Brous Blades

Scrim said:
I've been totally unaware of the Brous negative history that I've just seen in this thread.

Here's the story of my mini-interaction with Brous Blades: I really like my Mini Division. It's a well made, tough, sleek looking knife that functions well & reliably in my experience with it. It was also one of the first knives I bought from a BF member on the exchange, shortly after I became a member almost three years ago. I carried it off and on for a while, used it for average EDC stuff then eventually moved on to newer toys (i.e. other knives).

Then I tried to disassemble it about a year ago for general maintenance. I could NOT get the pivot screws to release no matter what I tried. It must have been uber red loc-tited. It just wouldn't budge...but I did manage to scratch up & semi-chew up the male pivot screw pretty badly while trying to get it opened up...and added a scratch or two to the female side pivot screw too. I eventually gave up and contacted Brous Blades through their website ready to bite the bullet and pay them whatever it would cost to fix what I had screwed up...cause it's a really well made & beautifully designed knife in my opinion.

I hated that I damaged the pivot screws...and STILL never got to disassemble it. So, in my utterly defeated state I reached out, explained my situation and sent it in to them with the request to replace the pivot screws & ship it back (at my expense of course) but to PLEASE leave it "un-loctited" (that's a word, right?) so I could "blue loc-tite it" and then disassemble it when I got around to it.

So...they got it apart, replaced the pivot screws, no loc-tite as requested, put a (totally unexpected) pretty decent polished edge on it and shipped it back all pretty promptly...no charge for anything. Their customer service couldn't have been better IMHO. I was pretty blown away at their responsiveness and generosity, especially since I told them I bought it on the secondary market...liked it quite a bit...and then screwed it up all by myself...no help needed to get that accomplished.

So I checked out what they had done, thanked them fairly profusely and then just put the knife away and pretty much forgot about it...for a couple of years...until about a week ago.

I decided to pull it out of storage & check it out again, maybe actually carry & use it for a change. Upon taking it out of storage & giving it a fresh look again, and also having evolved into an edge nut over the past year and a half or so, now armed with an Edge Pro Apex and a year and a half of fixed-angle sharpening experience, I decided that I wanted to try and redo/reprofile the edge that they did because theirs was pretty obtuse, thus a very thin secondary bevel. I decided a while ago that I like tall, acute, flashy (to me) and uber-slicey mirror polished secondary bevels...and that this Mini Division would look better and cut better with a much more acute, mirror polished edge than the edge that Brous Blades (generously) put on it for me...assuming I didn't screw it up in the process.

So last week I decided to give it a shot. Got it taken apart with no problems, got to finally check out its internals, including its bearing system I was pretty curious about but hadn't yet seen. It's kind if a typical looking, caged, steel bearing system but larger & more robust than many of my ZT's & other knives I've disassembled, cleaned, lubed, etc. So that was nice to see...finally. Reassembled it with no problems...great tolerances...went back together tightly but relatively easily & remained dead centered, smooth, snappy action that eases closed under its own weight & rock solid with zero play, just like before I took it apart (well maybe a little smoother now)...also nice to see.

Then I went to work on the edge. That D2 was hard as hell. I've reprofiled quite a few knives over my past year+ of learning the Edge Pro...by making many of my "users" guinea pigs, to begin to learn the art of sharpening. The D2 on this Mini Division was really tough, much more so than just about any knife I've sharpened before. I'm no steel expert so my assumption is that this D2 was well heat treated and hardened to a pretty high Rockwell level. I've sharpened several other D2 knives (and other decent steels, to great super-steels) and few, maybe none...took the time or effort this one did to complete. And most of the time was spent in the very beginning step, re-profiling it from 24º down to 15º, starting with a 140 grit diamond stone MADE to hog off lots of steel fairly quickly. This one still...took a while.

In closing, I hope I haven't gotten too off the track in this thread with my wordy post. I had a very good customer service experience with Brous Blades. I really like the product(s) I own of theirs, all are well made & function beautifully.

And...I thought this thread could maybe use another splash of color so I'm tossing in a photo of what this Mini Division's blade looks like now...just for the hell of it. (PS. Again, I apologize for the length of this post.) :)
View attachment 723735
Click to expand...

^ I hope you don't mind, but I just had to break down this enormous wall for you, brah! There's no reason for being so, obtuse! :D

As for Brous Blades: I concur with everything you stated in reference to their exceptional customer service. :thumbsup:

I actually called Jason, and spoke with him on the phone just about a week or 2 prior to Blade Show. We chatted for a little while, then got down to business. After we finished, he invited me to stop by the next time I was passing by Buellton on the 101. Buellton, has always been one of my favorite places to take my fuel/food stops, on my trips from San Diego up to Monterey & back; so I'll definitely take him up on his offer, if I have the time. :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting the colorful picture of that beautiful edge you put on your Mini Division, Scrim. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
Last edited:
Scrim said:
I've been totally unaware of the Brous negative history that I've just seen in this thread. Here's the story of my mini-interaction with Brous Blades: I really like my Mini Division. It's a well made, tough, sleek looking knife that functions well & reliably in my experience with it. It was also one of the first knives I bought from a BF member on the exchange, shortly after I became a member almost three years ago. I carried it off and on for a while, used it for average EDC stuff then eventually moved on to newer toys (i.e. other knives).
Click to expand...
Scrim said:
Then I tried to disassemble it about a year ago for general maintenance. I could NOT get the pivot screws to release no matter what I tried. It must have been uber red loc-tited. It just wouldn't budge...but I did manage to scratch up & semi-chew up the male pivot screw pretty badly while trying to get it opened up...and added a scratch or two to the female side pivot screw too. I eventually gave up and contacted Brous Blades through their website ready to bite the bullet and pay them whatever it would cost to fix what I had screwed up...cause it's a really well made & beautifully designed knife in my opinion. I hated that I damaged the pivot screws...and STILL never got to disassemble it. So, in my utterly defeated state I reached out, explained my situation and sent it in to them with the request to replace the pivot screws & ship it back (at my expense of course) but to PLEASE leave it "un-loctited" (that's a word, right?) so I could "blue loc-tite it" and then disassemble it when I got around to it.

So...they got it apart, replaced the pivot screws, no loc-tite as requested, put a (totally unexpected) pretty decent polished edge on it and shipped it back all pretty promptly...no charge for anything. Their customer service couldn't have been better IMHO. I was pretty blown away at their responsiveness and generosity, especially since I told them I bought it on the secondary market...liked it quite a bit...and then screwed it up all by myself...no help needed to get that accomplished.

I checked out what they had done, thanked them fairly profusely and then just put the knife away and pretty much forgot about it...for a couple of years...until about a week ago. I decided to pull it out of storage & check it out again, maybe actually carry & use it for a change. Upon taking it out of storage & giving it a fresh look again, and also having evolved into an edge nut over the past year and a half or so, now armed with an Edge Pro Apex and a year and a half of fixed-angle sharpening experience, I decided that I wanted to try and redo/reprofile the edge that they did because theirs was pretty obtuse, thus a very minute secondary bevel.

I decided a while ago that I like tall, acute, flashy (to me) and uber-slicey mirror polished secondary bevels...and that this Mini Division would look better and cut better with a much more acute, mirror polished edge than the edge that Brous Blades (generously) put on it for me...assuming I didn't screw it up in the process. So last week I decided to give it a shot.

Got it taken apart with no problems, got to finally check out its internals, including its bearing system I was pretty curious about but hadn't yet seen. It's kind if a typical looking, caged, steel bearing system but larger & more robust than many of my ZT's & other knives I've disassembled, cleaned, lubed, etc. So that was nice to see...finally. Reassembled it with no problems...great tolerances...went back together tightly but relatively easily & remained dead centered, smooth, snappy action that eases closed under its own weight & rock solid with zero play, just like before I took it apart (well maybe a little smoother now)...also nice to see. Then I went to work on the edge.

That D2 was hard as hell. I've reprofiled quite a few knives over my past year+ of learning the Edge Pro...by making many of my "users" guinea pigs, to begin to learn the art of sharpening. The D2 on this Mini Division was really tough, much more so than just about any knife I've sharpened before. I'm no steel expert so my assumption is that this D2 was well heat treated and hardened to a pretty high Rockwell level. I've sharpened several other D2 knives (and other decent steels, to great super-steels) and few, maybe none...took the time or effort this one did to complete. And most of the time was spent in the very beginning step, re-profiling it from 24º down to 15º, starting with a 140 grit diamond stone MADE to hog off lots of steel fairly quickly. This one still...took a while.

In closing, I hope I haven't gotten too off the track in this thread with my wordy post. I had a very good customer service experience with Brous Blades. I really like the product(s) I own of theirs, all are well made & function beautifully. And...I thought this thread could maybe use another splash of color so I'm tossing in a photo of what this Mini Division's blade looks like now...just for the hell of it. (PS. Again, I apologize for the length of this post. Too much coffee, too late at night.) :)
View attachment 723735
Click to expand...

^^^ Excellent job, Scrim! :thumbsup: 92% A-


Jammer Six said:
Thanks for the paragraphs!

Isn't Brous Blades the one with all the controversy?
Click to expand...

^ One man's "controversy," is another mans, bliss. :cool:

I personally enjoy this hobby, along my high quality Brous made, Mini Division; which by the way, I'd like to send up to Scrim, so that he can "hog out some steel" and put on one of his highly professional mirrored polished edges! :thumbsup:

Scrim? :D
 
So is most cabinet hardware and virtually all microscopes.

Are you making some weird, backwards accusation about education?
 
Kelama, you're killing me with kindness. Thanks for the compliment...and for the A- on my late night, insomnia and coffee fueled, stream of consciousness post.

I still don't trust myself enough to work on someone else's knife. I'm just a hobbyist sharpener who'd never want to potentially even minutely scratch or in any way mess up a blade that wasn't mine. I might be getting a little closer to building up enough confidence to put a mirror polished edge on a knife for a friend if it was an inexpensive knife, and edc beater knife (with reasonable easy steel to work on) that a friend was willing to take a bit of a risk on, and it had a proper sharpening choil to hopefully minimize my chances of adding an imperfection. If I ever get to the point where I feel like I can make that offer, as a gift to a fellow knife nut, you will be first in line.

PS. Did I weasel out of that effectively?:rolleyes:

PPS. I'm NEVER doing a Mini Division again. THAT one was a bit@h!;)
 
Last edited:
So.... had an issue with my XR-1.
Sent an email to Brous. Keena promptly returned my email... sent me a pre-paid usps label and put me in touch with Dylan, their customer service guy. Dylan was very prompt and courteous. Sent knife out on a Monday. Got it back the following Monday ( Today ). Knife was repaired, cleaned and works perfectly. Brous also sent a bunch of stickers and a patch. Well done!
 
How is their Bali? I like the looks of it, and regardless of who/where it is made it looks like it is well built. I'm not as hung up on what steel is used.

Ah, did some looking in the bali forum and I guess these are "ok" but not good flippers. I should just go to some flea markets and find some old brass ones from the '80s.
 
Last edited:
The best customer service is the one you don't have to use.

I have a first generation Bionic, and it seemed unfinished to me, like the employee took his lunch break and never came back. I fixed it with a file.
 
Interesting concept about customer service. Not sure it applies to anything manufactured in this plane of existence, but interesting non the less.
 
PURPLEDC said:
Anyone with a brous. Pull your pivot and pull your hardware. I would bet its metric.
Click to expand...

I happen to like the metric system. It does a great job of confusing the hell out of me.
 
K.O.D. said:
I happen to like the metric system. It does a great job of confusing the hell out of me.
Click to expand...

I honestly have no issue with metric. But the point of me saying that is 9 times out of 10. If a knife has metric hardware thr knife was probably not made in the states. And even is a knife isnt made in the states that does t make it bad. Unless of course the maker is lying about such things. Ill be honest when i saw my brous T4 to me the satin finish seemed very crkt like. And jason aluminum models look alot like crkt on the inside. And jason "liking" d2 imho is probably because 9cr18mov would give it away. Of course ill eat crow if he wants to prove me wrong. But i believe the vast majority of brous knives are made in china. Same with devilliers and a few other so called "midtechs"
 
You wondered if the parts were metric, and you thought that that would prove something.

You think that because a knife is made in China, that means something.

It's been six decades. You're easy to recognize. You don't even know how to hide.
 
Jammer Six said:
So is most cabinet hardware and virtually all microscopes.

Are you making some weird, backwards accusation about education?
Click to expand...


The only education I am questioning at this point is yours. I'm sorry but your posts in regards to me are so off the mark I either question yes, your education or your sobriety. Now, most cabinet hardware is NOT made in the USA. Most microscopes aren't either. And I doubt they are claiming that they are. And that is the point and the problem. Companies lying about where their products are made to sell more units based on patriotism. There are people here who wont carry a Chinese knife period. And you shouldn't deceive those people by claiming your Chinese knife is made in the USA.



Jammer Six said:
You wondered if the parts were metric, and you thought that that would prove something.

You think that because a knife is made in China, that means something.

It's been six decades. You're easy to recognize. You don't even know how to hide.
Click to expand...


What in the hell are you talking about? Six decades? easy to recognize? Seriously I don't think anyone knows what you are talking about. The point is that most knives made in the United states like Jason claims his knives are made will use the imperial measurement system of inches, feet etc. I don't know of any American companies making American products utilizing the metric system. Especially with all the American pride makers in the USA seem to have they wouldn't use the metric system for freedoms sake. A knife from china or any other country besides the United states would usually be Metric as that what the majority of the world uses.

And this isn't the first time you have come at me over YOUR misinterpretations over my posts in regards to china. But if you had any clue whatsoever you would know I am probably one of if not the biggest pro china knife enthusiast on this forum. Does a knife made in china mean something? Yes, It means it was made in China. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. Unless however you are an American knife company who claims that your products are 100% made in the USA. That IS BAD. Either way please, if you don't understand my post ask. Don't make assumptions.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top