Knife Manufacturers You Avoid

I never buy a knife untill I see one in action, feel it in hand,and its gotta pass the Blade forum approval. HaHa
 
Emerson: they look plain to me, have very short grinds (No sense grinding away so little steel on such wide blades IMHO), have too much of a tactical marketing, and have chisel grinds. I have no doubt that they make quality knives and do like the wave opener just for fun though.

Cold steel: marketing is far too tactical, my knives are tools first and weapons last (so far never and I hope it stays that way) and I dont care how well they can cut through a biker jacket stuffed with meat. If we want our enjoyment of knives to be accepted we should focus on the tool aspect. I also generally dont like the overseas manufacture for my own reasons. With that said I do like their tomahawks and shovel for throwing.

CRKT: designs dont interest me, and they have what i consider to be inferior steel

Sog: designs dont interest me for the price and even though i see many good youtube reviews I hear tons of horror stories here

Gerber: I started with them but after my paraframe i lost all faith in that company. And most of their designs do not interest me.
 
Is Gerber really that bad? I have some of their paraframes and they seem quite decent for the money. Granted, their Gator Machete is a short tanged, featherweight, crappy sawbacked, dull piece of crap...
 
naterfromdecader said:
Is Gerber really that bad? I have some of their paraframes and they seem quite decent for the money. Granted, their Gator Machete is a short tanged, featherweight, crappy sawbacked, dull piece of crap...
Click to expand...

It has a mystery steel, the grinding on the handle is a little uneven, the saber grind is too low, the screws don't work well, and the ergos aren't great. But it is a cheap knife after all, and Gerber's customer service is good. I think my Paraframe's ok, but you can get more for the money.
 
any company that uses mystery steel (Gerber a prime example)
Not a fan of sypderco myself (looks don't call at me)

Other then that i try to judge knives on designs/quality

the best knife I've gotten in a while came from CRKT the ringed razel. I've found the steel performs great...
 
dtownknifekid said:
Emerson: they look plain to me, have very short grinds (No sense grinding away so little steel on such wide blades IMHO), have too much of a tactical marketing, and have chisel grinds. I have no doubt that they make quality knives and do like the wave opener just for fun though.
Click to expand...

I have to give Ernie props for inventing the wave feature and I'm sure his customs are great, but every one of his production pieces I've seen had the same glaring issues. Even on pieces that are a double bevel grind, the edge itself is ground only on one side? The thumb discs don't have a flat on them at all to keep them from rotating, and you can loosen them with finger pressure. Finally, the pivots on every one of them I've seen have been gritty. If you tighten them to the point where there's no blade play they grate like there's sand inside it, and if you loosen it so the blade deploys smoothly then it's got tons of play. And I don't really buy the whole "phillips/flathead screws for field-stripping" thing. The idea of a folder that comes apart after assembly is a brand new idea in knife world chronology. Our fathers, grandfathers, and so on, all got by without ever once having to take their knife apart to clean it. I'd rather have fasteners that don't strip so easy.

All of the above would not rub me the wrong way if they didn't cost what they did. I know a lot of folks like them, but they sure aren't for me. :o
 
None of those things matter for the normal person wanting a decent pocketknife. The Paraframe II is one of my EDC knives. I like it fairly well, but I'm thinking about upgrading to a Spyderco Endura or Delica.
 
Man so many SOG bashers! I own a few of them that I really like! However I do agree for the money I want G10 handles or something other than the plastic zytel crap they use! They use good steel, locks, sharp as hell but in the hand that plastic just feels cheap! Ex. mini tanto Vulcan. Recently got a Bluto. They even say the handles are aluminum, but they totally feel like plastic!! Sog swears they are aluminum!? Do like my fixed blade sogs. the creed and pentagon are pretty bad ass! I wish Zero Tol would make a smaller knife you could EDC! All their sh*t is big man!!
 
naterfromdecader said:
Is Gerber really that bad? I have some of their paraframes and they seem quite decent for the money. Granted, their Gator Machete is a short tanged, featherweight, crappy sawbacked, dull piece of crap...
Click to expand...

To clarify, I couldnt get my paraframe sharp enough to cut at all thats why I didnt like it. I did like my first two gerbers. Now its mostly the designs and mystery steels that turn me off. Plus I found kershaw, spyderco, benchmade etc...
 
Not really a fan of Kershaw (just no designs that appeal to me) or Gerber (the Gerber clutch multi-tool is great for $7 dollars though).

However, unlike most people, I am a big fan of SOG. Their designs are imo very innovative. Though they don't use the best materials, they get the job done for me in a very discreet and utilitarian manner. Can't wait for the SOG mini Aegis to come out!
 
Klok said:
any company that uses mystery steel (Gerber a prime example)
Not a fan of sypderco myself (looks don't call at me)

Other then that i try to judge knives on designs/quality

the best knife I've gotten in a while came from CRKT the ringed razel. I've found the steel performs great...
Click to expand...

You judge knives on designs and quality, but ignore Spyderco? :confused:


xmtgx said:
And lovers gonna love.
Though honestly I thought there would be a lot more flaming going on in this thread. Specially when cold steel was brought up.
Click to expand...

Give it some time. This is a new thread. :D
 
amen74 said:
Give it some time. This is a new thread. :D
Click to expand...

lol! :D I hope not, its quite civil.

In my short time getting into Knives I've stayed away from Cold Steel, Gerber, Frost and some China stuff that has been flooding the knife market here in the phil.

I've only purchased from Emerson, Spyderco, and ZT. (plus just recently a Bradley Kimura which I love, BTW.)
 
Two brands that I won't touch these days are Gerber and Cold Steel. I'm pissed off at 'em, because of how two companies who once made quality products now produce products that are POS 's. I like older knives from both, and have several of each that are 20+ years old.

Another favorite brand that I won't buy anymore is Marbles. Historically produced well made knives, during the Mike Stewart era there they made some exceptional knives, but now . . . sigh. More crap.
 
Marton said:
lol! :D I hope not, its quite civil.

In my short time getting into Knives I've stayed away from Cold Steel, Gerber, Frost and some China stuff that has been flooding the knife market here in the phil.

I've only purchased from Emerson, Spyderco, and ZT. (plus just recently a Bradley Kimura which I love, BTW.)
Click to expand...

Try a large coldsteel folder, you would be surprised how solid they are.It could replace a fixed blade. :thumbup:
 
These threads are nothing but a place for people to slander companies with anecdotal problems and if you all avoided every company listed in this thread none of you would have a place to buy a knife that wasn't a custom. These threads are not constructive and should be removed by the moderator.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top