Fallkniven quality issues

K

Knifegrabber

Joined
Apr 3, 2020
Messages
28
Hi,

Few months ago I returned an S1 Pro to a big shop after it had edge problems and got a refund. I just recently asked them what is up with it and they said they are still working on it and they replied they have a lot more cases of bad Fallkniven knives now and they refuse to take them in.

Apparently the manufacturer claims the users use their knives too hard. The shop said the knives are clearly to blame. I know mine seemed like a total heat treat failure.

Just a word of caution about FK knives. If you get one, get it from a shop that is has fair policies with returns / good customer support.

Now I am not going to bash FK just to be evil but freaking hell!!
I bought a €300 knife and when it turned out to be not much better than cutlery quality, they denied everything pointing at them. Without the shop I would have been screwed.

Once I heard the cases have only grown in samples, I am turning to Dulo or some other knife maker.
 
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I had a TK-3 folder. Never used hard but the lock failed and it became a slip joint.

I contacted them about a warranty claim and they gave me the run around and even inferred it may be a fake. (It was bought from an extremely reputable dealer)

I threw the knife away, sold another of theirs I owned and never touched one of their knives again.

They are a poorly run company.
 
Knifegrabber said:
...

Apparently the manufacturer claims the users use their knives too hard. The shop said the knives are clearly to blame. I know mine seemed like a total heat treat failure.
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Sounds like FK doesn't like that it's going to lose money to fix their mistakes. Understandable, but it's not the stand-up thing to do. They need to swallow their pride, take the hit, make it right, and keep their customers.


Just a word of caution about FK knives. If you get one, get it from a shop that is has fair policies with returns / good customer support.

Now I am not going to bash FK just to be evil but freaking hell!!
I bought a €300 knife and when it turned out to be not much better than cutlery quality, they denied everything pointing at them. Without the shop I would have been screwed.

...
Click to expand...
Agreed and thanks for the heads-up.
 
Never owned a FK, but for whatever it’s worth, I feel like I saw a very similar thread to this a couple of weeks ago. Buying from a company that backs their products is pretty important to me. Thanks for the info guys
 
Danke42 said:
Is this the same knife you bent in June?
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Yes!

The problems with the edge are quite hard to show in pictures but here is one.
This one I took after a test I put it against Terävä knife that was supposed to become my backup-knife.
I batoned small slices of the same log of (straight grained) birch with each, taking turns and comparing.

To my horror the difference was clear, the Terävä edge was in untouched state whereas the FK was so bent it would catch a fingernail running down.
I repeated this test a few times and decided I am not going to waste any more time and informed the shop. And I did not have to resharpen the Terävä at all during the testing. And when sharpening S1, I did not maintain the same edge but made it more steep to give it more support.

What is happening in the photo is that the very edge is just really bent. It stuck around there quite well too and no matter how much I sharpened it, it always returned to that state. I thought of giving the knife a good throughout sharpening but instead I decided to just send it to the shop while it was still in somewhat good condition for them to inspect it.

JqgsMMK.jpg
Now I had it in use for some time before this test and I had already noticed it had some trouble staying sharp. So I just thought to make a simple, fast and repeatable test that would set the difference between the two knives. If I remember it only needed 2-4 splits of under 1" thick slices and the FK was already showing visible edge bent via reflection and I could feel it with my finger.
 
FYI shops don't have some sort of lab where they study damaged products they sell. One of two things will happen.

They'll return to the maker or they'll throw it away.
 
I also contacted FK myself about the issue, wanting to find resolution and explain my findings and problems.
They commented that my one blade could not have heat treat problem as they receive as many as thousand in a lot at once.

I do not know if they can really do that in Japan but that was their take on the possibility of knife problems a user could have. By their logic the whole lot of ordered knives are failures or none are. I know nothing about knife making but making that many knives in one heat treat run sounds hard.

Quote:
"We are making our knives in batches of 1000 pc. Should any miss turn up during the heat treatment process, we would receive tremendously many complaints. We haven't."
 
Danke42 said:
FYI shops don't have some sort of lab where they study damaged products they sell. One of two things will happen.

They'll return to the maker or they'll throw it away.
Click to expand...
So it seems. I suggested they try to test it by themselves, I thought my findings were impossible (I just could not believe my eyes) but yet repeatable, but they have just shelved it.
 
I have two F1 models. The one I used had major chipping after cleaning a single deer. I had to remove material to smooth the edge back up, and then gave it to my Dad. He has not used it yet, so not sure If I solved the issue.

My other one has only done light duty stuff. It it chips I’ll share some pics. I hope it doesn’t, as I love the knife and the grind.
 
That photo of edge damage, even in the blown up version, I could not really see any issues.

I have heard, repeatedly, that any damage, or failure complaints to Fallkniven are met with (you are the problem, not us)

I have never owned one.

I have batonned a lot of wood with many different fixed blades (Busse, Trailmaster from cold steel in San Mai III, and many other blades. A2, cpm3v, 52100, 1095, 1084, 1065, even lowly 1055 with a spring temper). I've never had an edge fail, or other issues.

I will say, that an edge from the factory, especially VG10, I have had rolling issues when new.

I had a Spyderco in vg10. One of the sharpest factory edges I've ever felt, immediately dulled and rolled. Sharpened it, and had a repeat. It had a wicked wire edge. Grabby, sticky, but weak.

After a more focused sharpening it was fine.

Vg10 is prone to wire edges, especially directly from a grinder at a factory. Also, convex ground blades post heat treat are prone to overheat issues. May take a few sharpenings to get past.

I would have kept it and sharpened it up.

It does sound like you got your money back from the dealer.

For what it is worth, I have had very positive results with Cold Steel San Mai III in full convex grind. They use VG1. (Corrected)
l2lZ22n.jpg
 
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I was gifted a Fallkniven TK3 folder some time ago. I have barely used it since then, but the spring has weakened quite a bit, so now it is extremely easy to open the blade, and it closes with just about zero snap. I do not consider it safe to carry anymore unless it is inside a sheath.
 
This sucks because they have some really nice designs that I would like to have. Companies like this need to realize that they can’t treat their customers like garbage without suffering the consequences .
 
KenHash said:
Just to be accurate, The Cold Steel Sanmai TM uses VG1. But it is the only model CS have left that is still made by Hattori in Seki Japan. The same factory makes all of Falknivens fixed blades.
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Look let's not get all bogged down with facts.
 
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