Bear & Sons traditional folders

D

Dixierust

Joined
May 3, 2016
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I checked out a bear and sons at the store the other day , it was a large stockman with genuine india stag covers and nickel silver bolsters . Good action and fit/finish . The price was fair at $37.usd. new .

So why does this company get so much crap ? Their products are made in Alabama U.S.A. and they have been subcontracted to make the Remington bullet knives among others for other brands .


Are they really that bad ? I have a yellow delrin bear and son mini trapper in 1095 and it has been a great knife so far . I handled a few years back and i admit they were kind of rough but it seems they have polished up a bit . The one thing i noticed on the stockman was the single center pin in the cover holding it in place , im guessing this is not as durable as a 3 pin design or would that just be more likely for stress fractures in the material ? Bear and sons , whats up ?
 
Too many people got Bear and Son knives with significant problems. And at least at that time, the customer service was extremely poor. Once the word goes out that a company makes a crappy product, it's really hard to get people to try them again.

That being said, I have a Bear and Sons Remington branded knife which has very good fit and finish. Glad to hear yours is good too.
 
I want to believe ..... i might go pick one up and field test for a review . Maybe the company just got off to a rough start with tooling and skilled labor and whatnot .
 
I have seen both sides of the Bear & Sons coin, and I am not sure how much has to do with turnover/operational maturity/bad QA/etc. I've gotten Bear contract, limited-issue knives like a Keen Kutter buffalo horn one-armed Barlow that were pretty great (and it seems the Bear name keeps the price low, which is a plus) and I've gotten Bear-branded knives that were also pretty great (wood-handled 1-blade 'nut, looks and snaps great). I also have Bear contract knives (Indian head penny trapper -- couldn't believe a company would release this as a 'special' knife) and Bear-branded knives that seem to support the company's general reputation in forums like these (small toothpick with bizarro F&F and a blade with a massive secondary bevel but no factory sharpness to speak of, friction folder-like snap, etc.).



I'll add more photoos later.

The way I see it, if you find one that looks and feels good in your hands for a fair price, there's no reason not to go with one. But it appears that, over the years, their output has varied wildly -- moreso than import marques like Rough Rider or Taylor's Schrades/Imperials. Buyer beware, especially in mail/auction sales or other instances where you can't get your hands on the knife before handing over the cash.
 
Quick question.
What is the telationship between
Bear & Sons and Bear MGC ? I have a 110 sized mgc with damascus and stag and its a bewdy. Are they the same company?
 
meako said:
Quick question.
What is the telationship between
Bear & Sons and Bear MGC ? I have a 110 sized mgc with damascus and stag and its a bewdy. Are they the same company?
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1991 Bear MGC Cutlery founded by Herman McIntosh, Ken Griffey, and Greg Cook

1999 Swiss Army Brands (Forschner/Victorinox) purchase Bear MGC. Ken Griffey stays to run the company with the help of his wife and son.

2004 The Griffey family (Ken, wife and son) buy the company back and rename it Bear and Son Cutlery
 
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Interesting fact i dug up about the company is pre 1991 the alabama factory which is now bear and sons was owned by Case mfg. And produced blades for them .

When the new owners took control they had a lot of stock , parts and pieces from the case mfg. And apparantly used the remaining stock to produce the first bear and sons knives which would explain a lot of q.c issues .
 
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The ones I've looked at had pretty awful fit and finish. If they were to fix those issues, I might would consider them.
 
I have really wanted this company to succeed, and have purchased around ten knives over the past decade that have been great to God awful in terms of fit and finish. I wish that I could say that they have improved steadily over time, but the best and worst ones I purchased were made the same year (2014) when I quit hoping they would improve. The materials are generally decent. If I were to venture a guess, I would think that they are having a hard time retaining trained assemblers/finishers. Generally the less finishing involved, the more likely the knife will be acceptable/functional. The best ones are the stainless or plastic handled lock backs. I always recommend that they are examined on an individual basis.
 
I have 2 Bear MGC knives, and 2 Bear & Son knives. I'm happy with all 4 of them. One is a big stag handled bowie, which is tremendous in quality IMO.
 
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Here is my mini trapper " 4th generation " with 1095 blades , its quite nice and hones razor sharp.
 
i have a balisong from them and a "stag" handled one arm razor traditional? i still dont know the name of it. i bought it to mod before trying it on the GEC
 
The materials they use are generally not bad, I would just make sure that you buy them at a place where you can hand pick the one that is going home:thumbup: Luckily for me there is a local shop that stocks them (Case too) and they don't seem to mind me pawing through their stock looking for a winner.
 
Ernie1980 said:
The materials they use are generally not bad, I would just make sure that you buy them at a place where you can hand pick the one that is going home:thumbup: Luckily for me there is a local shop that stocks them (Case too) and they don't seem to mind me pawing through their stock looking for a winner.
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Hahah , i do the same thing . Around where i live all ACE hardware stores have large displays ( case also ) and they dont mind if i cherry pick as long as they arnt super busy .
 
Dixierust said:
Interesting fact i dug up about the company is pre 1991 the alabama factory which is now bear and sons was owned by Case mfg. And produced blades for them .

When the new owners took control they had a lot of stock , parts and pieces from the case mfg. And apparantly used the remaining stock to produce the first bear and sons knives which would explain a lot of q.c issues .
Click to expand...

In 1984, Parker and Edwards opened the factory in Alabama. At that time they made "Parker Edwards" stamped knives. In 1986, Edwards sold his shares to Parker and the knives were stamped "Parker USA". You can find examples of the "Parker Edwards" and "Parker USA" knives on eBay in unused condition. James Parker owned Case from 1988 until his bankruptcy 3 years later in 1991. There's a good discussion of James Parker in Levine's forum. Not all of it is appropriate for discussion in this subsection of the forum. I have heard that during that very short time Parker outsourced some things to his Alabama factory that was making his "Parker USA" knives. From what I understand Griffey worked at the Alabama factory before purchasing the facility and forming Bear MGC Cutlery.
 
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Interesting information , i think i dig on the history of traditional knives and the companies as much as the physical knife itself.
 
I picked up a Bear & Sons sodbuster out of interest a couple of years ago. Not bad, fit and finish a bit rough, but it cuts well (like most sodbusters), takes a good edge. I keep it in the emergency kit in the car. A fair bang for the buck.
 
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