Quality Control

5

52100

Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
544
Last month I finally succumbed to the allure of the SP10, and placed my order. It was well ground except the swedge area which only looked good from one side at a time, not being symmetrical. It wasn't bad, but not anywhere close to perfect. The build date on the box was March '15. I ended up gifting it to a buddy who'll beat the..........I mean give it lots of love for years to come. A couple weeks later I ordered another one because the 10 had gotten under my skin. This one was much worse than the first, in the swedge, as well as the tip angles. Just not one of the better ones. Knitpicky stuff for a knife of this type, but still. The build date on the box was also March '15. Not to be deterred, I turned right around and ordered yet another SP10, thinking if it was poorly ground also, then I'd return it to Amazon and give up, or send both of them to OKC with a letter of explanation.

The third one was built in August '15, and is as close to perfect as I could ever hope for a mass-produced blade of this size, and I'm glad that I hung in there. Honestly the SP10 appears to be a very tricky blade to free-hand, and could cause fits for the poor guy at the grinder.

I remember reading a thread a while back about the QC at OKC, and Tooj promising that he was working on the issue. IMO this August blade is proof that Tooj is working his magic, so I wanted to take a couple minutes to give him and the other folks at OKC recognition for a job well done.

I'm parking my new SP10 on the shelf as a queen for now, and plan to strip the second knife and try my hand at shaping steel with files and stones. While am cursed with perfectionism, I don't feel that its necessary to eat up OKC's time and money on a $50 blade that's functionally OK. If it breaks, I'll send it in, but for now I plan to have fun playing with this huge chunk of 5160. By using hand tools, I won't make any quick mistakes, or ruin the HT.

So thank you for a job well done Mr. Tooj, and please pass along my praise to the poor soul who's stuck grinding the 10's.

52100
 
I bought one way way way before then... The swedge is funky and the edge was.. Well, I fixed the edge, and the uneven clip swedge hasnt hindered it ever.

I would fix it were I to strip it though.. Great knife, for sure.
 
No, you're right, it's 1095. I had 5160 on my brain for some reason.

Still, as a "canvas" to play with, getting a heat treated, handled, chunk of 1095 that size is pretty nifty.
 
I have two of the sp10 knives... The slightly older one was purchased during a visit to a big box sporting goods store. It has the stamped in info, rather than the more recent engraving. I paid about $80 for it, which is quite steep when compared to the $50 I paid for my second specimen online. Even so, this slightly older sp10 is a nice specimen, swedge and all being well and evenly done. My second specimen has the laser engraved info on it, and it was made just a few months ago. It being purchased from a very reputable online dealer, but came with a funky and uneven swedge that is not matching on both sides. So, my experience is the opposite of yours... My older one being better than my newer one. I like Ontario, but know they really can be shoddy on their products appearance, consistency being spotty. It"s now less likely that I will continue taking chances buying sight unseen when it comes to Ontario. But, if I see one in a brick & mortar store where I can inspect before purchasing, I may add more Ontario to my collection. They can be nice, and most times when they error, it's minor... But they do send some stuff out that is very obvious and downright ugly. I do hope they get that QC thing down. I have no local dealer for Ontario Knives, and know that sometimes buying in person will mean way more on the price... So maybe my current specimens of Ontario knives will be my last ones. I tend to move on with diversity in my collection, so all is good. Even so, it's nice that I have some Ontario specimens within my collection ☺



Two of my favorite Ontario made knives are shown here (the top two in this display case). They are both of the USMC pattern. The top one is a Case brand knife, but made for them by Ontario. The second one down is an Ontario knife made for the Task Force Dagger Foundation. The TFD foundation model has the nicest leather handle polish of all my leather handled Ontarios... which is not as nicely done as Kabars leather handles, but still pretty nice.

2uy58hj.jpg


Btw, the other knives are, two glocks, a kabar, and a sixty year old schrade walden.
 
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My assumptions may be off, but I shop almost exclusively online/phone because of where I'm located, and have developed a pretty good "feel" for production quality through sheer volume of purchasing. I too have pretty diversified tastes, and in addition to the three SP10's I mentioned, I also have (off the top of my head) the SP1, SP43, SP8(x2), SP6, FF6, (2) Kukri, Marine Combat Knife, several RAT fixed blades, and half a dozen machettes. All of them are pretty well ground, with the worst offenders having only an unbalanced sharping job. The grind angles on the SP8's are consistent on each blade, but not when compared to each other. So I wasn't too worried about sight-unseen purchasing until running into this SP10 issue, and then reading about the same model's inconsistent grinds on other forum discussions.

I'm going to slow way down on my knife purchasing for now, but only because I need to financially. I haven't lost faith in OKC's quality, and as I've indicated with this thread, actually feel like Mr. Tooj is working his magic with his new employer.
 
52100,

Thanks for the kind words. However, it isn't just me. It is a lot of Ontario Employees that are stepping up and working to improve quality. It's a new manufacturing mind set and people are starting to embrace it. Very few people go to work thinking; "I'm going to do bad work today." The large majority of workers want to do a good job. Management just has to give them the correct tools. Specifications, Gauges, Standards, Tooling. Same company, just a better way of doing things. Are we totally there yet? No.
It takes some time but we are moving forward.
Hope this helps.

PS: PKJ: you have a nice collection going

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
V.P. of Engineering
Ontario Knife Company
 
My SP-53s both had uneven grinds, one was enough to put a twist in the blade on the main part it would of been used, the second was a grind way greater than the other side. Still awaiting to get the whole thing resolved with their QC as both were said to be with in spec. Both blades were before May about the time I read on this site OKC was redoing their QC.

My other OKC knives are great!

The SP-10 is great! Mine is a
 
I guess I've been pretty lucky, my large Ontario knives (RD9, Freedom Fighter, RTAK II, SP50, SP10, SP5) all have been well made. Maybe a slight grind issue on one but nothing I couldn't fix easily with a stone. These are so budget friendly (while made in USA) that I really don't care about slight grind defects. I don't even mind the crappy sheaths. Now, if I'd spent $500 and up and it had some slight defects, then maybe I wouldn't be so forgiving. Put it all in perspective.
 
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