Puma, can anyone advise?

abiggs

abiggs

Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
955
I am fairly new to knife collecting. I get the Sportsmans Guide catalog. I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with it, but it is a great catalog. They consistently have Puma brand knives at big discounts. I have been looking around this forum for the last two weeks and have not seen any mention of this manufacturer. Does anyone own Puma knives? If not, have you heard anything good/bad about them in general? Thanks, and if you like them, check out www.sportsmansguide.com. They have great bargains on other knives as well.
 
I own a puma. Great quality knives from solingen, germany. I have the white hunter, its one wicked fixed blade. If they have good deals, GET EM! :-D
 
My dad has a Puma folder from the 60's or so - ebony handles (I think) and really, really nice.
 
The general consensus around the forums is that Puma is a mixed bag. Sometimes OK. Sometimes not. And in general their quality has not maintained from what it was 40 years ago.

I am familiar with the Sportsmans Guide. Caveat Emptor.
 
I had a Puma White Hunter ripped off about 18 years ago. Good knife, no problems. I replaced it a coupla weeks ago from SG and so far no problems. Fit and finish look good edge needs a little work though.. :)
 
Here's the Puma story in a nutshell. Up until the early 80's Puma made some of the best production knives in the world - materials, and fit and finish were second to none. In 1984 the German Mark practically doubled overnight causing the price of Puma to skyrocket over here. Puma's were considered expensive before the huge price increase - after the price jump you could actually buy a custom knife made by the legendary Jimmy Lile for the price of a Puma White Hunter. Needless to say Puma sales screeched to a halt in the USA.

After a period of plummeting sales Puma was sold and quality has never been the same. Most of their knives these days are about on a par with low, to medium end Gerbers - Fit and finish is hit or miss, steel is fair at best. Check out pumaonly.com if you want to see the type of high-quality cutlery Puma used to turn out in it's heyday. (a basic rule of thumb-anything in the yellow and green box is old school quality and made before the company was sold)

http://pumaonly.com/

Edit: In the price range you're looking at I would suggest one of the Buck fixed blades. They're American madE and have been battle tested for years.
http://www.knifeworks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=328
 
Mick R. said:
Here's the Puma story in a nutshell. Up until the early 80's Puma made some of the best production knives in the world - materials, and fit and finish were second to none. In 1984 the German Mark practically doubled overnight causing the price of Puma to skyrocket over here. Puma's were considered expensive before the huge price increase - after the price jump you could actually buy a custom knife made by the legendary Jimmy Lile for the price of a Puma White Hunter. Needless to say Puma sales screeched to a halt in the USA.

After a period of plummeting sales Puma was sold and quality has never been the same. Most of their knives these days are about on a par with low, to medium end Gerbers - Fit and finish is hit or miss, steel is fair at best. Check out pumaonly.com if you want to see the type of high-quality cutlery Puma used to turn out in it's heyday. (a basic rule of thumb-anything in the yellow and green box is old school quality and made before the company was sold)

http://pumaonly.com/
:thumbup: Great synopsis!
Click to expand...
 
Hi,I have just joined the forum ,I have owned a Puma sheath knife for about 38 years , bought it second hand and I am trying to find out just how old it is . No numbers on the blade ,stag horn handle,cast Aluminium Puma head pommel, would post a pic if I knew how.
Richard
 
Richard, click on the link below. There is a dating chart on the site that should tell you when your knife was made. (if the chart doesn't tell you what you need to know shoot them an email with a picture.)

http://pumaonly.com/
 
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