Queen Quality

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White Crown

Joined
Jan 6, 2016
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***If you are buying a queen knife, be sure to call and request that your particular knife be handpicked. Some online shops offer this and it will help insure you do not get a bad knife.***
*also, before you read this thread, please note that complaints about grind are NOT referring to the secondary edge bevel grind, but rather the primary grind going from the spine to the edge, you cannot "just resharpen" this plane of the blade.*
Since, in reply to a question on what you'd like to see in Queen's 2016 line up, you may not say "quality", and you certainly may not substantiate that request with proof of a lack thereof, and elsewhere when claims are made that their quality issues are heresay, you may not also submit proof there of the aforementioned, I have been asked to make this thread. The purpose of this thread is to discuss Queen quality, good or bad. I have already aired my experience so let me know what you got. Personal experiences and supporting facts only please, this thread is not simply about like or dislike. Positive experiences are also encouraged to be posted.

As a subtopic... If I bought a car from the dealer, immediately had issues with it, contacted the dealership and was met with attitude, and posted about my experience on a car forum, I would not be accused of "bashing" the brand, why is this different with knives? It seems like there is a gag order on negative experiences, at least with this particular brand. Is it simply that we think the company, vastly smaller that an auto manufacturer, would not survive negative feedback?
 
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It's really just two different products. Cars are made on assembly lines with billion dollar robots, while Queen knives are made with hundreds of hands on tasks. That means when Queen screws up, people get upset because there's a person behind it to be upset at, even if you don't know their name. When your car is a problem, who can you be mad at? A company with hundreds of dealers and many many people between you and the person at fault.

That being said, my experience with queen has always been good.
 
They have received plenty of negative feedback over the years. If you go into a thread where people are fantasizing about what they would like to see in the coming year and complain about the past quality of their products, you are indeed "bashing". The same would be true if you joined a car forum and jumped into a discussion of what new features people were hoping to see and complained about your lemon and the dealer's attitude.

As for Queen's recent quality issues, I have read on one online dealer's website where he has to hand select Queen knives to even list on his site due to the spotty quality control, and talked to a dealer in a brick and mortar store that has all but given up carrying the brand for the same reason. Whether the issues are real or the product of increasingly unrealistic expectations on the part of the consumers I really can't say. I gave up on Queen before the current owners took over, simply because I couldn't face the prospect of repairing another of their horrible edge grinds
 
I'm dissatisfied for the exact same reasons. I paid money for a product and received one with problems. Nothing personal about that, my phone call to queen was personal however, but in the exact same way I mnversation with a service tech would be. Who I am asking about being mad is the other consumers when I share my experience.
 
yablanowitz said:
They have received plenty of negative feedback over the years. If you go into a thread where people are fantasizing about what they would like to see in the coming year and complain about the past quality of their products, you are indeed "bashing". The same would be true if you joined a car forum and jumped into a discussion of what new features people were hoping to see and complained about your lemon and the dealer's attitude.

As for Queen's recent quality issues, I have read on one online dealer's website where he has to hand select Queen knives to even list on his site due to the spotty quality control, and talked to a dealer in a brick and mortar store that has all but given up carrying the brand for the same reason. Whether the issues are real or the product of increasingly unrealistic expectations on the part of the consumers I really can't say. I gave up on Queen before the current owners took over, simply because I couldn't face the prospect of repairing another of their horrible edge grinds
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Point taken, in all honesty I didn't want to start a new thread where potential buyers might be turned away. I just wanted to talk with the already queen guys. Sure a potential first time buyer might read that thread, but a lot less people wander over here than would read a new thread in general discussion. If I was trying to "bash" this would be there, because they make more than just traditional now.
 
amen, i just had to send one back to the dealer just because mine came with a big ole crack in that winterbottom bone
 
And on the topic of me bashing, I'll roughly quote myself from that post,"the best looking most well fitted covers I have held" and I also spoke well of the steel. Maybe I'm just taking the word "bashing" in it's general sense in the English language, and the context of an online forum waters down the intensity of the word.
 
I've been happy with mine, although I haven't bought many of the 'ordinary' folders. Their fixed blades are beautiful and well-made. The wood shrank a bit on the Heritage knife, but the parts are perfectly fit with no wobble or gaps. All of the File & Wire knives I've ever fondled were expertly built with no flaws. And the Queen City jack knife is a dream.
 
This topic seems to have more content about what happened in another thread than the subject of Queen Quality. I'd recommend editing your post with whatever content was discussed in the other thread.

If everything is kept factual and the subject is knives, then there should be no problem with a critical discussion.... though it's my impression that critical discussions seldom are welcomed. I suspect part of it is because the subject drifts from the knives to people. And a discussion about a phone call/customer service might be better for Good/Bad/Ugly.

I'm in favor of detailed discussion about KNIVES but not everyone will agree. Folks are here for all sorts of reason. Some may be here for information and detailed discussion. Some folks are just here for enjoyment and don't want to hear complaints or to think critically about the knives. Some folks won't like critical discussion at all. But without any critical discussion, the forum would become nothing more than an advertisement. Critical discussion is how things are improved and how choices are made.

If you look through old threads, there are a LOT of complaints about Queen. A few years ago, a new Queen complaint thread popped up almost weekly. Recently, I created one about the primary grinds (not the edge). It's something that I've noticed might changing at Queen since then. Some Schatt & Morgan "short runs", which I suspect may be from left over parts, look a bit like the blades might have been reground.

I'm hoping that the Daniels family can pull Queen around. Some of the Tuna Valley knives especially are looking good in photos but I don't have first hand experience with the new knives. Queen has some great patterns (every pattern they would ever need) and they're probably closer to the oldies than most other modern traditional knives so I'm hoping they are successful.
 
OK, I confess.Queen has me wrapped around their little finger because of their D2 steel. Their quality might not be consistent just yet (and yes, I've gotten some bad ones and no response to an email sent last March) but when I do get a good one it's outstanding.

I'll keep buying Queens that appeal to me but consistent quality would be a refreshing change.
 
For my part, I've been collecting a good mix of Queen recently. "Golden age" Queens, especially the Barlows, are among my favorite knives. The closed backspring design and variety of handle materials and blade configurations makes this pattern endlessly satisfying to collect. An Ontario-branded "Old Hickory" Barlow manufactured by Queen is among my hardest-working "knockaround" knives -- if not for the Delrin faux "wood grain" scales it might be able to fetch well over what I paid for a mint example.

I have started accumulating a decent collection of the 60s-80s winterbottom Delrin knives which exceed my expectations for an 'entry-level' folder in most cases. My serpentine jack and large stockman have excellent grinds, the jack in particular having a factory edge among the sharpest traditionals I've ever received. Bear in mind that during this era factory seconds were sold with the "EDC" blade etching. One example I have, a single-bladed clip Barlow with some scale blemishes, is still quite an excellent carry knife. It goes without saying, though, that the EDCs should not be counted on as premium examples for a serious collector.

I've heard that new millennium Queens have a justifiably bad reputation; many folks have complained of the grinds, as yablanowitz stated, while others have groused about problems with the fit and finish that should have been caught in QA. Upon review of my 00's Queen examples, I think perhaps I've been lucky in my acquisitions, or that the secondary market has filtered out the truly bad examples. My #69s are fantastic examples of the pattern, the S&M pieces I do have are all top-notch in F&F and grind, the limited edition F&W daddy barlow in particular being among my favorite collector pieces -- and my inbound limited spearpoint/skate key stag Barlow is flawless, judging from the detailed high-res photos of every angle. I will, of course, be sure to post back to this thread if the skate key Barlow has any flaws that are relevant to this thread, because I think it's important for collectors to have as much information as possible in deciding about these knives for themselves.

There's clearly a wider variance in Queen's QA circa 2000-2010 or so than there ought to be. While makers like Case and Camillus also had some notable missteps during this period of time, the latter's being among the factors that lead to closing their doors, Queen's reputation seems to have become more tarnished during this time. Speaking as a collector (and expressly not a dealer), however, my experience with their knives to date has not been so resoundingly negative as to require hand-selecting pieces (I haven't had to return one newish Queen to a seller yet -- the only issue I had was amicably resolved by a partial refund which made it much easier on my conscience to keep and carry the knife I bought :)). As such, I think I would consider myself "cautiously pro-Queen" as far as collecting slipjoints goes. Of course, your mileage may vary, all disclaimers apply, etc. :D
 
When I was first getting into knives I found this forum and really sucked up as much information as I could from the members here. In my opinion, there is an overwhelming bias here in favor of GEC. I'm not saying it's good or bad, deserved or undeserved, just that it exists. As a result of getting most of my information from a community with a bias towards GEC, I quickly amassed a small collection of GECs. I didn't really look to seriously at Queen because of the reports I'd seen here.

In October of 2014 I received a #11 trapper in curly zebrawood from a member here. I was impressed with the knife, and since it was the first Queen I had handled I asked that member if this knife was indicative of Queen's quality. He told me that he had picked up the knife at Queen's factory store, and that it was probably better than most of their offerings. I was really happy with this one example, but still gunshy on the brand because I didn't know what I'd be getting if I ordered one online.

Last spring I attended a knife show in my state and Queen was the only major traditional manufacturer with a table, so I wandered over. Courtney Daniels was manning the booth and I was really impressed with her. We talked knives for a while while I played around with the Queens, Schatt & Morgans, and Tuna Valleys on her table. I was impressed with the quality, which I put on the level of the couple dozen GECs I'd owned. I walked out of there with a buffalo horn Ruple trapper, which is still one of the finest knives I've had the pleasure of owning. My daughter walked out with a doctor's knife and my son with a peanut, both of which Courtney had given them free of charge. Both of these knives are also of a very high quality.

I assumed that Courtney had handpicked the knives to bring along, much as that #11 was handpicked from the factory, and that the examples I had admired were probably not indicative of what I'd get if I ordered up some Queens. However, my curiosity was piqued enough that I was willing to give it a shot. On top of that they had that fantastic new line of buffalo horn knives. So, I contacted the best darn CS rep in the knife business, a fellow named Tyler, and asked him about the #03 sleeveboards that his employer had up for sale. He pulled one that had looked particularly good in pictures and assured me that I'd be very happy with the fit and finish on that particular knife. I ordered it on the spot and when it came in I was blown away. My #03 is at least on par with the best GEC knives I've ever handled. Just a fantastic piece with no glaring faults.

I now had three consecutive good experiences under my belt, and felt a bit more comfortable moving forward with more Queen purchases. I ordered a #69 barlow and a #19 trapper, both in buffalo horn. When these knives came in they both had pretty large gaps between the horn and the bolster. My only experience with horn to that point were the Ruple and sleeveboard mentioned earlier. I had concerns about whether this was just sloppy craftmanship or a sign that the horn was shrinking. I attempted to contact Queen and the dealer, not the same dealer that Tyler works at, looking for guidance and never really got an answer from either. I returned the knives because I was worried that the gaps would get worse with time. Other than the one gap on each, both knives were put together beautifully. I really didn't like sending them back. If I had more experience with horn and knew that those gaps wouldn't change I'd have kept the knives. The gaps weren't bad enough in and of themselves to return the knives, it was the uncertainty of why they were there.

Since sending those two knives back I've had multiple correspondences with Queen, and have bought maybe a dozen or two of their knives. All my experiences have been great, both with the product and the employees. I find that I'm able to get a knife with better steel and equal craftmanship to GEC for less money. I think GECs are more consistent, but I think that Queen puts more effort into the details. This being said I'm still a big fan of both companies. My latest Queen will get delivered tomorrow, and my newest GEC is scheduled for delivery on Saturday. I put the companies on even footing, and hope that both continue to improve.

I'm all about feedback, positive and negative. I am just of the opinion that there is a proper time and place to provide it. ;)
I think that a lot of the pushback you experienced is due to the bias that I mentioned at the beginning of this megapost. It's hard to have an honest discussion about Queen here without people piling in to gripe about them. I understand that in their 100+ years of history Queen has put out some shoddy knives. However, sometimes I'd like to discuss other aspects of their products. I'm assuming others feel the same way. Likewise, it's hard to have an honest discussion about GEC without people feeling that they have to defend every single criticism. Instead of an objective analysis you end up with their products being put on a pedestal.

Hopefully this thread will allow you to share your experiences without any pushback. I'm genuinely interested to see what others have to say. :thumbup:
 
I don't think that's a fair comparison because the car industry wants to rip you off :). Much different methods of manufacture, but any company should want to be contacted with unacceptable issues and their customer service is definitely open for attack on the web.
I have not been impressed with my 2010 Queen/S&M slip joint and I certainly have not held my tongue about it.
After owning dozens of Case and GEC I've become familiar with a level of quality at a certain price point and the S&M/Queen Railsplitter Whittler was a chunky, extremely wide, cheap feeling turd. The most inconsistent and sloppy action/walk n talk, massively obtuse and dull edges that won't hold an edge after A LOT of work, and I could eat cereal out of the cavernous well housing the 3 fat blades. The 3 fat springs are identical and look like they are approaching 1/4" thick, and there's one gigantic gap between the spring and mark side. Icing on the cake, the worm groove jigged bone had me believing it was plastic, not kidding.
I use this Railsplitter as an example of what to avoid and look for when buying a slip joint.
That being said, Queen could have changed since 2010 and I also have a prime example of good quality in my vintage Queen one armed Barlow that, once sharpened, has been fantastic and handed down through three generations so far.
Queen has been around a long time and I hope the current owners and customer service are following threads just like this.
 
Cory Hess said:
Hopefully this thread will allow you to share your experiences without any pushback. I'm genuinely interested to see what others have to say. :thumbup:
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Your feedback is valuable and realistic, Cory, and I think ultimately it will point us all in the direction I personally think is closest to the truth: Queen is a solid knife-builder making a wide range of classic slipjoints and other traditionals, from daily work knives to the premium examples none of us want to take out of their butcher paper, who might need to put a little more effort into their QA to maintain a reputation akin to that of GEC (or at least make sure they are judicious with that EDC blade etching and discounts thereof :D).

Oh, and that D2 steel? Fantastic stuff. :thumbup:
 
HuntBomb said:
That being said, Queen could have changed since 2010 and I also have a prime example of good quality in my vintage Queen one armed Barlow that, once sharpened, has been fantastic and handed down through three generations so far.
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PM me if that one-armed Barlow ever goes on the Exchange, will you? :D

HuntBomb said:
Queen has been around a long time and I hope the current owners and customer service are following threads just like this.
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I too would like to see Queen demonstrate concern and empathy for traditional-loving customers and ultimately make their production line into something to be proud of. It only helps all of us stateside when a good American company makes a quality, affordable product available to everybody. That being said, don't release any more of the stag skate key Barlows, please. That one may well turn into my hand-me-down knife if it's as good as pictured, and the rarer the better. :p
 
I have a few Queen and Queen made knives, and overall have been very happy with them. Some have had small issues, most have met or exceeded expectations. Here's my list:

  • Northwoods IRJ x2 (2014 & 2015)
  • Northwoods Everyday Barlow
  • Northwoods Gunstock (Purchased knowing it was a Second)
  • Northwoods Sowbelly
  • Queen #64 Canoe
  • Queen #48 Whittler
  • Queen #03 Small Sleeveboard
  • Tuna Valley Railsplitter

I also have an S&M Senator on the way, but as I don't have it, I won't add an opinion on it :)

Overall, the Queen made Northwoods have been awesome. These are my daily drivers, and spend the most time in my pockets out of my collection. Two had minor issues. The 2014 IRJ came with a proud tip, which was remedied my filing the kick. The other one that had an issue was the Gunstock, which was a Second anyways, so I rolled the dice with my eyes open. The issue was just a shallow long pull, which for the most part I 'fixed' with the corner of a Spyderco Sharpmaker Diamond Rod.

The Tuna Valley Railsplitter is just absolutely beautiful! Probably the nicest covers on any knife I have (but I may be biased as it was my first Stag knife). Although, none of the blades had a decent edge on them. A while spent sharpening, and now the knife is perfect, as expected at that price point.

Of the three Queens, none came with a decent edge, but I've gotten the Canoe and Sleeveboard nice and sharp, and overall, I'm very pleased with them. Personally, I don't mind having to put my own edge on.

The Whittler is another story, only because I don't like the knife. The action is incredibly rough, and the grinds are all over the place. It's not going back, but it's not getting any pocket love either. It sits on my coffee table, and when I'm bored watching TV, I mindlessly do a little work with some stones, and it's getting a little better each time :)

Anyhow... I just wanted to share my Queen quality experience. Long story short, the only one I would not buy again would be the Whittler.
 
I've had 4 experiences with Queen products. So far, nothing to turn me away from them. A Country Cousin sodbuster with great fit and finish. An Everyday Barlow with curly maple covers. Slight grain gouges in the finish, otherwise real nice knife. A Queen 69 Barlow with Buffalo covers, very slight side to side play, not noticable in use. Good usable knife, great looker.
Last is a Northwoods Gunstock that was a give away from KSF. I reported about my experience in the "Feedback" section. Beautiful knife, white bone, clip in CPM 154. What made it a second was a slight blemish on the pile side of the tang, not a problem at all for me. My knives are all users. The pull made me dread opening the knife, so on advice of KSF, I contacted Ryan at Queen, who made the knife. He said send it back with instructions. I included a blank check to cover whatever costs they deemed necessary. Three weeks later it was in my mailbox, along with the unused check. It's a nice tight beautiful knife with perfect pull. Thanks again to both companies.
I'm not as picky as many "collectors", and really appreciate the blade materials Queen is using. If I get what I consider a bad knife, it will go back. So far, so good. I'm just visualizing an Indian River Jack in some color of smooth bone...
 
The one thing for certain that I have gathered from all this, is people who get good ones get great ones, and handpicking then is key to achieve this. I spent a lot of time lurking and reading old posts before my purchase but one thing I did not come across is that with a phone call some of the queen dealers will hand pick for you and you don't need to be at a physical store to achieve that. I'm going to edit the first post to include that so that others may have a better experience.
 
Great thread so far, White Crown. Thanks for starting it. I've learned more about people's experiences with Queen in the last hour and a half than I had in the previous week. Good stuff.
 
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