Quartermaster Knives ( Anybody like them?)

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Jim, those are some good looking knives, I'm considering buying a Roper just to test it out and see if this is Mantis Part 2. Thank you for the pics, god I really like that Roper.
 
Jim that QTR6 has a texas tea finish huh? That looks great. Which do you like best between the Roper and 6?
 
It's hard to say which I like better. They're completely different from one another. The roper is just so damn good looking, hard not to love it. The qtr6 is the beefiest knife I've ever bought. The flipping action on it is not the best, but only due to the pressure from the lockbar, which I don't think is a bad thing.
 
Never had the urge to try anything from Qtrwhateveryoucallit. Maybe I"m missing out, but I'll probably get by okay
 
BenchCo Spydermade said:
They are the only production company that offers a "subliminal" frame lock. :). Citing bead blast as his favorite color... This guy reeks of intelligence.

Jared West - QTRM5TR Knives - The Ultimate Interv…: http://youtu.be/rcVBJHg-FgQ
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Yep, and ya gotta love their state-of-the-art facilities....until the wind blows. Is this Jerud Whe5t guy for real?

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I just got my first Quartermaster last week (the Spicoli) and I have to say it is definitely a fantastic knife. The action is smooth and the blade snaps into place. When I disengage the lockbar, it'll fall freely back into the handle. Up until the Roper and the Spicoll, I've never had an urge to buy one though, so I may pick up a Roper and call it a day with their knives though. I will say though that the blade to handle ratio on the Spicoli is a little funky..the handle is just a tad too long for my liking but I'll get over it.
 
mcg4248 said:
I just got my first Quartermaster last week (the Spicoli) and I have to say it is definitely a fantastic knife. The action is smooth and the blade snaps into place. When I disengage the lockbar, it'll fall freely back into the handle. Up until the Roper and the Spicoll, I've never had an urge to buy one though, so I may pick up a Roper and call it a day with their knives though. I will say though that the blade to handle ratio on the Spicoli is a little funky..the handle is just a tad too long for my liking but I'll get over it.
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Never had any interest until the Roper and Spicoli. Ordered the Spicoli last week and should be here today. I'm super excited to get this one!
 
I am working right now and don't have time to dig up the other thread. However, there is substantial evidence that the owner of QM, through another corp that he owns, imports knives or knife parts from China and sells them as QM. Given that QM wraps itself in the flag and continually spouts that its products are US made, this is very problematic for me.

Also concerning is QMs claim that they have a factory in TX. Despite some serious internet searching, no one can find any evidence that the factory exists.

To be clear, I have ZERO problem with knives made in China. My Spyderco Gayle Bradley is awesome, and I am seriously considering a Reate. I do have a problem with fraud, and misrepresenting the country of origin.

In short, there is a bunch of evidence that QM imports knives from china and claims they are made in the US.


One more thing; there is another thread here where one of the major retailers that sells QM says that they do not vet the claims of manufacturers. They basically say that they just want to sell knives and that they take QM at their word that they make their knives in the US. So, your favorite big online knife store selling and promoting QM lends no credibility to anything QM says.

I'm back to work now. Someone else can post the links and do a better job than me of exposing QM.
 
ncrockclimb said:
I am working right now and don't have time to dig up the other thread. However, there is substantial evidence that the owner of QM, through another corp that he owns, imports knives or knife parts from China and sells them as QM. Given that QM wraps itself in the flag and continually spouts that its products are US made, this is very problematic for me.

Also concerning is QMs claim that they have a factory in TX. Despite some serious internet searching, no one can find any evidence that the factory exists.

To be clear, I have ZERO problem with knives made in China. My Spyderco Gayle Bradley is awesome, and I am seriously considering a Reate. I do have a problem with fraud, and misrepresenting the country of origin.

In short, there is a bunch of evidence that QM imports knives from china and claims they are made in the US.


One more thing; there is another thread here where one of the major retailers that sells QM says that they do not vet the claims of manufacturers. They basically say that they just want to sell knives and that they take QM at their word that they make their knives in the US. So, your favorite big online knife store selling and promoting QM lends no credibility to anything QM says.

I'm back to work now. Someone else can post the links and do a better job than me of exposing QM.
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This has gone around for awhile now, and no one has ever given out anything concrete. It's always been hearsay. Whitty sells them and said he was going to do an investigation as well and hasn't come back with anything yet. I would take his word on the matter far more seriously than yet another "hey guys, you know what I heard?!?" on the forums for the millionth time, always spouting the same old line.

The major problem is Jared West and his association with Mantis Knives, which ARE made in China. Apparently there was a big split between Jared and his dad (who now owns Mantis as well as a few other cheap crap brands) and his dad posted a bunch of nasty stuff about him. The crazy thing about that, people on here were taking Jared's dad's side of the whole mess, and what's hilarious about that is Jared's dad is the owner of First Trails/First Tactical knives who knowingly sold blatant knockoffs of legitimate knives at Big 5 of all places. I know this well because I happened to find a really bad direct knockoff of the DPx HEST/F at a Big 5 and called RYP's attention to it and have been following the saga ever since.

Then you have the Warren Thomas saga where he goes on Facebook and accuses Quartermaster of stealing his 2.5 design (Mr. Roper) and his Sinraptor knives, and then nothing comes of it. It smacks way too much of the Kizer Knives/Tim Britton saga, anyone remember that? Everyone jumps to the defense of the poor US based All-American custom knife maker and when the truth comes out it's far from clear cut as people wanted to believe. Where's the legal action, Mr. Thomas? Where's the Cease and Desist to keep Quartermaster from selling the Mr. Roper and Mr. Furley with your name all over their web page? Instead all we get are a few snide side remarks on your Facebook? Color me unimpressed.

I've heard before that the Spicoli looks like a rip of a Blount design. They are close but not enough that I would call it a knockoff. There's no more similarities there than there are with thousands of knives from thousands of different makers.

As far as "no discernible factory in Texas" "problem", all of that is based on the fact that 1) the only address Quartermaster has given out is either a house or a PO box and 2) they've never allowed anyone to come see the factory. As far as this "issue" goes, I personally run a multi-million dollar manufacturing company that sells internationally and makes everything in the US, and the only address anyone can find for me is a house and a PO box. Everything I do is subcontracted to local machine shops and I don't let anyone know of those connections, because people don't need to know. They only need to know I make a good product, and that is exactly what they know. When people ask, we always call it "our factory", because it is "our factory". They work exclusively for us in our industry. So who cares? There are many well known "MADE IN THE USA!" companies that people tout all over these forums that import stuff from who knows where, do some work here in the US, and call them US Made. The world isn't so cut and dried anymore. Should Quartermaster be more transparent? Sure, but if other companies don't need to be and are held to a different standard no matter what they do behind the scenes, why care so much about Quartermaster?

You'd be interested to know that Grant and Gavin Hawk have been working with both Mantis and Quartermaster knives lately and haven't said anything negative or called in to question the origins. I was surprised to know that they were working with Mantis, actually, it did come as a little bit of a shock.

Now we come to my actual impressions. I have several Quartermaster knives and they have given me no reason to question their construction or country of origin. The price point doesn't exclude American made (especially for the fit and finish and materials they offer their knives at). Further, the customer service in my experience has been nothing short of fantastic.

Finally, they've shown pictures on their Instagrams of blade blanks being machined and other parts being machined. At a machine shop. In the US.

Maybe I'm wrong. I would gladly accept if someone came and gave me solid irrefutable proof of all these claims. So far it hasn't happened, and they've been around for what, 3 years now? It's always been snide comments, "hey guys, I have this document but I can't find it", and hearsay.
 
Other than being a business owner that sells products that are Made In The USA and a consumer that puts a great deal of value in that label, I really don't have a dog in this fight. Below is a link to the thread I mentioned. It has documents and links. I think that it contains some pretty damning evidence that the country of origin of Quartermaster knives is china.

Others may not find the evidence compelling. That's cool too.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1108156-Quartermaster-knives

To be fair, almost every review of the QM knives that I read is positive. I am not comfortable buying one, but a lot of folks seem to like the product.
 
RevDevil said:
No thanks. It's Mantis reborn.
You need to read the thread to find the facts. Shipping manifests from China that include knife parts isn't enough? If you don't care then no need for proof I guess.
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Jared West started a new company!

Mad Blacksmith ...

This will truely be mantis reborn!!!
 
These threads keep popping up with the same things being repeated over and over.

"No proof of Texas manufacturing..." repeated over and over. Really people, go to instagram, look at the qtrmstr backstage account. Multiple pictures of the knives in the process of production. If these knives were made in China, do you really think they would have Chinese makers take fancy filtered instagram photos and post them repeatedly... with Caucasian hands holding the products?

"But there was a chinese shipping manifest!! The proof is in the pudding! They are liars!" Jared West also dabbles in knives made in China. Mad Blacksmith knives, Combat Ready knives, Mykel Hawke knives, all have had him in the background involved somehow. So proof of Chinese knives shipping to what is likely his home address is concrete proof that they are ALL chinese made?

"Stolen designs! They are scumbags!" This is where it gets confusing. If you follow their instagram,they mention that Warren Thomas ripped them off, taking money and not delivering on promised product. Thomas' reputation isn't that great either, so who knows what to believe? Saying the spicoli is a ripoff is pushing it... But there is some proof that they haven't been legit on collaborations, see example:
ubSgwRX.jpg

This knife was called the "Mr. Miyagi", and I forget the designer's name (someone can chime in), but the same day this knife was posted on their instagram it disappeared, I am assuming it was due to action taken by the maker. I only was able to save the thumbnail before the full pic was zapped.
But then, they have worked with G&G Hawk without issue it seems on the "General Lee" - And their new "Doc Brown" is a collaboration as well. So the issue is not so cut and dry and you might believe.

So in summary? U.S. made knives? - Probably. Most honest business practices? - Decide for yourself. The mere mention of Jared West on this board causes mouths to foam and salivate for blood, and I can understand that due to past mistakes he made here. But this is about the knives, and some of the newest qtrmstr designs are nice.

Phew, I am done.
 
The dude needs to come clean. He can still salvage his credibility within the knife community. Maybe he don't need to because his knives are selling. Not to me though.
 
The knife above appears to be modeled after a John Gray Thuck.

I'm quite curious regarding the upcoming Doc Brown collaboration with Austin Weiss, but all of the uncertainty and negative press has kept me away. Perhaps if things clear up down the line, I'd like to check out of a few of their more attractive offerings. In the meantime, there are plenty of other awesome knives to distract me.
 
Sosa said:
The dude needs to come clean. He can still salvage his credibility within the knife community. Maybe he don't need to because his knives are selling. Not to me though.
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Agreed. Being honest and forthcoming goes a long way. Being shady not so much.
 
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