Taylor Brand Schrade Walden 65th Anniversary knives

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Recently I purchased 3 Taylor Brand Schrade Walden 65th Anniversary knives with stag handle scales: a so called cattle knife (actually a two blade large jack knife with one clip point and one spear point blade) and two 3.5" jack knives.

I like stag handled knives, I wanted to try out the jack knife pattern and bought these as cheap users.
The knives are relatively cheap (they are made in China), have good fit and finish and acceptable stag scales.

However they are nail-breakers, almost impossible to open. I had to use pliers on all the blades on all 3 knives to be able to open them safely. While trying to open them without pliers, they repeatedly slipped off my grip and shut closed like a bear trap or gator jaws, almost cutting off the tip of my fingers. I am used to stiff and strong pocket knife springs, but these were an entirely different category: you might call them finger-mutilators rather than pocketknives.

I tried the usual regimen of flushing out the eventual grit from the joints and oiling them, but unlike in former cases, things did not improve at all.
Upon closer inspection it turned out that there is a common design problem in all of these knives. The blades were designed with half-stop style square-end tangs, but unlike the knives with true half-stops, the spring on these were not tuned appropriately.
Is it possible that somebody at Taylor's designed some knives on the computer screen and gave them to the Chinese who manufactured them exactly to the ordered specs? I have seen many other recent Chinese production knives and those have no such problem whatsoever.

I spent a few hours trying to round the corners on the tangs with needle files, but that still did not help: the main problem seems to be that the tangs are just too long for the tight springs.

An additional problem is the type and position of the nail nicks on the blades. The cattle knife has match-striker type nail nicks, but the one on the clip point blade is partially obscured by the other blade and is put so close to the tang that one cannot employ enough leverage without literally breaking one's nail, and even that would not lift enough the blade.

The main blade on the jack knife has a long pull, but that is also put so far behind that it would require unnecessarily large force to open the blade even in a smoothly operating knife. Clearly, some armchair (or computer screen) "designer genius" drew something elegant looking fantasy piece, but never bothered to apply even the most basic principles of ergonomics or basic mechanics which common sense would dictate.
The result is a "limited edition, knife-like-object collector item" which cleverly resembles a true pocketknife, but is impossible to use like one. :thumbdn::thumbdn:

I recently saw that Taylor sells almost the same objects under another line called "Schrade® Walden® Republic Of Texas 175th Anniversary Commemorative" knives. I would not be surprised if those had the same problem.

I want to make clear that this is not a post about Taylor brands or made in China knives in general, but about the poor design features in this "pocketknife" line which renders those "knives" useless, at least as cutlery items. (They still serve their primary purpose of making profit for Taylor and his Chinese trading partners.)

A pocketknife which cannot be opened is a bad joke at best, and an insult to common sense. :thumbdn::thumbdn:
 
I got a Taylor brand old timer whittler with horn scales to try out. Strangely thr pen and coping secondary blades do Not have 1/2 stops as is usual on a whittler and both are very soft on the snap. Maybe you got my blades littleknife ;-)))
I assume the steel is 440a but has not been heat treated properly because unlike Rough Rider knives which come with and hold a razor edge these will not sharpen worth a damn. The Buffalo scales have shrunk like celluloid and one is lifting and curling. A useless "knife". It's a real shame that Taylor owns these old brand names.

Regards

Robin
 
With a little better QC and attention to detail Taylor Schrade would have the possibility of rescueing their heavily damaged reputation.But they sure wont do it like this.All ive tried have been pretty much junk also.I know a knifemaker that has his design and name on some China made knives.The process involves him sending a finished knife and them copying it and sending back the proto.It takes several back and forth trips before he is satisfied they got it right.Sadly ,the thinking at Taylor might be that they are making money on the junk they are putting out so why change.:thumbdn:
 
Pipeman, I don't know how good the heat treatment of the knives I wrote about is, but hearing your experience, I wouldn't be surprised if their one is poor too. It would make sense from Taylor's point of view: why bother to heat treat an object which cannot be used as a knife anyway?

Seals, you are right, these companies won't change if they can make a profit. Sometimes they won't change even if they can't make any profit from the product. In that case the owners can sell the company and still make some money.
 
Pipeman, I don't know how good the heat treatment of the knives I wrote about is, but hearing your experience, I wouldn't be surprised if their one is poor too. It would make sense from Taylor's point of view: why bother to heat treat an object which cannot be used as a knife anyway?

Seals, you are right, these companies won't change if they can make a profit. Sometimes they won't change even if they can't make any profit from the product. In that case the owners can sell the company and still make some money.

I really don't understand. Rough rider puts out an excellent huge line of knives, always razor sharp out of the box. Their heat treat is excellent so I have to wonder why Taylor would let it slip. What could a proper heat treat cost???

Best regards

Robin
 
I was really interested in these, so about two months ago I was at SMKW in Tennessee and looked over their whole stock (6-8 of each pattern) and couldn't find one in the three or four patterns I wanted that was worth buying.
 
There's just no excuse. If you're going to bastardize a USA Heritage brand name by sending it to China... at least do it right.
 
There's just no excuse. If you're going to bastardize a USA Heritage brand name by sending it to China... at least do it right.

The country where the knife is produced is immaterial to the discussion of whether the knife is a worthy effort...at least for the purposes of discussion in this forum. Let's stick to the knives and leave the inflammatory rhetoric out of the posts. Truth be told, the fault would lie with the U.S. based company which has decided what level of fit and finish is acceptable for their product. The overseas manufacturer will be only too happy to make it to that standard in accordance with the price paid. We've already seen what those manufacturers are capable of producing in other threads.
 
Wow. I wish I had read this before pulling the trigger on their stag "fish knife" this morning. :( I guess I'll see if its all that bad and send it back if it is.
 
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