Most disappointing knife purchase?

H

HotRodColt

Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
330
Mine was a Timberline Tactical 18 Delta, probably 7 years ago. The knife rags gave it glorious reviews and for $80 or whatever I paid for it, I figured it was going to be a great knife.

The blade wobbles so bad it is virtually unuseable, steel definitely wasn't great. I immediately regretted it and wished I had purchased another Buck/Strider or Spyderco of some sort. I think I bought it from knife center, I should have tried to send that one back.
 
Gerber remix, still need to send it back, worst knife I have ever bought, it's the one with the big hole in it.
 
I got a spyderco stretch in superblue. The blade is wayyyy off center. I guess I let it bother me too much. It also corrodes faster than any knife I have, including my bark river carbon blades. It actually discolored the apple I sliced.

I hear people say that about zdp but mine have been fine, I clean them reasonably soon after food prep use.
 
Spyderco Puukko w/ ironwood handle. The bottom edge of the handle was so narrow that the knife was painful to use in any job requiring significant downward pressure on the blade edge, Spyderco wrote me that it was a defect but said they were unable to correct the problem. They did offer a refund. Considering what I paid, the brand, and how much I wanted the knife as advertised, that was my biggest disappointment.
 
The Gerber scout I still carry to work to cut open sandbags.

It was only $20 bucks, and I bought it because I wanted a cheap knife for work at the time (did commercial roofing back then and didn't want to booger up a nice blade with sealants and glues and such) but man, that thing never had a decent edge even out of the package. I won't even waste my time on a stone or sharpener with it these days, as the best I could ever get it was shiny and serviceable at best. Now days I work in a foundry, and its still my slop blade, don't really care if it gets funked up or broke or dropped in a tank, whatever. To sharpen it I just pick up pieces of ceramic shell I find on the floor and go to town. Gets it every bit as (dull) as a sharpener ever did, just sharp enough to cut the bags. Even for $20 i was so disapponted in the blade steel quality I'll probably never buy a Gerber again...
 
It was long ago, and I have no picture of it... SOG Trident, tanto. lots of play you could not adjust out, clip broke (SOG repaired it by glueing it)...
 
A Chinese knife I bought as a kid in gatlinburg... Broke before I got back to the hotel.

When it comes to a tool, I will always spend more for the better product.
 
For me, my XM-18. I just don't get it, I guess.

My BM 300 was a big disappointment as well.
 
Gerber swagger, or the mini, can't remember. Had it for an afternoon and returned it. An assisted opener that took two hands to open. Awful.
 
I'm going to get a lot of crap for this but I might as well.

Paramilitary 2. I don't know if I just have supremely bad luck or some extra-sensory powers or something, but all of my PM2s have sticky locks.

I've sent them into Spyderco, I've added lubricants and graphite and Remington oil and turned the stop pin but all three of my PM2s have insanely sticky locks.

Other than that, the knife is nearly perfect. But I can't get over the sticky locks.
 
A no-name, downsized knockoff on the Buck 110 design. Man, was that thing pretty sitting there on the table at the flea market when I was a teenager. I think I paid $1.50 for it (back in the day when gas was around 35 cents a gallon and Cokes were about 25 cents out of the Coke machine). The freakin' thing started loosening up (blade play and wobble) before I'd had it for 24 hours, and it literally came apart in my hand about three or four days after I bought it. The worst part was - I had hardly cut anything with it, except maybe paper or possibly sharpened a pencil! I had opened it and closed it and admired it about 145 times - but never really USED it. What a piece of crap...
 
Benchmade mini grip. Blade off center, handle feels really cheap, if I tighten pivot to take out blade play then it won't swing open and closed. Love the idea of the axis lock, just doesn't work like I think it should. Pretty much every Strider I've owned too. Also agree with Benchmade 300.
 
Zero Tolerance 0562CF. Don't get me wrong - each one I've handled has been perfect, but... They just did nothing for me whatsoever.
 
I bought a used Microtech Halo III on the forums last year. It ended up having a cracked button, causing slow firing and button stick. I was quite unhappy to discover the broken button.

Kudos to two amazing forum members - first, the person who sold me the knife, who did everything in his power to make it right. The other forum member not only machined a whole new button from scratch for a very reasonable fee, but also replaced my firing spring and blade with NOS parts.
 
Spyderco Southard. There was nothing wrong with mine, but after all the rave reviews I was very disappointed. I really like Kevin Smock's pimped mini southards though.
 
The Boker Griploc. Thought it would straddle the rapid deployment/sheeple-friendly areas. It feels too light, cheaply made, too slick, and it requires a hard grip near the butt end to remain locked, or it will close on your hand.
 
Buck knives that I bought online in the last year. Three of the last four I got were disappointing

1) Vantage Force Select just will not open well with the stud underneath. I have to snap my wrist pretty hard to insure it opens all the way and locks.
2) The Small Vantage does not always engage the liner lock if I am not careful. At some point, I'll have to take it apart.
3) The Buck 124 blade had been ground down a lot, like they mucked it up at the factory and started over. I returned it.
4) Only the 110 displayed the finished quality I expected from Buck.

I probably won't buy any more Buck knives for a while
 
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