New Imperial Schrade (eco)

C

ColonialKnifeFan

Joined
Feb 9, 2005
Messages
181
A friend of mine at work showed me a knife he got for Christmas, it's a Taylor Schrade/Imperial Economy line knife. He knew little about it so I had to go digging for information about it here on the net. I do one one "new" Schrade knife which is a Uncle Henry small stockman and out of the box it was really dull and it took alot of effort to get a respectable edge on the blades, needless to say I was disappointed as pretty as it looked. With this knife he showed me I thought it looked pretty nice and would put together rather well, even the blades were nice and sharp. Taylor Brands seems to have some quality control issues with stuff I think (speculation) and it would be nice if they could knock stuff out like the old USA stuff. For instance, there is a really nice Schrade trapper at K-Mart which is drop dead gorgeous with turquoise and file work and all kinds of stuff and for only $30. I would make it a dress knife but I would be afraid it's a sharp as a butter knife and would not be anything like good looks. Anyone else have any experience with the new Schrade offerings?

IMP17S.jpg


trapper.jpg
 
I recently "won" an Imperial Trapper on the Bay for $6 including S&H.
These are low cost Chinese made knives. The one I got is great. Sharp blades, pretty good f&f, and you can't beat the price. There are several brands coming out of China that range in price from $5 or $6 up to about $20 and my experience with them has been great. I own knives made by (or named) Rough Rider, Colt, Owl Head, Schrade and Boker Magnum so far and I like them all. They are not all perfect by any means, but they are good, and getting better.

There are rules against deal spotting here (as there should be) so I hope this is within bounds. If you are looking for a Schrade turquoise knife and are not opposed to using eBay, it will pay you to shop there vs Kmart. If you bid on them vs buying one outright you can get them really cheap sometimes. Good luck!!
 
Nice looking. I just miss the old ones too much to get into the Taylor brand stuff.
 
Thanks FLymon, I will look into that. I have been dabbling in the China stuff but love good old USA and German made slips. I have just been taken off guard by the appearance of these knives and if the beauty was only skin deep or if they really were something different. After all, you can make a beautiful knife and it be for nothing at all but looks. Kinda gives us something along the lines of a custom/santa fe knife works kind of design for a fraction of the price.
 
I don't know about the Schrade Imperial line, but the other Schrades I have handled the last 2-3 years have been pretty poorly made. Hopefully their quality has improved, but it isn't a brand I would feel comfortable buying unless I could handle the knife first.
 
I like the fact that they are using Desert Ironwood on some of them...
However, I think I'll stick with the originals. YMMV
 
popedandy said:
I don't know about the Schrade Imperial line, but the other Schrades I have handled the last 2-3 years have been pretty poorly made. Hopefully their quality has improved, but it isn't a brand I would feel comfortable buying unless I could handle the knife first.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for. I find the +/-$6 Schrade Imperial I bought to be perfectly serviceable, especially considering the price. It is not fair IMO to compare them to a premier USA production knife.
That being said, God help the American manufacturers if China starts using higher quality raw materials. The f&f on about half of the ones I own is as good or better than the Case and Queen that I own (and the out of the box sharpness should shame them both:mad:), with the biggest difference being that Case and Queen use obviously better raw materials.
 
Hi,

I've got a sporting goods store about 70 miles away from that handles the Taylor Schrades. I would agree with popedandy that over the last couple years they weren't as nice as Rough Rider. But during the course of the last year the quality has taken a dramatic turn for the better. I would consider this lot at least, to be the equal of Rough Rider. I'm at the point where I might pick up a knife.

dalee
 
I just got an Imperial Schrade from the Knifecenter.com and it sucks. It was on sale for $9 and that is exactly what it is, a $9 knife.

I told myself ahead of time that I wasn't going to get mad it it was only a $9 knife because, hey, that's what I'm paying for it, but ... <rant off>

Anyways, I'm keeping it because someone might need a work knife one day and also to remind me why I'm having Knifehead make me a folder or two.
 
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