Okay....finally....some thoughts.

[dbla]

Okay guys, well as some of you know if you read my first post I ordered a FDE Gunhammer from Knife Center last week, it arrived in two days (awesome ship time) but unfortunately it was a BLACK Gunhammer in an FDR box, I called knife center and they said some of the boxes had the wrong knives in them. Not sure if they were saying it was their mistake or HTM's, so I won't speculate on that. Anyway, today my FDE Gunhammer arrived and I have some thoughts....

This knife cost me $221.94 which is expensive for me, for a knife, it will be the second most expensive knife I own once my CRK gets here this week. I am however in a unique position to have two of them in my possesion right now and am able to compare the quality and fit/finish of the two... I have a couple impressions....

First off the FDE color is more of copper color, very attractive...I like it quite a bit.

However, the FDE upon inspection on deliver had some pretty substantial (in my opinions) differences in quality from the black Gunhammer. The BGH's lockup was MIGHTY with the liner lock engaging 100% and even traveling to the middle of the blade slab, while still remaining fairly easy to disengage, however the FDEGH's liner lock only engaged on the left-hand side of the blade slab and if nudged a hair could cause a little vertical blade play, nothing on par with Nutn's video, but there was a clicking... See here:

In addition to this, the major concern I had about the GH's was the exposed blade tip, and being able to touch/get caught on the tip when the knife was closed. With the BGH it was a non-issue with the tip tucked just back far enough for me not to be able to reach it. The FDEGH's tip however was exposed enough to touch it...not a lot, but it was there. It's also worth noting it wasn't a big deal because neither knife came very sharp from the factory, neither would cut paper.

Lastly, and the reason why I will be keeping the Black gunhammer instead of the FDE one I had originally wanted is: The FDE came with pretty serious scratches from the factory on the top of the scales. It appears that these scratches came from the thumb studs thwacking into the "head" of the knife when opened, but this knife is supposed to be new, and I would prefer not to have them. The blade tip I could probably deal with, but this bothers me. I realize that knifes get scratched and worn, but I want to scratch and wear my knife, if that makes sense. See here:

It's worth noting that the black has smudges/scratches there too but they do not show up as readily...this paired with the lockup/blade length makes me want to just keep the black one.

In conclusion let me say this. I think DDR makes a VERY strong, functional, and attractive knife. In no way do I regret my purchase, and I will carry, fondle, and treasure my Gunhammer for a long time. However I do think that the QC out of the factory is lacking. Nutn's knife showed this. The switched knives in the boxes (assume that's a factory issue) shows this. And the lack of sharpness, lockup consistency, and wear marks show this. None of these issues make the knife weak, incapable, or a disappointment, but they do make me a little leery of buying another, the black one is fine example, the FDE one is a little harder for me to accept.

Anyone have any thoughts? Darrel I hope you don't think I'm bashing you or your company I'm just making some observations from what I received. And if I could make ONE request/suggestion...please deliver a screaming sharp knife. There's nothing I want less that to open a brand new knife, feel the blade, and realize that it won't slice cut printer paper.

 

[TriviaMonster]

Hmm. Disappointed to hear about the problems. Honestly, and this is IMO only, the Black GH looks to have really late lockup. I am on my phone, so I can't really tell but is the lock bar almost all the way over? Generally on a new knife lockup for most is preferred to be anywhere from 20-40% and not what your Black one looks like.

I will say, after buying many knives, factory sharpness is a non issue for me. I just bust out my Edge Pro and do a microbevel in no time. I have purchased a ton of knives that would make a butter knife seem like a straight razor.

I would say, if anything about the knife dissatisfies you send it in. I would. And, if my forum GH has issues, I will.

 

[dbla]

Hmm. Disappointed to hear about the problems. Honestly, and this is IMO only, the Black GH looks to have really late lockup. I am on my phone, so I can't really tell but is the lock bar almost all the way over? Generally on a new knife lockup for most is preferred to be anywhere from 20-40% and not what your Black one looks like.

It's not all the way over, I'd say that it's closer to dead center on the blade slab, I guess what my issue is, is simply that there's blade play on the FDE one, and not on the black one. Regardless of the % of lockup. I will say that I'm not familiar with the terminology associated with lockups, early, late etc... so maybe someone could help me with that, but what I do know is that the FDE has a clicking, and the black does not. In addition to that I think the wear marks are unacceptable from a new knife. If my knife were to get those over months of EDC use, no worries, but straight out of the box, no bueno.

And lastly, I have no problem sending my knife in to get it fixed, if the black one develops any issues it will go in without question. Not pulling a Nutn here, I really like the knife...

 

[dbla]

okay, so I've done a little research on liner/framelocks.... I'm fairly new to knives here guys, so I'm trying to be pretty diplomatic about this. I see why a "early" lockup is better than a "late" lockup. The Black Gunhammer has a fairly late lockup maybe 70+ % and the FDE has maybe 30-40%. There is the slightest most vertical click in terms of bladeplay. So what I think I may do is EDC it for a bit and see what happens. Then if need be send it back to DDR and let him wrench on it.

Not trying to be anti-DDR or HTM, I love these knives, just learning as I go...

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

I get the impression that the black one may have been one of the newer renditions, while the other may be older, but I could be mistaken. That's definitely disappointing, and I'm surprised to hear that both came dull. I have yet to see a dull knife, and I have to wonder, given the mistakes made on your order already, whether it's a factory issue, or a Knife Center issue. I've had a few problems with that retailer myself in the past, and rarely do business with them any more. Blade play is not good at all. It's pretty easily fixed, but not a nice thing to have happen to your knife out of the box. Almost sounds like you got a knife that had been used, and not a NIB model... Very suspicious, especially given the "they must have shipped them in the wrong box" excuse. Sounds more like they had a bunch of floor models that got removed from the boxes, and then put into the wrong box before getting shipped to a customer. I would be VERY surprised to hear that HTM had actually made an error of that magnitude.

I do think that the lockup on the copper one looks more appropriate; you'll doubtless see something similar with the CRK when it arrives, although again, there is clearly something wrong if it's got vertical bladeplay of any kind.

The issues are very disappointing, and I hope that HTM hasn't developed some QC issues.

In the meantime, do you need help sharpening the knife? I'd be happy to put a shaving edge on it if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself. Or, if you want a CRAZY sharp edge, I recommend Richard J.

 

[dbla]

I get the impression that the black one may have been one of the newer renditions, while the other may be older, but I could be mistaken. That's definitely disappointing, and I'm surprised to hear that both came dull. I have yet to see a dull knife, and I have to wonder, given the mistakes made on your order already, whether it's a factory issue, or a Knife Center issue. I've had a few problems with that retailer myself in the past, and rarely do business with them any more. Blade play is not good at all. It's pretty easily fixed, but not a nice thing to have happen to your knife out of the box. Almost sounds like you got a knife that had been used, and not a NIB model... Very suspicious, especially given the "they must have shipped them in the wrong box" excuse. Sounds more like they had a bunch of floor models that got removed from the boxes, and then put into the wrong box before getting shipped to a customer. I would be VERY surprised to hear that HTM had actually made an error of that magnitude.

I do think that the lockup on the copper one looks more appropriate; you'll doubtless see something similar with the CRK when it arrives, although again, there is clearly something wrong if it's got vertical bladeplay of any kind.

The issues are very disappointing, and I hope that HTM hasn't developed some QC issues.

In the meantime, do you need help sharpening the knife? I'd be happy to put a shaving edge on it if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself. Or, if you want a CRAZY sharp edge, I recommend Richard J.

Like I said above, I think I'm going to keep the FDE knife and see what happens with the very MINOR vertical clickage that I'm seeing. If it becomes an issue I'll have HTM fix it. As for the sharpness, I'm expecting an Edgepro sometime this week so I'm gonna take a stab at it. ;-)

Like I said in the post above, I'm relatively new to knives and am learning a lot as I read through Bladeforum, I know what an early lockup is now vs a late one... I see why the FDE has a better lock.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

You might try tightening down the pivot screw and see if that helps before you start carrying it. In your place, I'd probably send it back in. I'd love to hear from Knife Center as well about what happened, and why they sent you a dull knife with use marks on it. If they were misboxed, they had to have looked at the knife. I feel like they should have noticed that they were sending you a used one.

 

[dbla]

You might try tightening down the pivot screw and see if that helps before you start carrying it. In your place, I'd probably send it back in. I'd love to hear from Knife Center as well about what happened, and why they sent you a dull knife with use marks on it. If they were misboxed, they had to have looked at the knife. I feel like they should have noticed that they were sending you a used one.

Do you think I should send them both back to Knife Center and get yet another, or should I just roll with this one??

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

I'd probably call HTM and see what they would be willing to do. You should have gotten a good one, and it sounds like both of the ones you received are problematic, and that doesn't speak well of Knife Center. If I had a customer who had gotten a wrong order, I would ABSOLUTELY check and make sure that the order I sent out was perfect. Not dull, not with blade play or use marks, but as good of a knife as I could find in my stock. My USED GH has the same marks you have on your knife, but it took a good amount of use to get that way. Like, nearly a year of constant carry. That kind of wear isn't the sort of thing that would or could happen straight from the factory, which makes me think that you got a floor model or other used knife. Especially with the line about being in the wrong box, and the fact that it came dull. Just doesn't add up, IMO.

 

[dbla]

I'd probably call HTM and see what they would be willing to do. You should have gotten a good one, and it sounds like both of the ones you received are problematic, and that doesn't speak well of Knife Center. If I had a customer who had gotten a wrong order, I would ABSOLUTELY check and make sure that the order I sent out was perfect. Not dull, not with blade play or use marks, but as good of a knife as I could find in my stock. My USED GH has the same marks you have on your knife, but it took a good amount of use to get that way. Like, nearly a year of constant carry. That kind of wear isn't the sort of thing that would or could happen straight from the factory, which makes me think that you got a floor model or other used knife. Especially with the line about being in the wrong box, and the fact that it came dull. Just doesn't add up, IMO.

I'll call them tomorrow then, BEFORE I send anything back to Knife Center. HTM should know that one of their dealers is reflecting poorly on them.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

I don't want to say for sure that Knife Center did something really wrong. That's why I'd like to hear from them. But the combination of details just seems off to me. I could be completely off base; that's just my perception. And HTM always takes care of their customers.

 

[Ray Allen]

Hi,
I have an Edge Pro Apex myself. I wiould suggest that you practice on a couple of old, large, straight kitchen knives before diving into your quality blades. Don't hesitate to use painters tape on the blade to protect it from scratches, and the sharpie trick on the edge to insure correct angle of attack from the stones is a must.
Cheers...

 

[TriviaMonster]

Its all very strange, but you will be taken care of by at least one company. The FDE is very nice looking though. Also, just because one lockup is late and one is early doesn't mean the early one is better. Your FDE knife is a good example of this. What's important is a solid lockup, and sometimes a very early lock up (earlier than 40%- I am talking like 5-15%) can cause a situation where it slips off the tang face when jolted or force is applied.

 

[dbla]

Its all very strange, but you will be taken care of by at least one company. The FDE is very nice looking though. Also, just because one lockup is late and one is early doesn't mean the early one is better. Your FDE knife is a good example of this. What's important is a solid lockup, and sometimes a very early lock up (earlier than 40%- I am talking like 5-15%) can cause a situation where it slips off the tang face when jolted or force is applied.

Yeah, when I press and pull on the FDE blade there is a VERY slight "click" but no discernible movement ....does that make sense? I dunno, I just want my knife!

 

[dbla]

Regardless I have a Gunhammer clipped to my pocket tonight.

 

[harkamus]

Second report of "clicking" I heard, one from a friend of mine that purchased an m390 version. I told him to send it to Darrel. It actually got delivered to the shop today according to him (my friend). For him, the clicking was because the thumbstuds were over torqued and eventually rattled lose to the point where you could unscrew it. The threads were stripped. I think something like that is possible with yours. Either way, that's definitely not within spec.

I'd say to give the dealer a call and ask for an advanced replacement. While you wait on the postman to deliver another knife, you can see if the issues iron themselves out. As was mentioned above, it could just be a pivot you need tightening, but I'm thinking more that what you describe mirrors what my friend's problem with his knife was. IF you do fiddle with the pivot, make sure you have the correct size torx driver. If it's at all loose, it's not the right size. Don't have my tools on me atm to check, but just be smart about it. The new line of Gunhammers (IE: the current batch) have larger pivot screws along with body screws.

If they won't do that, send it back to Darrel's shop with a note enclosed explaining the problem. Include your contact info/address so he knows.

 

[RobCamlin]

I understand the idea of how "you only hear about the negative reviews" and such, but I've been hearing an awful lot of negative about this knife. I don't think the saying can defend the quantity of people complaining about the QC. I wasn't a huge fan of how Nutnfancy bashed the knife, but upon further investigation it seems that there's plenty more people having issues with it than just him. If a knife is to be touted as such a great knife, then I would expect the quality control and product consistency to be a little better than what I've seen. That being said, I haven't handled one myself yet, but to be honest with you I'm not sure if I care to now.

 

[dbla]

I understand the idea of how "you only hear about the negative reviews" and such, but I've been hearing an awful lot of negative about this knife. I don't think the saying can defend the quantity of people complaining about the QC. I wasn't a huge fan of how Nutnfancy bashed the knife, but upon further investigation it seems that there's plenty more people having issues with it than just him. If a knife is to be touted as such a great knife, then I would expect the quality control and product consistency to be a little better than what I've seen. That being said, I haven't handled one myself yet, but to be honest with you I'm not sure if I care to now.

I need to be clear, I wrote this as a fairly new user to knives. I am beginning to believe that the error was more with the dealer, than the manufacturer. From what I've been told in this forum, my two NEW knives appear that they were at least, taken out of the package in the store, and at most USED in the store. It's not my intention to give DDR and HTM a negative review, merely to get some help in my situation.

 

[Ryanol]

Two knives and both have issues- bummer.

 

[dbla]

The first knife was perfect, just not what I ordered. Second one looks used by the retailer as I stated above.