Knives you would never buy again!

I'm done buying the "budget Kershaws " namely my experience has been positive, and generally the price on their knives is great, but I can't stand 1. Blade play, 2. Very rustable bead-blast finishes. 3. Lazy assisted opening. Soooo, the clash and Asset are (to me) fun "toy" knives, and I have no problem beating the crap out of them, but I like to think of my blades being passed on to my kids someday, gently used, and not the flimsy messes that are big name budget knives. I DO like my skyline and Nerve. (For toughness/price compromise, it's CS for me!)
 
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The Gerber Bear Grylls Paracord fixed blade. Yeah I know I know,

But the youtube vids of mods people did on it made me get it. Where do I start...the steel has an edge retention that falls somewhere between gingerbread and cotton. It's kydex sheeth doubles as an edge duller and the general feel of the blade is flimsy. The only way I see anyone actually surviving in the woods with this knife is if you meet a boyscout who will trade you for his ham sandwich.
 
Volt II.
I bought it, and I regret it. I liked the design of the blade for a long while before I bought the knife. I wish it didn't come with speed safe, and I wish it came in sandvik, but those aren't even the main gripes I have with the knife.
I took the knife apart, and there were so many little pieces, it was hard to keep track of everything. It was worse than my Benchmade Griptilian. After I had unscrewed the thing, the scales and liners were still difficult to get off the knife, and I almost lost the stop pin when it finally jerked open. I got it back together now, only to notice that the knife that had been sitting in a desk drawer has rusted. My Bonecollector doesn't have a spot of rust, I have come to the conclusion that 8cr rusts more readily than D2.
 
Knives I would never buy again: Gerber, SOG, Buck, CRKT and other low end knives. I want quality and attention to detail, not mediocre discount store junk.

Benchmade: not because of poor quality, but because their designs don't appeal to me as the did "back in the day". Aside from the Benchmade 710 and a couple of their balisongs, they just don't have the appeal that old-school models like the AFCK, the 970, the Ares, and the Sentinel had for me.
 
Anza. Tried one looking for something to fill a need. Finish was less than I expected and it didnt fit my hand like I had hoped.
 
There's a lot of overlap throughout all of these posts - nice to see how little some manufacturers get mentioned relative to others.

My contribution is Smith and Wesson and Gerber - sharpening is a nightmare and the quality is not something I would depend my life on, much less my hands and fingers. I keep the Gerber Para that I bought in my console as an emergency backup. Meh.
 
...most of them. I do keep buying PM2's, Gayle Bradleys, Sage 2's, Technos, Sebbies. Great trading material, even though I don't carry anything other than CRK and TAD Dauntless. They are all great quality, and I enjoy seeing them come in, even though they go out again...as new.
 
I've thought about taking apart my Benchmade model 755 MPR. I would throw away everything except the blade and send the blade to a custom builder and ask him to make me a titanium-scaled grip built around the blade.
 
Kershaw Leek. A month after I get it, the "assisted opening" mechanism malfunctioned. Got it replaced, same thing happened a month later. Now I just stick with any Tri-Ad lock knife from Cold Steel or a good Spyderco and never looked back.
 
Pretty much any cheap knife.
They are cheap for a reason, I would rather spend a little more upfront and get something that will last.

Any tanto shaped blade, they are a pain to sharpen and I am not that tacticool.

A tougher call is Emerson. I love the wave feature but for the price I can get a much better quality knife.
 
P_Meticulous said:
Honestly,

Everything in this pic - besides the 710 (with wood inlays), 615's, and the LFTi.. Everything else I could do without.

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Even the ADAMAS? I was looking at getting this knife soon. Any reason why you dont like it?
 
cpd670 said:
Pretty much any cheap knife.
They are cheap for a reason, I would rather spend a little more upfront and get something that will last.

Any tanto shaped blade, they are a pain to sharpen and I am not that tacticool.

A tougher call is Emerson. I love the wave feature but for the price I can get a much better quality knife.
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there are plenty of cheap traditionals that would last you a lifetime if you took care of them. look at all the knives that get handed down.
 
cards94 said:
there are plenty of cheap traditionals that would last you a lifetime if you took care of them. look at all the knives that get handed down.
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I never considered Case or Schrade cheap knives when buying them 30 years ago.
I still have more than I few of them floating around the house.
 
I won't buy another Buses knife. Several years ago I bought into the hype. I bought a skinny ASH. It would have been great if they had sharpened that hunk of Infi before sending it to me. I tried to like it. Too big to clean deer, and too small to be a great chopper. I stripped the finish, thinned out the edge a bit but I find the handle uncomfortable also. I spent a lot of money for a knife that sits unused in my bug out bag. Someday I'll upgrade my membership and try to sell it on the Busse sale forum.

Grizz
 
Greetings!
Hmmm, my tastes have changed so much the last 10 years. At this point in time:
1. slip joints; been there done that. Have owned numerous over the years; Case, Schrade (USA), Hen and Rooster, Boker (German), GEC/Tidioute, Col. Coon, Henkels, Russell (German), Victorinox, Moore, etc. I still have a few, but nowadays I prefer a more secure/substantial lockup.
2. Anything Chinese, Pakistan etc. Too often quality is suspect...
 
JTmisterknifeguy said:
I'm done buying the "budget Kershaws " namely my experience has been positive, and generally the price on their knives is great, but I can't stand 1. Blade play, 2. Very rustable bead-blast finishes. 3. Lazy assisted opening. Soooo, the clash and Asset are (to me) fun "toy" knives, and I have no problem beating the crap out of them, but I like to think of my blades being passed on to my kids someday, gently used, and not the flimsy messes that are big name budget knives. I DO like my skyline and Nerve. (For toughness/price compromise, it's CS for me!)
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I feel the same way. For the price you pay, those Chinese Kershaws are pretty good. But on the other hand, since the price is so low you can't really complain about bladeplay, rust, lax quality, and uneven grinds. Ever since I became willing to spend $150+ on high end knives those foreign made Kershaws seem quite poor by comparison. It's certainly no strike against Kershaw, but I just wouldn't carry them instead of a Benchmade 940 or a Spyderco Sage II. I love the American made Kershaws though. And some of those are quite affordable as well. My Skyline is one of the smoothest flippers I own considering it doesn't run on bearings.

I wish/hope KAI will stop sweeping all the awesome new Kershaw designs overseas. I want to try out an Injection but I have a feeling the quality and FnF will be too rough.
 
Kershaw OutCast.................. It never cut very well, it hurt to chop with more than any knife I have ever owned. Hard to sharpen, and I see online pics showing the lanyard hole has no tang in it, so you can rip that rubber off the handle easily................ Just plain sucky.
 
Cosmic Superchunk said:
Knives I would never buy again: Gerber, SOG, Buck, CRKT and other low end knives. I want quality and attention to detail, not mediocre discount store junk.

Benchmade: not because of poor quality, but because their designs don't appeal to me as the did "back in the day". Aside from the Benchmade 710 and a couple of their balisongs, they just don't have the appeal that old-school models like the AFCK, the 970, the Ares, and the Sentinel had for me.
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Ill give you Gerber for definite junk, but Buck? Why ya have to hate on Buck?
 
Anything made by Buck. The Vantage Force Pro is a terrible knife if you use a knife for a living. My 119 snapped in two, and my old 110 was a damn rattlesnake after just a few outings. I also had a Buck Stridee folder that was hard to open, had a paper thin liner that wore out in literally weeks, and just all around felt cheap.

Boker. All of them.

CRKT M16. The thing literally fell apart.

Spyderco Delica. Holy cow. Had I not sent it in for warranty I would have swore it was a knock off. No good blade deserves such a terrible and cheap handle/lock system. The FRN has to be the cheesiest feeling knife handle I've held in my life. The Sypyderco hole was cool in the 90's, but to me it takes too much effort and still opens slow. While I called out my Delica, I just can't stand Spyderco's hole, nor their semi wharncliffe with a big butt grinds.

Kershaw Blur. I like KAI, but the Blur is one of the most over rated knives ever made. Not to say it's bad, but it's not as good as many people spin it to be.
 
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