Popular brands you have never owned?

Good thread. :cool:

I went a long time without owning a Buck; now I have a few. Still never have personally owned an Emerson, a CRKT or a Cold Steel. And among higher-end marques, I'm still without a Chris Reeve or a Busse.

I have a rather hefty personal shopping list. :D

Tom @ KnivesShipFree
 
Smokinape said:
So I have been a users and collector for a number of years (30+) and I have never owned a Benchmade. I have owned hundreds of blades for almost every company and have just never pulled the trigger on a Benchmade. They make great products and have wanted many of them but it's never happened...

What popular knives have you never bought?
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I've owned a few Benchmades, but their QC was very inconsistent. The only one I handled/owned that didn't have play was a Cabela's exclusive D2 Barrage. I carried it for about a month, then ended up giving it to my father in law as he noticed it and like the orange color. I sold or returned the rest of mine. I still look at them online but never pull the trigger. I was at Cabela's yesterday and handled a few Benchmades among others, and didn't see much that changed my mind.

Anyway, the only "well-known" (by the knife community) brands I've not owned would be Boker, Hinderer, Emerson (which I'm on the fence about), some of the mid-techs, Al Mar, Fallkniven, Fox knives, Mcusta, Microtech, Pro-tech.

I'm with Insipid, I don't like framelocks. I sold off all but one, only because it is my favorite and most fun the mess with. Kizer Ki423. Sold my Sebenza yesterday, I'd had it maybe a month. I appreciate the time they spend making their knives as perfect as possible, but in my mind CRK is an exercise in manufacturing consistency, and the ill-fitting ergonomics and poorly designed thumbstud (for my hands) it doesn't make it worth nearly what they charge.

For my money, I prefer FRN/FRCP, G-10, Wood, or Carbon Fiber.
 
Have been fortunate enough to handle several popular brands of knives in stores and through sharpening other people's knives and a few brands I've never owned...

ZT: none appeal to me, big, bulky
Emerson: same as above, blocky and unergonomic feeling, feel they're overpriced for quality and materials used
Al Mar: they just don't do it for me
ESEE: I like them a lot, but don't use fixed blades that much. I'm sure I'll own one eventually.
Cold Steel: too tactical
Opinel: never have seemed to want one for any reason
SOG: just don't appeal to me
 
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I have never owed a ZT. I don't really have a specific reason, just never got around to adding one to my collection!
 
Admittedly, I'm a bit of a cheapskate, and not really a "collector". So as soon as I have a "role" filled by a knife, I don't usually think of replacing it until it either wears out/gets lost, or doesn't meet the needs for the role anymore, which somewhat explains why I've not tried so many of the "main" brands.

And, I've got nothing against the brands below, just haven't owned/tried them is all.

Benchmade:
I only use tip down knives (RR pocket carry, and I've seen too many people/threads that have been bit by tip up carry like that), and it seems like all of theirs are tip up. Admittedly, I haven't looked too closely though, as they're also somewhat out of my price range.

Spyderco:
I'm not a huge fan of their looks, but I don't think that's a real reason why I haven't bought one. I think it is mostly because I already have an edc. That and most of their blades are out of my price range as well.

ZT:
Their older models were way too huge/overbuilt for my tastes. Lots of their newer/sprint run stuff looks crazy to me as well (of course, not that I'd be willing to shell out that much anyway).

Ontario:
Most of their fixed blades don't appeal to me much, but some of their newer ones may interest me at some point. The RAT folders I've been interested in, just haven't purchased one yet. Strangely, I've purchased 3 of them as gifts for others.
 
I've never owned a Case, Al Mar, Mora, HTM, Tops, Busse, Bark River, Dendra, DPX, ESEE, Fox, Gerber, Ka-Bar, Mcusta (technically I did own some briefly, but the person who sold them to me listed them very inaccurately and I sent them right back to him), Medford, Opinel, Quartermaster, Reate, Rockstead, or Southern Grind.

For the most part, none of them offer anything I'm interested in for either value / material / shape reasons. The only ones I'm particularly interested in are Al Mar, Opinel, and Mora... The rest are just not my cup of tea. Maybe when Reate releases a double-row-ceramic-ball-bearing 4" wharncliffe framelock flipper, I'll pick one up at the kind of price point they're hovering around these days... But not before then. The Sun Tsu was the closest I got to buying a Reate, but it was just a bit too rich for my blood.

I'll probably pick up a ZDP Al Mar HD Eagle, a Opinel #9, and a Mora Bushcrafter evenutally. Rockstead is a grail, but I'd have to make close to 2x my current income before I'd feel comfortable carrying one. Otherwise, it'd just be a showpiece, and that's lame. Cutting tools cut things - just looking at them makes no sense to me.
 
Like several others I have never owned a ZT although I have looked and researched a bunch lately. Thinking about a 0562 CF or a 0770 CF. Ideal would be a 0770 CF with bearings, no assist and CTS-204P. Thought about the exclusive 0770 with M4 steel but it's a bunch more money. Just want one good flipper.
 
Kershaw - they never tingles my fancy
Emerson - few interesting knives but the prices are ridiculous ($ to €)
Buck - Shameful really, but need to get 110 eventually..
 
I find it hard to remember the list the knives I've never owned, because I've never owned one.

I know I've never had a ZT because most of the ones I've seen look different coming than going, and for some strange reason, I like both side of my knives to be the same color and material.

I've never had a Quartermaster either, though a couple of them do appeal to me, I guess I've never seen one I liked on sale for a price I was willing to give for it.

Emerson knives with the wave opening system look funny, can't trust myself to carry and use something that I don't like the looks of.

Those really large and in charge fixed blades by Busse and the like are neat to look at, but I can't see myself carrying them either, if I want to chop the heck out of something, I've got other knives to do that with, and they are a bit pricey as well.

I guess in the end I'm not that well versed in knife manufacturers, I remember the ones I've bought and liked though...that list would be a lot easier to come up with for me.
 
I've never had a Benchmade, a Condor, a Gerber, or a Cold Steel folder (although I have a few of their fixed blades and a hawk). Also no Al Mar, Mcusta, Bark River, DPx or any other big brands starting at $100-ish.

As for Emersons, I just recently got the Kershaw CQC-2K to try out the wave feature and it's not as useless as I've previously thought, so I may end up getting a big boy Emerson soon.
 
Gec
Queen
Case
Boker
Ontario knife company
Condor tool and knife
Brous blades
Protech
Microtech
Wenger
Al-mar
Quartermasters
The obvious: crk,hinderer,medford,strider,william henry (im poor)
 
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Never owned a ZT, CRK, SOG, Lionsteel, Emerson, BRK or Busse. Also never owned a Gerber knife.

I like ZT's aesthetics, but I can't help but see them as "cool kid" knives; furthermore, I look at the designs and materials and I can't shake the feeling that they're just not worth the high cost. There are less expensive knives that outperform them.

CRKs are the same way to me, though I think the customer care is admirable.

SOGs in my eyes have always been overpriced (talking materials and design here) mall ninja knives.

I see Lionsteel as classier and more refined than ZT, but still, why would I spend that much when I can get something that performs just as well or better for cheaper?

I've never bothered to get my hands on an Emerson because I'm not a fan of liner locks. I've also heard they've got poor fit and finish, unacceptable for a knife at that price level.

Bark Rivers look great, I just haven't bought one yet for whatever reason.

Busse is Busse. It's just too expensive for me right now, but I'd love to own a TGLB, Battle Mistress or that wakizashi one day.

I've heard too many horror stories about Gerbers falling apart and performing poorly for me to be interested in most of them, but the Instant looks cool.
 
Benchmade. I simply won't pay their prices, if I'm willing to drop that kinda money on a knife I'd rather get a Spyderco.

I also don't have any of the other expensive stuff like CRK( I've used one, the differences in fit and finish between it and a $200 Spyderco are pretty much completely non-noticeable without some sort of special tools to measure them, and I will never believe anyone who tells me otherwise), Medford, Emerson(I'd kinda like one, but not willing to pay those prices for those materials, plus a history of people who find the f&f somewhat unsatisfactory also makes me wary) but I really consider those more of a niche market that a popular brand, too.
 
The one's I've never owned(and won't ever) are Strider, Hinderer, and Bark River.
 
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