Buyers beware of Stedemon Knives

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Soomander

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It has been a long while since I last interacted with this forum but I thought this information would be worth getting out. I have purchased two Stedemon Knife Company products and am fairly disappointed. Both of the knives I have purchased are of the Bastion model, one w/ the blackwash blade and blue handles and the other w/ just plain stonewash handles and blade. The first knife, the blue handled one, came with a good fit & finish but the pivot was a little loose(easy fix), the second one however came with an abundance of problems; the kvt system was gritty when closing, did not come lubricated, and the pivot wouldn't stay tight. For a $300 knife I don't care if it's from China or the US it shouldn't come with these problems. Now don't get it twisted I love the knives I just want to warn you that before you buy one be ready to polish your pivot surfaces, lubricate them, and loctite the hell out of the pivot screw.
 
OK, so what's the problem? I've had Hinderer's, and others costing twice that much arrive in said condition.
 
Not really a huge problem. Just trying to let people know what they're getting into if they purchase a Stedemon.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Could it be that some expect the product to be completed - regardless of a glam name?
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Well by his title, it sounds as though he got ripped off. It's a minor thing that is found on more then half the knives purchased today, but you don't purchase many knives, do you?
 
Soomander said:
... I just want to warn you that before you buy one be ready to polish your pivot surfaces, lubricate them, and loctite the hell out of the pivot screw.
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I don't really have high expectations of any knife having that work already done. You probably like your pivot a different tightness than I do, so loctighting both of our knives would make both of us unhappy because we'd have to clean that crap off, then set it to our liking before loctighting it again. Not real big issues IMO.
 
knifehunt said:
Well by his title, it sounds as though he got ripped off. It's a minor thing that is found on more then half the knives purchased today, but you don't purchase many knives, do you?
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Do not turn the conversation towards other members.
 
Soomander said:
It has been a long while since I last interacted with this forum but I thought this information would be worth getting out. I have purchased two Stedemon Knife Company products and am fairly disappointed. Both of the knives I have purchased are of the Bastion model, one w/ the blackwash blade and blue handles and the other w/ just plain stonewash handles and blade. The first knife, the blue handled one, came with a good fit & finish but the pivot was a little loose(easy fix), the second one however came with an abundance of problems; the kvt system was gritty when closing, did not come lubricated, and the pivot wouldn't stay tight. For a $300 knife I don't care if it's from China or the US it shouldn't come with these problems. Now don't get it twisted I love the knives I just want to warn you that before you buy one be ready to polish your pivot surfaces, lubricate them, and loctite the hell out of the pivot screw.
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I can see that you're frustrated with the state of the knives. For $300, you're likely justified in being upset. Did you try contacting Stedemon and giving them a chance to make right on the sale?
 
I've handled several Stedemon knives and they've been excellent. You having a single bad experience is not grounds for creating a post in this subforum.
 
One bad knife does not a bad manufacturer make, but if this member got a bad knife, he should certainly put up a post about it.
Regardless of price, a product should be delivered in a proper state, and honestly, if the price is high, the expectations should be high too.
 
Well how's their warranty? What do they say to do for repairs? I'd like to know before I buy a knife.
 
robgmn said:
One bad knife does not a bad manufacturer make, but if this member got a bad knife, he should certainly put up a post about it.
Regardless of price, a product should be delivered in a proper state, and honestly, if the price is high, the expectations should be high too.
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I could not agree more, this sub-forum is specifically for sharing experiences of this nature.
 
ooitzoo said:
I can see that you're frustrated with the state of the knives. For $300, you're likely justified in being upset. Did you try contacting Stedemon and giving them a chance to make right on the sale?
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I'm not able to find any type of warranty statement by Stedemon. I'm fairly certain they don't even have a website but they do provide a email for customers to message them at. If I am unable to fix the problems I have after lubing and putting loctite on the pivot screw I'll be sure to give them a message.
 
Soomander said:
I'm not able to find any type of warranty statement by Stedemon. I'm fairly certain they don't even have a website but they do provide a email for customers to message them at. If I am unable to fix the problems I have after lubing and putting loctite on the pivot screw I'll be sure to give them a message.
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So you haven't tried to contact them?

This is a production knife, right? If so, even the worlds best QC process is going to let a bad knife slip through occasionally.

It would be a much better idea to contact them then posting here and then tinkering with the knife (possibly voiding the warranty.)
 
Sosa said:
Well how's their warranty? What do they say to do for repairs? I'd like to know before I buy a knife.
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They don't make a warranty statement and I would much rather fix it myself than having to send it to China to repair/replace and wait at least a month. Also, this company being relatively new, I tried my hardest to find reviews but all I could find myself was a few YouTube reviews(most being from a Stedemon provided pass-around which I am sure they put extra care into the pass-around model before sending it out) and a couple sub-10 word reviews on BHQ.
 
ooitzoo said:
So you haven't tried to contact them?

This is a production knife, right? If so, even the worlds best QC process is going to let a bad knife slip through occasionally.

It would be a much better idea to contact them then posting here and then tinkering with the knife (possibly voiding the warranty.)
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I'll be sure to message them and see what they can do for me; and yes, it is a production knife.
 
Soomander said:
They don't make a warranty statement and I would much rather fix it myself than having to send it to China to repair/replace and wait at least a month. Also, this company being relatively new, I tried my hardest to find reviews but all I could find myself was a few YouTube reviews(most being from a Stedemon provided pass-around which I am sure they put extra care into the pass-around model before sending it out) and a couple sub-10 word reviews on BHQ.
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Soomander said:
I'll be sure to message them and see what they can do for me.
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I'd be willing to bet they have a US Rep for Warranty / replacement purposes. Given the price-tag, I suspect that if this were a common place thing folks would know about it. After all, this isn't some $5 gas station knife.

I do suggest you message them and then relay back what you find.
 
ooitzoo said:
I'd be willing to bet they have a US Rep for Warranty / replacement purposes. Given the price-tag, I suspect that if this were a common place thing folks would know about it. After all, this isn't some $5 gas station knife.

I do suggest you message them and then relay back what you find.
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I'll be sure to do an edit to the OP about they're support. I was actually going to ask if they had some US Rep to avoid having to ship it to China and wait for at least a month for them to ship it back; you read my mind.
 
I still feel like this "abundance of problems" is mostly personal preference related. Hand polished pivot surfaces probably isn't a common thing on a production knife, and while I agree that the action shouldn't have been gritty a simple cleaning should take care of it. Lubrication and pivot tightness levels are a matter of personal preference.

If you like the knives and are going to keep them, then I suggest carefully cleaning them, lubing and tightening the pivot according to your preference levels and be happy.
I would not send them to the next state over, much less China, for those issues. I am also not positive a looming headline of "Buyers beware..." is warranted in this case.
Best of luck.
 
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