Smith & Wesson Knives

M

mr.trooper

Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
1,449
A lot of people love to bash these knives. Why?

I know my Homeland security model has:
* Titanium coated, hammer forged 440c blade
* Stainless liners
* Coated aluminum scales
* Carson-Eske fliper / finger guard
* Ergonomic handle

This knife has been my EDC for a year and has been used for everything; even an eating utencil. Finaly, after a year, it had a TINY amount of blade play. This disapeared with a small tweek to the blade screw. Problem gone. It may just be me, but i think thats prety dang good for a $30 folder after a year of daily use.

Whats more is that they make many similar knives.

So...Why all the hate? They are way better than anything made by Buck or Gerber in the last decade.

Am I insane or people just being knife snobs?
 
m I insane or people just being knife snobs
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yes.

:p


Try a spyderco or a few other brands and see if you feel this way.

Also at least part of the problem is S&W is rebranded and made by one of the ripoff companies. It's not just a matter of if the knife is good, it' s a matter of the lack of integrity by the manufacturer.
 
Already have tried spyderco and benchmade. I still dont think S&W are 1/2 as bad as everyone says they are. Sorry, but a year of real-world use says otherwise.

Whats the RIp-off? Its an original design as far as i can tell. So what if its made by a hobo in a train car? as long as the hobo uses decent materials and fits the parts well, and includes compensation screws, then who cares who made it?

I supose my commie bayonet is a sucky bayonet because it was made by comunists. :rolleyes:

So a knife can suck, regardless of quality, if you dont "like" the name of the company who made it.

Do all Kershaws suck because you can get a few models in Walmart?

Materials, and fit & finish are apperently irrelevent if youv heard soemone say something bad about it on an internet forum. :rolleyes:

Thanks for answering my question about knife snobs!

P.S.- I didn't lay it on to thick did I?
 
mr.trooper said:
Already have tried spyderco and benchmade. I still dont think S&W are 1/2 as bad as everyone says they are.

Whats the RIp-off? Its an original design as far as i can tell. So what if its made by a hobo in a train car? as long as the hobo uses decent materials and fits the parts well, and includes compensation screws, then who cares who made it?
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S&W knives (if you wanna' call them that) are made by Taylor Cutlery. Taylor Cutlery steals designs from well known manufacturers and knifemakers and claims them as originals. It is a well known fact among those in the knife community. Seeing as you are fairly knew to knives this fact would not be known to you. Spyderco and Benchmade are 2 of the top manufacturers in the US. Their knives are original in that they are designed in-house by a design team or by a custom knifemaker collaborating with them.

And yes, we are snobs because we know the difference between a good knife and a bad company.
 
Thats a nifty factoid. That being said, your right, i probably wont buy any more S&W knives. I dont like suporting dishonest companies either.

BUT, objectively, Just becuase a knife is a re-brand of a stolen design doesn't mean the quality sucks.

If you'v got beef with their knives, just say they are made by a disohnest maker. Dont try and deride the quality just because you dont like company policy. :)

*edit*
Taylor also distributes Schrade.

If you wont buy S&W, then dont buy Schrade either.
 
mr.trooper said:
Thats a nifty factoid. That being said, your right, i probably wont buy any more S&W knives. I dont like suporting dishonest companies either.

BUT, objectively, Just becuase a knife is a re-brand of a stolen design doesn't mean the quality sucks.

If you'v got beef with their knives, just say they are made by a disohnest maker. Dont try and deride the quality just because you dont like company policy. :)

*edit*
Taylor also distributes Schrade.

If you wont buy S&W, then dont buy Schrade either.
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I guess I failed to mention that their knives suck in terms of fit and finish and overall performance. A past bad experience and 6 stitches attest to that.
 
mr. trooper, the problem with S&W quality is that it is inconsistent. For example, they did rip off Darrel Ralph's designs. He didn't like that, and got in touch with them. Now they license his designs and do those knives at a higher level of quality than they used to.

But other S&W models are only as good as they can get away with. You pays your money -- but you takes your chances.

S&W themselves came under fire from some people for cooperating with Clinton-administration gun-control programs. They had sold their brand name to Taylor for knives. This all engendered the antipahy the others have described.

If you find a knife you like, go for it. But understand, your next S&W may disappoint you.
 
one of the things i *loathe* about S&W knifelike metal objects is that the company that stamps them out from pot metal had a rather large hand in the killing of a *SUPERIOR* knife made by a well respected, *QUALITY* knifemaker...

specifically, the Spyderco Dyad series of double bladed folders, Sal can probably fill you in on the nitty-gritty details, but to sum it up succinctly;

Spyderco releases the Dyad series of knives (full size, Jr, and Mini) to great success and acclaim, great knives
shortly thereafter, S&W *STEALS* the design and attempts to patent it, long, painful legal battle ensues
for some improbable reason i'll never figure out, Spyderco decides to let S&W take the design, rather than fight the lawsuit and discontinues the Dyad series
the criminals in S&W continue churning out a substandard knockoff and rake in the money, without even a slap-on-the-wrist penalty

MacTech finds a used Dyad Jr at his local sporting goods shop and buys it, falls in love with the little gem, researches the history of the knife and finds out the above info
MacTech is ENRAGED by S&W's anticompetitive, thieving behavior and vows to never purchase a S&W knifelike metal object, not even for use as a beater.....
 
Most S&W knives I have either owned ot handled have been REALLY bad, ever so often I see some of their newer traditional slipjoints that are really good though, seems their tactical stuff is not so hot.

I have a Buffalo Horn S&W Sowbelly coming in the mail this week, curious to see if it's any good. From online photos I would bet money it's made in the same plant that is turning out the Taylor/Schrade 129OT Sowbelly under their "Schrade Classics" series with Ram's Horn scales. I've had one of those for 2 months now, quality on it is really high.
 
I myself have owned three S&W SWAT framelock tantos. One was silver bead blasted and that one was decent for the money. The other two were the titanium camo versions and those were terrible! The torx screw heads were as soft as lead and stripped out immediately with little force. Upon closer examination I noticed that the screws on my silver one were larger-these screws have been removed and installed many times with no signs of wear at all. I don't know how long Taylor Cutlery has been making these but the silver one is about 4 years old while the others are newer. Also one of the camo versions shipped missing a teflon washer which indicates poor quality control. Buy at your own risk-I no longer buy any more S&W knives since Taylor Cutlery refuses to answer my e-mails regarding my crappy knife.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
TLC, are they using carbon steel or a no-name stainless?
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So far, the S&W traditional slipjoints I have handled have stated they were 440C. The one I have coming was advertised as 440C also.
 
Taylor does rip off designs but I am well pleased with the couple S&W's I picked up over the last few years.
 
My Buffalo Horn Sowbelly arrived about an hour ago, gonna check it out and post more later, initial fit and finish are good, no gaps anywhere between metal and metal or metal and horn.
 
I recall someone, somewhere stating that the 440C used in S&W knives is poorly heat-treated Chinese 440C. Anyone have an opinion on their 440C?
 
S&W Cutting Horse.

Blade material - "Surgical Steel"

Edge-holding - as bad as anything I have ever used. Five minutes cutting grass (no wood/no rocks/no wire/just grass) was sufficeient to make it dead dull. You can feel it melting into a medium coarse ceramic rod as you sharpen.

Safety - closed under load when the lock bar slipped into the gap to the right of the blade tang. (A vote for heavy leather gloves.)

Any company that would turn out such an item deserves no customers IF they were as honorable as the day is long.
 
good info guys!

Colluci, I would appreciate it if you could specify what modle you were using, and exactly what hapened?

And could anyone tell me which knives are patered after Darrel Ralfs designes?

The only model i have experience with is the Homeland Security model. It holds an edge fine (no pun intended). I used it to whittle a handle scales for one of the knives I am making, and its still sharp.

Just today I used it to hammer in a nail while repairing a pool table. It scratched the finish on the scales a little bit, but nothing a sharpie couldn't hide. STILL no play in any of the parts.

Perhaps I just "lucked out", or is the homeland security model one of their better made ones?

I noticed averageguy above is happy with his knives. What models were yours?
 
W.T. Beck said:
I recall someone, somewhere stating that the 440C used in S&W knives is poorly heat-treated Chinese 440C. Anyone have an opinion on their 440C?
Click to expand...

I don't think this 440c(?) is really all that good. I found it wasn't anywhere near as good as my Benchmade 440c. In fact there no comparision between the two. The 440a Kershaw uses will blow away S&Ws 440c.

Now, I think that a S&W knife,to some, would make a perfectly acceptable knife for EDC. "Beauty & quality" are in the eyes of the beholder. I end this with "carry what makes you happy":thumbup:

**at the end of the day, this still a knife. We here, are knife knuts. I used to think i was the only person who really loved knives but now I know better, we should all stick together.
 
I went over mine tonight, overall fit and finish are good, no gaps like I said earlier, all three blades will shave from the box, snap was strong on the main blade, but sluggish on the Sheepsfoot and Spey at first, then I noticed it was bone dry, so I dropped in some Rem-Oil and that took care of that, they walk and talk perfect now. Overall, nothing to complain about, I gave 13.50 total for it and got a knife that stands up fairly well, good construction and fit well worth the money.

Now for the complaint, the one thing I do not like about it is something I have seen on these S&W imports before. Nowhere on the knife is it stamped with the country of origin. On the Sheepsfoot blade was a small transparent sticker with small black print "Made In China". Once this is pealed off and the residue removed, the country of origin is gone. Now that's not gonna be a problem for most knife buyers, people who are knowledgable about knives already know these are offshore, but some might buy it not knowing where it's made. The box does say "Made In China" on it, and the sticker does comply with the import law, but I don't see why Taylor does this on these knives. These new S&W traditionals are the only Taylor knives that I have seen this on so far, other brands they import are stamped.

I don't really care where a knife is made, if it's worth the money, Swiss, German, Chinese or Japanese, but they should be marked with a permanent mark!

The knife itself is good quality, which I did expect from handling S&W slipjoints at shows, the sticker thing aside, not a bad knife at all.
 
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