Contrary to others, I have had great luck with the keystone knives and less so with the file and wire series, although I think all of my S&M were good value for my money.
First this mornings snapshot:
My keystone cattle knife takes a very fine edge that stays appreciably sharp for my uses, great walk and talk, fit is great and is a fine user.
The keystone Muskrat (2008) is with me today. Beautiful rich burnt red bone, great blade choices, and has been fairly easy to touch up blades due in part to the 420 steel. Small liner:spring gap on the wharncliffe blade, but only noticeable when looking through the frame at a light. The blades were a mixture, the sharpest and dullest blades found in a 9 knife purchase, but the same existed in a GEC from the same batch, and none of the knives in the batch really were that sharp out if the box.
The red File and Wire is the best example of the type that I have. Great fit/finish, walk and talk. Both blades ground well, with thin working edges. The best part is the knife came to me clean!! Easy in the pocket, and I don't mind the busy bolsters.
The Barlow I like- solid snap, hand filling, the grooves seem like they will give great purchase when dirty/wet. I like the small clip blade that really isn't! The ATS is a bit of a bug to sharpen out in the big blade, but wasn't too bad. The worst part was the metal shavings trapped in the liner, and how dirty the pivots were. Price I thought was very fair, considering size and steel, but wished it was constructed more cleanly, the metal fragments were loose inside the handle, as though it was assembled and then finish ground, forcing the shards to be trapped.
The toothpick was even worse in regards to edge touch up and metal filings. However once cleaned and sharpened it us a nice knife that is worth the money. Thin and easier carrying than you would think, the lighter pull still lends confidence to quality, and due to size and thinness is a good slicer so far. On both of the worm groove knives there is no excess motion at the pivot, so my issues were more one of housekeeping on the knife than construction issues.
I'm pretty sure it will the hard for a company to push GEC from my number one spot, but I have no problem with S&M for working knives, at least with what I have and Knifeswapper as a vendor to trust!
