Biggest Disappointment

anthony cheeseboro

anthony cheeseboro

Joined
Aug 8, 1999
Messages
5,094
What new knife disappointed you most? For me it was the Kershaw Random Task. I own several and had to send them all back. I have never been satisfied with the large model. The Mini Task, however is quite good. The new Riccochet i have has too much vertical blade play but I'm tired of sending knives back. The best assisted open knife i have is probablyt the Wirlwind which is really ironic because it is the cheapest. I would like to say that this post is not meant as a put down of Kershaw or Ken Onion. Kershaw all in all produces a great line of knives. The aluminum liner locks and the Wild Wild Turkeys are great, and i am sure that an actual custom Ken Onion is `a work of art or he wouldn't have such a great reputation. I guess the moral of this post is that the best knife is not always the most expensive.
 
I've been very disappointed with a few custom knives that I ordered or bought before they were made or without having handled them. In each case but one I felt I should take the burden. The makers shall remain nameless and I have had other more successful dealings with most of them. Factory knives? My Gerber Fairburn Applegate folder: the lock is not very secure. Actually, its downright lousy. I understand that very few people have that problem with that knife, but it doesn't impress me at all.
 
CRKT KISS. Do not EVER rely on the lock. Any twisting motion when the knife is under hard use will disengage the lock. I wouldn't even give mine away if someone asked for it.

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C.O.'s-"It takes balls to work behind the walls "
 
Mine has to be the new Boker Brend folder. I got the G-10 handled version. To put it bluntly, it was a piece of crap. I loved the look and feel of the knife, but the quality was about the worst I've seen in a production knife.

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Kelly

SenatorsPlace.com
AKTI Member #A000289

Deo Vindice


 
Mine is the Boye folder. I read alot of good things about them on the net, and decided to get one. Once I got it I could not find one thing I liked about it.
 
My biggest dissapointment was the Ontario/Bagwell "Stealth" Bowie. I purchased mine 2nd hand in new condition in the box for about half price sight unseen because of the entheusiastic reviews I had read and the attractive appearance of the blade. If I had examined the knife first hand, I would not have ever paid half price, much less the origial $200.00+ some dealers were asking for it.

There are so many better Bowies in the same price range, I can't imagine why anyone would pay for this one unless they just had to make a fasion statement at some kind of cowboy dress-up thing. This knife is to bowies what designer jeans are to BDUs.
 
I purchased a CRKT "Peck" folder for use as a money clip and a Junglee Babylon at the same time through SMKW. The Peck's clip was far too small to use for a money clip (unless you're into carrying a single folded bill of some denomination), which is not really CRKT's fault, since it is a matter of my preference. But the Junglee was without a doubt a hunk of garbage. The pocket clip is so huge I'd have to be wearing three pairs of pants for it to feel comfortable (if it is indeed possible to feel comfortable in triple-ply trousers), and it wobbled back and forth like crazy on its two screws. The blade action was stiff and erratic, too. I felt ripped off having received the knife for something like 14 dollars, so it amazes me that the Babylon normally sells for around 40 or so.

Razor

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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.
 
I'd say my biggest disappointment to date was the very first batch of Spyderco Militaries that arrived at my local store about 3 (4?) years ago. These were first run ATS-34, and plagued by design and construction problems, wholly unworthy of the Spydie name or the rave reviews the knife rags were heaping on them. I helped out stripping down these 6 examples, adjusting locks and tuning actions to get them into an even sellable state... barely.

I'm happy to say that the current Military is a horse of a different color, with many improvements and far better QC. It lives up to the hype and then some.

-Drew
 
Mine was a Boker treebrand 1100 lockback folder, about 10 yrs ago.

For years I had carried a Buck 110...great knife (still have it) but it was too heavy and clunky for pocket carry, and sometimes a belt sheath doesn't look good with a mini skirt.
Anyway, I was at a sporting goods store and saw the Boker...right size, about a third the weight and half the thickness of the Buck. $30 wasn't too bad a price so I bought it. The blade was fine and quite useable...problem was in about 3 months the lock failed, and the blade would free swing. So I took it apart to see if I could fix it....the whole damn lock bar mechanism was PLASTIC. So I ended up turning into a fixed blade by filling it with metal rods and epoxy....now its a kitchen paring knife.

Soured me on Boker forever


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"quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"
~Ðøñå~

 
Mark Boyer TACFOLDER-1.

Great design, lousy knife. Mark tried his best to make it right, but no go. I believe the problems with this knife drove Mark back to fixed blades only!

Good effort, but it shows why knifemaking can be rough!!

-Michael
 
Like Jailhack, I've got to go with the CRKT KISS. Innovative design, but I don't trust it to stay open, or closed. I suppose it's just as well that I've never been able to get a decent edge on it.
 
My REKAT carnivour. The action was sloppy, ergo was completely wrong for my hands, blade was dull...

Feh.
 
No, now that I think about it, it's my Gerber AF combat folder. No edge, and a couple hours on every sharpening system I own hasn't brought the edge past poor.
 
The first model Spderco Military was the biggest disappointment for me.

I just got it back from what I though was going to be a makeover from Spyderco yesterday and it's STILL the biggest disappointment in a knife that I have ever had.
 
HJK

You are not alone on the AF Gerber.
I have two (double-grind and flat-grind)....BOTH with lousy locks.
Actually, quite a few posters on usenet (rec.knives) reported similar problems a couple of years back. Gerber did offer to check mine out but I wasn't prepared to ship to the US from Australia......haven't bought a Gerber since. Probably won't, either even though I was a big fan in the 70s and 80s.
The flat-grind model is, currently, living in my fridge.

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BrianWE
ICQ #21525343
I think :therefore, I am......I think


 
Hello,


I did some Kydex pouch belt holders for both the GERBER AF big version and the COVERT
ats-34 version.

I have to say that I could find no problems with Blade play, Edge sharpness,
or ability to function with the two sample`s I was provided with for Sheath making.

In fact I kinda like the COVERT model.
I havent tested the Heat treat on the Ats-34 blade as far as performance goes, but i am sure it will do better than the Alternative steel on its big brother the Gerber AF.

Allen Blade
 
My biggest disapointment has to be with a PUMA that was a gift to me from my brother-in-law it is the only knife that I have ever owned that the tip broke off. As if that wasn't bad enough the scales rubbed of like it was cheess. I still haven't gotten aroound to sending the knife back to get new scales that is how dissapointed I am with it. Someday its going back its 15 years old now haven't used it for about 14 years.
 
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