Queen Quality

I'm sure Queen makes quality knives. Problem is they release also some NO quality knives. And there are dealers that sell them. If the defective knives were sent back to factory, this would be rarer. We are human, that's the problem. Once burned, twice shy.
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Haha, Jolipapa where did you get that photo? Is that a Queen, it's blade needs a little bit of viagra for a bit of pick me up, don't it or is that the photo? Did the scales come that way?
 
This is my country cousin Queen when I received it... Since my little hammer had some work. The blade is ok. Late friday evening or early monday morning work? :confused:
 
Joilipapa, I think I can see some light between the covers and scales. ;) :p :D I'm glad you were able to fix it but that is not acceptable. It's amazing that could have even left the factory that way. Do you think it could have warped and separated sometime after it was made?
 
JP That's a monster fail. A policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' must've been going on in the QC Dept, dreadful! :barf: Or maybe it's a new species of Micarta Beetle that's evolved to bore into synthetics....:eek::D:D

My experience of Queen's Carved Bonestag range, both this one shown the WCSB and the later Amber ACSB has been really good. Some of the very best production knives I own (and I have a few ) Superb quality. This liner-lock Teardrop is a big favourite of mine and I'm fortunate to have one in all scale options.
The one shown is from about 2004 well before the new ownership. The new ownership has raised expectations but so far in 3 years? I have not seen any remarkable change in QC they still seem to produce both truly remarkable knives and truly regrettable, more consistency seems needed.:confused:

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supratentorial said:
Joilipapa, I think I can see some light between the covers and scales. ;) :p :D I'm glad you were able to fix it but that is not acceptable. It's amazing that could have even left the factory that way. Do you think it could have warped and separated sometime after it was made?
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I don't think this happened after leaving the factory. Problem of QC. I had the same kind of problem with a German Eye sodbuster, to a lesser extent. Both are not-too-expensive (though not cheap) knives and not worth the trouble of sending back etc.

@ Will :thumbup:
It is clear that this is bad luck and that most of knives leave the factory in good condition (and probably the more expensive a knife, the keener the QC), but a bitter assessment it falled on me :confused:. But from now on I'll stay away unless I can handpick these brands. There are so many other makers around! :D
 
now some one explained that the knives marked EDC are factory seconds on the Schatt and Morgan thread, is it possible these knives are just the ones people sent back with complaints and they just go o well lets try to sell it again after fixing whatever the problem is :eek:
 
I own one Queen-produced knife, a Schatt & Morgan Medium Coke Bottle, and it has left me less than impressed. I bought this early on in my experience collecting traditional style knives, and admittedly I missed a lot of things I just didn't know to look for. I loved the knife when I bought it, mostly because I thought (and still think) the stag covers look incredible.

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The one thing I did notice off the bat is that the pull on this knife is a bear. I'm not great at the 1-10 scale, but I'd say for most people this would have to be a solid 8+ if not a 9. Again, being fairly new to traditionals when I purchased this knife, I guess I thought maybe it would loosen up as I used it. :rolleyes:

The second thing that happened with this knife, about two days after I bought it, was that the glued-on shield fell off. :mad: I superglued it back on, but it definitely annoyed me.

The bigger issues, which I have noticed down the road as I learn more about traditional knives and sharpening, are these: the primary grind is (in my admittedly amateur opinion) way off, especially towards the tip; the blade rubs the liner (partly a result of the funky grind); and there are some noticeable gaps between the liner and the spring.

Here are a couple angles of the blade showing the grind issue. On the left in this picture, you can see how much more material there is compared to the right. Towards the tip, the blade is really fat (for lack of a better term) on the one side. In fact, compared to just about any other knife I own, I'd say that the tip of this blade is entirely too thick all around.

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In this photo looking down on the spine, you can also see how uneven the blade is ground, and how fat it is at the tip.

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Here you can see how the blade rubs the liner (it's on the side where the blade seems fatter, which I'm sure contributes to the rubbing). You can also see the gap between the cover and the liner on the one side.

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And here you can see another gap between the liner and spring along the back of the knife.

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Now, I could live with most of these issues, but the biggest problem for me is that the grind has made it difficult for me to sharpen the knife. I wouldn't say that I'm great at sharpening, but I can put a good, serviceable edge on most of my traditionals. But as fat as this blade is at the tip, and as uneven as the grind is, I've found it really difficult to get the angle right and put a decent edge on it.

It really is a shame, because I think it's a beautiful knife, but instead of being carried and used as I intended, it just sits in a drawer. :(
 
btb01, I'd recommend using a 2 part epoxy to set the shield instead of super glue if it comes off again.
 
mrknife said:
now some one explained that the knives marked EDC are factory seconds on the Schatt and Morgan thread, is it possible these knives are just the ones people sent back with complaints and they just go o well lets try to sell it again after fixing whatever the problem is :eek:
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The EDC knives are generally knives with obvious manufacturing problems that were caught by QA where it was decided that the function of the knife was not impeded by the flaw, so the knife was stamped/etched with EDC and sold as a second. The EDC knives as far as I am aware cannot be returned to Queen at all; they are essentially sold "as-is". I am not even clear on if Queen is still using the stamp any more.

That being said, one of my more valued Barlows is a single-blade Queen with the famous Delrin winterbottom scales that seems to have suffered from a misplaced attempt at pinning the mark side scale (or possibly a jigging problem, I'm not really familiar with the ways the Delrin handles are jigged). The damage doesn't significantly detract from the look of the knife compared to a "pristine" one, and it is a pleasure to carry.
 
Btb01 your badge fell out? I didn't know they glued the s&m line badges, I would expect it was pinned. That's actually one thing I liked about the knife I recieved, the badge was definitely pinned. I have had a couple case badges and a boker badge fall out and it's really annoying. Luckily I didn't lose any of them.
 
I had a queen Mountain Man that was given to me as a gift and had great sentimental value. Handles were Amber carved stag bone. Anyway, the back spring snapped one day and I emailed a few people at Queen and they all said it could be fixed. So I sent it in with explicit instructions attached to the knife that if it could not be fixed that they do not replace it, as I would have rather had the broken knife instead of a new one. Long story short I got a new knife with I think African wood handles. I was very disappointed as they probably threw away a treasure. I sent a few emails and didn't get a response, so I was pretty turned off, I won't carry a queen again.

Anyway, the knife they sent back had good for and finish, the handles lined perfectly up to the bolsters and the blade was hair shaving sharp. The only complaint was that the grind was pretty uneven. No blade play of any kind. It wasn't the knife I wanted and I didn't feel the same so I went out and bought a Sebenza...oh well
 
BoilerUp17 said:
I had a queen Mountain Man that was given to me as a gift and had great sentimental value. Handles were Amber carved stag bone. Anyway, the back spring snapped one day and I emailed a few people at Queen and they all said it could be fixed. So I sent it in with explicit instructions attached to the knife that if it could not be fixed that they do not replace it, as I would have rather had the broken knife instead of a new one. Long story short I got a new knife with I think African wood handles. I was very disappointed as they probably threw away a treasure. I sent a few emails and didn't get a response, so I was pretty turned off, I won't carry a queen again.

Anyway, the knife they sent back had good for and finish, the handles lined perfectly up to the bolsters and the blade was hair shaving sharp. The only complaint was that the grind was pretty uneven. No blade play of any kind. It wasn't the knife I wanted and I didn't feel the same so I went out and bought a Sebenza...oh well
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I'm very sorry to read this. I wouldn't buy any more Queens if that happened to me either. Totally unacceptable and just plain disrespectful.
 
I don't get it.
For at least 5 years there have been repeated examples of Queen having: 1) poor workmanship, esp primary grinds, 2) very poor quality control and 3) customer service that frequently is of no help at all.
People here in BF who know or have met the current owners all say these are fine people who really care about their product.
Queen is a relatively small business yet these committed to quality owners have not managed to rectify these 3 recurring problem areas.
I don't get it.
kj
 
@ btb01, Barrett, I've got that same knife, and I couldn't be more disappointed in it. It was my first "modern" S/M purchase, and while it isn't a bear trap, it does have all the terrible f&f issues yours has. The blade was so far over to the liner, I couldn't even close the knife! I sent it in for warranty, and they fixed the "blade rub" but not the other issue I had with it. When open, the blade is still leaning so far to the left that it looks like a comics' prop knife. I have at least five other Queen made knives that have this horrible blade angle when open, and two of those have ridiculously bad grinds. That said, I have two vintage Queen made knives that are great (not perfect, but pretty close) and two Peanuts that really are perfect in every way. I think the promise of what those good knives of mine kept luring me back to try Queens, but the current offerings and experiences have put me off unless I can handle them in person. There are way too many other knives to choose from these days that it's just not worth the hassle to gamble my money. GEC has spoiled me for quality expectations, and at times I want to scream "if GEC can do it so consistently, why can't Queen!!!"

~Jim
 
White Crown said:
Btb01 your badge fell out? I didn't know they glued the s&m line badges, I would expect it was pinned. That's actually one thing I liked about the knife I recieved, the badge was definitely pinned. I have had a couple case badges and a boker badge fall out and it's really annoying. Luckily I didn't lose any of them.
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I had a couple of S&M's re-handled by Esnyx. There was another thread a while back where he showed some pictures of them torn down and sure enough, the shields were glued.

The daddy barlow was pretty decent from the factory, but the coke bottle's main spring was thicker than the blade which caused some serious horizontal blade play. You could actually see through the gap. Plus, the tip had a pretty crooked edge grind which was not fun to sharpen out. The clasp knife with rosewood covers shown here does have a bit of horizontal play, but otherwise it's fine. The shield appears to be pinned on this one. I REALLY wanted to like these knives so I live with the blade play on the clasp knife (which is caused by the spring being thicker than the blade as well, but not too bad) and fixed it on the coke bottle.

I have a couple of Queen knives, a trapper in amber stag, and a copperhead in curly zebra which are darn near perfect.

I wish they would get their QC straightened out. I really want to like their knives but I'm always hesitant to pull the trigger on a new one.

 
Draggat those red/black covers are absolutely stunning, as was my feathered buffalo horn. At least they get that right, but unfortunately it was about the only thing. I know what you mean about really really wanting to like it, but sometimes you just can't overlook so many other defects. Thanks for those pics though.
 
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