<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by jc:
Second was a Elishewitz Phantom w/ti bolsters and carbon fiber scales. While the lock was great on this one, the fit and finish was atrocious! The blosters didn't lie flat with the liner and the blade looked like it was sharpened with a brick. The blade also showed grinding marks. Fit and finish just flat out sucked. Bought it directly from Elishewitz and couldn't believe they sent that unit out. When I ordered this knife, I even told his wife how friggin' picky I was when it comes to fit and finish.......go figure! They didn't even inquire if I wanted it fixed. They just gave me a refund (less about $20 shipping both ways). Saw the same knife up for sale a week later on an internet dealer sites.......knife had the logo misplaced (logo too close to the blade grind) exaclty as mine did.......think they fixed the rest of it? jc</font>
Luckily, I got to handle Elischewitz knives at the Blade Show back in 1997 when I first started this expensive hobby. Actually, I probably cycled everything on Les Robertson's table 3-5 times. On a positive note, I discovered Broadwell, Chamblin, Carson, & JW Smith on this trip. Elischewitz' stuff was the worst fit & finish on the table. Alan seems to be trying to make and sell as many as he possibly can crank out, rather than getting his precision dialed in. He may have gotten a little better in past couple years, but not much. I can make similar comments about the Crawfords folders, unfortunately. They do make a nifty, truly lightweight skeletonized neck knife however.
Disappointments, not all "terrible", but for a variety of reasons:
1. Gerber stuff in 420Mod or whatever... wouldn't take OR hold an edge.
2. Valloton Chameleon... blade was ground very thin and delicate.
3. S&W Sigma series in .40S&W... oops. Wrong forum.
4. Spyderco products in AUS-8. Won't hold an edge very well, but not as terrible as Gerber, or others below.
5. SOG Bowies in 440A, which is a very mediocre edge holder. Chopping was not considered in the handle design.
6. Buck knifes from 420HC or whatever.
7. I thought the Camillus CQB2 was a nifty knife, but realize it needed a palm swell at the butt pretty quickly.
8. Camillus Talon (Simonich). I truly feel weird about holding a knife like this where the guard is just not really there... I realize Talonite is expensive and they kept price down by not adding a guard, but this design has problems. Just doesn't feel secure in my hand. For this reason, I could not use a Japanese guardless knife if it had the least bit of slickness (e.g. wood) to it. I'm going to have RJ Martin build a Kozuka with a bit larger diameter wrap at the handle/blade junction for this reason.
9. Emerson Specwar folder. Liner was sticky and took forever to loosen up and cycle without me using a damned screwdriver to release the lock every 4th opening. And the chisel grind on the wrong side for right handers is intolerable...just stupid and hardheaded of Ernie not to fix this design flaw for the sake of looks, etc.
There is a lot of junky, overpriced, poorly designed stuff out there. I could have a long list here, I handle a lot of product before I buy and try to avoid clunkers, but tried to learn quickly when I got started (thanks to Les Robertson for my early education!) and so I tend to make many fewer mistakes now in my purchases, both in steel & heat treat, in overall design, and in what I can expect fit & finish-wise at a given price point. But you have to start somewhere... and you learn by making purchasing mistakes.
By the way, my Apogee from Darrel (1.5 yrs old maybe) is a dandy. The Damasteel takes and holds a good toothy edge too, so I feel like the heat treat went right as well.
I've had good luck asking custom makers to have another look at my knife if it didn't meet my expectations... so far, I've always received a satisfactory response and product tweak.
[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 02-11-2001).]
