Most disappointing knife purchase?

Reate district 9 plus; its well made and all, but I have the regular d9 and I felt it was nicer. I like the blade of the plus a lot but it didn't seem to flip as hard as the regular d9, and the finish of the regular d9 seemed much nicer, including the bronze clip and backspacer with the blue inside the back of the spacer.I was expecting the plus to be a huge step forward but for 50.00 more I did not see it being any better,if anything it was just not as nice, so I returned it.
 
Kershaw volt I know it's cheap but every time I flick it open it scrapes the side and makes this screeching noice
 
I had a couple minor problems with an Emerson mini Commander. The lock traveled past 50% and stuck in place. After reading more about EKI's attitude about the issues I followed some forum advice and fixed the issues by dis-assembling it and putting it back together which was easy. Now it's one of my favorite EDC's.
 
crufflers said:
I was disappointed with how tight my Spyderco Ulize was out of the box. That lock spring is real strong. Trying to break it in now. Overall I like it, even if it is a two-hander.
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My Ulize didn't wear in that much on its own. I noticed a lot of blade play recently and then checked all assembly screws and most were loose. Ended up taking it apart - even the blade because I had to reassemble the lock back bar... I ended up loosening the tension by flexing the lock spring quite a few times while the lock bar was out of the knife and now it is smooth as butter and about half the original tension. Feels much better to me.
 
purchase off ebay, I collect old western knives, ad said good condition, it was a piece of rusted steel, thankfully, I didn't pay much. I learned a lesson that day
 
My last stinker was a SOG Slimjim XL. Actually, I hadn't planned on getting one, but it was still floating on my Amazon wish list. My wife was looking for $40 hole to fill in at Christmas. The Slimjim not only wouldn't fire well due to just how dang thin it is, it would bounce back and bite your knuckle. The safety lock would get engaged easily but was mother to slide to "off" (I ended up ripping it off with a pair of pliars).
After that, the thumb stud came unscrewed, so without it there is no way to easily open the knife.

I've had a lot of really nice SOG stuff, but that SJXL is total garbage, sadly.
 
I haven't really had any problems with Gerber, not that I have more than 2 or 3. My most disappointing was a Buck Vantage. Was perfect out of box, after an hour of flipping it was terrible. The liner lock traveled almost all the way over. There was such a bad fit between it and the blade that I could see light looking at it from the front. Just shaking it sounded like a baby rattle. It sat since I got it and left a few weeks ago.
 
My Hinderer XM-18. Maybe I expected too much but for twice the money I just don't see twice the quality over my ZT 550. Fit, finish, lock, smoothness, flip and everything seems perfect on both knives. Admittedly my application of hard use is a double layer of packing tape on my amazon prime packages so the Hinderer may very well be a tougher knife and worth the money difference to others.
 
Boker Plus Dark Hallow. A brick with a butter knife duct taped to the side of it would be a more effective cutting tool.
 
Kershaw Nura 3.5. What a piece of junk. Didn't flip at ALL, so I loosened the pivot a hair, which made the blade loose when open and made it off-center so bad it rubbed the liner, plus the linerlock kept getting stuck under the blade. I tightened it back up, stripping out the pivot in the process, but there's still blade play now. I doubt I could even sell it as is.
 
Years ago I bought a Spyderco when then they first came out with ZDP89, I can't even remember the name of the knife. I do remember it had a burgundy handle. Anyway, the ZDP89 chipped so badly with normal, everyday cutting use! I was extremely disappointed in this knife. I have NEVER bought a knife with ZDP89 ever again because of it.
 
I had forgotten about the Ontario folders I bought eons ago; what POS they were! I think I blocked them out, LOL!
 
Buck Vantage Force Pro. Chippy, absolutely terrible fit and finish aside from the scales, and the stop pin and liner are made of cheese so the knife wears out quicker than any other knife I've owned. I should have known not to give internal stop pins a chance on a "heavy duty/tactical/whatever" knife again though.

It's a cheapy, but the Enlan EL01. Everyone talked it up, but this knife is garbage. Terrible action, terrible grinds, terrible fit and finish, and heavy but failed a weak spine whack test on my hand. Add the non adjustable pivot and I feel bad for people who think these are a good budget beater. You're missing out on a lot.

Kershaw Thermite. Possibly the flimsiest frame lock you can buy. Seriously, is the over travel stop cut from a pop can? The action is terrible, and being assisted is the only thing that covers it up. Which it has no detent, so when that spring breaks the knife will be happy to open in your pocket. The spanto grind is a combination of the worst features of a tanto and a spearpoint. The grind profile also make it like cutting with a brick despite how shallow the blade is. Another highly recommended budget blade that makes me wonder how low people set the bar for cheap knives.

Spyderco Endura. Cheap plastic scales, and blade play. Non adjustable, constantly getting worse blade play. It's been many a year and I may not be remembering right, but I'm pretty sure mine had an integrated plastic pocket clip that ended up losing all tension too. One of maybe 5 knives I threw away because I thought it was dangerous. (This was before the Internet and easy company contact.)
 
Böker mini pry (Vox design). Too thick for such little knife, doesn't cut s**t effectively. That thing is supposed to be pry ready but why not get prybar instead? Horrible jimping that hurts hand but your thumb doesnt even land on it. Handle feels decent except for the sharp butt end of it. Just god awful knife with no thought on use what so ever. Apparently popular designer for 200 dollar bottle openers but his knives seem to fit the photographing better too.
 
For me, it was the Benchmade Griptilian. After an (admittedly obsessed with BM) friend had recommended it, I wanted so bad to like this knife. The plastic scales are a joke, particularly for the pricepoint they sell it at. The ergos don't seem to fit, and while I really like the idea of the axis lock, I now mostly stick with frame locks.
 
Biggest disappointment I can recall is my most recent purchase (I have a bad memory, obviously)--Cold Steel American Lawman. And I'm sure this is gonna tick off some Cold Steel fans and, yes, a lot of this is exaggeration. But....

I've been wanting so much to find a Cold Steel knife I would learn to love. I ordered a Code 4 a while back but the seller sent the older model with AUS8 steel instead of the newer model so I returned it. I decided at the time that I didn't like the metal handle on the Code 4. After a little research, I thought an American Lawman might be a better choice with its G10 handle. When I got it and handled it the first time I said out loud, "What the hell were they thinking!?"

It's as if they started with a good idea but decided to over design every aspect of the knife without regard to someone who might actually want to use it. Thin? Yeah, make it thin. Real thin...and light. Take out the steel liners that could have given it good balance in the hand. Make it really thin but also make it so overly wide in profile that it takes up too much room in the pocket and fails to feel comfortable in the hand. Give it the world's strongest lock but make it so strong it takes the world's strongest human to release the damn thing. Honestly, what's the point in a lock that you can't unlock? And the clip? Put a clip on it that is virtually unusable. And give the owner a spare clip in case they want to not use two of them.

Just for fun, I compared this to the ZT 0200 which is (I think) the heaviest folder I own. I would rather carry that monster than the lightweight Lawman. And I know I would rather use the ZT since it fits a human (my) hand so much better.

I should have returned that knife but I kept it. I might have a sheath built for it and use it as a fixed blade since I can't close it and I don't want to carry it clipped in my pocket. Or I might hold onto it as an example of how to start with a winning idea and ruin it by going to extremes in too many areas.
 
Fit on my Rite Edge Barlow , I had to take it to the belt sander to round off the sharp edges on the metal and some 220 to hand sand the bone scales that was sharp. Once done it a great knife, I had too hammer down one brass pen on side of my Taylor made Barlow. Other than a Pakie Barlow I got 5 years ago tha tI wound up giving away, I been pretty lucky as far the Blades being centered and sharp.
 
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