Condor Bowie Knives. Opinions And Information?

Yeah the initial shipment of them was small and we weren't able to snag any Undertakers before they were cleaned out. We'll be carrying them once supply improves, though! Also, we now offer free Special Grade work on all Condors, so you don't have a pay a penny extra for it.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Yeah the initial shipment of them was small and we weren't able to snag any Undertakers before they were cleaned out. We'll be carrying them once supply improves, though! Also, we now offer free Special Grade work on all Condors, so you don't have a pay a penny extra for it.
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I might be interested in one once they are back in stock.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Yeah the initial shipment of them was small and we weren't able to snag any Undertakers before they were cleaned out. We'll be carrying them once supply improves, though! Also, we now offer free Special Grade work on all Condors, so you don't have a pay a penny extra for it.
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and that right there is why you are the best for the products you carry. when it comes to condors and a few other brands i head your way first.
 
jbmonkey said:
i have many condors.....good products for the money.

i have the undertaker, is a good solid knife. fit and finish is nornal condor...not great but not bad. thier 1075 is done pretty well. good quality leather sheath. solid in all ways.

price is a tad high for what it is, but still a great using knife.
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How would you compare the fit and finish when compared to a Buck 119 Special? I see your name on the Buck side of the forum a lot and trust your opinion. I know Buck Specials aren't exactly FLAWLESS but they are beautiful and I've never come across any flaws that I'd consider noticeable or ugly. Would the Undertaker be comparable quality to the average 119 in terms of straight edge, scratches, spaces between parts, etc?
 
CrazyCaucasian said:
How would you compare the fit and finish when compared to a Buck 119 Special? I see your name on the Buck side of the forum a lot and trust your opinion. I know Buck Specials aren't exactly FLAWLESS but they are beautiful and I've never come across any flaws that I'd consider noticeable or ugly. Would the Undertaker be comparable quality to the average 119 in terms of straight edge, scratches, spaces between parts, etc?
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ill do better than that. heres some pics of mine15129601325331461442859.jpg 1512960250233778589791.jpg 1512960250233778589791.jpg 15129603546271133470583.jpg 15129604008351115214808.jpg 15129604569401458627594.jpg 15129604569401458627594.jpg


so i only own one of these, but many condors. this one is not bad in the things you asked about, but not perfect either. i own many 119s and other bucks. i feel i can say my consistency with buck had been better overall. hope thats helpful for ya?
 

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In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. That's the thought that crossed my mind after receiving The Condor Undertaker Bowie Knife and imagining Condor's workshop and their quality control manager. I've never seen something so poorly done. Placing products as such on the market should be forbidden by the international law.
 
MarkRemark said:
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. That's the thought that crossed my mind after receiving The Condor Undertaker Bowie Knife and imagining Condor's workshop and their quality control manager. I've never seen something so poorly done. Placing products as such on the market should be forbidden by the international law.
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You make a very strong statement, but offer very little detail in terms of what exactly is so poorly done. I think your statement would carry much more weight if you offer actual specific details and pics to show the issue. Especially considering this is like your 2nd time ever posting anything on bf... some of us are extremely weary of 'trolls & shills' - which often come along with brand new accounts.
 
JJHollowman said:
One of my big regrets is not buying all the Condor stuff when it was unbelievably cheap. When they first came out I couldn't believe the low prices, and so I got scared off. By the time I had handled anything and realized Condors were rock solid it was too late.
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I agree, Condors were a great value at one time, now their prices have risen to where they are competing with better options for the price. They priced themselves out of their market sweet spot.
 
Kind of off topic, but I have an Eco Parang from Condor - love it. What’s a good file recommendation for sharpening it? Thanks in advance.
 
KooKooforKukripuffs said:
I agree, Condors were a great value at one time, now their prices have risen to where they are competing with better options for the price. They priced themselves out of their market sweet spot.
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I've scaled back my selection a bit as a result and have been more critical of new releases thanks to those price bumps. There are very few 2019 models I plan on picking up. Honestly, even the ones that don't seem very competitive are still a solid deal, just not AS good of one as they used to be. They still offer much more variety in taper, handle contouring, design variety, sheath quality, and a number of unique stylistic features that other companies just can't do at all. But I think they've lost focus a bit as a brand. They need to tighten things up and get back to what made them great. They're going a bit too Cold Steel for their own good right now and it's making them lose credibility. My suggestion is for them to focus less on pumping out a million new designs every year that don't appear until the 3rd quarter, and to focus on making designs that cut away unnecessary elements to offer uncomplicated but feature-rich tools for their price point. If there's to be any materials and process R&D going on, I'd like it sunk into grinding equipment and techniques to get their grinds thinner behind the edge.
 
dirc said:
You make a very strong statement, but offer very little detail in terms of what exactly is so poorly done. I think your statement would carry much more weight if you offer actual specific details and pics to show the issue. Especially considering this is like your 2nd time ever posting anything on bf... some of us are extremely weary of 'trolls & shills' - which often come along with brand new accounts.
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dirc said:
You make a very strong statement, but offer very little detail in terms of what exactly is so poorly done. I think your statement would carry much more weight if you offer actual specific details and pics to show the issue. Especially considering this is like your 2nd time ever posting anything on bf... some of us are extremely weary of 'trolls & shills' - which often come along with brand new accounts.
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i'm not a troll, just got very surprised and disappointed about this knife and it's manufacturer. It is truth that that was a second time that I wrote on this forum. I'm fully aware of how hard my statements may sound, but this which I'm telling is not without a reason. I have a degree in architecture, which makes me very much capable of seeing things the way they are supposed to be. Beside, I've been very much interested in metalurgy, guns and knives for my hole life, and I'm 50 now. I'l return to you with pics and the descriptions, and anyone who wants to convince me that I'm making mistake in my statements is more than welcome. If I'm wrong about this, I will admit it. Thanks for your replay and you'll hear from me very soon again. Best regards.
 
It's all about reasonable expectations. I don't expect great fit and finish from knives that I consider to be at the low end of mid-grade. Not necessarily cheap, but still relatively inexpensive, and made that way.
 
justjed said:
It's all about reasonable expectations. I don't expect great fit and finish from knives that I consider to be at the low end of mid-grade. Not necessarily cheap, but still relatively inexpensive, and made that way.
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Condor prices are in the same range as Becker, do you expect the same lack of quality from those "low to mid grade" knives?
 
I read your other post, M MarkRemark - it provided more details. A pic of that would be good, but if your words accurately describe it, it's absolutely a failed qc example. Cracked handles should not be sold. I would like to see the pic in any case however.
 
KooKooforKukripuffs said:
Condor prices are in the same range as Becker, do you expect the same lack of quality from those "low to mid grade" knives?
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It's not just a matter of the price point--it's the features you get at that price point. Condors actually have more features than Beckers in a number of areas, and a Becker made with the same features would be quite a bit more expensive. Just look at the Kephart that KA-BAR just released, for instance. Are Condors as nice as that knife? No. But they do offer similar (not identical) features at a lower price point. So at equal complexity of build, Condors are still a value option.
 
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KooKooforKukripuffs said:
What "more features"? Wood handle and leather sheath? Those are disatvantages to some folks. Condors are about as basic as an Old Hickory and the grinds usually are on par with them as well. Old Hickory knives are $10-20, Condors are $40-80.
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The scales are highly contoured on most models. The sheaths are high quality thick leather with a full welt, wet-formed single-seam, or kydex. Depending on the model they often have distal taper. They use a fairly large number of different finish methods. Many models are offered with micarta, some of which are two-tone. A bunch of them, like the one in question in this thread, has a full steel guard, which is a mode of construction that not all manufacturers are set up to handle. Look at the product from the standpoint of production and the fact that most stages of their production are hand-operated and it's actually pretty impressive what they're able to offer at a given price point. There are considerably more production stages to a typical Condor knife than an Old Hickory. Old Hickory knives are a great budget knife, it's true, but the grinds are basically left as-machined without additional finishing work, the rivets are cutlery compression rivets instead of solid rivets, often with a lanyard tube as well, and the scales are boxy and just cut from a board, edge-ground flush (and often left skewed rather than square) and the edges chamfered with a router, and that's it.
 
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