Hen & Rooster Fixed Blade Fail

[James Green Dragon]

I purchased a new Hen & Rooster fixed blade as a first fixed blade knife for my oldest boy about a week ago. It is made in Spain and came razor sharp with excellent fit and finish. Nice leather sheath too. Looked like a great knife - one an 11yr old boy could keep forever and maybe even pass on to his kids one day. It has a stag bone handle, a steel handguard and appeared to have a rat tail tang that screwed into the steel pommel. Sweet knife.

...That is until he used it. A couple of chops trying to cut a freaking palm frond were all it took for this ~$80 knife to fail. The handle broke just behind the hand guard. Come to find out that it is not a rat tail tang. Instead, the blade tang ends ~1" behind the handguard. The tang is connected to the pommel nut by a slotted piece of die cast metal. Not even cheap steel. Die cast metal like from a hotwheels car or something. I am unable to post pictures but have some if someone can assist with that...

I was excited to know the knife was made in Spain. And I thought Hen & Rooster was a reputable company. But IMO this borders on fraud. They do up the tang nut so that unless you disassemble the knife, or it fails, you would never know it was not a rat tail tang knife. To say that I was disappointed by this piece of crap knife like object is a major understatement. I have contacted the vendor I bought it from and am hoping to get a refund or make an exchange for a decent knife from a more ethical manufacturer. I will update this thread as the situation develops.

 

[LX_Emergency]

Hen and Rooster WERE quality at one time. Until the name holders sold the rights all over the world.
The new ones are producers of crap trying to cash in on the good name that they one were.

As soon as I read ''New hen and rooster'' I knew this wouldn't end well.

 

[black mamba]

Sorry to hear this, but I have to disagree in part. Not all of their knives are made in this slipshod fashion. I have several of their ram's horn full tang knives, also made in Toledo, Spain, and they are brutes. Heavy full tang construction with massive pins, thick covers and excellent German stainless (the equivalent of 440B or C). They take a nice edge and sharpen like they are around 58 HRc (never had one tested). They also come with very nice 7-8 oz. leather sheaths.

Hunter, 8"

Gut-hook Skinner, 7"

Utility Bowie, 10"

 

[Zuluninja]

Even companies with good reputation will do things like this. I re-handled a Muela and after taking off the scales found out that same type of tang construction, small tang riveted to a cast metal extension. But these are on their low budget knives; if I don't see the nut at the pommel I don't buy it. I have disassembled many of them and if it has that nut at the pommel, it is a rat tail. The cheap ones have a solid pommel connected to the frame and guard, bad stuff.