*FAKE* Esee izula awful grinding under the paint

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WoodenMonkey

WoodenMonkey

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*EDIT* I have determined that this Izula was a knockoff, and I am leaving the rest of this thread unedited for the sake of the process.
I just want to preface it with the acknowledgement that all of the “awful finishing” is the result of it being a knockoff… and not any reflection or smear on Esee. Esee is a really great company with excellent knives and customer care, and I will definitely be supporting them in the future! Thanks!

I inherited an Esee Izula from a housemate that moved out. It was pink. The pink had to go. After removing the awful pink powder coating, I was further appalled at the roughness of the finishing underneath, grinding lines nearly 1/32” deep in some places on the face of the blade and a little bit of a bulge on one side of the flat grind. I’m in the process of smoothing it out with some diamond stones, and actually somewhat surprised at how easy it is to remove material. So much so that I’m starting to wonder if it was a counterfeit or something.
Has anyone else encountered something like this under the paint?
These pictures are after already spending some time on the diamond stones.
https://imgur.com/a/NdIsQLN
 
Hard to see in the photos, but there should be a number etched on the handle some where. Unless they quit doing that. As far as how easy it is to remove metal, that’s pretty normal. Pretty sure Esee runs their knives at 56-57 hrc, and being 1095, means diamonds make short work of it
 
While Bill's comment is correct, I find coatings are used to cover up poor QC/grind marks as much as any other reason.

I hate coatings. I typically remove them. Especially the 1/8" thick truck bedliner epoxy coatings. I can tolerate smooth coatings like DLC however.
 
That looks awful, thank you for sharing. A more graceful approach to increase adhesion might be sandblasting. Just another reason to stay away from coated blades, lol!
 
jmh33 said:
Why on earth should the blade be polished smooth and pretty when it’s going to be coated?? Kinda a waste of time don’t you think?? They sell the knife coated as a selling point. 👍😁👍
John 😎
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I was thinking the same thing. Why would they bother spending time and money just to coat it.
Guess the could add the finish and raise the price…
 
Interesting. When I stripped the epoxy on my Kabar Mark 1 General Utility I was surprised to discover how well finished the blade was.
 
sonofwilfred said:
Mate I have a few variants of the IZULA and I have seven full peaks of "spine grip" on all of them. It's a good way to check the genuineness of there IZULA knives.
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Well that’s an interesting bit! I’ve ground that part out now in my reshaping… but in the one picture there’s only 6 peaks… hmmm… well even if it is somehow a knockoff, My earlier sentiment about “how easy it is to remove material” didn’t last very long… ha! Elbow grease indeed! Phew, but once I got some time and energy in to it I couldn’t stop… It barely resembles an izula now… I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

I’m all for efficiency, but I don’t care what you’re putting on your blades, a knife with an msrp of $97 shouldn’t look like that underneath. It doesn’t need to be polished, but basically flat ought to be a bare minimum I’d say. Anyways, it’s polished now!
Maybe it’s only the pink one they left that rough 😄.
 
P.s.: I dont mean to bash Esee with this post, they seem to be a great company that makes great knives! This just happens to be my only experience of them so far. I keep hearing about how great their warranty is. I probably should have just broken it once I saw those grind lines and gotten a replacement 😆
 
WoodenMonkey said:
Oh I dunno, Integrity? 😉
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Every extra step in the manufacturing process adds time and cost and is therefore an investment. It's bad business practice to take additional steps that don't end up benefiting the end product.

In what way does taking unnecessary steps add to the integrity of the product or company? Taking steps that don't benefit the end product, are adding cost without benefit. There is a fine balance between cutting corners and working efficiently.

I'd rather the company do what they have to do to make a great knife, and not more than that so they can stay cost competitive in the market. Of course, if you pay for one of their uncoated knives, you have a reasonable expectation of better metal finish.
 
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