Is Master Cutlery REALLY so bad? Low Budget Knives

Status
Not open for further replies.
Glock Field Knife is a good option too, I got the 81 (the one with the sawback) and yeah, it's very sturdy. I've seen videos of people hammering them into a wall and using it as a step. Steel is a bit soft, but it's designed that way so you can sharpen it on a rock in the field if needed. The sheath is nice too, not bulky at all, can hold the knife upside down.
 
Hackenslash said:
I'm not sure how they're priced in the UK, but I have a Glock Field knife in my toolbox that I've beaten the snot out of. I've used that knife in every way a knife shouldn't be used (pry bar, lever, scraper). The blade coating looks like crap but the knife is still sound and ready for more. I once sharpened it in a pinch with a rat tail file. :eek:

I've seen them as low as $30USD, not sure how that translates.
Click to expand...

It's a little bit over my budget. I can wait until it's on sale or something, but it might be tommorow or it might be in 2 years.
 
Chopping wood (hitting medium branches like it's a hammer, batoning), carving, maybe fighting, who knows if i don't get attacked while on a walk in the woods? Bushcraft, outdoor stuff. Universal.
 
I think MTech is good stuff.. as a disposable knife. It should be fully capable at whatever outdoor/hard use one throws at it.

Just don't expect build quality to be the best, consistent, fine, and finished as the reputable brands. And expect them sheath to be garbage/worthless.

I have a MTech axe and use it to smash concrete. It's fine. Concrete not fine. Also have a Cheapo chopper Mtech. Exactly, what I use those for.

Pry bar? Sure. Makeshift ladder? Why not. Break concrete? Go for the goal. Can't do that stuff with a cheap knife, I tell you.
 
Kuszotke said:
noz_MC_mtech_MT092.jpg


MT-092

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think if you want a heavy SHTF knife that can chop for under $25, the MT-151 is about as good as it's gonna get. IIRC, the 151 is ~.27" stock vs. ~.165"(?) on the 092.

BUT that's just based on what I've read/seen in reviews, I haven't handled one.
 
Kuszotke said:
Chopping wood (hitting medium branches like it's a hammer, batoning), carving, maybe fighting, who knows if i don't get attacked while on a walk in the woods? Bushcraft, outdoor stuff. Universal.
Click to expand...

This may sound a little weird, but for your needs I'd suggest getting an old meat cleaver from a second hand store for a few bucks. Trust me an old carbon steel cleaver will be 10x better than any fixed blade you can buy for under 25$ new today. You could easily leave it as is, but if you have an angle grinder you could modify it Into something that no longer looks like a meat cleaver.
You can easily get this much knife out of a meat cleaver then either go from there or simply put an edge on it.
 
Last edited:
Kuszotke said:
Chopping wood (hitting medium branches like it's a hammer, batoning), carving, maybe fighting, who knows if i don't get attacked while on a walk in the woods? Bushcraft, outdoor stuff. Universal.
Click to expand...

This has Mora written all over it. Or a Mora-type knife if you can't find exactly what you're wanting from them.

Moras are light, yes, but don't let that fool you into thinking they're not tough. I could make a fixed blade out of lead and it would be very heavy and fall apart immediately.

I've used and abused Moras since I was a child. I've broken a tip off of one when it fell 30 feet onto a boulder, but otherwise haven't had a single failure.

Cheap, Cool and Good. In my experience you only get to pick two of those adjectives at once. Cheap and Good go to the Mora. Cheap and Cool might go to the Master, United, Etc., but they certainly aren't Good.
 
T.L.E. Sharp said:
Cheap, Cool and Good. In my experience you only get to pick two of those adjectives at once. Cheap and Good go to the Mora. Cheap and Cool might go to the Master, United, Etc., but they certainly aren't Good.
Click to expand...

That's a very 'cool' way to put it :p

Yeah they're not good blades, they're in the ball park of "sharpened piece of metal that has potential to cut".

Don't mistake me giving my mtech bali and karambit credit as saying they're good, theyre just better than I was expecting (didn't expect much at all)

OP - Listen to this man. Mora is the way to go.
 
I find it interesting that people are making the blanket statement that Master Cutlery knives are "garbage" or "they certainly aren't good", perhaps they didn't read my post.

I used a knife for ten years working a shipping dock and on construction sites, performing countless cutting chores, as well as prying and batonning, and despite the fact that the knife served me perfectly, I chose to replace it with a Master Cutlery knife, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. And that choice was based entirely on the performance of the Master Cutlery knife.

So when people say the brand is "garbage", or that it "certainly isn't any good", I can't help but wonder what experience they have using a Master Cutlery knife that caused them to form such opinions. What model did you use?

I think that to disparage the entire Master Cutlery brand without having actually used any of their knives is no different than a person saying that Mora's are cheap junk that break easily when they have zero experience using a Mora.

Like I said, I only give opinions on the quality of knives that I actually have experience using. For a person to give an opinion on the quality of a knife when they have no experience with that knife is just a lot of hot air.
 
Last edited:
killgar said:
I find it interesting that people are making the blanket statement that Master Cutlery knives are "garbage" or "they certainly aren't good", perhaps they didn't read my post.

I used a knife for ten years working a shipping dock and on construction sites, performing countless cutting chores, as well as prying and batonning, and despite the fact that the knife served me perfectly, I chose to replace it with a Master Cutlery knife, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. And that choice was based entirely on the performance of the Master Cutlery knife.

So when people say the brand is "garbage", or that it "certainly isn't any good", I can't help but wonder what experience they have using a Master Cutlery knife that caused them to form such opinions. What model did you use?

I think that to disparage the entire Master Cutley brand without having actually used any is no different than a person saying that Mora's are cheap junk that break easily when they have zero experience using a Mora.

Like I said, I only give opinions on the quality of knives that I actually have experience using. For a person to give an opinion on the quality of a knife when they have no experience with that knife is just a lot of hot air.
Click to expand...

It's the fact that they're just a name used on generic cheap Chinese knives that people aren't willing to consider them as anything good. Your experience with 1 master cutlery knife may be the one good one for all anyone knows. There may be a few decent knives that have had the master cutlery name slapped onto them but nobody really knows. And that's just it, we no nothing about the company ( if you can even call them that ) . I googled them and saw a bunch of cheap knives with their name on them which I've seen under countless others ( survivor, black label, M-Tech , falcon, tac extreme, wartech, and the list goes on )

I have no doubt that your particular master cutlery knife is a decent one for the price, but they're just another name used on miscellaneous Chinese knives and we have no reason to have any optimism towards them.
 
Hickory n steel said:
It's the fact that they're just a name used on generic cheap Chinese knives that people aren't willing to consider them as anything good. Your experience with 1 master cutlery knife may be the one good one for all anyone knows. There may be a few decent knives that have had the master cutlery name slapped onto them but nobody really knows. And that's just it, we no nothing about the company ( if you can even call them that ) . I googled them and saw a bunch of cheap knives with their name on them which I've seen under countless others ( survivor, black label, M-Tech , falcon, tac extreme, wartech, and the list goes on )

I have no doubt that your particular master cutlery knife is a decent one for the price, but they're just another name used on miscellaneous Chinese knives and we have no reason to have any optimism towards them.
Click to expand...
I can certainly understand people having doubts regarding the quality of the brand, I had my doubts as well, and based on my doubts there are several models of Master Cutlery knives that I would never be interested in trying. What I find strange are blanket statements condemning the quality of the entire brand when there are at least two people in this thread who say they own Master Cutlery knives (different models), and we are both satisfied with their performance. So obviously the entire brand isn't "garbage".

But I can only speak for the knives I own and have used. And I would definitely say that the Master Cutlery knife that I regularly use is worth far more than what I paid for it. If I had paid $50 for it I would still consider it a great deal.

I don't know who actually made my Master Cutlery knives, and I don't even know what steel they're made of. All I know is that I own a knife with Master Cutlery stenciled on it, and after using it hard I've come to the conclusion that it's a quality knife, so much so that out of my Wilson Tactical, Al Mar, Entrek, and Lionsteel fixed-blades, my Master Cutlery is now my #1 fixed-blade.

But don't anybody get me wrong, I'm not going to lose sleep or break into tears because someone said something disparaging about Master Cutlery. I'm happy with my knives, they serve me well, and that's all that matters to me. People are free to express any opinion they want on this forum, even if they are expressing opinions on knives they have no experience with. :)

By the way, I also have some United Cutlery boot knives. And after torture testing one a bit, and having it survive without any sign of damage, I've come to the conclusion that United is also capable of producing some quality knives (quality, as in tough).
 
MaximIsayev said:
I would recommend to stay away from United Cutlery, .
Click to expand...

There was a time when United cutlery was having knives made for them by quality american makers like Camilus using quality steels. To bad that is no longer the case, because they have some nice designs.
 
So it turns out half of opinions are from people who "heard it from others" and "the knife looks like it" rather than people who owned it and have an actual experience with them?
 
inkynate said:
I think if you want a heavy SHTF knife that can chop for under $25, the MT-151 is about as good as it's gonna get. IIRC, the 151 is ~.27" stock vs. ~.165"(?) on the 092.

BUT that's just based on what I've read/seen in reviews, I haven't handled one.
Click to expand...

It looks great, but of course it's not availble in any shop i checked.

So as mentioned up.

Is there any Mora with a massive blade? That means long, tough and heavy.
 
Master used to be nothing but absolute bottom of the barrel garbage. In recent years they've found some better manufacturers and designers and while they're still certainly cheap and kind of "trashy" knives, they're no longer outright trash--at least not all models. Expect them to be sloppy, but if you put the elbow grease into them, many models have the potential to become at least a ho-hum "good enough" knife. Just never trust in one for hard use until you've tested its limits, and don't rely on them as a survival tool.
 
Op, since you've set a very low budget I assume that if your knife breaks, it will be difficult for you to be able to replace. If that's the case, I'd definitely steer clear of hollow handled knives in your price range as they tend to be very weak at the junction between the blade and handle.

Most of the low budget fixed blade suspects have been mentioned (Schrade, Mora, Condor, etc). I'll throw out Old Hickory. Not at all tactical, but inexpensive and serviceable enough.

I'd add that, if it's at all possible, saving up more cash for your purchase is the best option. If you can get into the $50 range there are far more and better options available. In the $100 range you could most likely find something that will fit your needs perfectly. This isn't always possible though.

On a final note, you might consider looking at the secondhand market. You may be able to pick up a higher quality knife with your money simply because it's had a few miles put on it. You're planning to use it anyway, it just has a head start on experience (and hasn't broken so far).

Hope this helps.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top