Lone Wolf Paul Prankster First Impressions and Some Questions

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msiley

Joined
Aug 19, 2006
Messages
542
Just got the Paul Prankster today in the mail.

I bought it because I thought the high hollow ground
would make a good slicer (it does) in my favorite folder size
for EDC.

Pros:
The handle is really comfortable. I made some slices
into hard word and I could see myself cutting with this knife all day.

The high flat grind with the clip point makes a great
slicer and overall great utility blade.

The G-10 is the perfect the combo of gripiness without
being abbrasive.

Cons:
The blade is crooked. yep the actual blade goes to the right.

Blade play. just move the knife around and the blade moves a bit.
Blade play is both verticle and horizontal.

Honestly it's exactly what I've been looking for in an EDC
minus the blade play and crooked blade.

Now I can live with hte blade being crooked because it's only like
1-2mm.

But is it normal for there to be blade play with this type of lock (Axial)?
If there was blade play in a liner or framelock I'd be worry.
But with this lock it might not matter. Any suggestions/ideas?
 
I ordered the Lone Wolf Panther and when I received it I checked for blade play. Yep ! Had play when knife was closed and when open had blade play side to side.I emailed Lone Wolf and they said some tolerances were in First productions. Said it should not effect function. They responded quickly to my email but did not offer to fix problem. I really liked the knife but could not stand the blade play and sent it back to the dealer.
RKH
 
I'm on the fence whether or not to return it.

I absolutely love the design... execution has a bit to be desired.
 
Ya you're right.... back it goes.

What do you guys think... should I risk going with LW again?
Or should I get my #2 choice the BM Mini-Presidio??

From what I hear LW is hit or miss and this may just be another
example of this.

Thanks for your feedback
 
Lone Wolf had this issue with some other models where the QC was rather spotty. I recall one well known merchant took the step of suspending some, perhaps all, of their sales of Lone Wolf at one time because of it.

Can first runs have bugs? Sure, and it's understandable to a certain degree, but for the company not to offer any options to a buyer for resolving the issue isn't right to me.

The 525 Mini Presidio is a great knife, one of my favorite Benchmade models. I think you'd be pleased with it if you got one, msiley.
 
First run issues are an excuse for a mfg. to prelease a product with engineering or design flaws. The more we accept this practice the more they'll do it. They probably prey more on lower end users on less expensive blade products because expectations are lower than with top end products and more experienced users.

My $.02

NJ
 
I would not hesitate buying any benchmade product. Excellent warranty and customer service. The smaller 707 Sequel or the 940 Osburne axis are great knives. Also, the Hk Nitrous Blitz which I just got a month or so a go is very nice, too. IMO any knife over $100 should not have the problem I experienced with the Lone Wolf. Good luck on finding one knife that fits all your needs and works or feels just right.
RKH
 
They told you that blade play does not affect function ? You should have said that if you wanted blade play you could have gotten it a hell of a lot cheaper by buying a cheapo knife.
You pay over $100 for a production folder, that thing better be at least rock solid.
Hell you could have spent $25 on a Byrd Meadowlark and not got any blade play.
 
To me, blade play in a knife of that price is totally unacceptable.

Send it back and have them fix it or give you a refund, one of the two.
 
For a while New Graham Knives would not sell their product because they had crappy QC. I would not buy or use a Lone Wolf knife. I would rather carry a butter knife in my pocket than anything they make.
 
msiley said:
Just got the Paul Prankster today in the mail.

I bought it because I thought the high hollow ground
would make a good slicer (it does) in my favorite folder size
for EDC.

Pros:
The handle is really comfortable. I made some slices
into hard word and I could see myself cutting with this knife all day.

The high flat grind with the clip point makes a great
slicer and overall great utility blade.

The G-10 is the perfect the combo of gripiness without
being abbrasive.



Cons:
The blade is crooked. yep the actual blade goes to the right.

Blade play. just move the knife around and the blade moves a bit.
Blade play is both verticle and horizontal.

Honestly it's exactly what I've been looking for in an EDC
minus the blade play and crooked blade.

Now I can live with hte blade being crooked because it's only like
1-2mm.

But is it normal for there to be blade play with this type of lock (Axial)?
If there was blade play in a liner or framelock I'd be worry.
But with this lock it might not matter. Any suggestions/ideas?
Click to expand...

No bladeplay on any knife , I would sent it back and get a decent knife with a decent quality control of manufacture.
 
This is what I was afraid of when I saw the Prankster and the Presto, the first Paul knives I've liked in years. I've heard too many reports of Lone Wolf shrugging off complaints about quality control, even when those reports are coming from dealers. I went over several forums' postings about Lone Wolf's various designs, and it seems that if you get a perfectly built one, you're happy, but if you get the samples with blade play and loose locks, you're furious.

Maybe their Gerber roots are showing.

No maker should say that first production runs are acceptable if they go out with obvious flaws like those reported here. Misaligned blades and loose fit are not going to get better, especially if they're coming in knives with the Paul lock design, which has incredibly small tolerances.

My two cents. But I'm not sending my money to Lone Wolf.

I just hope Doug Ritter doesn't get burned by Lone Wolf building his newest toy.
 
JML said:
Maybe their Gerber roots are showing.
Click to expand...

You know, that's exactly what I think about Lone Wolf. Over-priced Gerbers. You'll find better fit and finish on Taiwan-made Gerbers, Timberlines, CRKT's and Benchmade's Red Class than some of the Lone Wolf knives I've come across.
 
I just got an email from the online store I bought the Prankster from
and their entire inventory of Pranksters has blade play! All of them are defective. They said that they think that's just the way
Lone Wolf makes them! I love the design but the execution sucks.
I'll be writing Lone Wolf off of my list.
 
And said dealer is OK with that? If so I'd consider writing the dealer off as well.
 
I bought a number of Paul Knives in the early 80's before I knew much about knives. As I became more educated about knives I realized they all had blade play. I think it's the nature of the beast and the curse of the Paul models. The knife has to be fairly loose to open easily. The curse is that the lock takes a lot of hand work to make it work right. That's expensive. To make money Lone Wolf has to charge a lot. But like was aid earlier, people who buy knives for over $100 expect a tight well made knife. When Gerber had the knife they had a lot of returns and didn't make a lot of money on the Paul and sold it to Lone Wolf.
 
DaveH said:
And said dealer is OK with that? If so I'd consider writing the dealer off as well.
Click to expand...

It was the rep. not the dealer per se.
So far the dealer has been excellent and they have no issues
with me returning it.
 
I just got an email from the online store I bought
Click to expand...
It was the rep. not the dealer per se
Click to expand...

I suppose you're correct the rep is not the dealer, but for practical purposes it's one and the same, IMO. My point is that if the dealer/rep knows they have blade play and continues to sell them as is, they're opening themselves up for a world of PIA. Unless of course the dealer in question does not have discriminating customers, who just jam them in drawers and don't care.
 
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