- Joined
- Feb 9, 2020
- Messages
- 14
I’d like to start this post off by saying that it’s not my intention to harm the reputation of Olamic. I’ve heard there are wonderful people that work there and they have great customer service. That being said, I recently purchased an Olamic Wayfarer 247 with frosted handles, anodized titanium hardware, and a satin tanto blade. I lost my crk inkosi and was looking to scratch the same titanium framelock itch with something else (thought it was gone forever but found it in a drawer in my house 2 days ago LOL).
Upon receiving the wayfarer, I immediately could tell it was not on par with the Reeve (or my $200 spyderco dice for that matter). There were extremely sharp unfinished corners on the edges of the lock bar cutout and the inside of the flipper tab. The machining for both were inconsistent and poorly done. Along with that there was a large burr on the inside of the hole at the end of the lock bar cutout. Just looked sloppy and uncomfortable to grip. It’s my understanding that the machining and water jetting of the handles and blade aren’t done in house which likely explains the poor quality, but regardless not impressive for a $430 knife. The deployment was pretty good due to a strong detent but the closing was pretty rough and inconsistent. I don’t mind knives not “dropping shut” I prefer it actually but this was just inconsistent and rough. I understand that Olamic has an excellent reputation for customer service but I don’t think there’s much warranty work that can be done for all-around poor machining quality. In addition, the pocket clip, while beautiful, is so shallow that it wouldn’t slide more of a quarter of an inch into my pocket. I Didn’t take any pictures unfortunately. Because of this I’m returning the knife.
On the positive side the blade other than the poor machining on the flipper tab cutout was nicely finished, shaped, and ground. It Appeared to be very sharp too. The frosted look on the titanium was fairly well done and the anodizing (don’t remember the exact name of the finish) on the clip, backspacer, and hardware was simply beautiful. No issues with lockup either and no blade play. I don’t believe any of these issues apply to the full custom Olamics as they’re fully made in house but I don’t find that kind of quality acceptable on a $400+ knife. The knife was made in 2020 according to the card that came with it so hopefully they have fixed these issues with the machinists they contract in the past few years but I can only go off my experience. Pretty looking knife but poor execution.
Upon receiving the wayfarer, I immediately could tell it was not on par with the Reeve (or my $200 spyderco dice for that matter). There were extremely sharp unfinished corners on the edges of the lock bar cutout and the inside of the flipper tab. The machining for both were inconsistent and poorly done. Along with that there was a large burr on the inside of the hole at the end of the lock bar cutout. Just looked sloppy and uncomfortable to grip. It’s my understanding that the machining and water jetting of the handles and blade aren’t done in house which likely explains the poor quality, but regardless not impressive for a $430 knife. The deployment was pretty good due to a strong detent but the closing was pretty rough and inconsistent. I don’t mind knives not “dropping shut” I prefer it actually but this was just inconsistent and rough. I understand that Olamic has an excellent reputation for customer service but I don’t think there’s much warranty work that can be done for all-around poor machining quality. In addition, the pocket clip, while beautiful, is so shallow that it wouldn’t slide more of a quarter of an inch into my pocket. I Didn’t take any pictures unfortunately. Because of this I’m returning the knife.
On the positive side the blade other than the poor machining on the flipper tab cutout was nicely finished, shaped, and ground. It Appeared to be very sharp too. The frosted look on the titanium was fairly well done and the anodizing (don’t remember the exact name of the finish) on the clip, backspacer, and hardware was simply beautiful. No issues with lockup either and no blade play. I don’t believe any of these issues apply to the full custom Olamics as they’re fully made in house but I don’t find that kind of quality acceptable on a $400+ knife. The knife was made in 2020 according to the card that came with it so hopefully they have fixed these issues with the machinists they contract in the past few years but I can only go off my experience. Pretty looking knife but poor execution.
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. The microtechs and the crk serve me just fine at work. Has anyone else noticed the sharp edges around the lockbar and inside the flipper tab? Also I didn’t mention but after flipping the 247 a couple dozen times it started making a creaking noise on the open and shut. Maybe a lack of lubrication or some titanium shavings from the machining got in the action. I dont know.
