Quality slipjoints?

G

GC

Joined
Sep 17, 1999
Messages
190
As a long time knifenutt my interest have for many years always carried me elswhere in the knife world, something other than slipjoints. Recently I've come full circle back to my boyhood and become enamoured with slipjoints. I genuinely like the "pocket knives" of my youth as a nice change from the "black tactical" knives of my adulthood. My taste tend to run toward Copperhead, Trapper, Stockman, and Whittler patterns with good old carbon steel blades and stag or jigged bone handles. In browsing for quality slipjoints there are quite a few production makers, Bulldog, Queen, Hen & Rooster, Schatt & Morgan, German Eye Brand, along with several others I can't recall to memory right this moment. I'd like some opinions (oh no, not another "what's the best..." question!) as to the best quality slipjoints of current manufacture. I've been looking over the Bulldogs, but have heard conflicting things about their quality. And I'm cursed with the perfectionist bug and can't tolerate blade play and other faults in a knife. I'd really appreciate your experiences and opinions as to which brand consistently is producing high quality slipjoints currently. Thanks in advance!
 
I have several J.A.Henckels and Schatt & Morgan slipjoints. The Quality IMO is outstanding. I know what you mean about going full circle. These knives have almost a jewel like quality to them. I just received a Henckels Mother of Pearl Congress style 4 blade today. It's a work of art.
I also am tiring of black G10 combat look a likes.

Mike
 
Like you guys I have been fixated with slipjoints recently, in fact my last 4 or 5 purchases have all been slipjoints. I must say I have a soft spot for Case XX knives, though I view these really as collectors pieces not users.
Recent purchases: Kissing Crane stockman which I think is a great knife, really solid, and is now my daily carry and will bw for a while. Also a Hen and Rooster Copperhead which is really nice. Heard the Henckels and Queen knives are good knives too.
There is a company here in Texas – Mooremaker which makes some REALLY nice trappers, Muskrats and stockman patterns www.mooremaker.com check them out

They are also very sheeple friendly which in many areas can be useful!
 
Any of the various Queen brands are top notch. I picked up an ATS-34 Robeson wharncliffe whittler in the fall, and it instantly became a daily carry. And I'll be darned if the wife didn't make off with the ATS-34 scout knife!!!

I'm a big Bulldog fan. From what I've noticed, the quality seems to vary from pattern to pattern, and not batch to batch. They make an absolutely sensational large stockman (the kind with the square bolsters) and a dynamite trapper. The canoes are drop-dead gorgeous, but tend to be a bit stiff in the small blade. The canoes need to be used a little before they fully smooth out. What most impresses me about Bulldogs is the “walk and talk”. I’ve bought Hen&Roosters, and the “walk and talk” wasn’t nearly as nice. Bulldog also has some awesome sambar stag, where other German brands I’ve bought had the far inferior deer stag.

It’s too bad that Case doesn’t use better steel. I love the patterns and handle materials, but they just don’t sharpen like a good slipjoint.
 
I have slipjoints from Eye Brand, Kissing Crane, Case, Boker, and Henckels. My favorites are the Eye Brand, followed by Kissing Crane. Good fit & finish, good carbon steel. The Henckels has very nice fit & finish but doesn't hold an edge as well, while the Case is a little rougher around the edges but has better steel. The Boker is well made and in the middle as far as edgeholding is concerned.
 
Buzzbait, you should try out some of the original Hen&Roosters made prior to 1981 when the real shop closed down. The ones made by Kissing Krane after 1981 and now aren't nearly as good quality.
The original Hen&Roosters have a quality that can be compared with custom slipjoints. I've handled some of the originals and some customs and I can tell you that the quality is compareble to say the least.

Jeff
 
I have a collection of barlows which includes all the brands mentioned in the previous posts but the sharpest of the bunch is a japanese Taylor, made with surgical steel.Sharpest knife I've ever owned and the quality is exceptional with flawless pearl scales.
Mike
 
Check out this thread for a good discussion of slipjoints. Also, look for Buzzbait's review of his Bulldog Canoe, one of the nicest slipjoints I've ever seen.
There seems to be a genuine resurgance of interest in these knives lately, as evidenced by the increasing number of threads. Glad to see it.
Lenny
 
Where do you guys go for your slipjoints? I have been buying from Smoky Mountain Knifeworks lately and am really impressed with their selection, prices and service. knifecountry.com has a nice selection too.
Anybody have any custom slipjoints, who are the Tom Mayos and Pat Crawfords of the slipjoint world?
 
I've bought slipjoints from SMKW, just because they have a great selection. But, they tend to send some pretty crummy knives at times. The stuff has obviously been returned before, and they just send the knives back out to another customer. SMKW has also given me service problems before too.

I ordered my Robesons from Bruce at Bullman Cutlery, and the service was beyond exceptional. Bruce has the best communication of any knife retailer I've yet used, and he goes the extra ten miles to find what you're after. Bruce rocks!!!
 
Dr. van Nostrum, some of the really high profile slipjoint makers are Pat Tomes, Eugene Shadley, Tony Bose, and Bailey Bradshaw. Ray Cover Jr. is just as nice but his knives tend to be much less expensive. Two other lower profile makers are Gary Crowder out of Oklahoma and an excellent gentleman from my neck of the woods, East Alton, Illinois' Paul Myers.
 
Lot of great recommendations above.
When I decided, out of curiosity, to give a try to a traditional pattern slipjoint with carbon steel for EDC I looked at the lower price range of the market (subthirty). I ended up looking at Schrades (more down-to-earth real service stuff of several generations of farmers and country men) and J.A. Henckels (better selection of attractive old style slabs and great workmanship). Eventually I got a 4 1/8" two-blade Henckels trapper with a lovely burgundy jigged bone handle on E-bay for ~$23. It is a pleasure to use or even to look at.
Search for "henckels" on E-bay or on Knife Center of the Internet. You can find ones with mother of pearl, gunstock walnut, red/green jigged bone, smooth bone (my current favourite) handles. Knife Center just recently expanded its stock.
As for Schrade, it recently came out with a commemorative series with bone handles. Take a look at it.
Further good news is that Camillus is planning to come out with a series of traditional pattern/material and high quality knives. It might include some slipjoints too. We shall see…

HM
 
Just looked at the Schrade Commemorative series knives.
Wow!
I gots to get me one of dem.
Anybody know if they're available online yet?
Do they also use high carbon steel?
Thanks,
Lenny
 
I have two Moore Makers and one Schatt & Morgan. One of the two Moore Makers is a "three back spring whittler", or a sow belly whittler by Case terminology. The other is a "spine backed whittler" a swell centered whittler. Both have yellow jigged bone handles and 1095 carbon steel blades. They are very, very, good with the exception that the edges came practically unsharpened for all practical purposes. Which isn't a huge deal as I generally reprofile all my edges anyway, and did so with these two. They finsihed out like little razors with a very, very, scary sharp edge. I haven't used them enough to know how well they'll hold the edge yet, but I suspect they'll do fine. The "walk & talk" is very good, no blade play, the blades are well centered, and the springs are very strong. All in all nice knives.
The Schatt & Morgan is a stockman pattern and has green jigged bone handles and ATS-34 blade steel. It's a peach! I like it very much. But I want a COPPERHEAD pattern! I just looked at a collection of 1,400 slipjoints (and 50 Randalls!) that a former teacher of mine has. I remembered that he commented once about knives and knew that he did some woodworking building knife display cases for some of the big companies, so called him up. Man! What a collection, this guy has it all. Would you believe, not a single COPPERHEAD pattern in the bunch! He recommended a Bulldog with carbon steel blades and either bone or stag for a user. I'm not interested in Case Classic's and Collectables. I just want a few representative slipjoints that I can drop in a pocket on occasion when the urge hits me. The must be of good quality like the Moore Makers and S&M I mentioned above, because I'll probably use them some. Maybe a lot if I want, so the steel should be good stuff and the build of the knife able to withstand some use.
Who would you use? Bulldog? German Eye? J.A. Henkles? All these offer a Copperhead pattern. Is the Copperhead a not so popular pattern? You can get Trappers, Stockmen, Canoes, Sunfish, Jacks, Toothpicks, and all sorts of Whittlers made by about anybody. But not so with the Copperhead, what gives? And while I'm asking can anyone recommend a reliable online source for such? I've been checking the online catalog of NDS Products, does anyone have experience with this company? Thanks again!
 
GC

I read your post and found a stag Boker copperhead on Knifedealer.net. They had some other stag slipjoints as well, but I think they're all stainless.

All of my knives are slip joints exepct for a Chris Reeve Umfaan (EDC) and two sheath knives. Lately I've been collecting whittlers because the workmanship with the wedge seems a little more involved.

As for custom makers, Bill Ruple and Tony (can't remember his last name but he's shotgunone on BF) also look like they have some nice traditional folders.

Mike
 
I believe that the Schrade commemmorative knives have stainless steel (Schrade+) blades and are easily available on E-bay. E-bay seems to me one of the best source for vintage and new Schrades used and brand new.
I wish these knives would also come in 1095 steel but that seems to be a Schrade policy to put SS onto their higher knives (see Uncle Henry) and keep the carbon steel only for for the Old Timer series.

HM
 
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