Condor Golok Came: I Think I Got a Defect

J

JNieporte

Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
3,352
Well, my Golok came today. I must say, I'm disappointed. I think my Golok should have been sold as a "second" due to the problems shown below.

First, and most obvious, is the handle. There's a piece of the pommel missing, like somebody dropped it on the ground.
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It wasn't even sanded down, almost like a person at the factory said "Yeah, that's good enough, throw it in the box".

The tang of the blade also sticks up over the handle; definitely not flush.
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In all honesty, it's not that noticeable, but everybody who handled mine felt it right away. The pommel can be sanded (and I will) and the tang problem can be fixed by wearing gloves or just not squeezing the handle, but this isn't how a knife should come from the factory.

Another problem is the rust that came on the edge. I removed the rust before any photos were taken, but it was definitely rust and there were quite a few specks. All together, they could cover an area the size of a nickel. It was just surface rust and not pitting, so I'm okay with removing this (it only took about three minutes), but again a knife shouldn't come from the factory with rust on it.

The blade also has this stuff on it...
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That's not water or soda; it looks like some of the baked-on black coating bubbled up. It sanded right off (it was only in this one spot) and there was still black coating underneath it. I got all of it off except three small spots...
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Continuing on, the blade was bent, albeit very slightly, to the right. I noticed this after shooting the photos so I have none, but the bend occurs about 3" from the tip, and is at a very shallow angle. Barely noticeable, but there.

Continued below due to the photo limit...
 
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My last complaint is the edge itself. A lot of people have commented on how Condor's edges are razor sharp right out of the box. Well, mine was dull. The last 4" (towards the tip) was sharp enough to slice paper, but the rest of the edge was very dull and required a belt sander to get a decent edge on.

Also, the edge wasn't "perfectly polished" as many have mentioned, but it had visible grind marks. The photos below are before I did any sharpening, as it came out of the box.
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The grinding goes in both directions, as if a stone or belt sander was used from two different angles...
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Again, I didn't get this knife used; this is how it came right out of the factory box. There was a sticker attached to the box with some initials and date in check-off fashion, which I assume is the Quality Control information, but a QC sticker doesn't matter much if the product itself came with this many flaws.

I've sanded the pommel to be more uniform (will post photos in this thread) and sharpened the blade up, but overall I'm disappointed. I know there will be follow-up posts like "You got a bad one; this isn't Condor's typical quality" and that's okay. I know Condor puts out a good product. I just didn't get one.
However, I still like the Golok. It's a good design and fits my hand perfectly.
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I sanded the pommel to be more uniform, but haven't stained it yet...
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It also slices really easy now...
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I'll say it again; it's a very good fit in my hand...
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Wow, that pommel is horrible! I would have sent that knife back! A knife with that much wood missing should never have passed QC.

There seems to be some problems with Condor's newer stuff' but I guess, only the defects are posted. For every one that goes wrong, there are definitely many that are fine. Depends on your luck.
 
That is a bummer. At least most of it was fixable though (aside from the bend and those spots). But, still, it should not have come that way.
 
BarberFobic1992 said:
That is a bummer. At least most of it was fixable though (aside from the bend and those spots). But, still, it should not have come that way.
Click to expand...

The bend was fixed with a vise and gentle pressure. I'm sure the spots will go away with use.
 
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Nice job fixing that up :thumbup:

Thanks for the in hand shot, will definitely be on the hunt for one of these.
 
This looks like it will be a great user. The QC issue is disappointing, but, on the other hand, I really like it when I can incorporate a bit of DIY into my wilderness tools. This golok has more character now.

Nice repair job!

- Mike
 
Hmmm. That does suck. You could have probably exchanged it for a new one, but the shipping would have cost about 1/2 as much as the knife itself. I'm sure Joezilla will be interested in this thread. The Condor Goloks seem to have had more than their share of teething problems coming out of the gate- I wonder if yours is from the first batch, or if it's from the second, which supposedly has better F&F?

I still want one of those though. Goloks are kewl. :D
 
If it matters, the QC sticker has SEP 2009 filled in as the date. It looks like "Mag" or "Mas" is initialed; I'll have to get photos up (see post #24 here for a photo). There was a sticker on the box top, marked (REMOVED, this was my Order Number).

It didn't take long to fix: about five minutes of sanding the pommel, 25 minutes of sharpening, two or three minutes of constant (and slow) re-bending, and perhaps ten minutes of sanding the rust and spots off. I guess I'm mostly disappointed in the fact that I waited for almost three months for these to become available, another two to actually acquire one, and then I get one that should have failed Quality Control.
 
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Shame about the shape that knife arrived in. Great lookin blade though, and it should perform really well for you. :thumbup:
 
You seem to be handling it well. I would be pretty upset to find a 'new' knife that looked like that.
 
If I got a knife that looked like that, I would have sent it back. Maybe it would have cost more, but I would like to know what the customer service was like. Of course, I have seen many instances of Condor standing behind their products 100%, so I am sure it would have been taken care of. However, it is an important issue to me. CS, that is.
 
Well it has larger pins than my 1st gen. Is the blade tapered (primary grind) from spine to edge?
 
JNieport I'd have done exactly what you did. Its a machete. Round it off and call it done. You'll be beatin' it up soon enough anyways!;)

STR
 
AF said:
Well it has larger pins than my 1st gen. Is the blade tapered (primary grind) from spine to edge?
Click to expand...

The blade tapers from 1/4" thick at the handle to 1/8" thick at the tip, if that's what you mean. The grind itself is just a tad wider toward the handle, and slims out a tiny bit near the tip.
 
I will NOT be sending this back for several reasons:
1. I've already modified it by sanding and changing the edge geometry. This has to void some sort of warranty.
2. The cost of shipping it back would get me a sheath for it, or half the cost of another Golok.
3. As hard-to-get as these Goloks are, I don't want to wait another few months just to get a replacement.
4. It's a user, and I just plain don't care that much about the flaws. No, it shouldn't have passed QC, but it's not worth the time (see #3) and cost (see #2) of sending it back.
5. As I've said before, this is the closest thing to the "perfect" golok for me from a production company. It's my little ugly user and I'm keeping it :)
 
Like Moonwilson said, Joezilla is going to want to hear about this. He's been trying to get them to tighten up their QC, and the goloks have definitely had the most problems thanks to their extreme taper, new coating type, and atypical handle (for them). Since so many new things are seen in this new model, it stands to reason that there's a lot of room for things to go wrong until they get the hang of it.

Glad you at least HAVE one and that the problems were all fixable! It's hard to beat for the price. :)
 
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