Bear & Son Knives

I had one of their Butterfly knives when I was 10 or 11, it was pretty shoddy. They're (the traditional pocket knives and butterflys) sold at the big box stores (Academy) in clam shells, so I guess somebody buys them. I wonder if they're sort of more popular in the south. They've survived as a company though. It seems if I remember somebody on here liked their G-10 sodbuster.
 
I picked up a peanut pattern at an ACE hardware from a dusty case and its a pretty bad knife. Apparently they don't have a QC department. I use it as a "loaner" knife to let the office ladies where I work open boxes and such.... cause I hate loaning my nice knives to anyone.
 
The only Bear I have that I like and use was actually branded under the Forney name, here it is with a Buck 303 for size:

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I got it at a general store out by our lake, it's not a bad folder for $20. I was able to pick out the one that I wanted though.

I bought one of the Bear made BSA Remington Scout knife repros, it's a display case only knife. Looks nice, that's about it. They were supposed to have the BSA"s knife contract, the only one I know they made for sure was the 2010 Jamboree camp knife. I don't know anyone who has one, I would be curious about it though.
 
B&S knives are super iffy when it comes to fit and finish, not quite sure what sorta Forrest Gump character runs the QC department but he may need to head back to Greenbow. The fixed blades aren't horrible, know guys who use the bowie on hogs, but little things irk me like tang stamps that aren't aligned and gaps in handles. Folders have a laundry list of issues, the Bear Ops seem to be much nicer compared to the traditionals, balisongs are decent enough. Really, it's a crap shoot for a good one, but working in a retail shop people seem to love them, even after being shown Queen, Case and other more reputable traditional makers.
 
Fit & finish is not great, but they do function acceptably well and the steel is good. I keep one for a loaner.
 
JPD1998 said:
I have one of their large folding hunters, it's decent. I can't say there's any issues with it. I used it to field dress a deer last hunting season , it was still shaving sharp when I was done.



On the other hand I bought four Remington branded knives , 3 swing-guards and one bullet trapper. The fit and finish on one swing guard is not so good, just sloppy. Even the tang is all rough so it grinds when you open it.

After reading this I don't think I'll be sending it back anytime soon.

This one is good, Damascus and mammoth ivory.

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I also have this large folding hunter lockback, a 4 1/4 trapper stainless in rosewood, a yellow folding hunter slip joint in 1095 and a serial numbered 4 1/2 2 blade jumbo trapper which has a good F&F.

All but the Jumbo Trapper have been carried and used in the outdoors. They all have worked well, though the F&F is not up to (todays) collector standards. Their steel is fine for the price point and the 4 1/4 trapper had an amusing grind that changed with some use and 555 sharpening.

I'll buy knives to try out and use just to see how good or bad they really are.

Heck, I even almost fell for the, Queen D2 can't be sharpened line until I put some to work, sharpened them myself and now is one of my favorite factory slip joint steels.

Get out there and explore. Trying out knives in a real world setting can be fun and like any thing else in life, expect to see some valleys. That's life. :)
 
555 said:
I also have this large folding hunter lockback, a 4 1/4 trapper stainless in rosewood, a yellow folding hunter slip joint in 1095 and a serial numbered 4 1/2 2 blade jumbo trapper which has a good F&F.

All but the Jumbo Trapper have been carried and used in the outdoors. They all have worked well, though the F&F is not up to (todays) collector standards. Their steel is fine for the price point and the 4 1/4 trapper had an amusing grind that changed with some use and 555 sharpening.

I'll buy knives to try out and use just to see how good or bad they really are.

Heck, I even almost fell for the, Queen D2 can't be sharpened line until I put some to work, sharpened them myself and now is one of my favorite factory slip joint steels.

Get out there and explore. Trying out knives in a real world setting can be fun and like any thing else in life, expect to see some valleys. That's life. :)
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What an excellent outlook! Thanks for posting this.
 
555 said:
I also have this large folding hunter lockback, a 4 1/4 trapper stainless in rosewood, a yellow folding hunter slip joint in 1095 and a serial numbered 4 1/2 2 blade jumbo trapper which has a good F&F.

All but the Jumbo Trapper have been carried and used in the outdoors. They all have worked well, though the F&F is not up to (todays) collector standards. Their steel is fine for the price point and the 4 1/4 trapper had an amusing grind that changed with some use and 555 sharpening.

I'll buy knives to try out and use just to see how good or bad they really are.

Heck, I even almost fell for the, Queen D2 can't be sharpened line until I put some to work, sharpened them myself and now is one of my favorite factory slip joint steels.

Get out there and explore. Trying out knives in a real world setting can be fun and like any thing else in life, expect to see some valleys. That's life. :)
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It's ironic because despite what I read here, I always wanted the stag bone folding hunter and got it a few years ago with some credit card points I had accumulated.
I went over it with a fine tooth comb and couldn't find anything wrong with it.
Well it sat in a drawer for a few years and I decided to carry it last opening day for deer season. I got a buck first thing in the morning , took out my brand new knife and went to work dressing the deer. After I got back to our clubhouse I washed it in a sink , dried it off and it was still shaving hair off my arm.

I saw on of their G10 trappers on line for a good price and was thinking of trying it out.

I forgot to add that Queens D2 is one of my favorite knife steels.
 
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I've noticed the Bear & Son (Bear MGC) copies of the Schrade Sharpfinger for years now and since I like to try the various manufacturers' offerings of this pattern, have been fishing the bay for one. I continue to be surprised to see the prices they command. I'll land one eventually and give it the chicken eye, coon finger it and try it on some wild game to see how it compares. Concerns about F&F here are not too encouraging, but few of the "me too" knives of this pattern are very high in F&F. Surprising since it is such simple construction. A blade, two slab covers and two compression rivets. Anyone have one? If so, how does yours look up close?
 
^^^^ I want to see a review of their Sharpfinger-esque fixed blade. Aside from heat treating the blade, fit and finish issues would be less of a concern it seems.
 
They come in several different handle styles from sawcut appearance to stagged appearance. I may get one some day to review if I luck into one cheap enough. I have about five or so of the "me too" Sharpfinger patterns but not this brand. And I won't give much for a knockoff considering how inexpensive original ones still are.

Some web find pictures.
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Someone mentioned Utica as an alternative to Bear & Son for lower-priced, US-made knives. I cannot agree with that. I've never owned a B&S knife but I made the mistake of ordering a Utica Barlow a little while back and I've never seen a knife as poorly made at any price. Gaps in the liners and covers, bolsters that don't meet the liners and blades that fit so low you can't reach the nail nicks. The edges of the bone covers looked like they were crudely whittled to fit. Even the "Barlow" stamping was crooked on one bolster.

I should have sent the knife back but I kept it as a reminder to never again order anything solely based on being made in the USA. I cannot imagine a Bear & Son knife being worse than that Utica.
 
Lee48 said:
Someone mentioned Utica as an alternative to Bear & Son for lower-priced, US-made knives. I cannot agree with that. I've never owned a B&S knife but I made the mistake of ordering a Utica Barlow a little while back and I've never seen a knife as poorly made at any price. Gaps in the liners and covers, bolsters that don't meet the liners and blades that fit so low you can't reach the nail nicks. The edges of the bone covers looked like they were crudely whittled to fit. Even the "Barlow" stamping was crooked on one bolster.

I should have sent the knife back but I kept it as a reminder to never again order anything solely based on being made in the USA. I cannot imagine a Bear & Son knife being worse than that Utica.
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Weren't the Uticas made by B&S?That would fully explain your experience.I have a pair of trappers that are Utica.They are decent,nothing great.
 
Once again I think we should remind ourselves about a factor that has always been so in the U.S. Cutlery industry, and likely also worldwide. That of pricepoints. Cutleries always have catered to specific markets, some attempting to make knives in every pricepoint from cheap to finely tuned, well made and therefore expensive. One does not make and sell a cheap knife by paying talented cutlers, using best materials, building finely finished knives. The various markets are not and never have been the same in their expectations of price and the quality of knives they find acceptable. More than one cutlery has doomed itself by putting more production and warranty costs into a knife than it's targeted pricepoint can bear.

I might illustrate with the pattern I mentioned earlier, the Schrade sharpfinger. It originally sold in 1973 for $14.00. It is a very simple design, plain ground, few components. In today's dollars that would be $71.36. So they were making a good profit per unit. Wholesale at about $7.00 per unit translates to $35.68. So the maker was able to double his costs giving perhaps a 30-40% profit margin after warranties, materials, labor, tooling, overhead like advertising, sales staff and materials, insurance, utilities, taxes, etc.

The MSRP of the same pattern today is $20.00 or so with prices ranging down to about $15 retail. So how is that done? But cutting costs in the above catagories. So the knife today would sell at the approximate $4.00 pricepoint in 1973. There should be no reason to expect the same quality.

Still watching a for a good deal on a Bear & Son/ Bear MGC Sharpfinger pattern. And the same pattern under other brandings by other makers.
 
"Weren't the Uticas made by B&S?"

Didn't know that. That doesn't speak well for either company.
 
Lee48 said:
"Weren't the Uticas made by B&S?"

Didn't know that. That doesn't speak well for either company.
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Again, consider pricepoint. Did it cost the same as a GEC knife of the same pattern? Or was it closer to a high production low pricepoint imported knife?

This one? I see a MSRP of $35 and a market price of $27. I would not expect a high quality knife in that price range.

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Also remember that occasionally you get a bad one. Utica seems to do a pretty good job for the price point. You see an occasional bad review, but it isn't typical, as seems to be the case with Bear, where a good review is rarer than a bad. one.
 
Oh, that being said...... I do like the look of their blue knives. Kinda want a sod buster. I'm just worried about what I'll get.
 
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