Otter disappointment

Wow, it's almost unbelievable that knives with those issues could've passed any legitimate quality control checks. I had better luck with an Ankermesser I purchased several months ago for my father. While the fit and finish weren't perfect, they were still quite good, and certainly more than passable. My Dad was in the Navy and loves the knife, due I'm sure in no small part to the anchor. That not withstanding, he's been carrying, using and showing it off since I gave it to him. Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about your experience and hope you're able to get a refund.
 
Some unscrupulous creep was scrounging the reject bin!!

FWIW, I will say your pictures are first rate though, Scruff!!
 
mnblade said:
How amazing it would be if someone in Germany decided to model a new company on what GEC has done in the U.S.
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scruffuk said:
Plenty of European knife makers are producing knives of that quality. I have some German made knives of good to great quality, easily on par with GEC. But then I also have a German friend to hand select and gift them too me ;)
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What brands?

-- Mark
 
mnblade - Well, as already mentioned Otter can 'cut it' on the quality front. But there is the likes of Boker, Hartkopf and the better Friedrich Olbertz manufactured brands too....then of course, these are just the folding knife manufacturers.....
 
Wow-they kinda suck Scruff! - there is a LOT going on with those knives, I usually defend knives under $100 with slight faults, but these knives are just plain messy.
That Schlieper Jack has was one of my favourites-oh Man what a knife - I bought two off Vince, I wish I bought the lot he had ( I think he had 6 ) just extremely good knives. I gifted one to our great mate Andi ( you a Daddy yet Andi? ), and then a year or 2 later gifted Jack his one-such cool knives!
I agree the appearance is extremely similar but the knives are worlds apart.

I am real sorry you have gone through this, this is part of the pain of collecting / using knives...now and then we get a big disappointment!
 
I had the same experience when I bought an Otter messer. Mine was a bone handled sailor's knife. It had major problems. Gaps of all kinds, blade rub, cracks in the bone, and a dull spot from the blade hitting the backspring. It was cheap though.
 
Scruffuk. Thanks for posting those photos. I bought the electrician knife at our local gunshot, but only paid $8. I thought it was German made but like yours there are no markings, at least now I know who made the knife. Mine has liners that are not brass, but like the ones on the wooden handled Messer you bought. All my blades/tools have good "Walk and Talk", and although the knife has been used, everything is tight and decently ground. Maybe you just hit a bad lot, or maybe they used to make them better? John
 
rubbish.jpg
 
Phew! Glad to see it's not just my being too picky.

Am pleased that you appreciate me posting these horrors up folks.

They are winging there way back to the dealer. It states in their terms that all knives are checked before despatch. I couldn't help but suggest they may want to take a look into that part of the process before shipping anymore orders ;)
 
Ok - that´s a shame, really!! Sorry about this - and shame on myself to recommend them to anyone who is asking for a "well made german cutting tool".

Inacceptable in any case, I´d say.

I, personally, just got great tools from Otter. I already gifted some of my Otter knives to friends and hadn´t handpicked one. I just ordered them from their site.

It seems someone hammered them together after heavily boozing the day before (or while boozing heavily). :(

I hope these are just "monday-versions" (as we say here) and not their usual product for the future - QC MUST getting better there in Solingen. It doesn´t matter in what price range we are talking now, but forget to grind a complete tool into a multitooled knife... No - just No!
 
^ Get some sleep Andi! What a knife nut! :D :thumbup:
 
Jack Black said:
^ Get some sleep Andi! What a knife nut! :D :thumbup:
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^^ He he he!

Andi - You really have nothing to apologise for my friend.

The knives you have selected and gifted to me in the past have been superb knives. The Hartkopf is seriously good and the Otter Weber Messer is a real stalwart for my day- to-day tasks at work. It really makes a lot of my other knives jealous.

It's because of my great experience with it that I had the confidence to dabble with more Otter offerings.
I've never bought from this dealer before, so who knows, they may only source and stock the seconds???

It sure won't put me of Otter knives in the future.

Now go get some shut eye Pops!

;)
 
Jack Black said:
^ Get some sleep Andi! What a knife nut! :D :thumbup:
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Yeah, I hear ya, bro. But a passion is a passion :D

scruffuk said:
^^ He he he!

Andi - You really have nothing to apologise for my friend.

The knives you have selected and gifted to me in the past have been superb knives. The Hartkopf is seriously good and the Otter Weber Messer is a real stalwart for my day- to-day tasks at work. It really makes a lot of my other knives jealous.

It's because of my great experience with it that I had the confidence to dabble with more Otter offerings.
I've never bought from this dealer before, so who knows, they may only source and stock the seconds???

It sure won't put me of Otter knives in the future.

Now go get some shut eye Pops!

;)
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I´m still awake - but not for too long anymore, just the time it takes to drink my last beer, hearing Lemmy Kilmisters side-project "Head Cat" and sniffing some great snuff :D

Thom: I´ve just overlooked your pics you have taken from these "knives". I realised that there is no tang stamp nor any blade etching which is pretty common for Otter Knives in general. I might be wrong. But maybe that´s the reason. On any Otter knife there´s a tang stamp showing "Germany - Solingen" and the "Solingen" is showing off a tail like appearance on the tang. I miss this trademark completelly there.

I´m not trying to rescue Otter´s repuation. Just trying to bring light into the dark. The missing tang stamp and the missing blade etching - at least on the stainless version - let me doubt that these "knives" are made by Otter in Solingen.

However... Cheers!
 
Good points Andi.

Outsourcing sounds more and more likely doesn't it.
Jack had suggested this may be the case. Shame.
 
A Crude Bunch indeed.

I do think that the dealer could be at fault too, knives like that should not be on sale As suggested before, maybe he has access to 'seconds'...

Hope you get this sorted Thom, and good on you for blowing the whistle on this.

Thanks, Will
 
Humppa said:
Ok - that´s a shame, really!! Sorry about this - and shame on myself to recommend them to anyone who is asking for a "well made german cutting tool".

Inacceptable in any case, I´d say.

I, personally, just got great tools from Otter. I already gifted some of my Otter knives to friends and hadn´t handpicked one. I just ordered them from their site.

It seems someone hammered them together after heavily boozing the day before (or while boozing heavily). :(

I hope these are just "monday-versions" (as we say here) and not their usual product for the future - QC MUST getting better there in Solingen. It doesn´t matter in what price range we are talking now, but forget to grind a complete tool into a multitooled knife... No - just No!
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Interesting how you call them "monday versions" and I would call them "friday arvo jobs" like when they were dying to finish and get to the pub.Andi did i mention "DAD TAX" yet? you won't be eligible for a couple of years yet but you basically get to sample anything you want that is given to your son by anyone including yourself. Its the best tax ever.You simply say the magic words"DAD TAX".
 
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