Thoughts on Ontario knives

[upnorth]

Those folders are imports, not built in NY. They are still nice knives and very good values and tend to be well thought of. Ontarios Fixed blades are still largely made near you. They make their own brand as well as knives made by them but branded a different name. They are in my opinion one of the remaining treasures of the knife industry still remaining in the US. We have lost too many other great ones over the years. I hope to see Ontario continue putting out great knives as long as I live and hopefully much longer than that.

I have a bunch I've bought over the last half century and am still enjoying the ones coming out of their plant. Heck, I have 4 "ranger" branded knives, 3 Spec Plus ( love the 5160 knives. I'm glad they began using it along with the old standard 1095, as well as new stainless model in 154cm ( Model SK5 "blackbird). I also have a few military knives in different models and steels.

I suppose there are people who could probably find flaws with anything if they look hard enough. I'm very happy with what I get for the money and keep coming back so they must be doing something right.

Joe

I remember about 5-6 ? years ago there was an ongoing stink and much rough talk about Ontario. Was all that due to the guys splitting off and forming ESEE ?

 

[TwinStick]

Yes, there was. A bit of shady business happened, according to some. This happens many times with companies. It is in the past. They make a great product in my experience (fixed blade SP series).

 

[midnight flyer]

I remember about 5-6 ? years ago there was an ongoing stink and much rough talk about Ontario. Was all that due to the guys splitting off and forming ESEE ?

You bet. There was all kinds of speculation on the cause of it all, but Perrin started the ball rolling on that when he posted while was ticked off at Ontario. He later tried more than once to make amends, but no one hangs onto bad stuff like a dedicated fanboy. It was messy business on this forum.

Ontario was having a few QC issues at the time, Randall and Perrin wanted a different business arrangement, and that is all that is known for sure. The rest is just speculation.

There are dozens of threads on this topic on BF that you can find with a bit of searching. According to the guy I bought my 5 RAT knives from, he was the largest seller of Ontario knives at the time and he saw the Ontario guys and the Randall/Perrin duo a couple of times a year at the trade shows. He assured me that some guy living in southern California or in middle Florida that knew NONE of the players personally had no idea what was going on.

To prove that out, when I bought another RAT folder from him a couple of years ago, he told me that all was well and the two groups were getting along quite well these days, even helping each other out at their respective booths at the shows. I think he was telling me the truth. When I called Ontario for customer service, the service rep that had been there about 15 years told me that my vendor was one of their best customers.

If you have been a reader of this forum long, think about the harsh retaliation hammered out to anyone that asks an off color question or doubts the quality of a branded knife on their sub forum. Not a wise thing to do.

Yes, there was. A bit of shady business happened, according to some. This happens many times with companies. It is in the past. They make a great product in my experience (fixed blade SP series).

See above. I followed all the nonsense here, but also read what Perrin posted and while there were hurt feelings, I don't think there was anything "shady", illegal, or dishonest. I personally think it was lack of business experience on the part of Perrin and Randall. Had their product not taken off, there would have been no dispute, just another failed knife brand. Sometimes you have to give away more than you are comfortable with to get your initial ideas out. Just think what would have happened to the ESEE guys if Ontario had made them sign a non compete clause... OUCH!

As you said, all is well now. They seem to be friendly competitors and both make great knives. In the end, it seems like a win/win to me.

Robert