Hen & Rooster made in Spain - subpar

[Hickory n steel]

I thought FROST moved production of most of their traditional knives to Pakistan?
Regardless, they contract for sub standard/quality knives instead of good quality, and get what they asked for.
I'm sure whatever Spanish firm is making them for FROST, can make a high quality product. Frost didn't ask for high quality, and isn't paying for high quality ... even though they are changing the customer for high quality.

they have what they call their 1400 series of knives with the old frost cutlery tang stamp that are made of "german stainless " as they say, and those are made in pakistan.
the steel warrior, ocoee river, frost family, and many other 0f their brands are made in china.
iv'e had the same experience with these as i have rough rider, but yes they're contracting cheap budget knives.

 

[littleknife]

No. That is incorrect.
Rough Rider is owned by Smoky Mountain Knife Works (SMKW). NOT Frost. Frost is not the owner of SMKW or Bluegrass Cutlery, who owns SMKW.
FROST's only affiliation with SMKW is SMKW is one of their dealers. Same affiliation SMKW has with CASE, BUCK, SPYDERCO, and many others.

I stand corrected.

Regarding your next post suggesting that the pocketknives are mostly made in Pakistan now, I found on the Hen& Rooster page of Discount Cutlery that besides the old stock German-made ones some of the new knives are made in China, others are listed as Made in Spain or Germany/Spain. None of the knives have the 'typical' Pakistani look.

 

[afishhunter]

I stand corrected.

Regarding your next post suggesting that the pocketknives are mostly made in Pakistan now, I found on the Hen& Rooster page of Discount Cutlery that besides the old stock German-made ones some of the new knives are made in China, others are listed as Made in Spain or Germany/Spain. None of the knives have the 'typical' Pakistani look.

I was referring to the FROST branded knife shaped objects.

 

[bheard]

I know I started this thread a few years ago and I still love the Hen & Rooster knives but will not purchase any made in China or Spain. I learned some time ago that the brand, after it left the hands of A.G. Russell in the 1980s, was split two ways. The U.S. trademark was purchased by Frost and they sent production to China and Spain. I have examined some of these and the fixed blades from Spain are better quality than the folders, but still not up to par.

The German trademark remained with Robert Klaas. Hen & Rooster knives are still made in Germany but they are sold only in Europe and production seems to be low. If anyone is looking for the best quality Hen & Rooster knives, make sure they are stamped "Solingen, Germany" on the tang. These are the Klaas made knives which are well worth the money.

The website below is Klaas current site where you will find both the Hen & Rooster and Kissing Crane knives (which also I believe the U.S. trademark is owned by Frost). Helps if you can read German.
https://robert-klaas.de/

Thank you for that link. I love the old Hen and Rooster knives but have found the same problems with quality. I will try one from Klaas. Just a little tip, if you open the site in Google Chrome and right click anywhere it has an option for Google to translate the page to English.

 

[Bubber]

The Spain Hen and Roosters I have always been told to stay away from. Only Solingen made.

 

[Jmhershey]

I checked with Frost today about the hen and rooster lifetime warranty. Lisa said Jim canceled that a while back. Now there is 6 month warranty with receipt required.

 

[Carboniferous]

I don't see how companies expect that kind of quality to slide these days. Or for the last 10 years. Not with brands like Rough Ryder putting out decent quality.

 

[draggat]

I own quite a few Spanish made knives and while the quality generally isn't amazing, none of them have been quite that crummy either. Spain is definitely not known as a center for high quality cutlery, which is a shame because they once made great stuff. It should be noted that one Spanish brand , Joker, even has a Chinese made division that is labelled JKR. I'm very curious as to which Spanish cutlery is making these.

 

[Jmhershey]

I like the German steel models ok. Then my last h & r came without even that on the blade. I sent it back. Many dealers still say lifetime warranty on H&r but it just ain’t so. I don’t think I can make a back spring but maybe I can drift the rivets out just enough to make a half Congress. Anyone try that?

 

[I'mSoSharp]

It should be noted that one Spanish brand , Joker, even has a Chinese made division that is labelled JKR. I'm very curious as to which Spanish cutlery is making these.

Anything marketed Albainox & Palles amongst others (I can't remember right now) are made in China.
Albainox has a huge warehouse with a massive range in Albacete where Spanish knives were famously & still are made, but they serve solely as an importer........ (Or should that be imposter? ).
This isn't to say the imported knives are particularly bad, it's just they are not Spanish made & that isn't made clear, sometimes it's implied they are........