bradley knives, are they all made by other knife companies?

[sogflash]

I'm no expert on bradley knives, but those I have heard about are made by other knife companies. are all made other companies, or do they make some themselves?

how's the quality?

 

[Dorito Monk]

They do not make any knives themselves.

To the best of my knowledge, they do not do any of their warranty/repair/customer service/anything useful themselves either. I discovered this after getting a defective Alias and they told me that it wasn't their problem (even though the warranty card says "Bradley Cutlery warranties this knife against..."). :grumpy:

It seems to be an odd company... from a customer's standpoint, they don't seem to do anything whatsoever. You buy a knife made by someone other than Bradley Cutlery, then have to buy it from someone other than Bradley Cutlery. If it breaks or doesn't work, you have to send it in to someone other than Bradley Cutlery, because Bradley Cutlery want nothing to do with you. And yet the name "Bradley Cutlery" is stamped all over their knives... I am not knowledgeable in matters of business, but this arrangement seems quite odd to me.

The Alias and Mayhem are both made by Benchmade, the Kimuras are made by Kershaw, and that other one is made by Protech. I would assume that the quality of these items is typical of the quality you'd find in each of these individual manufacturers. The quality of the one I got was pretty bad, but lots of folks have been happy with their Bradley knives.

 

[Pilot1]

It is not as odd a business model as one may think. Many products today other than knives are made this way, but some knife companies do it. ESEE uses Rowan exclusively to manufacture their products, but they do act as the middleman for warranty work. Lone Wolf knives (some at least) are now made by Benchmade.

I have a Bradley Alias I. It is excellent quality for the price, which is pretty typical of Benchmade. I wouldn't be concerned with quality or warranty issues with Bradley. It is tough to beat Benchmade and Kershaw which ultimately will be standing behind your Bradley.

 

[Planterz]

It seems to be an odd company... from a customer's standpoint, they don't seem to do anything whatsoever. You buy a knife made by someone other than Bradley Cutlery, then have to buy it from someone other than Bradley Cutlery. If it breaks or doesn't work, you have to send it in to someone other than Bradley Cutlery, because Bradley Cutlery want nothing to do with you. And yet the name "Bradley Cutlery" is stamped all over their knives... I am not knowledgeable in matters of business, but this arrangement seems quite odd to me.

Historically, this is actually quite common, and is still fairly common today. There's many, many "brands" of old pocket knives, but far fewer actual manufacturers. For example, Schrade and Camillus alone made knives for many, perhaps dozens of different brands. Moore Maker used Camillus (before they shut down), and still uses Queen, Bear, and Utica. Prior to Camillus shutting down, they made all of Cold Steel's American made knives (mainly the ones in Carbon V). In fact, Cold Steel doesn't many any of their own knives. AG Russell used and still uses many various manufacturers around the globe to make their knives (as well as some made in-house). Sometimes brand names are sold, bought, resurrected, etc. What was once made in Germany could have later been made in the USA and is now made in China. You could have an issue with 3 different Northwoods knives and have to send one to GEC, one to Queen, and one to Canal Street. You could have issues with a Queen, a Robeson, a Cripple Creek, a Schatt and Morgan, a Moore Maker, a Northwoods, and a Colonel Coon knife, and send them all back to Queen in the same box.

Simply put, a brand and a manufacturer are often not the same thing.

 

[ooitzoo]

They're just monetizing on a brand name. Its not any different then Mercedes owning Maybach or Aston Martin/Ford. As long as the quality is there for the price its a win - win for the consumer.

 

[s_f]

It is tough to beat Benchmade and Kershaw which ultimately will be standing behind your Bradley.

AFAIK you can directly go to Benchmade if you have a problem with your Alias - you don't even have to contact Bradley Cutlery at all.
And you can make clip requests for an Alias model at Benchmade directly.

 

[Reeek]

If that information isn't clearly stated somewhere inside the box on a piece or paper, then that is not very consumer friendly. If it is, then this subject is moot I suppose.

AFAIK you can directly go to Benchmade if you have a problem with your Alias - you don't even have to contact Bradley Cutlery at all.
And you can make clip requests for an Alias model at Benchmade directly.

 

[Tsujigiri]

AFAIK you can directly go to Benchmade if you have a problem with your Alias - you don't even have to contact Bradley Cutlery at all.
And you can make clip requests for an Alias model at Benchmade directly.

I know from experience that that's true of the Kershaw-made models, at least.

 

[Dorito Monk]

If that information isn't clearly stated somewhere inside the box on a piece or paper, then that is not very consumer friendly. If it is, then this subject is moot I suppose.

The warranty card says to contact Bradley about it. When you contact Bradley about it, they tell you to talk to Benchmade about it. Benchmade's name doesn't appear anywhere (that I can find) on the packaging or paperwork.

That said, s_f is correct in that you can just go directly to Benchmade with your warranty issues.

 

[STR]

The mere fact that they are offering something unique to the industry based on their own designs, whether made or manufactured by them should not matter. The only thing that should matter is the end resulting tool or knife designed and produced. In this case regardless of where you look most of the designs are not just clones of other companies products but simply unique and of their own character. They fill a niche, a need a desire by the public and the resulting designs regardless of who built them satisfy public demand.

I really don't understand the complaint here and I don't mean to single anyone out. Would you rather they contracted with SanRenMu over BenchMade? The resulting products are great in most cases. The Bradley Alias fills a real void in quality good designed smaller frame locks available at an affordable cost. In my opinion they rate pretty good from what I've seen in the three I've had through here for customers and one I owned myself.