Medford knives criticism

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I took this picture at their booth this year. I handled my share. My main gripes with medfords are the ridiculous warranty. Greg himself doesn't bother me, I actually agree with some of his thoughts.

On the topic of knives being terrible cutters, I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with it. As long as people are realistic about that performance and it works for their needs all is well.




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shinyedges said:
He isn't wrong though.. Not that it matters in the case of folders anyway.
D2 doesn't hold a candle to other steels in toughness, seriously. I just want to know the thickness behind the edge on most Medfords?

I held a bunch of them at blade, they seem well made, stout. I know the cutting performance suffers when a knife is .05 thick behind the edge and tapers up to .19 or thicker. That effect is somewhat mitigated by a tall blade but not eliminated.

I've been a stout knife enthusiast for years too, I have a mbb m27 I got at blade that absolutely sucks cutting almost everything because it's Geometry is to obtuse. I knew that when I bought it though, I just don't have any delusions that it cuts well...
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Well, that's the point. It's a big giant slab of D2 in a folding knife. There isn't going to be much that you can do to a Medford with that recipe on the table. It'll probably be a case of the pivot pin breaking before that slab does, which means it's more than good enough for the job at hand. Any abuse that could break the blade is going to be an intentional act of trying to break it, and I can't speak for others, but I don't spend money on something to try my hardest to break it. Also, I'll say that I've bought Spydercos and ZTs that didn't come as sharp as my Praetorian did. I don't know the behind the edge thickness, because I don't have calipers, maybe someone else can answer that for you though. I'll just say it's a very sharp blade that's thin enough behind the edge to do anything I have ever asked of it.
 
Quiet said:
Well, that's the point. It's a big giant slab of D2 in a folding knife. There isn't going to be much that you can do to a Medford with that recipe on the table. It'll probably be a case of the pivot pin breaking before that slab does, which means it's more than good enough for the job at hand. Also, I'll say that I've bought Spydercos and ZTs that didn't come as sharp as my Praetorian did. I don't know the behind the edge thickness, because I don't have calipers, maybe someone else can answer that for you though. I'll just say it's a very sharp blade that's thin enough behind the edge to do anything I have ever asked of it.
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That's fine, the side of an anvil could be made to be sharp, but it won't "cut well". I had to sit down and eat crow salad when I attempted to make shavings off a stick with my mbb m27.. Geometry don't lie. Yes, it can cut string but I'll be damned if that counts as "cuts well" lol
 
And I'm not saying the Medford is as thick or as bad of a cutter as my m27 by the way.

Who knows maybe medfords come fairly thin behind the edge and actually do cut decent.

I won't say cuts "well" because cutting well to me isn't in the same ball park as "decent".
 
shinyedges said:
That's fine, the side of an anvil could be made to be sharp, but it won't "cut well". I had to sit down and eat crow salad when I attempted to make shavings off a stick with my mbb m27.. Geometry don't lie. Yes, it can cut string but I'll be damned if that counts as "cuts well" lol
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I could post up a pic of me slicing some large grapes into multiple sections (I almost did it last night, but I mean, if threads from folks like Stab aren't going to convince anyone...what's the point?), and I would still get people commenting like "Well, an Opinel could do that better", so brother, you'll have to forgive me if I don't have any real drive to try to prove folks wrong. Medfords cut fine, they're a big heavy pocket brick, but they cut just fine. Terms like "well" or "better" are all subjective. OBjectively, the knives cut, and that's really all that counts at the end of the day, you know?
 
Quiet said:
Quoted for posterity, so when someone might ask "Does Fanglekai know anything about tool steels?", we'll all be able to have proof when we answer that no, no he doesn't.
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You should go ahead and cite the charpy testing results that show D2 has high impact toughness.
 
Quiet said:
I could post up a pic of me slicing some large grapes into multiple sections (I almost did it last night, but I mean, if threads from folks like Stab aren't going to convince anyone...what's the point?), and I would still get people commenting like "Well, an Opinel could do that better", so brother, you'll have to forgive me if I don't have any real drive to try to prove folks wrong. Medfords cut fine, they're a big heavy pocket brick, but they cut just fine. Terms like "well" or "better" are all subjective. OBjectively, the knives cut, and that's really all that counts at the end of the day, you know?
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I get it, and as a knife connoisseur who's had a butt load of knives (like yourself) when someone says knife X "cuts well" and it's a pry bar of a knife I have to disagree.

If they said knife X is an "OK cutter that does every edc task I ask of it" I can't take issue with that.

As a guy who has had/has everything from slip joints to near .3 thick knives I can attest that cutting well does in fact mean something, and when I trade cutting performance for durability I am fully aware of the trade off. Thick knives can cut paper and packaging and tape and all sorts of things with minimal issue BUT I don't like the false pretense it is a good cutter, because like I keep saying, geometry is what it is.
 
Fanglekai said:
You should go ahead and cite the charpy testing results that show D2 has high impact toughness.
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Again, as Officer's Match said, impact toughness? What need is there for that on a folding knife? In any case, do those charpy tests test to see whether the blade or the pivot would fail first? Have you done any actual testing yourself, or nah?
 
shinyedges said:
I get it, and as a knife connoisseur who's had a butt load of knives (like yourself) when someone says knife X "cuts well" and it's a pry bar of a knife I have to disagree.

If they said knife X is an "OK cutter that does every edc task I ask of it" I can't take issue with that.

As a guy who has had/has everything from slip joints to near .3 thick knives I can attest that cutting well does in fact mean something, and when I trade cutting performance for durability I am fully aware of the trade off. Thick knives can cut paper and packaging and tape and all sorts of things with minimal issue BUT I don't like the false pretense it is a good cutter, because like I keep saying, geometry is what it is.
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Right, I get that. But "good cutter" is entirely subjective. Again, we're not talking about cutting a tomato, or some other round, squishy fruit and both halves just being froed apart. If a knife can cut media cleanly and without drama, I am not really sure what else there is to say on the subject of "How well can this thing cut?". I mean, pics have been posted repeatedly showing multiple people cutting stuff just fine with Praetorians and other models. So, I'm not really sure where we go from here other than both sides retreating back to their bench until the next Medford thread. LOL

I don't carry mine often* but when I do, I always get a laugh by thwacking open this giant leaf-shaped blade and cutting whatever needs cutting. It's fun, and at the end of the day, "fun" is about the only reason to spend $500+ on a knife.



*Office environment and restrictive management + pocket brick not the best in slacks = not carried much
 
Quiet said:
Right, I get that. But "good cutter" is entirely subjective. Again, we're not talking about cutting a tomato, or some other round, squishy fruit and both halves just being froed apart. If a knife can cut media cleanly and without drama, I am not really sure what else there is to say on the subject of "How well can this thing cut?" I don't carry mine often* but when I do, I always get a laugh by thwacking open this giant leaf-shaped blade and cutting whatever needs cutting. It's fun, and at the end of the day, "fun" is about the only reason to spend $500+ on a knife.



*Office environment and restrictive management + pocket brick not the best in slacks = not carried much
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But that's just it "cutting media cleanly" is exactly what medfords are limited in. Try and cut a card board box up with a Medford and tell me that's cleanly cutting media... The Medford will cut SOME STUFF cleanly, but damn sure suffers in cutting MANY MANY things.
 
shinyedges said:
But that's just it "cutting media cleanly" is exactly what medfords are limited in. Try and cut a card board box up with a Medford and tell me that's cleanly cutting media... The Medford will cut SOME STUFF cleanly, but damn sure suffers in cutting MANY MANY things.
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Except when it doesn't.

Anyway, listen brother, we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this. I have one, it cuts just fine, I enjoy it, and they aren't for everyone. That's where I'm at with it.
 
Quiet said:
Except when it doesn't.

Anyway, listen brother, we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this. I have one, it cuts just fine, I enjoy it, and they aren't for everyone. That's where I'm at with it.
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Anything that needs to be cut that goes more than .1 up the blade starts being wedged. No arguing that.

I'm meh, on it lol Agreed to disagree.
 
shinyedges said:
Anything that needs to be cut that goes more than .1 up the blade starts being wedged. No arguing that.
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That's ridiculous! I just sliced up this banana with my Medford and it went fine:

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;)
 
With all due respect to you folks that know much more about steels than I do, we are very much "getting into the weeds", ie diminishing returns to try to say D2 isn't a tough steel. Are there more specialized "tougher" steels? No doubt. Is D2 tough? Absolutely it is, certainly by the standards required for a folding knife. Again, just my opinion, based upon my usages. I have put some pretty hard use on Benchmade 710's with D2 blades, and those suckers have a pretty slender point.
 
I've been vocal of this in the past but for the record I have nothing against Medford or his company. People should buy what they like and what fills their needs.

I dont think overbuilt folders are as useful as overbuilt fixed blades. You can make it as strong as you like, that lock can still fail. I do still like a heavier duty folder, just not extreme examples of such.
 
I have a Praetorian and it is a ridiculously overbuilt knife that couldn’t cut a tomato if it was sharpened by the good lord himself (The man upstairs, not Greg M. ;)).

I do love the look of it and it is meticulously crafted. More of a piece of functional metal art than an all around cutting tool. I love flicking it open and looking at it more than any of my other 100 knives. I do use it though and carry it from time to time.

It was expensive (over 2x more than any of my ZTs, BMs, Spydercos, etc) but I found one new for about $450USD, so I can easily get most if not all of my $$$ back if I get bored of it.

To each their own, but it is extremely well made and the warranty is great as long as I don’t take it apart. Doesn’t worry me.
 
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