Nope. I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that it's from the shin bone of cattle, just like every other bone handled knife that has been produced here for the past hundred years or so.

Again, bone is a nice material in it's own right, but there's no reason to try decieving people with their marketing.
 
the possum said:
Nope. I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that it's from the shin bone of cattle, just like every other bone handled knife that has been produced here for the past hundred years or so.

Again, bone is a nice material in it's own right, but there's no reason to try decieving people with their marketing.
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The Possum is catching my train of thought here. I would bet money that this is plain old cow shin bone. That's my problem with this marketing. I'm ok with bone handles; just don't go giving it a deceptive name and try to fool people into thinking it's stag.
 
I pretty much agree with a previous poster, few on this forum would be buy from Bear or be taken in by their marketing. Still unfortunate that they say those kinds of things.
 
I think that "genuine India stag bone" is technically correct indicating the bone of an animal from India, it is decieving because people relate stag to the antler of such animal. I assume it is not the bone of some other animal (for example a cow), if it was it would be a lie.

Personally I dislike it and consider it improper, but I´ve seen much worse marketing practices.
 
I had never heard of Bear MGC before today, so I have no idea what their marketing is like. My point was that Indian stag have bones. It would be just as easy to make a bone knife from a stag as it is from a cow. It may cost a bit more for the raw materials, but the process is the same.

Ok, here's an update. While I was writing this, I decided to give Bear MGC a call to see what they had to say about it. The receptionist told me it was a shin bone from a cow, and as soon as she said it, someone in the background stopped her and told her to say that "It's a trade secret, but the material comes from an animal in India." OK, go ahead and disregard all my previous posts. :footinmou

Now it really sounds like a Genuine Indian Stag Scam!
 
BWWHAHAHA, to funny, trade secret, an animal from india hahahahah.

So the bottom line is the phrasing is meant to deceive.

Big Whip wanna call cold steel for us? :p
 
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