Queen Cutlery Retail Outlets

C

Craig55

Joined
Apr 21, 2002
Messages
13
Does anyone know why Queen Cutlery does not advertise their D2 knives, or any of their knives for that matter? I have purused their offerings in their catalog, and online at KnifeCenter, as well as ordered two today from Empire Knife. The only Queen I ever saw in a store is the one I bought approximately 35 years ago and that store was in Iowa and the store is no longer in business.

Is there a place in the US where you can physically pickup and examine Queen knives in a store and if so, where?

I hate to see a good quality knife at an everyman price go under due to poor marketing. I even emailed the president of Queen's parent company, Servotronics, but so far no answer back. Rumor has it that Servotronics or Ontario does not allocate advertising dollars to Queen. If Queen's production could keep up with demand then their new line of D2 knives could establish themselves as "king" of fair value quality knives. Must be something going on I am not privy to.

Craig
 
Queen is a very small dedicated company that makes knives much
as they used to when the company started. THAT is why they are
so successful, believe it or not. They simply do what they do better
than anyone else.

Once a person finds a Queen they don't soon forget it. Queen is an
east cost company and as such have more fans in their home area.
Some are really die hard. Servotronic should be commended for
not pushing Queen to produce more and adverize more. Think
of it this way......Good sippin" whiskey take time. Sometime a
lot of time,BUT, it's awlays worth the wait. So it is with Queen.
The way they make knives ain't broke why fix it??

Mass production somtimes should be called mis-production.
 
Good points all and I hope you are correct in your assessment of Queen Cutlery. It has recently been suggested to me that Queen makes their make their real money in those inexpensive knives that companies can put logos on and so forth. Thankfully someone at Queen came up with the idea, however it was conceived, of D2 production knives and I hope the production of these (soon to find out) D2 knives are everything I hope they are. My 35 year old Queen lockblade could stand a rest.

I suspect the fellas working at Queen would like to be "making" that "sipping whiskey" grade of knives rather than the "company gift item" quality of knives. I also would guess that to have enough cash to make the good ones requires making the other kind. Anyway, that is what I have observed in the custom manufacturing business - fun to make the neat products, but to pay the heat bill requires making trailers, etc.

One can only imagine what would transpire if the fellas at Queen could put their skills into making "high test" production knives day in and day out. But maybe the limited production of these fine knives is all the world can stand.

If my guesses on their knife production is wrong, let me know.

Craig
 
All this D2 and Queen talk has fired me up. I am ordering a whittler in D2 in a minute. I have only seen them in one store, and it was a very old display. I am looking forward to getting mine though.
 
I thought that I had seen some advertisements recently by Queen Cutlery and when I checked last night, I was correct. They advertised in the latest issue of Knife World (April 2002). They give two phone numbers (800/222-5233 and 716/676-5527) an address (P.O. Box 500, Franklinville, NY 14737) and an email address (salesOKC@aol.com). The ad was for their "Schatt & Morgan Collectibles - 100th Anniversary.
 
I just ordered the whittler in D2 and while I was talking with the dealer, they mentioned that Queen seems to be dropping all the "other" names like Robeson, Schatt, etc. Perhaps they will concentrate on more awesome steel choices....mmmm...slipjoints and talonite.......VG10........S90V.....
 
I ordered a Whittler in D2 also. I also ordered a fixed blade (89SW) in the "Light Hunter" D2 series, but was told that although the knives were ready the sheaths were not. I told the dealer that if possible send me the fixed blade without sheath as I make my own anyway. Hate to have to wait for a knife and then get some subpar sheath like so many production knives come in.

Craig
 
I visited Queen's factory a couple of years ago and found it
to be a wonderful step back in time. They still use the original
factory building and the workman I talked to were all knowledgeable
kind folk's that take great pride in what they do.

Queen is usually one of the first to try other steels i.e. Ats -34 ,
D-2 etc. to as real zip to the knives they make. Can you think of any
other slipjoint American knife maker willing to do that?? I can't. Not
to throw rocks at the other slipjoint makers ,but they just make the
workhorse slipjoints that have been around forever......with no zip.
That is not what they do best. Now Queen ......they make the fancy
ones. Oh, yes.........
 
Craig;

You are right, Queen has had little or no retail presence since about the mid 70's to early 80's. Even at best they were never as widely distributed as other brands like Schrade and Camillus. I think one reason they dropped off the retail map in recent years is that they put a lot of their production effort into making contract knives for other companies.

As far as Queen making inexpensive giveaway knives, I would say the opposite is true - with a few exceptions like the Big Chief series, all of their products typically have been well made and in the medium to high price range.

As far as them dropping Robeson and Schatt, there are no Robesons currently in production, but they may come back (or so I have heard). It would be hard to imagine them dropping the Schatt line since it has been so popular.
 
Knifeaholic,

Do you mean that the Paladin Series of knives using something called QUEEN STEEL (trademark) blades and backsprings are good knives? I suspect that the Schatt & Morgan knives are OK and likely the Queen Pearls, but I don't see the use of good quality knife steel in any of those knives. Maybe Queen's trademarkd steel is something special but I bet it comes in on a roll as likely does the 420 that is used in some of their other knives I think.

I ain't complaining as I suspect none of the other slipjoint mass production makers use very good steel in any of their knives or heat treat it that well. I'm sure my 30+ year old Queen has some "interesting" blade steel and I still like it - but for sentimental reasons more than anything.

It is that I am so excited that a small company has done something like use D2 in their knives (hope the heat treat is right) I hate to see a product like this become short-lived. I don't collect knives, just use them and in the process have accumulated a number of knives -most of which I give away as I search for the best geometry and steel for my uses. I've had D2 before but in the knives I got it in the grinds, thicknesses or blade shape were wrong for an everyday user.

Thanks for the talk, hard to find folks around here who like to talk objectively about knives.

Craig
 
My local dealer, Grand Prairie Knives www.gpk.com carries Queen. They do not yet have the new D2 models. If you can't get your hands on one, it should be no big deal. The new models are not expensive, just order a cheap one off the net to see if you like it.
 
I paid 42 and 32 respectively, for a 48SBC Whittler and an 89SW "Light Hunter." I got them through Empire Knife in Eria, PA, fast!

The fixed blade for 32 bucks is outstanding value for the money and the blade & handle ergonomics is quite pleasant. The quality of the sheath is quite good also.

The three bladed whittler is a good looking solidly built knife.

Both knives were reasonably sharp out of the box.

I have to wait until next payday but I'll be getting a Large Stockman next and a 74SW fixed blade that looks a lot like the old Western small fixed blade that I have with a leather washer handle. Best thing about these small "Light Hunters," the 74SW and 89SW, is that they have a flat grind, something I like for utility.

My 89SW has a enough stiffness yet retains some flexibility. Can't believe it only costs 32 dollars.

Craig in TN
 
Craig;

You are right, the Paladin series are cheapo made and are priced accordingly. I should have lumped these in with the Big Chiefs. My point is, these are a very small part of the Queen line and I doubt that they will be very popular. They tried the same brass handle cheapies a few years ago and dropped them after one year.

It is a little strange this year, the Schatts including the File & Wire tested series are noted in the catalog as being made of 420 stainless. Kind of a step down for Queen as they had been using either 440A or ATS-34 recently. Maybe they do that for the "presentation grade" knives because the D2 blades won't take as high of a polish.

As regards your older Queen knife, from the late 1940's through about 1981, the blade steel used by Queen was 440C. Yes, 440C not 440A. They were pioneers in the use of stainless steel, and the 440C they used for many years is better than what many factories use today.

BTW, how can I contact Empire Knives? I am planning a large order of the new D2 stuff. Thanks.
 
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