Brous Blades

Rasco

Rasco

Joined
Jan 3, 2014
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So over the last few months, Brous Blades has been growing on me as a company, to the point where I really want to get my hands on something from BB soon.

The T4, Bionic, Division and Silent Soldier (flipper, framelock) are all catching my eye lately.

My only concern on the SS flipper is that it might be too small for my big ol bear paws.
If anyone has one and could post pics of the SS flipper next to some other well-known knives for size comparison, that would be much appreciated.

Aside from that, anybody wanna talk me out of it?
What are the innerwebz current gripes with Brous Blades? Overpriced?
Would like to hear yall's thoughts.
 
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A lot of folks seem to think that Brous has ripped off other makers designs.. I personally don't see that, but it's something you may want to decide for yourself before you buy from him. Other folks have had issues with his quality control... Blades being shipped out with VERY poor fit and finish etc...That being said, the division flipper I bought direct from Brous was VERY good. Excellent fit and finish, and a ridiculously smooth action... Just a little large for me to carry. Plus, I have a hard time carrying cf knives... Subconsciously afraid to scratch that purdy carbon fiber?
Anyways...
Good luck!
 
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Thanks Olybears.
Looking forward to more awesome pics of the great northwest over in the S!K thread :)
 
I'm happy with my S.S.F. 1st gen.
And three years ago, I sent J.B. my Camillus MK2 USMC Fighting knife he re-contoured the edge and sharpened the swedge, he did a nice job.

SS7.jpg


SS1.jpg


Camillus2.jpg
 
Thanks Chambelona. That shot of the SSF in your hand gives me a pretty good idea.
Could I trouble you for a pic of that badboy next to another fairly popular folder (whatever you have handy)?
 
Brous has some designs that are very similar to some other makers' designs, eerily similar. He was banned from other forums for the offense. He then installed an alleged shill. He was also called out for the Reloader. He claimed(and still does) it was a collab between he and Willumsen. Willumsen came out and admitted Brous paid to use the design but it wasn't a collab and Brous never paid Willumsen to use his name in the adverts.
 
That sounds pretty crazy. I wonder if there's a lawsuit or something? Because if you take a look at the Reloader on, say BHQ, Willumsen's name is all over the place.
I mean, the MW logo is on the pocket clip...
You're saying JB just put that on there without permission?

If the Reloader was purely MW and he sold it off entirely to JB, that's an odd move because it's one of the nicest designs I see when I look at Willumsen-designed knives.
I mean, if the extent of the damage is "getting banned from forums", that's not that big of a deal to me.

Anyway, I'm not as concerned with intra-industry beef as I am with quality issues, f&f, etc.

Any BB owners out there, how you liking the D2? Any issues there?
 
I personally don't like brous blades. I don't want to get in to the whole stealing designs aspect, but I purchased a bionic from his first run. I put in for blue and got green. The pocket clip had movement from day one on either carry side. The blade came with small pockets of surface rust. I tried contacting him 3 or 4 times. Only responses I got were telling me I had to buy the new clip for $15 or $25 can't really remember. Need less to say I sold it and won't be purchasing another knife from brous.
 
I too have seen a lot of folks complain about F&F on various Brous knives, but I've got a T-4, and my example is flawless. It is literally the smoothest flipper of all the flipper style knives I have. The D-2 is performing admirably, great edge retention and also not that difficult to get back to razor sharp. I really don't like G-10, but the scales on my T-4 are actually very good I must say. I would say based on WWW reviews, it would certainly be possible to get a lemon, so I would be sure of who I buy from, and if it's a strong dealer, they would probably check out a specific knife for F&F before they send it to you.

I don't see any 'design ripoffs' from Brous, so that is a non-issue to me. I will say that if you get a good one, they are very good knives.
 
I have the Bionic and absolutely love it. Next is probably a mini-division.
 
Murdamook said:
Brous has some designs that are very similar to some other makers' designs, eerily similar. He was banned from other forums for the offense. He then installed an alleged shill. He was also called out for the Reloader. He claimed(and still does) it was a collab between he and Willumsen. Willumsen came out and admitted Brous paid to use the design but it wasn't a collab and Brous never paid Willumsen to use his name in the adverts.
Click to expand...

I assume this all transpired on USN?
 
I have a Division folder and triple threat folder, and had a gen 1 ss flipper. I have had 3 SS neckers, and now have one SS ranger necker which is sweet as hell and the kydex sheath with clip is perfect.

The gen 1 ss flipper was lame because he has the flipper tag out the wrong side due to blade orientation. Now its fixed and they look good and will sit in pocket correctly.

The triple threat folder is ok, the blade shape I love, the locking mech is a bit wonky but it works fine, no blade play still and I use this knife. I hate the clip though.

The division is sweet too. One of my fav. knives actually. The clip on this one is the best yet. The action is great, no blade play on mine..

I've heard of ff issues, but I have yet to personally experience it. I think his customs are way over priced. His style is a bit off the grid, but I like it.

Stealing designs, unsure, don't care until I see real proof and complaints from makers.

His attitude is hit or miss I find though. I've spoke with his a few different times and he seems a bit tense sometimes as if he gets lots of whiners.

I'll get pics up perhaps. I ended up giving my triple threat a thinner edge and polished some of the flat sections, it looks niiice.

And the bionic flipper, I had one.. The jimping is sharp, the knife too small to operate for me well.. Didn't like it one bit.

So, gl, try one out. :)
 
I bought a mini-division though pre-order. It has great fit and finish but, it's a lot thicker than I though it was going to be. For that reason it's in the trade section of the exchange right now. I love the blade shape and the way it flips but, it the thickness just doesn't work for me.
I also seem to notice most of the fit and finish complaints come from those with bionics.
 
I own a Gen2 Silent Soldier Flipper. The thing is amazing!! I cant stop getting compliments on it. It has pretty much kicked everything else out of my pocket.
 
My impression is that he's a good guy and talented maker who is currently working a bit beyond his capacity. I think that's probably the explanation for the differing experiences in fit and finish and customer service. It may be time for him to hire some help and start expanding, which might make the experiences a bit more uniform (hopefully in a good way.)
 
The owner of Poltergeist has come out a called out Brous on his designs and Willumsen provided the information regarding the Reloader that was involved in the thread that resulted in his expulsion.

Willumsen never sold the design as I understand it. He licensed the design to Brous.

The design theft has been covered many times. I'm not going to dig through the archives to find the threads. There is photo evidence illustrating the similarities between his knives and those of Poltergeist.
 
I don't really care about the whole "who copied who" debate, that seems very juvenile. And Microsoft and Apple both ripped off Xerox, whatever. That was Xerox's fault.
Dr Dre rips off beats from lesser-known, underground hip-hop artists, and nobody is aware because nobody ever heard of the original underground artist except for the most dedicated, "into it" hip-hop heads.

I've never heard of Poltergeist.
That's not to say the designs aren't a ripoff, it's just saying that obviously someone is doing a better job at marketing these designs and getting them out there.

The movie "DREDD" was pretty much a ripoff of the movie "The Raid: Redemption".
But if you've never seen The Raid, you would enjoy DREDD very much. I still enjoyed DREDD despite having seen The Raid.

I don have a question about F&F inconsistencies though.
Has anyone purchased a Brous Blades knife, either directly, or through an online retailer, and then sent it back over F&F issues?
What was your experience?

So far, one person has said they basically got told to kick rocks over a loose pocket clip.
Pocket clips are not that big of a deal and usually something I can fix myself with some pliers and 10 sec. So I can't see myself sending a knife back for that.
What are some other experiences people have had with sending a BB knife back?
 
Rasco said:
I don't really care about the whole "who copied who" debate, that seems very juvenile. And Microsoft and Apple both ripped off Xerox, whatever. That was Xerox's fault.
Dr Dre rips off beats from lesser-known, underground hip-hop artists, and nobody is aware because nobody ever heard of the original underground artist except for the most dedicated, "into it" hip-hop heads.

I've never heard of Poltergeist.
That's not to say the designs aren't a ripoff, it's just saying that obviously someone is doing a better job at marketing these designs and getting them out there.

The movie "DREDD" was pretty much a ripoff of the movie "The Raid: Redemption".
But if you've never seen The Raid, you would enjoy DREDD very much. I still enjoyed DREDD despite having seen The Raid.

I don have a question about F&F inconsistencies though.
Has anyone purchased a Brous Blades knife, either directly, or through an online retailer, and then sent it back over F&F issues?
What was your experience?

So far, one person has said they basically got told to kick rocks over a loose pocket clip.
Pocket clips are not that big of a deal and usually something I can fix myself with some pliers and 10 sec. So I can't see myself sending a knife back for that.
What are some other experiences people have had with sending a BB knife back?
Click to expand...

Deraily comment: I've heard The Raid just got released first. It was supposedly based heavily on a leaked script from Dredd, which was in production for much longer. Your point still stands, though.
 
LOL, yeah, that's the type of back and forth, who-copied-who that really serves no purpose.

I enjoyed both movies thoroughly :D

I'm mostly just wanting feedback on quality. From what I hear, they can be pretty hit or miss. I'm willing to take that risk if the Miss can be exchanged with minimal hassle.
Now, I'm guessing if I get one from an online retailer, they will accept it back pretty much no matter what, within a certain amount of time.

Still would really like to see a SS flipper next to a PM2 or a 560 or a Skyline, or anything really, to give me a better idea of size.
 
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