Terrible Knives

Here's a SACK that my wife recently picked up at a yard sale. I've been educating her to look out for stuff like this. I can't fault her, she's a good kid and has made a few good scores for me in the past. In her mind's eye this probably looked like every other piece of crap I have strewed around in my man cave :D

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At $1, I think it was probably overpriced. I have a friend who thinks a $5 stainless steel throwing-knife/letter opener bought at the county fair is a survival tool. I'll give it to him.

Edit: It's actually worse than it looks in this picture.
 
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I bought a used Gerber Paraframe that was unbelievably dull. It could not cut paper at all, and it would not take an edge on my Arkansas stones despite multiple attempts. A knife that cannot cut things as simple as paper and cannot get sharp is complete garbage. Perhaps it could have taken an edge if I had an Edge Pro or some high end sharpening system, but I shouldn't need all that to simply make it cut. It was after I bought that knife that I did some research on Gerber and realized that they no longer make the much higher quality knives that I bought from them years ago.

That will be the last Gerber knife I ever buy.
 
I dont think you see may negative reviews because most people don't feel like writing about bad buys. We like to write reviews about stuff we like for the most part. I have been dissapointed with knives.

My kershaw chive was a major dissapointment to me. I thought aa was cool at first but it is totally useless and dangerous imo. Secondly, it got rust spots just sitting in my pocket--unacceptable imo.
 
There's a not-too-obvious trap here...not in this thread or responses, but in responses to the general "I got a terrible knife!" post.

1. If it was a name-brand knife, the BF response will generally be,
"Quit whining and return it for repair or replacement! 'XYZ Cutlery' has top notch customer service. Don't complain 'til you've exhausted the options."

2. If it was a cheapy, the response is generally,
"Quit whining, you get what you pay for, you got a $10 POS...live with it!"

I've seen both responses to 'terrible knife' complaints over the years.

With regard to this thread, tho', I've gotten lots of terrible knives, but most have been my own fault for buying cheap in the 1st place...see #2 above. :)
 
I bought a Case Russlock online that i'm somewhat unhappy with. The blade wiggles alot when open and the edge was way off center when new. I think the whole design of the knive needs a rethink really. The lock seems to have been thrown on as an afterthought. It doesn't actually contact the tang and it digs into your finger during use. I do like the opening method and overall look of the knife but IMHO it should just be a slip joint or a liner lock, not both.
 
SOLEIL said:
The big name makers send out a defective product every now and again. It happens, and they take care of it properly 99% of the time. All of them are going to make mistakes. What matters is how they correct those mistakes.
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A big +1 on that.
 
i bought a gerber evo (crkt rip-off) and it is the biggest piece of crap ive ever owned,a weak linerlock,and shitty steel thats a nightmare to sharpen. what a turd.
 
Flash II and Govtac suck. I have owned and gotten rid of both. And SOG's Customer Service sucks as well.

I have had very few other knives that I respected less.
 
orthogonal1 said:
Haven't bought any truely terrible knives since the early '80s. [ ... ] I suspect that my experiences in knives over time have resulted in me not buying "crap" knives, so no terrible knives are bought.
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I think this is the definitive answer to the original question. Most of us know what we're looking for before we buy.
 
EnerDireCutt said:
I find it pretty rare to hear anyone come out and say "Hey, this knife is terrible." It's not often you see a bad review, and when someone does say something bad about a knife, a dozen people usually pile in to clobber him for disrespecting a fantastic blade.

So: what knives have you used that were just awful? I don't mean department store knives or Chinese knock offs, I mean knives from big name brands like Spyderco and Benchmade.
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Closest thing I've had to a "terrible" knife is a Buck/Strider B882. The liner
is scrawny, the blade is way off-centered when closed, and the texturing
of the G10 scales reminds me of a cheese grater. The off-center problem seems deliberate as the washers on either side of the pivot are, for some reason, of different thickness. The thumb studs are way too close to the frame to be of any use--use the hole or just flip it.

Amazingly, after the blade wobbles its way into the open position, the lock-up is tight but not confidence-inspiring. The Bos treated blade is what I would expect from anything with his name on it but it is very heavy and the stippling is weird.

I bought this knife to see if the Strider design would steer me towards buying the SNG. It didn't.
 
I don't know about "terrible," but I have received a fair number of "duds" that I had to send back for repairs/ exchange. I got a Kershaw G10 leek that would only spring open half way, a Ritter griptillian with ridiculously bad finish on one side. A Lone Wolf T1 which had the blade actually hitting a liner spacer putting a dent in the blade edge. The replacement had a liner lock that actually broke off too. A Beretta Harsey with the bearing placed so it would engage the detent so tight you could barely open it with 2 hands. All these were replaced or repaired and I am happy now. As for being dissapointed with a knife, I really haven't yet as I usually research other opinions on forums first. .
 
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vjb.knife said:
Flash II and Govtac suck. I have owned and gotten rid of both. And SOG's Customer Service sucks as well.

I have had very few other knives that I respected less.
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I am in the middle of a problem with a SOG Flash two right now. The blade had serious up/down play. So far the customer service has been really nice. The only test now is if my blade comes back fixed... We will see.
 
I'm surprised, you guys are mentioning some top name brands where QC is seriously lacking. Makes me want to think twice about ordering something online, where I can't get to actually handle it and see if it works right.

I know, that POS I posted above was a goof and out of bounds ;)
 
Okay, I'll say it. I have seen several Buck 110's that didn't seem to hold up well at all. Seems like they don't lock upvery tight to me.
 
While not actually terrible in the least, going with the perceived worth angle I was disappointed with my three USA-made Spydercos. It appeared the price hike up from 30 dollar knives went purely into materials rather than craftsmanship which was counter to what I really wanted.

1 is a Para and 2 were Milies. All were very off-centered, even after complete disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly. Less of a concern was that the sharpened bevel on them all was extremely uneven being ground twice as much on one side as the other. The nail in the coffin for them was the Spyderco Bug freebie I got which had the best fit and finish of the bunch. I returned the Milies and have been tinkering with the Para since.

At least on the Para it turned out the liners were warped i.e. didn't lay flat on a table. I sanded them down and mirror polished around the pivot and the blade is centered now. I convexed the bevel to even it out (cpm-d2 is a bitch to convex apparently.) Yet it was such a frustration that I now hate the knife and am awaiting the day I can ditch it.

Irrational, I know, but by my criteria I didn't get my perceived money's worth. Blasphemy!

I also have a Case in their repair center for blade rubbing right now. I have rotten luck :cool:
 
I had a Buck Strider that was just awful. Blade wouldn't stay shut, the edge was unusable from the factory, the blade scraped the scale when closed and this was a $100+ folder with BOS heat treated ATS-34, Ti liners made in the USA.

I'd find the thread, but my gold membership is expired at the moment. I shipped it back to buck, and it came back it similarly terrible, unusable condition.
 
Almost every knife I've ever gotten from a well-known manufacturer is good, but:

I bought a Titanium Cold Steel Ti-Lite and the found that I couldn't engage the liner lock without using a screw driver. This was a first in the several hundred knives I've owned. Perhaps I got a bad one.

The lock on my Spyderco Captain was tough to manage to, too. It was recessed far enough that I had to use a fingernail, but so firm it felt like I might lose the fingernail. The blade shape made it impractical for most tasks. It was a really interesting looking and different knife, but not for me.

I had a Smith & Wesson cutting horse knife that weighed maybe an ounce and felt about as tough to break as a graham cracker.

I also had a Chive in 440 that couldn't seem to take an edge.
 
I would have to say the only name brand knife I have had a problem with was a Benchmade. However, I don't believe it is true of the Benchmade brand. It seems that it was because it was in the red series and very cheap. The problem I had was small but annoyed me enough to share it in this thread. The problem I had was with a Pika II which is around 40 dollars directly from Benchmade. What happened is after about a month of use as an EDC blade it began to have a lot of wobble in the lock. Anyways not a Benchmade Brand problem just knife particular problem. BTW I usually love Benchmade knives.
 
I had a Gerber multitool literally fall apart in my hands. Never bothered trying to replace it.
 
Does Schrade count as a major brand?

I have a Schrade Cliphanger liner lock with about a 4" combo edge blade.
I got it on a whim on sale in a hardware store when i was about 15.
It's claim to fame is a little snap hook with a short lanyard which attaches to the handle with a quick release. You hang the knife off a belt loop and away you go.

Good points: Nicely shaped clip point blade, serrations that actually cut. Nifty lanyard.

Bad points: A gigantic mutated thumb stud. It's like a peice of angle iron riveted to the side of the blade. It's an erganomic nightmare and it interferes with cutting tasks.

A synthetic handle scales I can only describe as squishy. There are no liners. You can flex the whole knife in alarming ways.

The worst pocket clip EVER. You NEED the lanyard clipped to your belt because the pocket clip does not work.

If you attempt to remove the pocket clip that doesn't work you make an even more alarming discovery. The entire butt end of the knife is held together with a self tapping screw which tranfixes the squishy body and goes into the plastic pocket clip.

Yes that's right. The pocket clip that doesnt work, and looks removable is an intergral part of the knife! And pinning it all together is basicaly a wood screw!

Every once in a while i take that knife out and just look at it.

Sometimes it makes me sad because if you kinda squint and don't try to use it, it looks like a very purposeful blade,
and i wish i had something like it that didn't suck.

Most of the time I just giggle and wonder what the designers were smoking.

Oh yeh, and the liner lock is hilarious too.
It's snaps in place smartly is really quite solid.
But the handle ergenomics meen you might accidentaly disengage it in common grip positions...
Even if you dodge that bullet the flexing handle scales might do the job for you if you hold tight.
 
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