Evaluating slipjoints.

[kamagong]

I’m relatively new to the world of slipjoints. My first, a French Laguiole, is barely five years old. When I bought it I thought it was a fine knife. I still do. But as I was looking at it today I saw some flaws that I never saw before. It seems that as I’ve gained experience with slipjoints my standards have become higher.

At first I only paid attention to the most obvious signs of quality. Things like fit and finish, walk and talk, blade play, and blade rub. As long as there were no gaps between the scales and the bolsters and the blade didn’t wobble I was happy. Recently though I’ve been noticing little things here and there. Things like how well a blade is ground or if a knife edge has even bevels. Does the blade hit a backspring when closed? Do the scales match? Are the tips pointy? Are there any unnecessary liners? Are all the surfaces flush? These are all questions I ask myself now whenever I look over a knife. Using these criteria I have to say that I do not own any perfect knives. When I hold the Laguiole up to the light I can see gaps between the spring and the liners. My CS stockman has an unnecessary brass liner, and its main blade hits the backspring if I let it shut close. The scales on my Boker stockman don’t match perfectly and the springs aren’t quite as stout as I like. These are all good, even great using knives, but not a single one of them is what I would call a perfect specimen of the cutler’s art. They all have their imperfections and I’m beginning to think that it’s impossible to get a perfect production slip.

What are your experiences? Have any of you ever had a perfect production slipjoint, and if so what do you consider perfection? Is perfection even attainable in a production knife?

 

[shecky]

Swiss Army Knives, both Victorinox and Wenger, are about as perfect a production knife you're about to get. And remarkably, among the least expensive, too.

 

[Zip7]

Based on my experiences with Case 47 patterns, I'd guess NO. I have a number of these, mostly from the 70's in several different configurations from 4 blade to 2 blade, and nearly every one has some issue. Mostly minor stuff. Backspring not flush when blade open is common... some have one blade that doesn't snap open or closed like I'd like... the 4 blade 64047s I have do have an extra liner... but that's not too big a deal - it helps the punch blade sit right.

Sadly, the very best fit & finish one I have, is also the LEAST attractive looking one. It's a 1978 model 6347 with black bone handles. I have some 47s that are really, really pretty red bone, but none of them have the fit and finish of the ugly stepchild. I carry it some. I have a 64047P also from 1978 that everything works perfectly on, but overall the knife is not as svelte shaped as the earlier years same model knife, and it has brass liners. I carry it the most of any of them.

Seems to me like the 63047s are more likely to have some issue than the others, and that one is the best looking model to me. The 06247s I've seen have fewer issues on average seems like.

 

[knowtracks]

To quote Bob Seger from an old song " Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" With knowledge comes responsibility. I try to look at the small things (like different scales) about a production knife as unique.
And No I don't have any perfect knives.

Dave

 

[Blues]

To quote Bob Seger from an old song " Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" With knowledge comes responsibility. I try to look at the small things (like different scales) about a production knife as unique.
And No I don't have any perfect knives.

Dave

Dave,

Good points.

Funny you should mention that. Last night I picked up my Queen Canoe in carved stag bone and noticed for the first time that the front scale is the shade of aging ivory (with that yellowish cast) while the other scale is much "whiter". I tried to decide how I felt about it (it is a beautiful little knife in all respects) and decided, much like you said, that it gave the knife character and decided to leave well enough alone.

Bob Seger...Good stuff... I used to see him every now again as he owned a house near where I lived in South FL. His vehicle's tag was a play on Silver Bullet.

 

[msiley]

Pretty much all my slip joints excluding my SAKs have issues.
The only near perfect knife I have (once again excluding SAKs)
is my Benchmade 710. I know, I know, this is the traditional forums
but it's the truth. The 710 is flat out amazing.
Not that I don't like my Queen 1095 Canoe. A flew flaws but
still works good.

 

[knowtracks]

Dave,

Good points.

Funny you should mention that. Last night I picked up my Queen Canoe in carved stag bone and noticed for the first time that the front scale is the shade of aging ivory (with that yellowish cast) while the other scale is much "whiter". I tried to decide how I felt about it (it is a beautiful little knife in all respects) and decided, much like you said, that it gave the knife character and decided to leave well enough alone.

Bob Seger...Good stuff... I used to see him every now again as he owned a house near where I lived in South FL. His vehicle's tag was a play on Silver Bullet.

Not to hijack this thread but when I was 10 years old we moved to Rochester,Michigan a Northern suburb of Detroit. Seger was living there then, he use to play at all our junior high & high school dances. He had a farm house rented about a mile from us & I'd sneek out on weekend nights I peer in the windows at his parties. Pretty wild stuff for a young kid of 12 or 13. Now I don't want to hear any "stuff" about peeping toms, how else is a kid suppost to learn?

Dave

 

[JPD1998]

Ironically I bought a French Laguiole about the same time as you. Up to that point it was the most expensive slipjoint I owned. I paid about $60-70 for it.

I had the same experience as you, when I first got it I was amazed at the quality. But recently after not looking at it for a while , I noticed things I didn't like. The tip of the blade does hit the backspring ( some of our European members told me it's common), it has the backspring gaps you mention and the brass frame is a little uneven when you look inside the frame . But overall I still think it's a great knife.

You're right though, my expectations are much higher now... I was about to buy a Scagle Folder (repro), but I saw a few pictures that didn't look that good. So I figured I might be expecting too much and it's not cheap.

Shecky is correct , for the price Victorinox/Wenger makes a consistently high quality knife. I recently bought a silver handled two blade knife as a gift for a family friend and I couldn't believe how well made it was for $25.00.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

I've got about 50 knives and I don't think any of them are "perfect". However, considering they're all production/"user" knives I don't think this is extraordinary. The most I've ever paid for one is right around $100; most much less.

This is why the cost of customs is so high, and a contributing factor to the cost of big name used knives. "They don't make them like that anymore", and "they're not making them anymore".

However, to me (and at this point in my collecting "career"), a few minor imperfections aren't going to bother me too much.

-- Sam

 

[jackknife]

I don't have a perfect pocket knife. My last one, a pretty bone stag Case peanut, has a slight rub mark on the back of the main blade where it rubs the inside of the small pen blade.

I'm not too demanding these days, as I know I'm going to use these knives and they are going to show it.

Life is not perfect, why should my knife be?

But you're right, Victorinox seems to have QA far and away better than most other knife companys. The couple of sak's I have show better workmenship than my other knives. Maybe thats why they are the worlds biggest pocket knife maker. I saw in an article that they make 35 million knives a year, and of that, 9 million are the little classic. Thats a heck of alot of knives for alot of customers. They would'nt make them if there was not enough demand.

Maybe Case and Queen should send a survey team to Switzerland like Harley-Davidson sent to Japan in the early 80's.

 

[flyfishrman]

When I bought it I thought it was a fine knife. I still do. But as I was looking at it today I saw some flaws that I never saw before. It seems that as I’ve gained experience with slipjoints my standards have become higher.

It's a sickness isn't it!