What are the worst quality knives you had priviledge to experience?

Any Swiss Army style knife I tried as a kid eas garbage. Dull blades, dull saws that didn't saw through anything, drivers that bent out of shape on the first use.

Real ones aren't even expensive, but I didn't know better as a youngin'
 
Anything Bear & Sons is garbage to me. Funny, because they build the knives locally to where I live! I can tell you that quality is not their forte, quantity is. People down here still buy them up like hot cakes though.
 
Smiling said:
Well I am new to this.

.... I will buy 1 more knife at best. And that's it for me.
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If I had a nickel for each time I heard that!

When I was new and now still, finding good, inexpensive knives has helped me, and continues to help me, learn about knives.

Because....you're gonna buy more knives. Not just not buy bad knives!
 
The worst knives I’ve ever owned and used we’re back in the late 1970s. One was a cheap switchblade a friend had smuggled in from Mexico (we were 14 at the time) that he sold me for $5 (he got the better deal). The blade was stamped “Rizzuto estileto Milano” and “stainless”. Total POS, but I carried it in my pocket to school for awhile, thinking it was cool. Until one day I felt a slight scratching/poking sensation on the right side of my junk and discovered the switchblade had come partially open in my pocket, and the tip was lightly touching my right you-know-what. I never carried it again.

The other crappy knives I had were a few ultra-cheap pocketknives that came in packages from Sears at the time. They were made by Colonial and obviously made to be boys’ first knives. One was a little Barlow pattern, one was a scout-type pattern, and one was a little 2-blade jack knife. They had the cheapest molded plastic scales that were loosely fitted, and for coloring looked like someone just swabbed each scale once with purple paint. The blades were some type of chrome-finished carbon steel, and all blades had play in all directions, although they did snap closed OK. They were intended to be misused and lost, as boys often do with things. I never lost them, but simply used them for stuff without worrying about them, then put them away and only carried my good pocketknives.

Jim
 
marcinek said:
If I had a nickel for each time I heard that!

When I was new and now still, finding good, inexpensive knives has helped me, and continues to help me, learn about knives.

Because....you're gonna buy more knives. Not just not buy bad knives!
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.


Damn right. Inexpensive doesn't automatically mean "bad," but more importantly, expensive doesn't automatically mean "good!" :D
 
Worst two knives I own are two from the same buddy that knows I like knives so he buys me knives for my birthday.
The Winchester is the worst of the two.

 
Crikeyyy said:
Wow.....so sad that a classic American brand like Buck has apparently gone down the crapper...
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I don't think they have gone down hill at least certainly not to the extent that some people here would have you believe. This is a matter of differing experiences and opinions based on said experiences. I am willing to concede that we also are not exactly talking about apples to apples as I have only looked at, used, and talked about the classic Buck models and only USA made models. I also for other reasons mostly stick to the SFO Bucks so it does skew our experiences to be different.
 
PirateSeulb said:
I don't think they have gone down hill at least certainly not to the extent that some people here would have you believe. This is a matter of differing experiences and opinions based on said experiences. I am willing to concede that we also are not exactly talking about apples to apples as I have only looked at, used, and talked about the classic Buck models and only USA made models. I also for other reasons mostly stick to the SFO Bucks so it does skew our experiences to be different.
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But that is what I'm talking about. 90% of the Bucks I've purchased have been the lower rung models. If your company can't maintain a certain standard of quality across its product range no matter the price of those products, then sorry, but that's not a company that cares about quality. It just isn't. If your company sells both cheap products as well as expensive products, they should both be quality products.

Look at Kershaw. Kershaw is the King of blowing out cheap Chinese-made assist-open junk knives, and every year, their line release is 20 or 30 more of 'em. But, when you look at them, they're well made (if cheap, of cheap materials) knives for the most part.

Oh, forgot to add. I went back to Academy today where I'd purchased that 112 Slim Select. The four left on the rack all had the exact same issues as mine did. Not one of them had a proper tip on the blade. Amusingly, the 110LTs were on the next hanger over, and they at least had proper points, though the stonewash on those was spotty, with cheap looking plastic handles right out of 1988.
 
Most times an item is super cheep I expect it to be not that great. The times I get really upset is when I spend good money on a upper end brand and get garbage. Worst knives for me = Strider SNG that has so much lock rock it was bassicly a rocking chair and a Benchmade 940 that was so dull and loose it was less functional than a butter knife.

On the flip side of super great buys. Anything from Opinal, SAK or Mora under $35. Often times way better than other knives that cost 5x as much.
 
My worst knife was a buck 285 Bantam. The edge was off center, and with the pinned construction the blade play up and down/side to side was horrendous.
 
I owned a knife store & would buy out inventory of knife stores that had gone toes up! There was a Bear Gryllis folder & fixed blade in a batch. I opened the fixed and used it to cut rope, boxes and other tasks. I was glad I payed less that wholesale for it.. not sharp, wouldn’t stay sharp. If it has the BG logo. Just pass on it..
 
Sog Flash II Tanto. I bought it because it was on closeout so cheap I thought I couldn’t pass it up. Several guys on a gun forum kept raving about it.

The cheapest-feeling plastic handles I ever experienced. The cheapest, tinniest sound when it it opened. I gave it to somebody who could appreciate it, but it gave me no pleasure to do so.
 
Henry Beige said:
Sog Flash II Tanto. I bought it because it was on closeout so cheap I thought I couldn’t pass it up. Several guys on a gun forum kept raving about it.

The cheapest-feeling plastic handles I ever experienced. The cheapest, tinniest sound when it it opened. I gave it to somebody who could appreciate it, but it gave me no pleasure to do so.
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D-Oh!
I kinda like my Flash II DP. :(
I’ll admit it’s definitely not the best knife I own and it’s kinda overpriced at retail, however.
 
Probably the worst knife I’ve ever owned is the Kershaw Natrix series, literally every one I have ever had has had some significant issue.

They can’t seem to understand that if you’re going to drop forge a blade, you actually need to line it up...Actually, they do know they, just don’t care!

Their social media presence makes that abundantly clear.
 
Morakniv Garberg. I have several Companions that are all easy to keep razor sharp. So I bought a Garberg for $75. It arrived ridiculously dull. I’ve tried to sharpen it with stones, my EdgePro, reprofile - with no success. I assume it’s the result of a bad heat treat because the steel seems to take an edge like it’s made of putty. The most useless piece of Garbage that I’ve ever owned.

Even the two Chinese 440 knock-offs that I bought at a gun show years ago (an Applegate-Fairbairn and a Marine combat) put it to shame.
 
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steelhog said:
Most times an item is super cheep I expect it to be not that great. The times I get really upset is when I spend good money on a upper end brand and get garbage. Worst knives for me = Strider SNG that has so much lock rock it was bassicly a rocking chair and a Benchmade 940 that was so dull and loose it was less functional than a butter knife.

On the flip side of super great buys. Anything from Opinal, SAK or Mora under $35. Often times way better than other knives that cost 5x as much.
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I went to reply to the thread again, saw this comment and it checks out 100% with what I'm going to say.

My buddy who has several knives has just ecperienced that very same thing. Fallkniven and Mora are brands he's a huge fan of.
Even though he never actually used his knives. So he decided to test out some of his knives. Long story short - he experienced some chipping on Fallkniven F1 while Mora had no issues at all.
And he's extremley mad that his knife chipped on first use. He was chopping some wood and also used the knives for batoning. He claims that he didn't hit a rock with any of his knives.
But I understand, because at 160€ price tag of Fallkniven F1 I'd be absolutley outraged.
 
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