How Truly BAD Are Maxams?

[Confederate]

I've always assumed these knives were junk, and for their price I don't see how they can be much good, but here's the BUT....

Some of them have worked out very well, far past any expectations. True, I haven't used them for heavy cutting, but I have several light-weight knives with serrated blades and very sharp tips. This particular model not only is super light, it easily cuts through tough cardboard and has removed several splinters. It also has cut through plastic bubble packaging which I couldn't even scratch good with a Gerber Paraframe. This knife just cut through that tough plastic like...well...cardboard.

Did I mention it was a featherweight? I've actually put it in my pocket and forgotten that I had it there. In appearance it resembles a Sypderco design of some sort, but anyone picking it up would know it's not a high-priced item.

Maxam seems to have a gigantic line of imports and while I'm not going to dump my good knives, these Chinese knives seem good for first-aid kits, photography bags, hideaways in a car trunk or clipping to the belt when you're not expecting to have to use a knife.

'Dime-a-Dozen' knives can come in handy in many situations
and are better than some knives made by well-known
manufacturers.

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[psy-ops]

I think they have their place, I keep some in the glove compartment of my car, and some in other areas. The word "some" is important. Also if I am visiting new city sometimes I will buy a cheapo delica knockoff to carry.

 

[Death's Head]

I guess the lockbacks will do the job of opening packages and letters. And why bother sharpening them. Disposable knives.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Um ... maybe I'm missing something ... but it seems like the sum total of your praise for Maxam is you had one of their knives that when it was new wasn't so dull it couldn't even cut bubblewrap. You compared that to another knife of yours that is so dull it can't even cut bubblewrap. This is not an indication that Maxam makes good knives; it's an indication that a visit to The Toolshed could change your knife-using life.

 

[Planterz]

I don't know if Maxam has an original design in their lineup. The one in your picture is an obvious Spyderco Delica ripoff. They even have a Darrell Ralph/Camillus Aftermath knockoff.

Even if they were the best knifes in the world I wouldn't buy them...and they're about the worst knives in the world.

 

[Andrew Taylor]

I bought three Maxams to see what a $4.00 knife could be like. I have EDC'd one of them and love it so much I haven't used the others, or my Kershaw Blue Bump, my two Schrades, or my Buck 110. I use it most days and it was sharp out of the box and I have touched it up once. If I could find out if my Maxam is a rip off of a proprietary knife, I would buy it just because Maxams have such low esteem.

This is my EDC at $3.70

 

[Keith Montgomery]

I don't like Maxam knives at all. They use the cheapest materials available and they seem to steal all their designs from other companies.

A co-worker of mine bought one of those Delica rip-offs and it lasted less than a month. He used it harder than you do, but not so hard that the handle should have broken. The blade stayed sharp for about a day as well. I convinced him to purchase a $15.00 Victorinox and it has been going strong for over a year.

 

[rifon2]

When I was a kid I was taught by people who knew - people who used tools every day in their work -
that it was not a good idea to use cheap tools.

Not a good idea.

I still respect that advice, I still don't use cheap tools - they don't work as well as good tools, and,
more importantly
they're dangerous because their failure rate - especially when stressed - is much higher.

And that's why I would never consider using a Maxam.

 

[Monocrom]

I bought three Maxams to see what a $4.00 knife could be like. I have EDC'd one of them and love it so much I haven't used the others, or my Kershaw Blue Bump, my two Schrades, or my Buck 110. I use it most days and it was sharp out of the box and I have touched it up once. If I could find out if my Maxam is a rip off of a proprietary knife, I would buy it just because Maxams have such low esteem.

This is my EDC at $3.70

You mean you actually trust your fingers to a $3.70 folding knife?!

 

[Chuck289]

i have a cheap maxam fixed tanto. doesnt cut a damn thing. i just sometimes use it to pry, dig, and smack things.

 

[Golbat]

I have two Maxam linerlock, they're totally junk. I put them to the darkest corner of my drawer...

 

[Hair]

I have several Maxam knives from before I became knife educated.

I also own a lot of very good knives. Sebenza, SMF, Military, Manix, 172 TNT, Kasumi, Nakamura.

So it isn't like I don't know what a good knife is.

That said, I think Maxams are totally fine. I think they are enough knife for 99.999999999% of tasks that 99.999999999% of people will do. Actually, I know they are.

I would have no problem recommending a Maxam to someone who wanted a knife just to have a knife and didn't want to spend more than a few bucks. But I would make sure they knew all of the reasons that a more expensive knife would be better.

You get what you pay for, but that is not only a reason to buy a more expensive knife, but also to buy a less expensive one. No, a Maxam knife is not going to be as good as a Byrd or a Victorinox, but some people don't care about or need the improvements a better knife has. Hard to imagine, but it is true. Some people may just want a certain Maxam instead of a Pika, for example, because they like how it looks. No, they are not a savy knife buyer, but so what? I am not a savy sock buyer, or belt buyer. I don't really care about those things, so I buy whatever is cheap and looks cool. I don't want to spend more than a few bucks because I don't care more than a few bucks worth. Knives are not everyone's primary hobby like they are for many of us.

Keep in mind, though, that I am now knife educated. I wouldn't buy another Maxam, and I only carry them (rarely) as a knife to let someone else use if they ask to use my knife. And I really mean "rarely" because the vast majority of the time I would rather hand someone a good knife and have them think "man, Brandon uses really good knives" rather than "I thought Brandon was the knife guy here, so why is he carrying this flea market junk?"

However, before I was knife educated, Maxams made me happy. They did everything I needed them to do, and they never failed on me. For people that are not knife educated and have never used better, a Maxam can be just fine. They can make people happy just as they made me happy before I got used to using better knives.

That is just a period I have moved on from. I have used better, so now a Maxam will not give me much of a "knife fix". It will give me a little fix, but not much. But you know what... a Byrd won't give me much of a fix either.

My point being that knives are on a continuem. Yes, Maxams are near the bottom, but they are not the bottom, I don't think there is some line between Maxams and, say, Byrds where one can say a Byrd is good and a Maxam is bad. Yes, a Byrd is better, but it is also more money. A Maxam is worse, but it is also cheaper. It is about better/more money, and worse/cheaper not factual good versus bad. Should everyone just upgrade to a Byrd? Then why not upgrade more? Why not a Sebenza? Everyone has to draw a line somewhere, and for many, it is at or even below Maxam.

I hope I am getting my point across. I am not trying to defend Maxam. Yeah, they suck, and yeah they rip off designs and that is the worst part. But I like knives, and they are still knives, and for most people, I think they really are enough. They aren't good enough for me, but again, even some knives that many people here consider "good" are not good enough for me. Remember, it's a continuem. Any knife on that continuem will give me a little bit of joy. I'd rather have the world's worst knife than the world's best toothbrush.

Also keep in mind that I am playing a bit of Devil's advocate here. If a bunch of people on a non-knife forum were praising Maxams and saying that more expensive knives are rip-offs, I would be saying very different things. I have three drawers full of knives, and I seperate them loosely based on quality. My flea market stuff is in the bottom drawer, so I do very much seperate them from my name-brand, quality knives. But I also seperate my "decent" middle drawer stuff (Leek, Cutback, 119, 110, M16, Ka-Bar, etc...) from my higher-end stuff (Sebenza, SMF, Skirmish, AFCK etc...) so it really isn't a matter of some knives being good enough to be "real" and some being "pure junk". A knife is a knife- some are just better than others.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

... these Chinese knives seem good for first-aid kits, photography bags, hideaways in a car trunk or clipping to the belt when you're not expecting to have to use a knife.

The biggest problem with them is that they are rip-off's of anothers design so you are supporting stealing by buying them. As for the utility :

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=389144

Yes, the cheap knives can do a lot of work, especially when properly ground and sharpened.

-Cliff

 

[Death's Head]

To tell the truth, you can get a lot more for your money than say Maxam or Frost. Now that you are part of Blade Forums and getting more knife savvy, your standards are likely to go up and you will definitely realize in the near future that purchasing these kinds of knives can be a waste of money.

 

[flipe8]

I'd never buy one and the main reason has to do with the possibility of actually needing to rely on it for something. Can a 300+ dollar knife fail? Sure, but the likelihood is much less. And you don't need to go THAT much more expensive for a decent knife(SAK, Opinel, many others).I also don't care for the fact they "borrow" other companies' designs, either.

 

[Confederate]

And why bother sharpening them? Disposable knives.

Oh, no, these knives are great for learning how to sharpen and for trying new methods of sharpening. They also sharpen very rapidly, being 420. I also have the monster below. It's very large, has a pouch and a clip and has a very tight lockup. This is the one I have in each car, one in each of several first-aid kits and carry on occasion.

--Confed

This one is deceptively large. The grips are huge and
the knive is great for opening packages, letters and even
self defense. I bought a whole case (12) of them for almost
nothing and give them away on occasion when someone
needs a strong, inexpensive knife.

.

 

[Confederate]

To tell the truth, you can get a lot more for your money than say Maxam or Frost. Now that you are part of Blade Forums and getting more knife savvy, your standards are likely to go up and you will definitely realize in the near future that purchasing these kinds of knives can be a waste of money.

Well, my standards aren't so low as to recommend Maxam outside the limits I've already stated. And Cliff's remarks are duly noted, though the lockback designs seem to be all over the place.

At the same time, I can't see myself becoming a steel snob. The only real surprising thing I've come across here is that no matter what kind of steel one likes, there's usually a few people who don't like it. Some think AUS 6 is fine for most things; others draw the line at AUS 8. Others say 440A is okay, while many (like myself) wonder why 440C has been almost abandoned.

I'd never buy one and the main reason has to do with the possibility of actually needing to rely on it for something. Can a 300+ dollar knife fail? Sure, but the likelihood is much less. And you don't need to go THAT much more expensive for a decent knife(SAK, Opinel, many others). I also don't care for the fact they "borrow" other companies' designs, either.

I was able to interview Lynn Thompson, of Cold Steel, a few times and he remarked how Chinese rip-offs of his designs ticked him off, though he admitted that because their lockbacks were based on those of his knives, they were very sturdy. Now I see he's been accused of ripping off designs from others.

Maxams have lousy liner locks. I've seen one that looks identical to my Winchester (bought early in my knife buying craze)...same grips, everything. But since I don't like the Winchester, I don't know how much difference in quality there is. The Winchester advertised "surgical stainless" blade, a term I've come to abhor, and I don't think there's too much difference in blade quality between it and the Maxam, but who knows?

When I need a knife under conditions where it would be very inconvenient if it failed, I would use a better knife. I used to trust CRKT's LAWKS system before I began seeing reports of them failing, and one of my favorite carry knives is the Cold Steel Pro-Lite or a 5-inch Voyager. I also like many of Spyderco's designs, though I only have one. I also love Benchmade, but don't consider some (like the Ascents) as being a terribly strong knife. I have one and use and carry it frequently, but there is some play in the blade. It has an ATS-34 blade and rarely needs sharpening.

--Confed

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[newshooter04]

i had a friend who set up with me at a flea market and he had several cases of maxums he was selling for 3 bucks each. looked a lot like the knife the original poster had. i asked him for 1 to cut some string and he tossed me a unopened box and said 'here ill give u this' i opened it and it was a totally different knife than the rest . this one had aluminum handles done in a wood grain , a 4 inch clip lock blade and said tiki japan on the blade and 44c. it was razor sharp and the lock was solid and the fit and finish of the knife was excellent. i asked him if he wanted it back and he said no but he looked at the rest of his and none were like mine.i assume someone packaged a wrong knife at the factory and i benefited . i have used the knife for years and gave it to a friend who was deploying over seas. it would hold a edge very well and get scary sharp.the name maxum was on the knife nowhere except the box it came in , even the leather sheath that came with it was excellent material and well made.
david

 

[Andrew Taylor]

You mean you actually trust your fingers to a $3.70 folding knife?!

There is nothing the matter with the steel, the construction, or the fit and finish. The reason they are cheap is because the labour to produce them is cheap. The lock is crisp and very strong as a lock back, and if anything I would mistrust the very slight area of the liner lock contact on my Kershaw Blue Bump more! They might even produce Maxams with Chinese Government subsidies for all I know. What I do know is there is nothing wrong with the quality (just the name)

The only thing I don't like is that I heard they rip off designs, and I don't like that as it is unfair on the designers of the original knife. I didn't find out until after I bought mine and am not inclined to buy further Maxam knifes because of it.

 

[needlejr]

This is somewhat strange timing: just yesterday I had to throw away a knife, it was one of these cheap ones that I got for expediency to throw into a car chair handle storage bin (for cutting seat belt and any such need). I have replaced it with a good quality knife and just for fun decided to examine the cheap knife closer.
Imagine my surprise when it closed from the locked position -through- the lock with minimal, and I do mean minimal pressure from the dull side of the blade. I was lucky that I had my fingers out of the way. Basically if it was not behaving as a locking blade at all, it would click as if it locked when fully opened, but would effectively be a non locking folder.