Hello Folks,
I'm new here-been reading as a guest for the last couple of weeks, and decided to join within the last week. I found this forum while I was researching knife sharpening and guided sharpeners. A week ago I would have told you I could never see a reason to spend more that $20 on a knife, much less $100 or more on one. Today is a different story.
Let me preface this by saying that I did a little research and came across some threads here on the forum that claimed not all Frost-owned cutlery was bad-that Steel Warrior and Ocoee River, among others, was pretty decent. That being said, I am ashamed to admit it, but I had an order from Cutlery Corner arrive yesterday. Two of the 11 knives (2 of which were free) are defective. The free "tactical" folder does not lock and one of the purple assisted open knives I ordered (one for my wife and one for my daughter) is missing a screw. Most of the other knives have crappy grinds and many, but not all, are not very sharp-though a couple are very sharp. Two of the knives are in a sealed plastic wrap, so I did not even bother to open them. The whole order is going back on Monday as soon as I call them and get a Return Authorization number. As a result of this experience I have decided I will not buy anything Frost related, and I will try to buy only high-quality USA made and foreign made knives. I do know you can get some knives made in China/Taiwan that are high quality (like Spyderco, Cold Steel, Gerber and etc) , but as far as non-big name companies go, I plan to stay away from China, Taiwan and Pakistan knives.
Fast forward to today. I went the the local gun show and spent about 4 hours looking around, specifically looking for good knives. The majority of what was there was Frost junk, some Buck knives and many other junk knife dealers, but there were two high end knife dealers. The first had Spyderco, Benchmade, CRKT and some others. I was interested in a CRKT Ken Onion edition knife for $45, but then I asked where it was made: Taiwan". So I decided to look around some more. The second dealer had some junk, but also had Spyderco, Kershaw, Zero Tolerance, among others. I found one I really liked, but walked away to do some research. I went for some brunch: brat with sauerkraut, chili cheese fries and a Diet Pepsi. I found what I was looking for online and went back and got him to come down another $10:
A Kershaw Knockout 1870OLBLK is my first real knife. I really wanted a Zero Tolerance, but the only one they had was a combo blade, and I do not like/want a serrated blade. Plus my funds are a little limited. The Kershaw fit my hand well, is high quality, and the price wasn't too bad, though I could have got a used one here in the forums for a little less. I may still get a second one over in the For Sale section as it's black, not olive drab....
Anyhow, if you got this far, thanks for reading all the previous rambling. I am really excited about this knife, and I plan to get others as funds allow. I am also considering collecting Case XX Trapper knives, but I have not made the final decision on that yet. Actually, I did make the decision to do so before, but now I am rethinking if I really want to, or if perhaps I should just invest in some high quality user knives. The Case Trappers would be display only: commemorative knives and etc. I know of at least 5 or 8 I'd love to have, so I'm thinking it may be inevitable.
I'm new here-been reading as a guest for the last couple of weeks, and decided to join within the last week. I found this forum while I was researching knife sharpening and guided sharpeners. A week ago I would have told you I could never see a reason to spend more that $20 on a knife, much less $100 or more on one. Today is a different story.
Let me preface this by saying that I did a little research and came across some threads here on the forum that claimed not all Frost-owned cutlery was bad-that Steel Warrior and Ocoee River, among others, was pretty decent. That being said, I am ashamed to admit it, but I had an order from Cutlery Corner arrive yesterday. Two of the 11 knives (2 of which were free) are defective. The free "tactical" folder does not lock and one of the purple assisted open knives I ordered (one for my wife and one for my daughter) is missing a screw. Most of the other knives have crappy grinds and many, but not all, are not very sharp-though a couple are very sharp. Two of the knives are in a sealed plastic wrap, so I did not even bother to open them. The whole order is going back on Monday as soon as I call them and get a Return Authorization number. As a result of this experience I have decided I will not buy anything Frost related, and I will try to buy only high-quality USA made and foreign made knives. I do know you can get some knives made in China/Taiwan that are high quality (like Spyderco, Cold Steel, Gerber and etc) , but as far as non-big name companies go, I plan to stay away from China, Taiwan and Pakistan knives.
Fast forward to today. I went the the local gun show and spent about 4 hours looking around, specifically looking for good knives. The majority of what was there was Frost junk, some Buck knives and many other junk knife dealers, but there were two high end knife dealers. The first had Spyderco, Benchmade, CRKT and some others. I was interested in a CRKT Ken Onion edition knife for $45, but then I asked where it was made: Taiwan". So I decided to look around some more. The second dealer had some junk, but also had Spyderco, Kershaw, Zero Tolerance, among others. I found one I really liked, but walked away to do some research. I went for some brunch: brat with sauerkraut, chili cheese fries and a Diet Pepsi. I found what I was looking for online and went back and got him to come down another $10:
A Kershaw Knockout 1870OLBLK is my first real knife. I really wanted a Zero Tolerance, but the only one they had was a combo blade, and I do not like/want a serrated blade. Plus my funds are a little limited. The Kershaw fit my hand well, is high quality, and the price wasn't too bad, though I could have got a used one here in the forums for a little less. I may still get a second one over in the For Sale section as it's black, not olive drab....
Anyhow, if you got this far, thanks for reading all the previous rambling. I am really excited about this knife, and I plan to get others as funds allow. I am also considering collecting Case XX Trapper knives, but I have not made the final decision on that yet. Actually, I did make the decision to do so before, but now I am rethinking if I really want to, or if perhaps I should just invest in some high quality user knives. The Case Trappers would be display only: commemorative knives and etc. I know of at least 5 or 8 I'd love to have, so I'm thinking it may be inevitable.
