Slip Joint Quality

A. G. Russell said:
Does that mean yyou have returned a knife and not been satisfied?
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Both knives are in the mail somewhere between Israel and upstate NY.

One single bladed knife has serious blade wobble.

The other should have never left the factory in the first place as the quality was so poor. Both springs on the smaller blades are high when the blades are open, the main clip is way too far forward when open, and a real nick in the spey blade. Not even discussing the very weak walk and talk.
 
My brand new Canal Street Cutlery Half Moon Trapper just got back from the factory. I had sent it in due to unacceptable lateral blade wobble.

Maybe I'm a bit anal regarding blade play but I believe that at that price point a knife such as that should never have made it to the shipping room.

This occurrence is what prompted my initial post.
 
I had the exact same experience; in fact, I am waiting for mine now (I sent it in last week).

I discussed this in detail in another thread and I agree with you that blade wobble is unacceptable in these knives, but the CS guys are human and are very willing to make things right.

I personally am willing to put up with the occasional inconvenience; after all, I will probably have this knife for years, so an additional week or two to make it perfect is not that big a deal (to me).

Those half moonpies are sweet, aren't they?!
 
I am going to chime in here. Of the brands mentioned I have Queen, Bulldog, Hen & Rooster, Boker, and Case. I will add all of these have been bought in the past 8 months. Queen are excellent quility. Same with my Hen & Rooster, but I only have one. Bulldog is good but there is something about it that rubs me the wrong way. Boker is OK. The brand I have the most is Case. I have about 21. Only one has an issue of weak springs. Most are excellent quility. Some are OK. To me all are acceptable for the price paid. The ones that are OK is just a little space between the springs. Maybe a small gap in the handle. But most are excellent. I think when you compair knives in different price ranges you are not being fair to either. For me, in the $50 dollar range, Case are great and I will continue to purchase them. So are the Queen I have. I have never spent over $60 for a knife, so you know my limit of knowledge. But you can't compaire a $150 knife to a $50 knife. Of course the higher one will be better. And it better be for its price. Maybe Case a while back was not so hot. But of what I have seen, they are great.

Bill
 
rmfnla said:
I had the exact same experience; in fact, I am waiting for mine now (I sent it in last week).

I discussed this in detail in another thread and I agree with you that blade wobble is unacceptable in these knives, but the CS guys are human and are very willing to make things right.

I personally am willing to put up with the occasional inconvenience; after all, I will probably have this knife for years, so an additional week or two to make it perfect is not that big a deal (to me).

Those half moonpies are sweet, aren't they?!
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Canal Street was very good about repairing my Half Moon trapper and returned it to me in near perfect shape, no more blade play.

Yes, they are very nice knives.

Yesterday I ordered a Northfield #54 Whittler in Sambar Stag so I am anxious to see the quality of this brand as it is my first time buying one of them.
 
I have a Northfield medium stockman in stag. If your whittler is anywhere as near as nice you will not be disappointed.
 
My Canal St. half Moon Trapper has some blade play but it's got awful snap,pathetic spring frankly. OK I'm glad to hear they do fix up things in 'near perfect shape.' However, it seems that quite a few people have had problems and this leads to reservations about the product. I have had other problems with 2 more of their knives. Like other posters, I don't live in the US and sending things back can be debatable to say the least. Times are getting harder for most of us and I feel that companies should be more vigilant in monitoring what leaves their factories,we can only judge on what we get and on what we hear others get.
 
Why I said "near perfect condition" was that while the blade play problem was well taken of the hinge side of their logo medallion sticks up enough that your finger can catch on the edge of it.

This in no way affects the usage of the knife so I can live with it, maybe I'm just too fussy I don't know.
 
I have got some recent Case knives - The swayback jack in CV and a damascus congress. Both are really outstanding. I have a dozen or so older
70's era Case folders and the new ones are as nice and well made. The older ones are a bit "sexier" meaning a little slimmer and thinner but the new ones seem as well made and I am proud to carry them. I stayed away from Case in the mid 80's up until recently as the few I looked at didn't impress me.

I have a gunstock Queen in D2 and it is plenty nice and I love the steel. I may have to get me a Queen congress. I think if I ever decide to collect a pattern it will be the congress. I don't know why but I love 'em.

I have a med Case stockman on order and hope it turns out to be as nice as the other recent ones too.
 
RobbW said:
Oldways, have you tried Case in the last few months? They really seem to be at the top of their game. I purchased a Chestnut CV Peanut and Swayback Jack that are finished every bit as well as the 3 S&M knives I bought in the past year. Case seems to have really upped their game recently--mirror finished blades, half-stops that are flush in 3 positions, etc.
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This may be due to the fact that Queen is currently doing some of Case's fitting and finishing.
 
My Northfield Whittler with Sambar Stag handles arrived two days ago, I'm sorry that I don't currently have the capability to take a photo as I think that mine looks better than the one pictured at Cumberland Knife works (sorry Bill).

In a word, awesome.

The fit and finish are impeccable, the 1095 blades are razor sharp and the three back springs are perfectly flat in all three positions.

The Sambar slabs are beautifully matched and some of the very finest I have ever seen. I have a few other examples to compare these to and these are without a doubt the prettiest of the lot.

Once I have had the opportunity to do more than slice printer paper I will report back on its performance.

This is, I believe, the best quality production folder I have ever handled. Two thumbs up for the knife and Cumberland!
 
A.G., I think he means in their current incarnation.
 
I think he is referring to the new Queen City marked knives that Queen is producing.

Queen reintroduced the Queen City brand and as far as I can tell they are older styles with 1095 carbon blades. (English Jack and Granddaddy Barlow so far? Ahh, also Teardrop Jack) They also made some styles as a contract SFO for Cozy Glen. (Canoes and Trappers only?)

They are pretty nice. I have a few.
 
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