The Queen wobble.

I

Invoice

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Dec 3, 2006
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Is it me? Or do a lot of Queen knives have blade wobble.
I love my Queen knives but they have blade wobble.
My DB Barlow,Forum Barlow, Mountain Man and Heritage Ebony Jack all have blade wobble.
That probably doesn't even count all the Queens I got hanging around.
So I'm just wondering...
 
None of my Queens wobble. Butter-knife dull, yes. And on a couple the blade edge hit the inner bottom of the liner such that it made a flat spot on the edge until I removed A LOT of steel from the edge. But, they don't wobble.
 
Here's a quick survey:

8 D2 bladed knives, including two liner lock patterns NO wobble at all.

4 Carbon blades (2 Teardops, an HJ and the 2010 Forum Knife) The Teardrops have it, the Forum Knife's Clip blade has it, not the Spear, the HJ none at all.

5 Schatt&Morgan stainless knives: English Jack, Horticultural knife, Premier No.7, Half Whittler, Series I Slimline Trapper. Only the last has no play and is decently made. The others have considerable play and or gap problems, won't be buying this brand again...

Rather varied, D2 knives in bone or wood have been well turned out and have no play, excellent! Carbons, varied. Stainless Schatts have it a plenty I'm afraid.
 
Might just be you. I have five Queen-made knives (QDB Rancher & half-whittler, 2010 BFC forum moose, S&M harness jack, and Mooremaker sodbuster) and none of the blades wobble.

- Christian
 
OF many (Queen, QCCC, Northwoods, Schatt, MooreMaker etc), none of the ones I have wobble

I like that they are dull on arrival - means you get to make them yours (by sharpening) straight off the bat

The large Queen/Burke barlow flexes some - but it is a long knife, and it isn't wobble
 
No wobble on 10+ Queen made knives. But schlocky grinds on more than half on those which required too many days of my life sacrificed reprofiling them. In my old age I will blame all bursitis and tennis elbow on poorly ground Queen D2 blades...
 
I think with any manufactured goods you will find examples that aren't quite up to snuff. I am luck to have all my Queen knives lock up well and have no blade play.

If I had brand new ones that had a lot of movement, I would send them back where I bought them. I think you can see that your experience isn't the norm telcontar, when purchasing newer Queen products.

I had a couple I bought in the late 70s that weren't very well built knives (I ran back to CASE at that time as fast as I could!) but when thinking about it..... wow..... that was over 30 years ago. Things change. My last 6 traditional knife purchases have all been Queens!

Buy from a reputable dealer and he will take care of you, or purchase from a venue where you can inspect the exact knife you are interested in before purchasing.

Robert
 
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I really hope I don't have any issues this Christmas. I ordered a Burke/Queen large barlow, and Queen/Pardue canoe whittler, and a S&M File and Wire Large Barlow.

I pray they don't have any blade play, as I would be very sad!
 
The Mountain Man went back to Queen and they pretty much fixed the wobble. The Forum Barlow went back 3 times and it still has a little. I expected better from the DB. The Heritage Jack I think I'll send in to Queen for a tune up.
But I guess from the responses is that most of the time they are tight knives. I've just been a little disappointed with them. Why should I be?
 
I have had Queens in the past that wobbled and shimmied ;). I have a fair amount of later models made by Queen, and thankfully, this problem seems to have passed.
 
In any case:

Give the pin a firm bop with a 2oz hammer

Works every time - you might wrap the bolster in leather for a bit of protection

The vice squeeze trick works also, but it risks bending the pin, making things rather worse
 
My Moore Maker Mountain Man knife has wobble up and down with extended blade. I believe Queen made it. the knife has great ram horn scales, I just hate the wobble. Queen didn't seem interested in fixing the problem. I would like to keep the knife and not have it replaced with another. Just fixed. I will be more careful nextime. I never have had a knife with that problem.
 
My gunstock jack had so much play in the blade that I took the (then) unprecedented step of taking a ball peen hammer to the pivot. This corrected the problem but left the right side bolster a bit of a mess. Oh yeah, butter knife dull too. I love the knife now but it did have its problems.
 
My D2 serpentine jack has no play. Handle fit and finish are excellent. It did come with an almost comically lopsided grind on both blades. Almost like an Emerson chisel grind. Took a long time to regrind by hand, but is okay now. The blade grind is such a well known issue with Queen, you'd think they'd change their manufacturing process. I guess they don't need to change anything as long as people keep buying.
 
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