*FAKE* Esee izula awful grinding under the paint

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Its a premium product along with a premium price tag, I expect some extra steps in manufacturing, otherwise, what am I paying the premium for?
According to such logic, none of us should care about blade centering, a bit of blade play, a rough action or uneven grinds because one of this significant affects performance. But the truth is many of us dont just buy knives to cut things, just like you dont buy a Rolex just to tell time (not that im equaling Esee to Rolex, its just an exaggerated example).

That being said, apparently this kind of finish doesn't appear to be the norm. A sandblasted finish, as I suggested above, seems to be the rule for these, which is perfectly acceptable. Im not a big fan of coatings, not just because of how they look, but also because a rough coating causes unnecessary friction when cutting & can be more difficult to clean. They also dont age very gracefully.
 
I have some Izula's. I have never removed the paint from any of them. But the quality of the blade is unquestionable. Good steel, good toughness, good edge retention.
Each original Izula has a unique number engraved on the blade. The Chinese counterfeits have the same random numbering on all of them.
Do you have a picture of it before removing the paint? With the original number engraved?
 
Yeah, I think a coated knife was never supposed to be stripped of the coating. That’s a user modification beyond normal usage of the knife.

I can’t say any opinion is wrong, but I will point out that under normal wear and tear, it would have been unlikely that anyone could determine there were scratches in the finish of the coated metal.

When you buy an ESEE, you’re not paying for fancy steel or finishing. You’re paying for an exceptionally durable knife with the best warranty in the business.

Now whether or not that ESEE is a counterfeit, I can’t say. I have heard of coated ESEE’s having “poor” metal finishing under the coating. ESEE is fully aware people strip the coatings, so maybe they upped the finishing game in later models. Either way, I wouldn’t expect a knife sold with a coating to have a pristine surface under the coating, and I wouldn’t expect to care.

What OP really wanted was an uncoated Izula, which have been sold before, and currently are sold with S35VN. Considering the price paid by the OP (free), I’d say that scratched up Izula’s a pretty sweet deal.
 
Olumin said:
According to such logic, none of us should care about blade centering, a bit of blade play, a rough action or uneven grinds because one of this significant affects performance.
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Incorrect. The logic doesn’t follow at all. Each of the things you mention are things that would be noticed in normal, and expected use, without any modification on the part of the consumer.
EngrSorenson said:
Yeah, I think a coated knife was never supposed to be stripped of the coating. That’s a user modification beyond normal usage of the knife.
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This on the other hand is exactly the point. If the user is modifying the end product to expose something that would normally not be exposed, they cannot reasonably expect the maker to accommodate for that.

When I did some work on my house recently, I did not paint the inside of the sheetrock before mounting it up on the wall. If you want to come over and take down the sheetrock, you might be disappointed to find that the insides that were against the stud will not have matching paint to the side that faces into the room. I did not intend for anybody to see that side of the sheet rock, but I guess that calls my integrity into question.
 
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WoodenMonkey said:
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
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Not the clearest video, but this looks a lot more like the one sonofwilfred sonofwilfred posted than your knife.

Between this and the post about the number of jimps on the spine, I think your ex-roommate left you a knockoff
 
19-3ben said:
Incorrect. The logic doesn’t follow at all. Each of the things you mention are things that would be noticed in normal, and expected use, without any modification on the part of the consumer.

This on the other hand is exactly the point. If the user is modifying the end product to expose something that would normally not be exposed, they cannot reasonably expect the maker to accommodate for that.

When I did some work on my house recently, I did not paint the inside of the sheetrock before mounting it up on the wall. If you want to come over and take down the sheetrock, you might be disappointed to find that the insides that were against the stud will not have matching paint to the side that faces into the room. I did not intend for anybody to see that side of the sheet rock, but I guess that calls my integrity into question.
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Like minds think alike!!
Well posted!!
👍😁👍
John 🤠
 
Nothing wrong with such blade finish, even if that knife is a real one. If it is up to the tasks and do well, no reason to trash on it. ESEE market their knives as workers, not safe queen jewelry.

If their coating fall off easily, it is also looked as poor quality control for the price.

Sand blasting carbon knife is always questionable for me because it might hold on more moisture, rusting non stainless. Blueing doesn't offer rust resistant like the myths.
 
jux t said:
is this true? They used to not be, but I haven’t kept up with them to know if that’s changed.
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As of Feb 2022, Esee’s marketing director stated that the 1095 blades are differentially heat treated.

E6B17831-DF66-4C20-934F-B841850DFB13.jpeg

eseeknives.com

Question on heat treat

I’m wondering if ESEE knives are differentially heat treated? This may have been discussed on here previously but after searching I didn’t find...
eseeknives.com eseeknives.com
 
Never was a fan of the Izula although some people seem to really love them. Esee 3 wasn't bad though ;)
 
Interesting. I wonder why they dont do this for the SS blades? Perhaps Esee does not heat treat SS in-house, I wouldn't blame them for it. Something a lot more modern knifemakers should do is to a) not quench the tang and b) anneal it afterwards (since most steels still air harden to some degree). A hard & therefore brittle tang is far more likely so snap then a soft one. Unfortunately most modern knives are uniformly hardened. So probs to Esee for differentially treating their high carbon blades, like they should be.
 
Olumin said:
Interesting. I wonder why they dont do this for the SS blades? Perhaps Esee does not heat treat SS in-house, I wouldn't blame them for it. Something a lot more modern knifemakers should do is to a) not quench the tang and b) anneal it afterwards (since most steels still air harden to some degree). A hard & therefore brittle tang is far more likely so snap then a soft one. Unfortunately most modern knives are uniformly hardened. So probs to Esee for differentially treating their high carbon blades, like they should be.
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Rowen does all of ESEE's heat treating.
 
Olumin said:
Interesting. I wonder why they dont do this for the SS blades? Perhaps Esee does not heat treat SS in-house, I wouldn't blame them for it. Something a lot more modern knifemakers should do is to a) not quench the tang and b) anneal it afterwards (since most steels still air harden to some degree). A hard & therefore brittle tang is far more likely so snap then a soft one. Unfortunately most modern knives are uniformly hardened. So probs to Esee for differentially treating their high carbon blades, like they should be.
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I don't think you know what "differential heat treating" means.

It is not treating the tang differently than the blade, it is having the blade itself have a gradient of hardness from a softer spine to a harder edge.
 
shane45-1911 said:
I don't think you know what "differential heat treating" means.

It is not treating the tang differently than the blade, it is having the blade itself have a gradient of hardness from a softer spine to a harder edge.
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Thats exactly what I meant, since this is usually archived by edge quenching, which would leave the tang relatively soft. Whether Esse anneals their tangs or not I have no idea.
 
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