Looking back at Mantis/Quartermaster

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msh441

Joined
Dec 28, 2004
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Quartermaster. It’s become a dirty word, synonymous with shade in the knife world, it seems.

I know this comes up every few years. But most threads I remember coming across seemed to focus on whether ‘Made in the USA’ is the same as ‘ASSEMBLED in the USA’ (it’s not), where West’s mysterious manufacturing facility was actually located (a province in China actually called ‘Texas’?), or specifically identifying blade material (pretty sure it’s metal… but that’s as much as I know).

I’ll admit. I still own one, despite feeling like I need a shower any time I recall the exposure and downfall of Mantis/Quartermaster (whatever name of the year), or listen to Jared West when he pops up from a hidy-hole. $150 for a stupid-thick blade and two slabs of CNC’d Ti for <$200 was hard to pass up. It’s by far NOT my most questionable knife purchase, and as soon as Eric Luther agrees to make me an equally obscene Karambit, I’ll consider ditching it.

I do however want to pose this question for discussion: With the volume of $75-150 (even $250!) offshore folders made today by the likes of We, Sencut, Civivi, Reate (a slash over a letter doesn’t make it European), Kizer (NOT German), Artisan Cutlery, QSP… as well as all the ‘Made in the US’ companies in bed with these manufacturers today (and having peeked behind the curtain a bit now, there are LOTS of them)… would this have been such a big deal if West would’ve just been honest from the beginning about the origins of material and manufacturing?

I’m curious if we’re in a spot where it’s possible for today’s knife maker to balance small run/hand made customs at a premium collector price point… full US made, larger production volume pieces at that $350-450 range… and also offer budget minded/entry level/user pieces OPENLY/HONESTLY utilizing offshore production?

Just wondering what others think, as my own projects move forward.
 
msh441 said:
I’m curious if we’re in a spot where it’s possible for today’s knife maker to balance small run/hand made customs at a premium collector price point… full US made, larger production volume pieces at that $350-450 range… and also offer budget minded/entry level/user pieces OPENLY/HONESTLY utilizing offshore production?
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There are manufacturers that do that now. Spyderco, for example, and their USA made models aren't limited to premium collector prices.
 
I was aware of some name licensing/signature pieces (Butch Vollotton, Laci Szabo, Bob Terzuola), and some extensive mods buy makers/customizers/regrinds a, etc. But haven’t taken a deep dive. Will go study up a bit. 👍
 
To elaborate on my short answer, "OPENLY/HONESTLY" like Jake Hoback or ADV. Even Rick Hinderer has had to defend his brand against different allegations of dishonesty, etc. Seems like a small operation would be making a deal with the devil that would likely backfire at some point if having anything made in the forbidden city. I think Spyderco pulls it off because they are large and have an ultra-loyal fan base with a well-known history. As a small operation, even the accusation of a perceived misrepresentation from some unknown jackass with a YouTube channel could bankrupt your company.

Just my thoughts and I'm a nobody.

Disclosure- I own knives made by Hoback, ADV, Hinderer, and even Quartermaster.
 
Candidly speaking, no. There wouldn't have been an issue with QTRMSTR or however it's spelled if Jared "Carwash" West had just been honest from the jump. Problem was, he was pulling the same dirtbag trick as Jake Hoback got caught doing last year, namely lying about the origin of the knives in order to sell knives to the significant number of knife guys who won't buy a Chinese knife. And in BlowBack's case, he was doing it so he could charge exorbitant prices that were in line with American made midtech/customs, except that what you were buying was in fact, a machine made knife, made by Operator #43,746 at Station #8,461 in Factory #1,232 in Gongdong, China, NOT Jake BlowBack, or even any American guys in his shop here in America. If he'd have dropped like $300/$350 off his prices and just been honest about where they were made, he'd be having the same continuous success that guys like Chavez, Vero, and all the other makers who have their midtechs (or in some cases, their entire lines) made in China. Instagram is crawling with these guys these days, and have zero issues selling all their drops There are a LOT of people who don't care that the knives are made in China, they just don't want to be lied to.

As for other companies, I'm not sure why Spyderco is being mentioned in a thread about a fraud like Jared West. Sal Glesser has always been 100% open about the fact that models like the Tenacious are made in China, so they can be (and sold!!) at a price point that is meant to attract new followers to the brand. He has never sold Tenacious's or any other knife where Spyderco has claimed US made manufacture, but were in fact made in China.
 
Quiet said:
Candidly speaking, no. There wouldn't have been an issue with QTRMSTR or however it's spelled if Jared "Carwash" West had just been honest from the jump. Problem was, he was pulling the same dirtbag trick as Jake Hoback got caught doing last year, namely lying about the origin of the knives in order to sell knives to the significant number of knife guys who won't buy a Chinese knife. And in BlowBack's case, he was doing it so he could charge exorbitant prices that were in line with American made midtech/customs, except that what you were buying was in fact, a machine made knife, made by Operator #43,746 at Station #8,461 in Factory #1,232 in Gongdong, China, NOT Jake BlowBack, or even any American guys in his shop here in America. If he'd have dropped like $300/$350 off his prices and just been honest about where they were made, he'd be having the same continuous success that guys like Chavez, Vero, and all the other makers who have their midtechs (or in some cases, their entire lines) made in China. Instagram is crawling with these guys these days, and have zero issues selling all their drops There are a LOT of people who don't care that the knives are made in China, they just don't want to be lied to.

As for other companies, I'm not sure why Spyderco is being mentioned in a thread about a fraud like Jared West. Sal Glesser has always been 100% open about the fact that models like the Tenacious are made in China, so they can be (and sold!!) at a price point that is meant to attract new followers to the brand. He has never sold Tenacious's or any other knife where Spyderco has claimed US made manufacture, but were in fact made in China.
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I laughed too hard at "BlowBack"!!
 
Their knives were ugly and had ridiculous designs and ridiculous names.

Today, there is fairly wide acceptance of quality knives from China, whether branded (WE, Civivi, etc.) or produced for an American designer (as Reate does). The stigma has faded a bit.
 
There are many designers that develop a knife, and then have it manufactured in China (or Taiwan or Italy). As long as they are open about it they seem to do fine. These are folks like Vero, Boos (now making customs in house as well), and many others.

There are also custom knife makers that do the same thing for a lower priced line, such as Chaves as mentioned already, Pena, Iglesias, Swan, Anso and Voxnaes (Giant Mouse), Laconico (MBK), even Jared Oeser now. They also sell well.

Then you get the guys that won't disclose where the knives are made, which ALWAYS ends up being China when it is discovered, such as Hoback, M3, Resco, and the like. Finally the outright liars like Quartermaster, and actually Hoback and M3 can go here as well as they lie when first called out on it.

It's the last group that finds themselves in hot water. There are a lot of folks that don't care where the knife is made, but do care about honesty of the maker. But the allure of fat profits from charging premium prices commensurate with first world manufacturing, while only paying second/third world labor costs, is too great for some people to resist.
 
There is always going to be someone looking to "GET OVER" with those little white lies......

Personally, I'll take brutal honesty...... Much easier to swallow!!
 
Jared West already gave himself a bad name by telling his "Mantis Militia" to invade bladeforums and spam it to death promoting his brand. His brand failed, and he tried to reinvent it/himself with QTRMSTR, and bragged about how these were now made in the USA. Lies easily exposed, causing some vendors to change the "country of origin" to China or remove mention of it, and other vendors to stop selling the knives altogether.

If he had been honest about QTRMSTR, either by disclosing that they were made in China or by actually making them in the USA, he'd have his fans and possibly a successful business with those who didn't have a sour taste in their mouths left by the "Mantis Militia". His designs are absurd and ridiculous, but there's always a market for that.

He runs a carwash now. His personality is well suited to cheap, overly loud local cable commercials that look like he just did 3 lines of coke and were filmed by Saul Goodman.
 
I can't believe you guys are disparaging QTM4S+ReR like this. I'm going to stop by the factory later and complain.

The factory:
q5Drnv0.jpg
 
Would you buy a knife from this guy ? And if the issues of where the knives were made wasnt bad enough, he had to create the story on the Quartermaster home page about his factory being something like Area 51 or Norad;if he was still in buisness he'd probably be telling us his knives were being made with Alien Technology by now
 
goldie said:
Would you buy a knife from this guy ? And if the issues of where the knives were made wasnt bad enough, he had to create the story on the Quartermaster home page about his factory being something like Area 51 or Norad;if he was still in buisness he'd probably be telling us his knives were being made with Alien Technology by now
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Shut-Up-And-Take-My-Money-Fry.jpg
 
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