mantis knives

The knives are not bad at all. I've owned a few, and while they are butt ugly, they are very well put together.

On the other hand the spam campaign against BFC and others sullied their reputation pretty badly amongst those who frequent this forum. They are also as dishonest as they can get away with CoO laws.
 
shecky said:
What about someone who wants someone else to win points in a contest? Like a knifemaker. In the marketplace.

There is no reason why someone can't teach AND win points at the same time.
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MORIMOTOM said:
it had nothing to do with information, and any info posted was just a ruse. it was about getting free stuff from mantis. what was posted was up to the poster, but in the end there were motives other than letting us know about the company or products.

whether or not you choose to acknowledge it, me, or any other member, posting about a knife or company they like is vastly different.

we come here to discuss, brag, post pics, whatever, not to get free stuff from a company for doing so, nor at the request of the owner of said company.

there were many threads, and in an information sense, was overkill. were it just some guys who wanted to know about mantis knives, it would have been contained to just a couple threads, and we wouldn't have had to see it all over the forums. their campaign became so transparent so rapidly, that mantis knives will likely never have a positive reputation here, and rightfully so.
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Morimotom said it better than I.

I differentiate between paid advertising and someone telling his friends what a good thing he found. Writing comments so as to win points given by a knife company is "paid advertising" whether you wish to think so or not.

I do not come here to read paid advertising. I come here to share my love of blades with friends.

I wouldn't be likely to buy a Mantis anyway. They are primarily designed to appeal to young folks looking for a flashy knife to impress their fellow teenagers. I will never buy a knife from a company that pays their customers to SPAM strangers.
 
I want to thank eveyone for takeing the time to respone to my question about the knives . I had no ideal about this company or his knives
too bad he has some cool looking blades but there are a lot of companies to buy from
again thanks
Chris:cool:
 
Ask them what steel they use.

Ask them where the knives are made.

Others asked and were misled and lied to on both counts.
 
I have looked at them, and actually held two. They do nothing for me at all. They remind me more of 'fantasy' knives, than real tools.
 
Hard H2O said:
Ask them what steel they use.

Ask them where the knives are made.

Others asked and were misled and lied to on both counts.
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I think that it's 420 blade steel and they are made in the US.

According to rumor and whatnot they bought GT knives 's tooling and started Mantis. Which could or couldn't be true I'm not quite sure, because GT is still in business and there is a link to Mantis so it could be owned/operated by the same people or partners.
 
JohnnyMayhem said:
I think that it's 420 blade steel and they are made in the US.

According to rumor and whatnot they bought GT knives 's tooling and started Mantis. Which could or couldn't be true I'm not quite sure, because GT is still in business and there is a link to Mantis so it could be owned/operated by the same people or partners.
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They claim different steels including 420HC, 154cm, BG-42, and S30V. I think it's been admitted that they are made in Taiwan and/or China, though their marketing may lead some to believe otherwise, and they don't bother marking their blades with CoO.
 
Sharp Phil said:
Under what circumstances would you be in a position to see this?
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I work at a cutlery store. :D

Granted these examples were early models of the karambits, so it's a problem that very well is probably fixed by this point. Still, I found it a rather disturbing problem, as well as the rather hard edges to the handles. I can't speak for their newer pieces, but I handled all of their originals at SHOT '07 and some prototypes at '08. Beyond that I don't know. We dropped the line like a hot potato.
 
Ah, that explains it.

Did they carry a fairly extensive selection of Mantis knives? Is it a chain? I've been curious what the company's distribution looks like.
 
MORIMOTOM said:
it had nothing to do with information, and any info posted was just a ruse. it was about getting free stuff from mantis. what was posted was up to the poster, but in the end there were motives other than letting us know about the company or products.
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You say this like it's a bad thing. Everyone has motives for posting here. Most of us are big enough to accept or disregard information as we see fit.

we come here to discuss, brag, post pics, whatever, not to get free stuff from a company for doing so, nor at the request of the owner of said company.
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Truth is, we don't know the motivations of anyone who posts here.
 
Bastid said:
Never understood how someone could support the products of someone who participates in practices that are not ethical, when there are so many people producing like products at similar price points who conduct business ethically.

Why support the unethical? It just does not make sense to me.
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What exactly was unethical?
 
enderwiggin said:
Expressing your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a knife you purchased, without competing for an outside reward is wholly different than trying to win a contest based on how much hyperbole you can spit out about a company.
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Does it matter? We have no ability to divine the motivations of any other poster on this forum. people can, and do, post for any reason they see fit.

enderwiggin said:
I think you can also understand that the average consumer should know better than to buy from a manufacturer that is paying others to scam them. It's not fair to consumers like catocris, knowing nothing about the scam Mantis is running, to come here and see support for a brand where the owner is known to have lied about the products repeatedly.
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What scam, exactly?
 
knarfeng said:
I differentiate between paid advertising and someone telling his friends what a good thing he found. Writing comments so as to win points given by a knife company is "paid advertising" whether you wish to think so or not.
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I don't see spam as some evil to be stamped out. There is really no substantive difference between recruiting an ad company to make up a full page layout for Blade magazine and paying customers to put out a good word on the internet. The only difference here is that the moderators have a policy against the latter, which is their right.

I think it's fair to criticize a company for making bad products or for doing things that are illegal. But the charges of unethical and possibly illegal practices have so far been hearsay. They remind me of the wild charges made against Cold Steel on a regular basis around here.

It's also fair to criticize Mantis for violating this forums policy. But that has nothing to do with their wares or ethics. That's the forum owner's problem, not Mantis', or mine. Which is why I'm note interested in evaluating Mantis knives on their merits, not for the company's breach of Bladeforums policy, which only tells me what I already know about Bladeforums, and nothing about Mantis or their knives.
 
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I was reading some of Phil's reviews to see what they looked like, what he thought, ect. and found this.

We're [also] the only knife company in the world to offer S30V stainless steel on a folder for less than $100.00 [USD]."
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A claim from the owner of mantis knives, Jared west. And a very false claim, if I am not mistaken. There are probably many knives with S30V for under $100 USD, but the native comes to mind. Which is also made in the states, I believe. Another plus for it.
 
shecky said:
You say this like it's a bad thing. Everyone has motives for posting here. Most of us are big enough to accept or disregard information as we see fit.



Truth is, we don't know the motivations of anyone who posts here.
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shecky said:
What exactly was unethical?
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shecky said:
Does it matter? We have no ability to divine the motivations of any other poster on this forum. people can, and do, post for any reason they see fit.



What scam, exactly?
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shecky said:
I don't see spam as some evil to be stamped out. There is really no substantive difference between recruiting an ad company to make up a full page layout for Blade magazine and paying customers to put out a good word on the internet. The only difference here is that the moderators have a policy against the latter, which is their right.

I think it's fair to criticize a company for making bad products or for doing things that are illegal. But the charges of unethical and possibly illegal practices have so far been hearsay. They remind me of the wild charges made against Cold Steel on a regular basis around here.

It's also fair to criticize Mantis for violating this forums policy. But that has nothing to do with their wares or ethics. That's the forum owner's problem, not Mantis', or mine. Which is why I'm note interested in evaluating Mantis knives on their merits, not for the company's breach of Bladeforums policy, which only tells me what I already know about Bladeforums, and nothing about Mantis or their knives.
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You can quote multiple people in one single post by pressing the "+ button next to the Quote button. You scroll through the thread, click "+ on the ones you want to reply to, and then on the last one, hit Quote or Reply. "+ is like adding posts to your shopping cart, and the Quote or Reply is like checking them out.
 
shecky said:
There is really no substantive difference between recruiting an ad company to make up a full page layout for Blade magazine and paying customers to put out a good word on the internet.
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There is a difference between paying a company to put an ad in their magazine and paying some dude at the printer to slip it in without the companies consent.

But the charges of unethical and possibly illegal practices have so far been hearsay. They remind me of the wild charges made against Cold Steel on a regular basis around here.
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Mantis knives are not made in the US. They are made in Taiwan or China. West has said this himself when pressed on the issue. West does however lead buyers on in his ads, implying that they are made in California. He also has them made and imported without CoO markings, which I believe is fairly illegal.
 
shecky said:
I don't see spam as some evil to be stamped out. There is really no substantive difference between recruiting an ad company to make up a full page layout for Blade magazine and paying customers to put out a good word on the internet. The only difference here is that the moderators have a policy against the latter, which is their right.
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So there is no difference in legit paid advertising and advertising on the back of people who support this and other sites?

Please. One is ethical, the other is not. To me that is a huge difference and that difference illustrates the ethics of the person who started the campaign.

The only difference here is that the moderators have a policy against the latter, which is their right.
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Not even close to factual. Stop and ask yourself why spam or even paid advertising is not allowed here. The reason for our stance is very clear and is one of the biggest assets of this forum other than it's members. To allow the type of behavior pushed by the owner of Mantis would change this place for the worst.

How can those types of actions be equated to paid legit advertising in a logical manner. In my world, they can not be compared and there is little commonality.
 
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shecky said:
Based on my sample of one, they are good. However, the owner with his capitalist ways makes no friends among the self appointed knifenut priesthood here.
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Self appointed Priesthood???? would you care to name names of people you feel are self appointed priests?

I for one have never owned a Mantis Knife, so I have no opinion of them whatsoever good or bad,
 
No self appointed priesthood for me, but I do know the difference between ethical and unethical behavior as well as right and wrong and I chose to patronize companies who exhibit traits of responsibility rather than those who promote on the backs of others. To each their own, but please trying to equate paid advertising to the actions of the Mantis owner does not even compare.
 
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