Fox Suru BUYER BEWARE...

rhstranger

rhstranger

Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
28
Just picked up a new Fox Suru in carbon fiber and can't believe it won knife of the year in 2018 The scales and recessed areas are so rough that I had blisters on my hand after playing with for the first couple of hours. It was a shame b/c the size and build quality was exactly what I'd hope for. I listed it in the trade forum with in hours of receiving it.

I eventually calmed down and decided to see if I could address the issues. Had to sand down the scales, corners, and recessed completely and then smooth out every surface with a polishing wheel on my lathe. I actually like it now but it's sad that I had to spend a couple of hours modifying a $270 knife
 
I hope you wet sanded, wore gloves, and used a respirator. CF is nasty stuff to work with. The dust is horrible to inhale, the removed material slivers really badly, and it's stubborn to get a good finish on. I've had a few carbon fiber slivers, they hurt and take forever to work their way out.
 
Hand sanded with 220 grit paper and smoothed out the edges with fiberglass polish and a buffing wheel. The dust created was negligible and it never created any slivers. It was actually a very easy process but ridiculous to have to go to such lengths on a brand new knife, but definitely worth the effort.
 
Ouch. I hate to hear about someone dropping a good amount of $ on a knife and not being happy. Yep, $270 is a good amount of $ to me for a knife. YMMV.

I tried one CF knife (I can't even recall the model, probably a Spyderco) a few years ago. I found them slick. I sold it. I haven't had a CF one since. G10, micarta, or FRN is fine with me.

I'm glad you were able to improve it.
 
eveled said:
I don't either. But if I can make it perfect I will. It’s part of the hobby. Make it better than it left the factory. Make it your own. Make it your vision of what it should be.
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I don't mind it either. I can understand the sentiment though. I got a Fox fixed blade (Njall) and it was pretty pointy at the bottom of the blade, so I rounded it off, roughed up the scales a bit and knocked of some of the sharper corners on the back of the blade. I shouldn't have to correct anything mechanical on a folder where something is wrong with lock up, but visual/cosmetic changes to me is like changing rims on a car.
 
Thats crazy. I have a mini drago friction from them and i was blown away with the fit amd finish on an $50ish knife. I was actually particularly impressed with the contoured edges and feel in hand. Ridiculous theyd let a $270 knife out so unfinished.
 
BenchCo Spydermade said:
Thats crazy. I have a mini drago friction from them and i was blown away with the fit amd finish on an $50ish knife. I was actually particularly impressed with the contoured edges and feel in hand. Ridiculous theyd let a $270 knife out so unfinished.
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No, that’s the finish. It’s like the rough-textured carbon-g10 laminate Spyderco uses. It’s intentionally rough. Honestly, it makes me question whether OP did any research about the knife before buying.
 
rhstranger said:
Just picked up a new Fox Suru in carbon fiber and can't believe it won knife of the year in 2018 The scales and recessed areas are so rough that I had blisters on my hand after playing with for the first couple of hours. It was a shame b/c the size and build quality was exactly what I'd hope for. I listed it in the trade forum with in hours of receiving it.

I eventually calmed down and decided to see if I could address the issues. Had to sand down the scales, corners, and recessed completely and then smooth out every surface with a polishing wheel on my lathe. I actually like it now but it's sad that I had to spend a couple of hours modifying a $270 knife
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How is the actual knife itself other than these short comings? How does the cf lockbar feel? Is it very stiff?
 
I have one of these waiting for me at home if I can ever get off this job site and back there. Hope mine is GTG.
 
Mako109 said:
I've tried several $250+ "Made in Italy" knives over the past two years. They're all made with top materials and look beautiful, but construction and fit has been a disappointing hit and miss affair.
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I’ve tried Italian three times. All three knives were fantastic in some areas, and discordantly “off” in others.
 
Lapedog said:
How is the actual knife itself other than these short comings? How does the cf lockbar feel? Is it very stiff?
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After completely disassembling the knife and hand sanding then machine polishing the scales twice it is very nice. There is a steel insert that serves as an over travel stop and blade lock. The functions of the knife (action, lock up, ergonomic) are excellent and I am going to keep it.
 
Well, just got home and got the knife. What a P.O.S.

I did get it used, off of ebay.

The lock bar doesn't even engage with the blade. The blade doesn't even lock in place because of this. Lock up is so early that the blade just falls shut with the slightest shake when it's supposed to be locked in place.

Started the return process thru ebay but I'll likely be out of luck.

I'll see what happens but I guess I'll be stuck to fix it myself.

This is absolutely my first and last Italian knife.

How does something like this even make it out of the factory? All they had to do was flip it once and they'd know it's messed up.

2019-08-16 16.26.37.jpg
 
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coltc11 said:
Well, just got home and got the knife. What a P.O.S.

I did get it used, off of ebay.

The lock bar doesn't even engage with the blade. The blade doesn't even lock in place because of this. Lock up is so early that the blade just falls shut with the slightest shake when it's supposed to be locked in place.

Started the return process thru ebay but I'll likely be out of luck.

I'll see what happens but I guess I'll be stuck to fix it myself.

This is absolutely my first and last Italian knife.

How does something like this even make it out of the factory? All they had to do was flip it once and they'd know it's messed up.

View attachment 1179903
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Yikes! That's nightmare fuel right there.
 
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