Queen Quality

[brownshoe]

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

It is easier to find "quality problems" than to fix them, especially when your customer base has high expectations that are diverse and in many cases unrealistic plus your major competition consists of former employees.

I don't buy GEC, but all my Queens have been less than perfect, but not worthy of returning. I consider it character. Minor gaps and hairline cracks have been present on some but haven't changed, the knives are fully intact. I use my Queens for everything, kitchen to work. Some knives are almost perfect...I am picky and the only perfect knives I have seen were, for example, a custom Bose. My Queens are good knives worth what I paid for them. Like me, like anything, there is room for improvement.

What I really love about Queen is their patterns, their swedges, their steel, their heat treat, their covers and the ergonomic feel of their blades plus the minor imperfections that show it is a hand made knife.

If you want perfection, buy SAK.

 

[Dean51]

I was looking at the Queen Derams thread when the #2 post was White Crown off subject about Queen quality. A few hours later he was in the Schatt and Morgon thread going off subject. A few hours later he started his own thread.

Does it sound like White Crown is trolling, maybe. IMHO he is definitely on a mission.

The thing about internet reviews is people who are happy with a product post less about the product, than the folks who are got a lemon. It's not unusual to see the one person post to many sites in order to inflict as much damage as possible.

Blanket statements like the following help no one and only stir up a lot of poop.
“If you are buying a queen knife, be sure to call and request that your particular knife be handpicked. “
“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've never asked a dealer to hand pick a Queen, my one bad knife was returned to Queen and replaced with a good sample. Problem solved. Some were perfect some have minor flaws but over all good knives.

If you get a bad knife there are process to try first, before you post your anger to the internet. And never attempt to repair and then return it to a dealer. It does no good to make a call and question manufacturing procedure or send off an email that may reflect your current attitude.
1. You can return it for an exchange or refund.
2. You can send it back to the factory for a replacement.
3. If you get another bad knife now you have a legitimate complaint.

(“I profile all my knives anyway but with D2 it does take longer”) Perhaps I should have been clearer, I reprofile all my edges. I've had Queens with a wavy edge, primary grinds have been fine.

With all that said this is my last post in a quality thread, they have gotten a bit childish.
The unhappy will always flame away and never admit things may not be as bad as they claim.

 

[mrknife]

It is easier to find "quality problems" than to fix them, especially when your customer base has high expectations that are diverse and in many cases unrealistic plus your major competition consists of former employees....
What I really love about Queen is their patterns, their swedges, their steel, their heat treat, their covers and the ergonomic feel of their blades plus the minor imperfections that show it is a hand made knife.

If you want perfection, buy SAK.

ha! you are right, ive never been let down by an SAK

 

[mrknife]

I was looking at the Queen Derams thread when the #2 post was White Crown off subject about Queen quality. A few hours later he was in the Schatt and Morgon thread going off subject. A few hours later he started his own thread.
...
With all that said this is my last post in a quality thread, they have gotten a bit childish.
The unhappy will always flame away and never admit things may not be as bad as they claim.

yup, i only had to send one queen back, and that was cause of cracked winterbottom bone. where or how it happened? shrugs

 

[supratentorial]

Let's prove that we can have a critical discussion about knives. Let's stay on the topic of the knives. This is the porch (not Sparta). If we have positive experiences, we can show them by posting detailed photos of the knives, including photos of the spring, well, etc to make a point.

Sometimes there are stinkers. This one is the worst that I've gotten from Queen...
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Moose-amp-Texas-Jack?p=14936365#post14936365

Sometimes there are winners like this one...

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...rke-Collaboration-quot-Real-Cattle-Knife-quot

There are a lot of new folks on the forum that may not have been around when complaints about Queen quality were a weekly occurrence on the forum. Some criticisms are about knives made before the new ownership when Queen was already failing. The Daniels hopefully will pull things around. Problems also happen with other brands. There have also been issues with Case and GEC knives. I've had bad Rough Rider knives also. They get drowned in all the praise and hype. And they aren't concentrated into a single thread.

 

[knarfeng]

I was looking at the Queen Derams thread when the #2 post was White Crown

Various posters have said this already. They've been ignored. Now I'm going to say it.
Discuss the knives. Not each other.

 

[cchu518]

I definitely haven't been around long enough to see some of their problems unfold but so long as they keep making traditionals in stainless and semi stainless steels I'm going to keep buying and trying them.

There's definitely a quiet demand and interest for traditionals that require less maintenance in their upkeep.

 

[WoodenChicken]

pic host

My two recent (purchased last week) Queens, these are really sweet

 

[okbohn]

Since we are here, I must inform you that my tone is not mine alone and is a reflection of the tone that he gave me, yes, I was in fact asking questions that may be considered by some as ridiculous, but I was an (over)inquisitive customer but not angry at the time of placing my call......his elevated voice and tone pretty much did say "don't buy another knife from me".... My dialogue with him is actually the prime reason for my dissatisfaction with the company, and also that none of the 3 other people I emailed ever responded to me. If you know them personally, and know them to be different than I am painting them, please say so, but also please let them know how they are coming off differently than you know them to be to customers.

I cut out a bunch of your response so I could highlight the parts I wanted to address.

We deal with (over)inquisitive customers all the time. YES you may have been inquisitive. YES it might have been more than they were comfortable with. BUT you are the CUSTOMER and the one who buys their knives. It is their job to answer your questions. If you ask something that is proprietary, (and people do) they should just politely say, "that is proprietary and we prefer not to disclose that." We say that on behalf of other manufacturers. BUT there is nothing proprietary about saying we sharpen with this piece of equipment and such.

There are so many times in the life of any business when you are frustrated and want to say with your voice, "don't buy from us" but it is our job to treat people well. They should have. No excuses.

Further, there is no excuse for 3 people to fail to respond to your email. There is always a chance one email slips through the cracks, but 3 different people is a much larger issue.

Lastly, I do know the Daniels family and I like them. I like them a lot.

I don't think they are really thumbing their nose at you, I think you likely heard the frustration of trying to pull a struggling company up by its bootstraps. I know I have been very frustrated with them and have had many very frank discussions with Ken and with the president of the company, Jennie. Both are both frustrated with the same things we are and are trying to get things back on track.

Who ever takes their calls (Ryan and others) needs to take a breath and learn to take care of people. I know, I know, I KNOW it is the heart of the company to do that. Sometimes frustrations make their way too close to the surface where they don't belong.

 

[mrknife]

queens quality really does vary. got three in today. schatt and morgans



enhance



enhance



and heres the funky grind

and the fine ones



well more or less fine, looks like glue residue near the MoP

 

[Railsplitter]

I've been wanting to add a little positive feedback to this thread. I finally found some time to do so. The subject knife is a Queen Railsplitter from 2014. I bought the knife in early 2015 and I've carried and used it a fair amount.

I consider it a well made knife although it does have a few imperfections that might make it appear otherwise.

Shield is pinned, well positioned, and there are no gaps between it and the covers. It also sits flush with the covers.



I currently have 7 three blade Railsplitters in my collection and this is the only one that doesn't suffer from blade rub. The photo implies that the Clip blade might rub the liner but it's just the angle of the photo. None of the blades rub on each other or the liners.


There is a gap between the liner and spring on the pile side and between the liner and bolster on one end.




Blades line up with the springs pretty good when opened and there is no blade play in any direction on any of the blades.


The unstained Walnut covers are somewhat unique as most of Queen's Walnut from 2014 is stained. These unstained covers is mostly what attracted me to the knife and probably the main reason that I bought it.




Some of my other Railsplitters are prettier than this one but this is my favorite among them all. The minor flaws mentioned above go unnoticed when using the knife. It's a real fine piece of cutlery and I consider to be one of the good ones, although not perfect.

On another note, I'm awaiting arrival of a Queen Feathered Buffalo Horn Railsplitter. The one I ordered had a gap between the covers and the liner that was not visible in the photo. The good gentleman at KSF (Ben) caught the flaw before he shipped the knife out. He made me aware of the defect and allowed me to choose a different knife, which he also inspected before shipping. Pretty good service considering that I did not ask that the original knife be inspected. That one little effort saved both me and KSF the hassle of a return. Bravo KSF!

 

[supratentorial]

Nice review, Rick! :thumbup: It's also a nice example of a pattern that was pretty much lost until Queen revived it. It's very close in proportions to the oldies from Valley Forge and others. The only other modern examples that I can think of are some rare knives from Cripple Creek and very recent knives from Colt.

 

[Railsplitter]

Right on, Jake! :thumbup: I also like that Queen decided to put a nice Pen blade in place of the Spey blade on these recent Queen branded Railsplitters. A welcome change.

 

[Cory Hess]

Very nice railsplitter, Rick. Thanks for sharing it.

I wanted to provide a quick update on the whittler I sent in to Queen for repair. I got a letter in the mail today saying that they have received my knife and that the expected turnaround time is 6 to 8 weeks. The letter is definitely a form letter that looks to have been photocopied many times. I don't know how accurate the timetable is right now, as it seems that this may be a generic letter that they send out for all repair work. They could have multiple letters with different turnaround times on them and they send out the one that is most accurate when they receive the knife. I don't know. Either way, it was nice to get the letter saying that they have my knife, as the last update from the post office was that it was sitting in their PO box waiting to be picked up. I had assumed that they had the knife in their possession by now, but positive confirmation is a nice touch. I will update again in 6 to 8 weeks when I get my knife back.

 

[Railsplitter]

Thanks, Cory. And you're welcome.

I mentioned in my post above that I was awaiting a Queen Buffalo Horn Railsplitter. It arrived today and here is a quick overview.

The very first thing I noticed is that this Railsplitter is notably thinner than the Walnut Railsplitter that I've had in my EDC rotation for about a year. I felt the thinness immediately and I had to compare it with my Walnut version just to make sure I wasn't going nuts. Sure enough, it's substantially thinner. Upon discovering this I got out the rest of my three blade Railsplitters. Upon further inspection I realized that they are all the same thickness as this new Buffalo Horn version. Only my Walnut version has this thicker profile and I had gotten used to that.



Shield is pinned but doesn't sit quite flush with the covers. It's pretty close and not a problem for me.



Cover are completely different on each side which I knew before purchasing from seeing the photos. Mark side has virtually no feathering while the pile side has plenty.
Again, perfectly fine with me. There is a small gap between the cover and bolster on the left pile side. I also knew about this before purchasing due to the good photos provided by the dealer.





Backsprings are impressive on this knife. No light coming through anywhere despite the hairlines just in front of my fingers in the photo. Nice.



Pen blade has the slightest bit of horizontal blade play but I really had to look hard to detect it. I'll never notice it while using the knife. No play in any direction on the other blades. Edge sharpness is satisfactory right out of the box. I could get by using the knife as is but I'll go ahead and refine the edges to my liking. Good snap on all the blades although the Pen blade is the weakest. Still good though. I'm a stickler for good snap and I've got no complaints.

Great knife overall. The thinness really threw me for a loop at first until I realized it's not that this knife is thinner. Instead, it's that my Walnut version is thicker than normal for a Queen made Railsplitter.

 

[bozack]

I like Queen knives and have a number of them in feathered buffalo horn. All of them are decent knives and the quality of the series is very good to excellent. I have two railsplitters and feel they are the finest of the lot. The one dud I have from Queen is a Harness Jack with fancy bolsters. It had too many issues to be carried. Back springs were proud in the open position, grooves in the bolsters were crooked and too marks not polished out. I sent in in to be repaired in September and just received it today. Looks like the only thing that was fixed was the back springs, they are now even when opened. At least now I can use it.

 

[JustinR]

Very nice railsplitter, Rick. Thanks for sharing it.

I wanted to provide a quick update on the whittler I sent in to Queen for repair. I got a letter in the mail today saying that they have received my knife and that the expected turnaround time is 6 to 8 weeks. The letter is definitely a form letter that looks to have been photocopied many times. I don't know how accurate the timetable is right now, as it seems that this may be a generic letter that they send out for all repair work. They could have multiple letters with different turnaround times on them and they send out the one that is most accurate when they receive the knife. I don't know. Either way, it was nice to get the letter saying that they have my knife, as the last update from the post office was that it was sitting in their PO box waiting to be picked up. I had assumed that they had the knife in their possession by now, but positive confirmation is a nice touch. I will update again in 6 to 8 weeks when I get my knife back.

I got the same form letter at the beginning of November (several weeks after they received it) and my knife still is not in my mailbox yet.

6-8 is probably the best case scenario.

 

[Cory Hess]

I will update again in 6 to 8 weeks when I get my knife back.

Well, it's been 9 1/2 weeks and I don't have my knife back yet. I contacted Ryan Daniels last night, and he said that he had just been checking on the repairs and saw that my knife was still there. He suggested that instead of mailing it to me Courtney could just bring it to the Badger Knife Club show in two weeks. I am good with that, as I was planning on bringing the knife to the show and discussing it with Courtney anyways. It's a little disappointing that we went outside of the 6 to 8 weeks that they promised, but it was nice that Ryan knew right away about my knife and found a solution that I was happy with. As long as it makes an appearance at the knife show it'll be under 12 weeks total for the turnaround. It's not what they promised, but it's in the range for what I expected when I sent it in. I'll update again after the show, hopefully with pictures of my repaired knife.

 

[supratentorial]

It would have been nice if this 9 1/2 week update had a better outcome... and starred 1980s Kim Basinger. But 12 weeks isn't bad. Have fun at the show!! If you get a chance, take some photos and post them. If I don't make it there, I'd love to see photos of Ken Erickson's table.

 

[Cory Hess]

That's funny, that movie popped into my head when I was typing that out. I have had kind of the opposite experience as Mickey Rourke though. He got the beauty for 9 1/2 weeks and I've been without mine for the same length of time.

I'll definitely snap some pictures when we're at the show. Ken was awesome last year, and even posed for a picture next to his sportsman's knife with my daughter. He was so patient with the kids. I was a wreck when we were by his table telling them not to touch anything, and he was saying "Play with them, that's why they're out."