How does Tim Britton's knives compare to the similar looking Kizer's?

This Tim Britton guy sounds like an evil genius. Refinishing knives made in China and selling them as his custom and pulling the "help me I'm an American knife maker and they're Chinese so they suck" card.

I remember a while back I believe he even called some authorities to remove kizer from a blade show or something
^just an observation, may not be the case
 
Seilu said:
This Tim Britton guy sounds like an evil genius. Refinishing knives made in China and selling them as his custom and pulling the "help me I'm an American knife maker and they're Chinese so they suck" card.

I remember a while back I believe he even called some authorities to remove kizer from a blade show or something
^just an observation, may not be the case
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You nailed it. This is also the second or third time he has been caught selling modified kit knives as customs. I can't imagine why anyone would buy a knife from him at this point.
 
Moreover, at this point if Britton really was telling the truth back then we would have seen or heard more on the topic. Instead, now multiple major knife retailers are carrying Kizer knives, and Kizer is displaying at various knife shows.

I still think, based on what I've seen, that I trust Kizer more than Britton.
 
Well, I have heard that Cucchiara is doing this with the dorado midtech; supposedly its made in china & he does the tweeking or engraving on it and theres your midtech.I had one I got for 325.00 and as soon as I found this out I sold it. 325 was cheap compared to up to 700.00 depending on the grade of work done.If this is true of these makers I don't think its right. people are buying them thinking they are hand made in a shop in the U.S.I have the kizer knife that looks like the tango, its a great knife for the money.Im sure we will see more of this in the future...
 
goldie said:
Well, I have heard that Cucchiara is doing this with the dorado midtech; supposedly its made in china & he does the tweeking or engraving on it and theres your midtech.I had one I got for 325.00 and as soon as I found this out I sold it. 325 was cheap compared to up to 700.00 depending on the grade of work done.If this is true of these makers I don't think its right. people are buying them thinking they are hand made in a shop in the U.S.I have the kizer knife that looks like the tango, its a great knife for the money.Im sure we will see more of this in the future...
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I get where you're coming from. I'm just glas that Cucchiara is honest about his being midtechs and doesn't try to pass them off as full customs as did Britton. But I agree that we will see many more midtech in the future. Chad Nichol's shop here in the USA makes outstanding midtech knives, such as the 2 Mosiers and the upcoming Burch as well. Cheers.
 
evilgreg said:
Moreover, at this point if Britton really was telling the truth back then we would have seen or heard more on the topic. Instead, now multiple major knife retailers are carrying Kizer knives, and Kizer is displaying at various knife shows.

I still think, based on what I've seen, that I trust Kizer more than Britton.
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Reminds me of Quartermaster claiming their knives are made in the USA,when in reality they're made in China.
Very sad.
 
^ that surprised me too, although if that roper knife was bigger lkke a 3.5" blade id probably buy one.At least they aren't selling them as customs,but I think it should be stated where they are made...
 
Hard to say,but if for any reason you don't like it, just return it for a refund.....
 
does the same apply for the traditional patterns,I bought a stag trapper a few years ago and it's really nice.
 
I don't think the question is if Tim Britton makes quality or not, I think his knives are very good quality. The question is if his designs are original or not.

To me, a knockoff inherently means some aspect of the product is of a lower grade - not using the same quality of production and/or materials.

So knife center is more than likely selling original Tim Britton knives (of good quality), but the design might not be his original design and he might or might not be taking full credit for it...
 
I've seen Tim Britton and his knives at a couple of NYCKS's, and aside from the uneven grinds that my Kizer has, they're pretty much the same. I'll send my Kizer in to get a regrind, and it'll be better than a Britton "custom".
 
My feelings are that they are comparable in quality. And when getting a britton you may have even got a pimped kizer.


goldie said:
Well, I have heard that Cucchiara is doing this with the dorado midtech; supposedly its made in china & he does the tweeking or engraving on it and theres your midtech.I had one I got for 325.00 and as soon as I found this out I sold it. 325 was cheap compared to up to 700.00 depending on the grade of work done.If this is true of these makers I don't think its right. people are buying them thinking they are hand made in a shop in the U.S.I have the kizer knife that looks like the tango, its a great knife for the money.Im sure we will see more of this in the future...
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This is true but Matt has never made this a secret. He has always been up front and honest about how his midtechs are produced. Mr britton however didnt even design the knives he sells and fabricated a huge paper thin conspiracy and honestly? He almost got away with it. It was his own history of doing crap like that that called him out. Had none of his previous lies caught up with him the tale of Kizer may have been dramatically different. Bottom line the issue you had with Matts knife was one of you not doing your reasearch as it is pretty common knowledge about his mid techs. Mr britton however has been claiming his products are full customs hand made by him.


skyhorse said:
Reminds me of Quartermaster claiming their knives are made in the USA,when in reality they're made in China.
Very sad.
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Which to this day they completely deny. They claim their instagram paints a completely different story. Im not so sure.

matt said:
does the same apply for the traditional patterns,I bought a stag trapper a few years ago and it's really nice.
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You never know with him. I would consider the level of work the knife looks to have built into it and compare that to the price you paid him. If it was too good to be true? The way he got caught in the past was he was claiming to make certain knives out of BG42 but someone found out it was actually a kit knife made out of Aus-8.
 
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I'm not really concerned about the trapper being his original design,it's copied by everyone,custom and factory to the point that no one can say it's theirs. I never brought up the question of quality other than to mention that it met my expectations. it was represented to me as a knife made by Britton,with bg-42 steel,If that is the case,I paid a fair price for what I got.Not a bargain but in line with other makers. judging from the way the blade performs and sharpens,I believe it is what it was represented to be. I was really wondering if he was ever found to be guilty of building his slip joints from kits,or misrepresenting the knife or its steel.
 
IIRC he stated on here that his parts are cut out of house, all assembly and finishing is done by him. There was a thread in Custom forum he responded to awhile back. However, his kits were traditional as well, bottom line is nobody really knows except for timmy.
 
I have recently purchased three Kizer knives because they are offering more models with tip-up pocket clip carry.

The high quality of the fit and finish and blade sharpness is just as good as any of the established American knife companies, like Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw and Zero Tolerance.
 
matt said:
I'm not really concerned about the trapper being his original design,it's copied by everyone,custom and factory to the point that no one can say it's theirs. I never brought up the question of quality other than to mention that it met my expectations. it was represented to me as a knife made by Britton,with bg-42 steel,If that is the case,I paid a fair price for what I got.Not a bargain but in line with other makers. judging from the way the blade performs and sharpens,I believe it is what it was represented to be. I was really wondering if he was ever found to be guilty of building his slip joints from kits,or misrepresenting the knife or its steel.
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That is what I was saying though that yes, he was caught buying kits from knifekits and selling them as his own work and telling people he made their knife out of BG42 when it was really aus8.

brownshoe said:
IIRC he stated on here that his parts are cut out of house, all assembly and finishing is done by him. There was a thread in Custom forum he responded to awhile back. However, his kits were traditional as well, bottom line is nobody really knows except for timmy.
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Which technically isnt a lie but wouldnt be the whole truth either. If I were to take a benchmade griptilian and reprofile the shape of the blade, make custom scales and really deck it out, technically the those parts were cut out of house and since I took it apart then of course it was hand fitted and assembled by me. And If I buy a kit its also the same thing. The parts are cut out of house and I hand fit and finish them. The problem is what gets lost in translation. I think there is a huge difference between designing something sending that design out to waterjet and then making a knife with those materials and buying kits or completed knives and massaging them into a slightly different product. That is actually the difference between a maker and a pimper.
 
Tony over at www.everydaycommentary.com reviewed a Kizer product so he looked into the Kizer/Britton background, especially in regards to the "Boomer"/"Pocket Rocket" controversy, I think he does a great job of summing it up:

"Tim Britton claims that the Kizer knives, this one and the larger model that looks the same, are rip offs of his knife the Tango. I do not believe this to be the case. Here is a VERY brief summary of why:

I had planned on addressing the Tim Britton v. Kizer controversy more directly, but the deeper I got the crazier things became. After doing all of that research, weeks, literally weeks, I am convinced that there is nothing to the claim that this is a rip off. Not a single shred of evidence. I emailed with Mr. Britton extensively and gave him an opportunity to make a statement but he has chosen not to do so and he also also would not agree to let me publish his emails (I gave him the opportunity to control exactly what was said, even final edit, so that he could not claim I cherry picked his words, but he turned me down). Most, if not all of the evidence I have that leads me to believe there is nothing to Mr. Britton's claim, ironically, came from emails provided to me by Mr. Britton himself.

Then there is this absolutely damning and indisputable fact--Mr. Britton has a history of ripping off other people's designs and this behavior got him banned from the USN. In that particular instance he ripped off a really great design from Shane Sibert. Mr. Britton even claimed to me, during our long email correspondence, that his copy of the Shane Sibert design was an authorized one. I contacted Mr. Sibert to confirm this (as any responsible person would, right?) here is what Mr. Sibert said:

Hello Anthony,

No, that is a blatant copy/stolen design of mine and he got banned from the USN for it. He continues to sell it claiming it is custom and charges custom prices when it appears to be made in china and he scribes his name on the blade...Fortunately, I have been able to stop dealers from selling it and the knife community has been very aggressive in response to this flaccid plagiarism.

Respectfully,

Shane-

From the USN post a few months ago:


A few months ago a situation arose that was dealt with professionally and promptly by our stellar, concerned administrators. At the time I was told by the individual in question only 2 were made, I naively thought that that was the end of that and shrugged it off and went back to the grinder.

I’m a bit crestfallen as drama is not something I generally subscribed to, and avoid if it can be resolved in a civil matter. But recently it has been brought to my attention that this prickly rash continues to fester. Unfortunately, I now need to necessitate a more forthright public action to raise awareness of this concern as this annoying dilemma may also encompass not only myself but other makers as well.

Now I understand the conundrum of either unintentional or coincidental resemblances in which I generally have no qualms with as it is part of the business; but when it is an almost crude duplicate, not just similar mind you…. but an explicit and malformed facsimile of the original knife which are being produced in quantity without permission and behaving indifferently and shamelessly for gain…. Now my hackles get raised. These appear to be foreign in origin while the perpetrator is claiming them as a custom."
 
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