Bear & Son Trapper with Carbon Steel blades

K

kenexcelon

Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Messages
12
Hi, I'm new to the forum. Up until now, I've just carried really cheap knives so if I lost one or anything I wouldn't care so much. I decided to order a few knives to start a collection and have commisioned a small custom neck knife that I am waiting on as well. As part of that order, I grabbed a Bear & Son trapper 4th Gen with carbon steel blades. All I've had before were knives with stainless blades so this may be a dumb concern. The spay blade has a strange looking dark spot near the tip. It looks odd to me anyway as I've never seen anything like it on a knife blade before. I had already sent one back due to an issue with the prior knife, and this one was the replacement. I don't want to have to send it back again. I have attached/included a picture showing the spot for reference. I'm hoping it's just something that is cosmetic and nothing that could be an issue? I will be using it, so if it isn't anything to be concerned about or an indication of an issue, then it doesn't bother me. That said, I thought I'd ask about it just in case. Please excuse my ignorance on this subject, but I look forward to being educated, LOL. :)

sT6VgY0.jpg


Thanks!!!
 
I don't purchase bear and son knives so i dont know too much about them. Thats kinda odd looking spot. Maybe burned during sharpening? Might of screwed up heat treat. I would probably send it back.
 
kenexcelon said:
Hi, I'm new to the forum. Up until now, I've just carried really cheap knives so if I lost one or anything I wouldn't care so much. I decided to order a few knives to start a collection and have commisioned a small custom neck knife that I am waiting on as well. As part of that order, I grabbed a Bear & Son trapper 4th Gen with carbon steel blades. All I've had before were knives with stainless blades so this may be a dumb concern. The spay blade has a strange looking dark spot near the tip. It looks odd to me anyway as I've never seen anything like it on a knife blade before. I had already sent one back due to an issue with the prior knife, and this one was the replacement. I don't want to have to send it back again. I have attached/included a picture showing the spot for reference. I'm hoping it's just something that is cosmetic and nothing that could be an issue? I will be using it, so if it isn't anything to be concerned about or an indication of an issue, then it doesn't bother me. That said, I thought I'd ask about it just in case. Please excuse my ignorance on this subject, but I look forward to being educated, LOL. :)

sT6VgY0.jpg


Thanks!!!
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Welcome to Bladeforums.
I am sorry to have to tell you but you should send that one back too. It looks like the edge was burned during sharpening. That will ruin the heat treat / temper and cause edge holding issues.
Just a heads up, Bear & Son is not known for having the best quality control.
 
Welcome to the forum. Looks like qc has not improved down at Bear and Son, to send out such an ugly blade. Looks like the sharpener fell asleep and burned the blade. Definitely a knife to send back. I buy their 9” Bowie’s occasionally as they are a made in America brand with low prices. But they arrive in perfect condition about one third of the time. If what I get is fixable (loose guard)I keep it.
 
Thanks everyone for the information. Bear and Son will handpick a replacement trapper knife for me. I'm willing to give that a go.
 
kenexcelon said:
Thanks everyone for the information. Bear and Son will handpick a replacement trapper knife for me. I'm willing to give that a go.
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Best of luck, I hope it works out this time. If not, just ask, we can recommend plenty of good trappers.
 
flatblackcapo said:
Best of luck, I hope it works out this time. If not, just ask, we can recommend plenty of good trappers.
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Sure, feel free to recommend some others as well if you don't mind. I'm sure there are great brands that I'm not aware of yet that I should consider. I'm sure at some point I will commission a maker from this forum as well. I've got the bug now, but can't get it too bad or I'll go broke! :D
 
kenexcelon said:
Sure, feel free to recommend some others as well if you don't mind. I'm sure there are great brands that I'm not aware of yet that I should consider. I'm sure at some point I will commission a maker from this forum as well. I've got the bug now, but can't get it too bad or I'll go broke! :D
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It's only money and there are lots of ways to cook Top Ramen. ;):D Actually, I do know a lot of ways to cook Top Ramen. :D
If you can let us know what you are looking for, it will help us to make suggestions.
Are carbon blades important?
What handle material do you like?

Here is one I would recommend.
GEC ( Greate Eastern Cutlery ) makes some of the best production traditional knives out there.
https://www.knivesshipfree.com/grea...e-improved-trapper-antique-amber-jigged-bone/
 
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I’ve got two Bear and Son knives shown below. In my experience Case makes a higher quality trapper for pretty close to the same price.

8B20CCE8-4D99-4A90-B088-AC56950F407A.jpeg 55D5E243-457E-4228-B6B2-BC8491B884CB.jpeg
 
flatblackcapo said:
It's only money and there are lots of ways to cook Top Ramen. ;):D Actually, I do know a lot of ways to cook Top Ramen. :D
If you can let us know what you are looking for, it will help us to make suggestions.
Are carbon blades important?
What handle material do you like?

Here is one I would recommend.
GEC ( Greate Eastern Cutlery ) makes some of the best production traditional knives out there.
https://www.knivesshipfree.com/grea...e-improved-trapper-antique-amber-jigged-bone/
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Doesn't have to be carbon steel, I'm ok with traditional or newer steels. Until I can get sharpening technique down, I probably wouldn't get the more difficult to sharpen steels, at least for now. For handle material, I like wood probably the most. Especially if it has nice grain/figure to it. Synthetic is also fine as long as it doesn't feel cheap. Bone/stag is also fine. Suffice to say that several handle materials are fine to me. I probably would avoid acrylic and like material as well as soft rubber. That knife you linked looks awfully tempting!
 
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I have a Bear & Sons sodbuster, and while the steel is OK (1095 or similar) the fit and finish are crude. It's a knife I wouldn't hesitate to loan. You can do a whole lot better than B&S.
 
MolokaiRider said:
I’ve got two Bear and Son knives shown below. In my experience Case makes a higher quality trapper for pretty close to the same price.
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Maybe it's just my recent luck with things, but the last two Case knives I've gotten recently had badly burred blades. I use that word as it's the best way I know to describe it, but the edges were very rough. You could see metal pieces falling off as I was sharpening one of them. I sent the second one back as it was beyond my sharpening capabilities at that point to correct. That is not what I expected from Case from my past experiences. I don't expect perfection, it's impossible. That said, I do want things to be right.
 
Alberta Ed said:
I have a Bear & Sons sodbuster, and while the steel is OK (1095 or similar) the fit and finish are crude. It's a knife I wouldn't hesitate to loan. You can do a whole lot better than B&S.
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Thanks for the feedback, I got it since it wasn't so expensive and will be a user. I "thought" the quality would be better than some of the other junk that I'd always carried before. Noted for the future and lesson learned.
 
flatblackcapo said:
It's only money and there are lots of ways to cook Top Ramen. ;):D Actually, I do know a lot of ways to cook Top Ramen. :D
If you can let us know what you are looking for, it will help us to make suggestions.
Are carbon blades important?
What handle material do you like?

Here is one I would recommend.
GEC ( Greate Eastern Cutlery ) makes some of the best production traditional knives out there.
https://www.knivesshipfree.com/grea...e-improved-trapper-antique-amber-jigged-bone/
Click to expand...

In reference to the Ramen mention, I'm much more picky about what I eat now. From mid-December in 2017 to November last year, I have lost 100 lbs dead even. Healthier food is more expensive! So I have to keep so much in the bank to be able to eat well. But for now, within reason, I'm treating myself to some nicer knives to celebrate. Ha!!!
 
If "Made in USA" is not an issue, take a look at the Rough Rider, Old Timer/Uncle Henry, and Böker Trappers.
They may be "inexpensive" but they are not "cheap". There is a difference.
I have a Trapper by each of these three, and there are no problems with any of them.
Sharp out of the box (or blister pack) no blade wobble, pulls between a "5" and "6",even grinds, good walk 'n talk, no noticable gaps, and good fit and finish.

On the secondary market you can sometimes find USA made Old Timer and Uncle Henry Trappers.
 
kenexcelon said:
In reference to the Ramen mention, I'm much more picky about what I eat now. From mid-December in 2017 to November last year, I have lost 100 lbs dead even. Healthier food is more expensive! So I have to keep so much in the bank to be able to eat well. But for now, within reason, I'm treating myself to some nicer knives to celebrate. Ha!!!
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Congrats on loosing that 100lbs! Here is a link to the paid dealer list. If you find something you want from one of them, give 'em a call and ask them to hand pick one for you. Like afishhunter afishhunter hunter said Rough Rider knives are good knives for the money. You could get one or two of those and practice your sharping skills with out much regret if you mess up. Rough Rider also has a line with carbon steel blades now. Oh yeah, don't buy off ebay, a lot of those knives are seconds ( poor quality rejects )

GP has a nice wood handled Buck with stainless blades
https://www.gpknives.com/buck-trapper-woodgrain-two-blade-traditional-slipjoint-0382brs.html
 
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