Survive! knives

Yeah I feel for you pre-order guys. That sucks. October?? My lord. That's like Kickstarter territory.
"Hey I have an idea for a knife, YOU put up the money to make it happen, and in maybe a year or so, we'll give you the knife you paid for."

That's why I can't do Kickstarter. I want the company to go ahead and make the product *before* they try to sell it to me. But that's just me. Still loving my GSO-10
 
Well, I'm not qualified or authorized to speak for Survive but I did order a 3.5 when they came available on the website. The 15 days have passed and I will continue to wait. I spoke to Josh (one helluva nice professional) and he explained some issues with the move. I've spoken through email to Ellie once or twice as well. I haven't found a much better group of people to deal with. I'm sure alot of us that craft something wish we had Guy's problem of keeping up. I own quite a few GSO knives and they are spot on some of the best semi-production knives I've ever owned. If it takes a little longer to get one then I'll be patient.
More importantly, let me say this. I can remember a time when I started doing my kydex work and after I reached the quality level I wanted, sales took off. I had many nights getting off work and hitting the shop, sweating blood (and having the wife worried sick) and seeing the sun come up while still in the shop churning out the work. Tough shoes to stand in. I'd bet you a slip joint folder that Guy has had a few of those. Life happens and lessons learned. All I'm saying is he's a stand up guy with great, hard working people on his team. He's made some mistakes along the way like the preorder issue. Okay. He makes a great product at a great price that is in high demand. He and his team will get it worked out and the knife world will be that much better for it. He's aces in my book and I'll continue to tout his products, buy them, and use them.
 
Hear hear to what Hale has said!

Frankly, if I want one bad enough, I just scour the forums. I am more for function than aesthetics, so if I have to settle for a neon pink handle to get the steel, grind, edge and spine configuration, I can always use a magic marker to dull it a little. I buy this crap to use and that's about it.

Hale Storm said:
Well, I'm not qualified or authorized to speak for Survive but I did order a 3.5 when they came available on the website. The 15 days have passed and I will continue to wait. I spoke to Josh (one helluva nice professional) and he explained some issues with the move. I've spoken through email to Ellie once or twice as well. I haven't found a much better group of people to deal with. I'm sure alot of us that craft something wish we had Guy's problem of keeping up. I own quite a few GSO knives and they are spot on some of the best semi-production knives I've ever owned. If it takes a little longer to get one then I'll be patient.
More importantly, let me say this. I can remember a time when I started doing my kydex work and after I reached the quality level I wanted, sales took off. I had many nights getting off work and hitting the shop, sweating blood (and having the wife worried sick) and seeing the sun come up while still in the shop churning out the work. Tough shoes to stand in. I'd bet you a slip joint folder that Guy has had a few of those. Life happens and lessons learned. All I'm saying is he's a stand up guy with great, hard working people on his team. He's made some mistakes along the way like the preorder issue. Okay. He makes a great product at a great price that is in high demand. He and his team will get it worked out and the knife world will be that much better for it. He's aces in my book and I'll continue to tout his products, buy them, and use them.
Click to expand...
 
I have nothing bad to say about any of the staff personally. They seem like nice people.
I have nothing but praise for the GSOs I've handled and would (and do regularly) suggest them to anyone looking for an outstanding camp knife. I'm sure the staff works very hard, which is admirable.
That being said, in this day and age of digital communications, it would be nice to receive *any sort* of update.
They've had my money since May 24th... You guys can say "be patient" all you want, but that's not my responsibility as a customer.

I looked around and the only thing I could find that helped to establish any kind of expectation was on the GSO 5.1 page:
"All knives are built to order, please expect about 5-15 business days for processing."

It has been 17 business days now. Guess I'll give them a call on Friday... but an email could have saved us both the trouble...
 
LG&M said:
I don't have a dog in this fight. I hope to own a survive knife one day.
all I want to say was this line from kiah is Sig line material
" The game of life always ends the same way and if you're able to spend hundreds of dollars on things like knives then you're probably pretty blessed in it. There's no reason to spend it acting like a douchebag.".
Click to expand...

I think it was Confucius that first said that.
 
I do have to agree that a business should only advertise what they are capable of delivering in terms of products and service. Saying that processing is 5-15 days and taking more than 15 days to get it shipped is like showing items are in stock, but they aren't.

Perhaps Ellie could respond to this, but they should possibly put a 4-6 week indication on shipping, with a good possibility of it being sooner. That would likely give them some leeway and set better expectations.

Just some thoughts from a tired one.

Rasco said:
I have nothing bad to say about any of the staff personally. They seem like nice people.
I have nothing but praise for the GSOs I've handled and would (and do regularly) suggest them to anyone looking for an outstanding camp knife. I'm sure the staff works very hard, which is admirable.
That being said, in this day and age of digital communications, it would be nice to receive *any sort* of update.
They've had my money since May 24th... You guys can say "be patient" all you want, but that's not my responsibility as a customer.

I looked around and the only thing I could find that helped to establish any kind of expectation was on the GSO 5.1 page:
"All knives are built to order, please expect about 5-15 business days for processing."

It has been 17 business days now. Guess I'll give them a call on Friday... but an email could have saved us both the trouble...
Click to expand...
 
Quick question abou the sk4 and S7 steel, how does the steel compare to 1095, A2 and the 3V? I know its super tough but how about edge retention?
 
I used to work in the Tool & Die Trades for about 13 years. S-7, A2, D2, O1, were all common use heat treatable steels (mostly Carpenter) with specific uses. Much of the info on steel application for Die and Mold purposes easily cross over to blade characteristics. All of the info is available online.

S/F

Al
 
Rasco said:
Yeah I feel for you pre-order guys. That sucks. October?? My lord. That's like Kickstarter territory.
"Hey I have an idea for a knife, YOU put up the money to make it happen, and in maybe a year or so, we'll give you the knife you paid for."

That's why I can't do Kickstarter. I want the company to go ahead and make the product *before* they try to sell it to me. But that's just me. Still loving my GSO-10
Click to expand...

This isn't Amazon Fresh. Exercise some patience and email survive. I did yesterday and got a response in a few minutes. Thanks Josh!

5-15 days is for processing. They could take all year on the knife if they wanted after that. Support american small business not just with your dollar, but your respect for things to go wrong on their end.
 
Last edited:
wolverine_173 said:
Quick question abou the sk4 and S7 steel, how does the steel compare to 1095, A2 and the 3V? I know its super tough but how about edge retention?
Click to expand...

http://zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=1095,3V,A2,S7&ni=360,5217,11,571

CPM-3V has approximately the same carbide volume as A2 steel but is ~2X more wear resistant as well as ~2X tougher @ 60 Rc (all that vanadium and PM technology :cool:)

S7 has about 1/2 the carbide volume of those 2, is 50% tougher than CPM-3V @ 57-58Rc, but will be less resistant to abrasive than even A2, especially @57Rc. That said, you probably wouldn't be able to tell A2 from S7 at the same hardness if comparing both to 3V in terms of wear-resistance, both are just too low, not designed for abrasive wear. 1095, with virtually no alloying elements, will be even LESS wear-resistant unless taken to MUCH higher hardness (65 Rc) whereupon it is quite brittle. But most production 1095, e.g. ESEE knives from Rowen, leave 1095 much softer (55-57Rc http://www.eseeknives.com/esee-4.htm) which results in ~50-60 J of impact toughness, comparable to A2 steel at 60Rc but with FAR less wear-resistance.

In summary, S7 is tougher than all but only more wear-resistant than 1095. However, the SK-4 is higher hardness than, for example, the ESEE-4 and should exhibit not only higher toughness but also higher strength and wear-resistance.
 
Finally received my pre-order, but it's not numbered 1-200. After the long wait I was just hoping to see what the # was. I'll reach out and see if there's a compromise...
 
Well, if it makes anyone feel better, I just got my delivery notice for my 3.5 that was ordered on September 16th, on Tuesday. By luck, it should be showing up today, and I leave for a trip north tomorrow. Perfect timing!

I don't expect to get a numbered blade, even though it was a pre-order. As has already been mentioned, the first 200 orders/blades get numbered. It would have been nice, but I'm not overly concerned. I realize that original expectations were for a Christmas time delivery, but so goes the small company production problems. It was a long wait, and I understand peoples frustrations. I'm sure that there was equal frustration on the Survive! side as well.

It appears that Guy's business has expanded a lot over the last couple of years (with a lot of credit due to the various forums and reviews), and I sincerely believe that Survive! has done, and continues, to do their best. I have nothing but praise for their products and customer service.

Just think, in 5-10 years, when Survive! is a world renowned knife company, we all can say that we were there on the ground floor! It's kind of like investing in stocks, but I'd rather invest in an essential tool, than invest in some crooked wall street hustler.

I think that the last couple of years have been a learning experience all the way around, and on every level. In the end, I have some outstanding cutting tools that should outlast me, and that I can pass down to my kids.

I think the future is very bright for Survive!, and I hope to be along for the ride.
 
AlexWitte said:
Finally received my pre-order, but it's not numbered 1-200. After the long wait I was just hoping to see what the # was. I'll reach out and see if there's a compromise...
Click to expand...

Pics maybe?:D I think I can be happy with my #005. But with or without a number as long the blade looks and cuts good! Like Guy says these are tools.
 
Preorders:
Preorders were great for helping Guy launch a business that he had already sunk most of his savings into. They kept SURVIVE! in business. But they also suck. Production is frustrating but in the future it will only be frustrating for us, not you. We will never run a preproduction order promotion ever again.

Current orders:
We can usually get orders out in 5-15 business days pretty easily. Right now we are backed up for two major reasons. 1: The machines are tired and needed some tinkering to get them back to optimum performance. 2: The moving sale was way more popular than we ever imagined it would be. Yes, to fill your order all we have to do is sharpen a knife and screw some handles on. But there are hundreds of orders and Guy is still the only one sharpening blades. We are scheduled to be caught up by the end of next week.

Other News:
No premium handles yet but all of the GSO-3.5 preorder blades are sharpened with the exception of a few FDE blades that needed to be recoated because they weren't up to our standard.
 
moogoogaidan said:
Hey all, without reading through the previous 39 pages, are there plans to offer the GSO-6 again? I had to sell mine to pay for other habits (guns) and am sorely regretting it (as I always am after selling my toys to fund other toys). Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes, we are planning to produce the GSO-6 in the future. No, I have not had time to get that product page setup. It's on the To Do list though!
 
Al U. 5811 said:
You won't until your order is complete. Not to worry though, you will get your knife and be very satisfied. Guy has a small crew but very professional and easy to deal with. I own a GSO 4.1, Necker, and got the last "Blem" GSO 10. The 10 showed up, box beat to hell from USPS and the sheath had damage (none to knife). I called the shop, talked to a very understanding Lady, and got it resolved. She was VERY cool! During our conversation I asked when they would have their red logo shirts back in stock. When my new sheath arrived, guess what was inside and free of charge, red Survive shirt in XL!

Customer for life and spreading the word!

S/F

Al
Click to expand...

That was our very last XL shirt. But we are working on getting some more ordered and I think this next batch will be pretty awesome quality.
 
Neo said:
All models will be offered again with modifications.
Until now some models shared the same handle, from now on every model will have a specific dedicated design best suited for the intended use.
(I'm looking forward for a SK-6 ;) )
Click to expand...

Guy is working on some slight modifications for the different models based on different user feedback. The last productions of the GSO-5, GSO-5.1, GSO-6, and GSO-7/7 and the next productions of the GSO-5.1 and GSO-5 all share the same handle. After that you will see some changes in the designs and the handles won't be interchangeable.

As for SK series, right now we definitely plan to run the SK-4 again and introduce the SK-5, a GSO-5.1 equivalent. Beyond that we are still deciding what models may be offered in the S-7. That requires a lot of big conversations that we haven't had time to have.
 
Ruudr said:
Pics maybe?:D I think I can be happy with my #005. But with or without a number as long the blade looks and cuts good! Like Guy says these are tools.
Click to expand...

YxRstJH.jpg

sN4KVmO.jpg


I won't argue that these are great tools and that the Survive! crew is very courteous. It's just that I'd expect to get exactly what I ordered regardless of production delays. Even if the handle material was wrong, jimping was missing, etc.
 
Josh @ Survive just let me know that there were 300 pre-orders, but only the first 200 were to be numbered. So there you go.
 
Just received mine. Don't remember which color scales or sheath I picked but I know I like what I got...guessing its what I ordered then. :) Just wanted to post a quick comparison photo. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to beat the hell out of it.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top