United Cutlery Honshu dagger UC 2630

H

halbschaf

Joined
Oct 26, 2011
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191
Hey guys
Has anyone experience in this knife? I've bought one, here in Germany for around 80 €. It's comfortable in the hand and looks great. Steel should be 440 A. I don't expect high quality, but is it indeed of such poor quality one reads from time to time?
 
UC doesn't make knives so much as they make knife-shaped objects. They do a pretty good job - You could almost confuse them with actual knives!

With the exception of the Willumsen Blondie collaboration, I don't know if they have ever put out a knife that was of particularly reasonable quality.

Generally, for the same amount of money, you can get a Kershaw or Cold Steek of almost immeasurably higher quality.
 
The United 2630 is a copy of the Cold Steel Tai Pan. Since the United 2630 costs around $40, and the Tai Pan costs around $300, I don't think the OP will find the Cold Steel version for the same amount of money as the United.

I have no experience with the United 2630. And my general policy is- If I have no experience with a particular knife I don't comment on it's level of quality.

I believe there are Youtube videos showing people "testing" the United 2630, so those might give you some indication of what you bought.

As far as United brand knives in general, I have a few United boot knives that I like a lot. Just out of curiosity I once tried to break one of them by repeatedly jamming the tip of the blade deep into a piece of wood and then prying it out side to side. To my surprise the tip didn't break or bend, so I stopped trying to break it and instead chose to value it as a very tough boot knife.
 
When I was a kid, United Cutlery was THE brand to watch if you wanted a cheap "mystery steel" knife, before MTech or TacForce or any of the other players in the market today. At the time, I was really into daggers and boot knives, and I still have a couple of UCs around here in a box. I think they were made in Taiwan, but maybe mainland China. Over time, I did pick up a couple of their other knives that were supposedly made in the USA. One was a Colt "tactical" folder, and another was an Outdoor Life fixed blade that is a 100% copy of a Schrade X-Timer, to the point that I suspect Schrade was making at least a few United products when they needed a couple of models for the made-in-America crowd.

To this day, I don't think I ever cut anything with any of them. I bought them for novelty value at the time, and with the possible exception of the Outdoor Life, none would serve a practical purpose. That being said, an awful lot of people have had quite acceptable results using knives that most BFCers wouldn't blink at.
 
Thanks a lot for your answers. Ok, what I suppose to have learned is, that it is a thing between scrap and low quality. That was my assumption.
But I don´t have a clue why? 440 A is an ordinary steel, ok not too good, but once it is sharpened it should work for daggers. The rubber handle is nonslip, maybe that won´t last long. The tang construction? Is it fragile? To find it out, maybe I have to experiment a bit.
 
Comeuppance said:
UC doesn't make knives so much as they make knife-shaped objects. They do a pretty good job - You could almost confuse them with actual knives!

With the exception of the Willumsen Blondie collaboration, I don't know if they have ever put out a knife that was of particularly reasonable quality.

Generally, for the same amount of money, you can get a Kershaw or Cold Steek of almost immeasurably higher quality.
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Very good analysis. Knife shaped objects is spot on.
 
I'm curious where you got that "440A" from. All ads I see for the UC 2630 say the mysterious "440" and one possibly erroneously says 420. Either way, "440" coming out of China on this level knife could be anything. I see some discussion that it is actually 7CR13 but as I said, it could be anything.
 
Ok, I'm convinced but not amused. Next time I'll ask before buying China stuff. I thought they meanwhile would produce better quality. I have to check, but I suppose to have several Cold Steel knives from China.
 
Since the UC 2630 is basically just a big stabbing weapon, I don't think it requires a high degree of quality or a high-end steel. If it did possess a high degree of quality, and if it were made of a high-end steel, then it would be considerably more expensive (like the Cold Steel Tai Pan).

For what it is, and for it's price, I think the UC 2630 is of decent quality. After all, it's not intended for chopping down trees or skinning and butchering elk.

I recently handled one, and I considered getting it just for fun, but I chose not to. Not because of quality issues, just because I have zero use for it and I'd rather put that $40 towards something else.
 
halbschaf said:
Ok, I'm convinced but not amused. Next time I'll ask before buying China stuff. I thought they meanwhile would produce better quality. I have to check, but I suppose to have several Cold Steel knives from China.
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Cold Steel is a much better company than United Cutlery.

I don't even like the Cold Steel product line.

Try SOG or you could even ask one of the Bladeforums knife makers to make you one.

Try Grinchsmile, he's nice and might be willing to ship internationally.
 
halbschaf said:
Ok, I'm convinced but not amused. Next time I'll ask before buying China stuff. I thought they meanwhile would produce better quality. I have to check, but I suppose to have several Cold Steel knives from China.
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NG VI said:
Cold Steel is a much better company than United Cutlery.
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Exactly. There's "good" China stuff and "bad" China stuff. With companies like Kizer and Reate and Stedemon out there, characterizing China stuff as generally being poor quality these days simply makes a person look like they don't know what they're talking about.

As always, there's just no substitute for doing your homework.
 
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This UC 2630 is a knockoff of the Cold Steel Taipan and the UC model 2629 of the Cold Steel Magnum Tanto. The Cold Steel models are (were) made in Seki Japan by Hattori, much much higher in quality and price.
I don't consider the UC model to be "good", made in China or otherwise. It's a bit of a joke putting "Honshu" on the blade (main Japanese island) and then putting "Okinawa" in red on the box. This is like putting "Continental US" on the blade then "Hawaii" on the box, but hey, what do westerners know since hey can't read it? If you want a Tanto, low priced but decent quality, I recommend the Taiwan made SOG Tsunami or Cold Steel's Japan and Taiwan made Tantos, or CRKT's offerings.
 
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Again many interesting answers, thanks for that. Sounds not too good regarding the UC dagger. Also I haven't been aware, that many of the CS knives show same failures.
I do not await a good quality steel or all around good quality of the UC, but I hope that, when putting a good edge on it, one can use it in case of SD, means that it is solid enough not to break. Maybe as last chance to defend against dogs, wild critters or whatever. In hand it feels comfortable, anyhow.
 
halbschaf said:
Again many interesting answers, thanks for that. Sounds not too good regarding the UC dagger. Also I haven't been aware, that many of the CS knives show same failures.
I do not await a good quality steel or all around good quality of the UC, but I hope that, when putting a good edge on it, one can use it in case of SD, means that it is solid enough not to break. Maybe as last chance to defend against dogs, wild critters or whatever. In hand it feels comfortable, anyhow.
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It is true that a self-defense knife really only needs to be sharp once. Cold Steel's cheaper offerings (machetes, anything made from carbon steel other than SK5) tend to be high-end flea market fare quality. Something you could buy as a teenager and go hack up some brush in your backyard with, but not something to bet your life on. Their more premium blades - made from VG-1, San Mai (VG-1 with a laminate), AUS-8, SK-5, etc - are incredibly reliable and fantastic values. Their 3V knives are quite a deal, and are tough enough for basically anything.

If you want a knife for self-defense and nothing else... Pretty much any cheap POS fixed blade will do. Heck, a Smith and Wesson HRT boot knife is probably all you'd ever need.
 
I have few Master Cutlery products, which would be closest thing (possibly) to United Cutlery,despite some sources compare them two and mark United as more of the quality products.

I do not have United Cutlery, but I very much think that they are in pair for what you are paying for.I think they can be used and may even surprise by performance is only my guess...You should buy these directly from knifecenter in Us,this knife cost there something over 30$, I would definitely not buy this for 80€ which could be equal anything from 90-100$ in conversion of money,for these money there are far superior products for sure....
 
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