Marbles Checked Pearl Folder, quality?

T. Erdelyi

T. Erdelyi

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
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I've been lookin' at the Marbles brand folders, they look nice but the statement, "They are manufactured off-shore with amazing quality and craftsmanship in order to give you this amazing price." kinda bothers me.

click me

Marbles in the past has been a quality knife but when I see a knife that should sell for $75-$100 go for $28, something's wrong.

The question is, is it worth the money or is it an asian copy with cheap steel?
 
If the new Marbles and Rough Rider aren't the same company, they have the same plant making their knives.

Disclaimer: This opinion is based on a single example of fairly recent Marbles cutlery compared to a Rough Rider knife of the same pattern a few months older. If it wasn't for the markings, I couldn't tell them apart. They do make pretty good beaters, but their price is in line with their materials.
 
It depends also which Marbles folders you are purchasing..Northwoods knives has some Marbles folders that were made by Queen in stock that are incredible quality and pretty low numbers..Here is a link and a pick of one that I have in D2 made in the good old USA..

http://northwoodsknives.com/onlinec...cc9d8b2d0e28=8aac78945b346195ddce3e9536817382

Sunburst

MarblesCannitler.jpg
 
the ones made in China are the Marbles Outdoors line i believe. i am waiting for my Marbles MR117 jumbo (4 1/2 in.) stag trapper i bought on ebay for $16 to arrive. it will be the only "cheap" knife i own, but want to see what the quality (or lack of) is. i can compare it to my really nice MooreMaker liner lock trapper in stag, also 4 1/2 in. which is about 9x the price of the Marbles.
i'll post after it arrives. roland
 
I have the checked pearl stockman from Marbles. This one is made in China, fit and finish is very good, The blades walk and talk with authority. It came in a nice lined zipper case. I really cant say how well the steel holds an edge Just haven't used it yet.
 
I have bought a couple of the China made knives as well, just to see how they look and holdup. They are not bad at all for $14.99 with carbon blades that sharpen up nice. I don't collect them but my 15 year old has put the pearl handled trapper in his knife drawer..Here is a Redbone 3 bladed trapper that I paid $14.99 for.

My biggest concern is that I also have USA made marbles knives and that the the value of these great quality knives will be impacted by folks thinking they are made in China knives...?

Sunburst

Marbles3bladedtrapper.jpg
 
rprocter said:
the ones made in China are the Marbles Outdoors line i believe. i am waiting for my Marbles MR117 jumbo (4 1/2 in.) stag trapper i bought on ebay for $16 to arrive. it will be the only "cheap" knife i own, but want to see what the quality (or lack of) is. i can compare it to my really nice MooreMaker liner lock trapper in stag, also 4 1/2 in. which is about 9x the price of the Marbles.
i'll post after it arrives. roland
Click to expand...

The Marble's Quality Knives MR113 Sunfish pattern I referred to earlier does not say anything about "Outdoors" anywhere on the knife or box, but it does say CHINA on the blade. Attached are a couple of shots of it with the Rough Riders that lead me to believe they are made in the same factory.

At the risk of being accused of treason, the Rough Riders aren't bad for the money, but they aren't in the same class as Queen or Case, price- or material-wise. Fit and finish are decent, and if you break it or lose it, so what? ;)
 
Amos Iron Wolf said:
Sunburst, I gotta admit, that looks pretty nice. How's the action on it? Like the one Mike mentioned?
Click to expand...

Amos,

I have to admit that it has nice action and snaps like a snapping turtle, and came sharp enough to shave. I have always had a weird thing for 3 bladed trappers which is why I picked it up but I have not been disappointed (with the exception that is has made in China stamped on one of the blades).

It does not match the quality of my Marbles made by Queen when you compare them side by side but for a cheap EDC it does quite well.

Sunburst
 
Northwoods Knives has lots of cheap ($20 or less) Marbles knives and lists them under the heading "Marbles Outdoors" and notes they are "imported".
i bet Owl Head, Rough Rider, Steel Warrior, Marbles and others too, are all made in the same factory in China. roland.
 
My one and only Marbles slipjoint from before the big sell out. A 2001 Electricians Knife. I believe there were only 170 of 'em made. Darn good knife and definetly not Chinese. Imitation Ivory scales.
Greg

orig.jpg
 
Offshore is the current euphemism for mainland China. All manufacturers know the use of the word China is a turnoff for many knife buyers. It's nice to know their marketing types think so highly of us that they hope to reduce our resistance by using of such terms. That in itself will keep my money and Marbles separated. ss
 
I have a rather storied past with my Marbles Chinese folders. I ordered a red bone whittler, it came to me with horrible blade rub and dyed my hands bright red and anything that it touched bright red. The pen blade snapped off and having never had this problem before I contacted Marbles. The knife was cheap (Bladematrix) and I hated to spend another 5 bucks to send it back to Marbles but I did if just for the piece of mind. I was contacted that they did not have any of the same knife in stock and I would get a similar knife shipped to me and when they were restocked I would get the exact model sent to me, all on Marbles nickel.
What I received was a 3 bladed brown jigged bone sowbelly, and this knife was of excellent quality, no blade rub, very sharp, nice snap. It was leaps and bounds above the whittler. 3 weeks later I got another whittler in the mail, same crappy quality with blade rub and leaky scales. I can't complain, the company had better customer service than I have ever seen before and I think some styles of their Chinese folders (sowbelly) are well worth the money and great weekend knives. That being said my everyday carry is one of Custom Shoppe did with queen, under the Northwoods name. It is a really great knife. If you find one of the D2 folders that fits your bill jump on it.
 
Picked up another Queen produced Marbles..:) This is the Tortoise Shell in D2...

Sunburst

MarblesTrapper1of250.jpg
 
Is there an easy way to tell if the knives are made in the USA or off shore?

Some sellers don't know or won't say and buying it to handle it and decide for myself is fine but if it's off shore than I have to send it back and that's a PITA.

Are they making the nicer models off shore too, you can see the F&F on the Queen made is high quality, photos of OS,(off shore) knives are usually off poor quality.
 
There is a way to identify the USA made vs the China products. All the USA knives are stamped M.S.A Gladstone, Mich USA on the tang. The Chinese knives say Marbles and have China inked on one of the blades.

The USA brand made knives seem to be made only in low numbers as well. There are none of the nicer models being made offshore, Dave Shirley of Northwoods Knives has purchased a license to manufacture (using Queen Cutlery as the maker) certain Marbles models as the ones I have shown.

I hope this helped..

Sunburst
 
T. Erdelyi said:
I've been lookin' at the Marbles brand folders, they look nice but the statement, "They are manufactured off-shore with amazing quality and craftsmanship in order to give you this amazing price." kinda bothers me.

click me

Marbles in the past has been a quality knife but when I see a knife that should sell for $75-$100 go for $28, something's wrong.

The question is, is it worth the money or is it an asian copy with cheap steel?
Click to expand...


IMO they are good knives. I own one , and one Rough Rider.

If they both had USA stamped on them you would never know the difference.

They do not look as nice as the D2 one posted by Sunburst but then again Sunburst did not pay $25 for that knife. ;)

Competition is always a good thing :thumbup: Keeps us on our toes.
 
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