- Joined
- Apr 7, 2016
- Messages
- 450
Its not just personal experiences. Esee is a smaller company known for their attention to detail. They are able to more closely monitor their QC/QA due to their size and the fact that the manufacture(Shon) takes great pride in every knife that leaves his shop. Their owners Jeff and Mike are also knife and outdoor enthusiasts. Kabar is a department store mass producer that is owned by a giant corporation(Cutco) and is more concerned with their profit margins as apposed to being genuine knife fanatics and tradesman. I will admit that Kabar has some good designs(I have a few and love the designs)but, they are not their designs. They are Ethan Becker's, Rick Hinderer's, Steve Johnson's, Tactical Defense Institute's, exc. designs. Cutco/Kabar just makes them and takes their cut. As for fit and finish, you are just fooling yourself man. Esee's is easily better and many, many people will agree with me I am sure. All you have to do is strip an example of each and you will clearly see the difference. I few pictures can easily highlight it as well.
I have had some bad experiences and some good. But, that is not only what my opinion is based on. I am a tradesman with a background in manufacturing so I sometimes have a more critical eye and see details others overlook, disregard, or miss entirely. Most of the Esee pics posted are from people breaking them to get new ones. Even Esee themselves likes to display them. Most of failure examples of Kabar's happen during normal use and they are widely know to have frequent issues with their heat treatment. I can post some pics, stories and videos if you would like. There are many examples of badly chipped Kabar blades alone where there is barely any of Esee's. Run a search if you dont believe me. I dont expect Busse level of F&F from a Kabar but, some of the other cheaper department store brands even show better F&F then they do from mine and others experiences. I have seen many examples(dozens) in stores, friends knives, and of my own examples to prove this. Many Kabar's have poor/uneven primary grinds, swedges, exc. And, their final grinds(sharpening) are terrible. Sure they often come quite sharp(although I have seen more then a few examples that didnt) but, check the angles and grind heights. They are often quite different from side to side and/or through the length of the edge especially on some of the longer blades with irregular(not straight) blade profiles. You should see the two BK21's I received.
I have shared stories and have owned more then a few of each brand but, neither are my favorites and I am a fan boy of no one brand. I own many different knife brands and styles of knives and try to keep an unbiased opinion but, as I said I am more critical then most and am not scared to point out the differences or deficiencies. Nope, no confirmation bias here I just tell it like it is. I think this is far more likely a case of post purchase rationalization that you display. After all, you are a member of the Kabar Crew and a Beckerhead as per your sig line. I have no stakes in either Esee or Kabar and neither is my favorite brand.
