- Joined
- Jun 28, 2012
- Messages
- 672
I have been collecting knives for many years and have owned knives from nearly every company and country, and to I've recently reminisced about my knife collecting history. Almost every single knife I've owned that's made in Germany/Italy have been lacking in either outright quality, design, or both.
Examples: I've owned many Bokers, Fox knives, Pi knives, Eickhorn, Extrema Ratio, Pohl Force
And a friend has owned some lionsteel knives
My Bokers were the "high end" made in Germany ones. Boker Turbine, turbine glow in the dark, Ak47 limited edition, Titan lightweight, Oberland. Every knife here has blantantly obvious flaws, terrible blade grind symmetry, minor lock problems, BAD centering and fit and finish issues. I did enjoy the turbine glow in the dark though, despite its many flaws.
My Fox knives/Pi knives doblolock simply fell apart just from me flipping at home. FOX knives also face some of the problems of Boker knives, but they're a little better and run usually about $150. Fox predator 2 was just junk, and I'd rather own an $80 cold steel knife, which is much better for the money.
$50-120 no name models from Eickhorn sent to me from Germany in tin cans also weren't much better. And my Km2000 with 440A steel rattles in its handle.
I have also owned many Extrema ratios, From an MF2 that would fold if you tapped the blade against your leg, to the fulcrum 2, mpc, and nemesis which all had stripped screws and peening due to the softness of the metal handle, yet all running over $300.
It seems the only good knives that I've purchased coming from Germany and Italy is a Fox dive knife folder that was about $180. While Fox knives are a hit and miss based on model, Boker, Eickhorn, Pohl force are all a miss for me. My friend also noticed this as he owns a viper keeper, lionsteel sr1A, combative edge sr11 and he finds the same problems on all of his knives. To be honest, I've seen many budget Chinese knives with better fit and finish and for the money the Europeans are charging, I'd rather send it over to Reate knives. I feel now that some European companies are taking advantage of their reputations set hundreds of years back with no actual basis/evidence of high quality, while the Chinese are trying to prove they can make good quality modern knives. To be fair a German guy I know stated that Bokers are considered junk even in his home country. I've not purchased another knife made in those countries anymore in the last year as I'm not interested in paying $300 for N690 steel(which is amazing, but not for $300), shoddy quality control, and bad designs.
What are your thoughts? Thanks
Examples: I've owned many Bokers, Fox knives, Pi knives, Eickhorn, Extrema Ratio, Pohl Force
And a friend has owned some lionsteel knives
My Bokers were the "high end" made in Germany ones. Boker Turbine, turbine glow in the dark, Ak47 limited edition, Titan lightweight, Oberland. Every knife here has blantantly obvious flaws, terrible blade grind symmetry, minor lock problems, BAD centering and fit and finish issues. I did enjoy the turbine glow in the dark though, despite its many flaws.
My Fox knives/Pi knives doblolock simply fell apart just from me flipping at home. FOX knives also face some of the problems of Boker knives, but they're a little better and run usually about $150. Fox predator 2 was just junk, and I'd rather own an $80 cold steel knife, which is much better for the money.
$50-120 no name models from Eickhorn sent to me from Germany in tin cans also weren't much better. And my Km2000 with 440A steel rattles in its handle.
I have also owned many Extrema ratios, From an MF2 that would fold if you tapped the blade against your leg, to the fulcrum 2, mpc, and nemesis which all had stripped screws and peening due to the softness of the metal handle, yet all running over $300.
It seems the only good knives that I've purchased coming from Germany and Italy is a Fox dive knife folder that was about $180. While Fox knives are a hit and miss based on model, Boker, Eickhorn, Pohl force are all a miss for me. My friend also noticed this as he owns a viper keeper, lionsteel sr1A, combative edge sr11 and he finds the same problems on all of his knives. To be honest, I've seen many budget Chinese knives with better fit and finish and for the money the Europeans are charging, I'd rather send it over to Reate knives. I feel now that some European companies are taking advantage of their reputations set hundreds of years back with no actual basis/evidence of high quality, while the Chinese are trying to prove they can make good quality modern knives. To be fair a German guy I know stated that Bokers are considered junk even in his home country. I've not purchased another knife made in those countries anymore in the last year as I'm not interested in paying $300 for N690 steel(which is amazing, but not for $300), shoddy quality control, and bad designs.
What are your thoughts? Thanks
