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

Smiling said:
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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Chipping on the factory edge is not uncommon for fallkniven blades. Sharpening past the factory edge seems to eliminate the problem. This can happen with a knife from any manufacturer but is particularly prevalent with fallkniven. If you do a bit of research you will find these reports. This is one of the reasons I have stayed away from their knives.
 
craytab said:
Chipping on the factory edge is not uncommon for fallkniven blades. Sharpening past the factory edge seems to eliminate the problem. This can happen with a knife from any manufacturer but is particularly prevalent with fallkniven. If you do a bit of research you will find these reports. This is one of the reasons I have stayed away from their knives.
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Well such a thing is apsurd at this price tag if you ask me.

You pay 160€ for a relativley small knife you can't even use straight out of the box...
If that's common with them - it makes me question their quality control.
They have huge fan base in my country, and people pay big money for their knives, so I guess they do something right, but some things make me wonder if they're worthy of such money.
For less than half the price you can find knives with excellent performance that you can use straight of the box...
 
Smiling said:
Well such a thing is apsurd at this price tag if you ask me.

You pay 160€ for a relativley small knife you can't even use straight out of the box...
If that's common with them - it makes me question their quality control.
They have huge fan base in my country, and people pay big money for their knives, so I guess they do something right, but some things make me wonder if they're worthy of such money.
For less than half the price you can find knives with excellent performance that you can use straight of the box...
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It’s a catch 22. Makers and quality is judged by out of the box sharpness and most buyers don’t even use their knives. So do you go with a very acute edge that can shave, or a more practical edge that gets comments that “the factory could have put a much better edge on it.” The user can ultimately put the edge they prefer on it, but from a marketing perspective I can understand why they go with the sharper if more fragile edge.

n2s
 
Smiling said:
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.
Click to expand...

What kind of chopping was he doing, and what kind of chips did he get?

A brand new Fallkniven can chip slightly, but even a nice stropping before use will prevent it. That can be a Fallkniven deal breaker, YMMV.
 
I immediately thought Emerson because for what was paid I was highly disappointed. But your question seems to be worst overall, and what comes to mind are some United cutlery fantasy knives that I was gifted.

One downfall of being known as a knife enthusiast is that sometimes you are given crappy knives instead of something useful like socks.
 
not2sharp said:
It’s a catch 22. Makers and quality is judged by out of the box sharpness and most buyers don’t even use their knives. So do you go with a very acute edge that can shave, or a more practical edge that gets comments that “the factory could have put a much better edge on it.” The user can ultimately put the edge they prefer on it, but from a marketing perspective I can understand why they go with the sharper if more fragile edge.

n2s
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The dullest knife I've ever got from the factory is a highly regarded brand here on the forum. The bevels didn't even meet to an acute apex at the edge. Wouldn't cut a thing. Good steel and handle but they passed it through a signed quality control inspection. Upon mentioning , I found it wasn't an isolated incident. Personally not a problem because I could fix it myself but for many it would have to be sent back. Imho price doesn't always equate to a sharp factory edge. It does seem some brands are more consistent than others delivering a sharp edge from the factory regardless of price.



i
 
marcinek said:
What kind of chopping was he doing, and what kind of chips did he get?

A brand new Fallkniven can chip slightly, but even a nice stropping before use will prevent it. That can be a Fallkniven deal breaker, YMMV.
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Those were lower branches of still alive trees and weren't so big. 2-3cm thick apparently.
He apparently first batoned dry wood for fire at home. But didn't notice chips till after chopping in forrest. Chips are small, just few mm deep into the blade but significantly wider than deep.

He bought the knife few months ago, but he never used it till now. Steel is stainless and he keeps his knives as treasure so I doubt that it could have much effect.

If it is true what other members said (that Fallkniven has such issues) then I also want to stay away from them.
 
not2sharp said:
It’s a catch 22. Makers and quality is judged by out of the box sharpness and most buyers don’t even use their knives. So do you go with a very acute edge that can shave, or a more practical edge that gets comments that “the factory could have put a much better edge on it.” The user can ultimately put the edge they prefer on it, but from a marketing perspective I can understand why they go with the sharper if more fragile edge.

n2s
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Now this does make sense to me.

Since he never used knives before it's possible his technique wasn't that good.
It could be a lemon too...

I mean I still believe Fallkniven offers some good quality but hearing stuff like this gives me second thoughts.
They're out of my price range anyways so I'm not bothered by it that much.
 
Quiet said:
... 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. ...
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Kershaw and their parent company Kai serve a huge spectrum of the market. Their customer service is stellar too. Not many companies are happy to send you free parts, different pocket clips, etc. While I don't like everything Kershaw makes, I've had relatively good experiences from the sub-$10 Hotwire to the M390 Dividend. "Relative" is what matters here.

That Hotwire had surprisingly good fit and finish for the price. It was comfortable to use. The blade shape was great. The obvious letdown was the 3Cr13Mov. Edge retention was abysmal. It was easy to sharpen back up but it would be pretty needy for a lot of EDC tasks. For somebody who just wanted a cool letter opener though, it could be a solid bargain. It's certainly a win versus other sub-$10 knives.

Their slew of 8Cr13Mov knives have offered plenty of decent options for people shopping in the $20-30 range. Competition has crept up with better steels online but for people only shopping in this range at brick and mortar, I'd easily choose them over CRKT, Gerber, etc. I've seen some cool designs come up through here and I'd love to see "premium" versions of some of them. The Clash, Fraxion, and Atmos are good examples. The latter gives me a little grief though. However cool, $35 is a lot for 8Cr13Mov in today's market.
 
jux t said:
I immediately thought Emerson because for what was paid I was highly disappointed. But your question seems to be worst overall, and what comes to mind are some United cutlery fantasy knives that I was gifted.

One downfall of being known as a knife enthusiast is that sometimes you are given crappy knives instead of something useful like socks.
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Feel free to write down anything that was disappointing :D
Point of this thread is to have a laugh and/or get some info which products to be cautious about.

That last thing can't be helped tho. Try to think positive and see those knife as something funny. I watched Nick Shabaz youtube videos about terrible knives (thanks to the kind person on here who mentioned it) and it's kinda fun.
 
Smiling said:
Now this does make sense to me.

Since he never used knives before it's possible his technique wasn't that good.
It could be a lemon too...

I mean I still believe Fallkniven offers some good quality but hearing stuff like this gives me second thoughts.
They're out of my price range anyways so I'm not bothered by it that much.
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Chipping is a known issue with Fallkniven and I can understand it being a potential deal breaker. That said, tons of people love them...they make great knives and are nice folks.

Chipping, and especially, larger moon shaped chips like you mention, is also a known issue with improper chopping technique. Like your friend who never used his knives may have. Often folks have a "weak" wrist and that angle change/rotation can pry out chips when chopping even small branches. That is not a Fallkniven issue...its an "everybody" issue.

All that said, if it's a deal breaker for you, it's a deal breaker for you.

Though I might have to evoke Fallkniven guru Mikael W Mikael W to give you the full story on Fallkniven! :D
 
I've owned some pretty bad knives over the years. The worst offenders were sourced at ye old county fair, mostly won as game prizes. Some had silly fantasy designs. Some looked more traditional but were just plain bad. The problem is that it's hard to give a specific example or reference a model online. For that, it seems you at least need to rise to the level of MTech, Tac Force, etc. :p
 
marcinek said:
Chipping is a known issue with Fallkniven and I can understand it being a potential deal breaker. That said, tons of people love them...they make great knives and are nice folks.

Chipping, and especially, larger moon shaped chips like you mention, is also a known issue with improper chopping technique. Like your friend who never used his knives may have. Often folks have a "weak" wrist and that angle change/rotation can pry out chips when chopping even small branches. That is not a Fallkniven issue...its an "everybody" issue.

All that said, if it's a deal breaker for you, it's a deal breaker for you.

Though I might have to evoke Fallkniven guru Mikael W Mikael W to give you the full story on Fallkniven! :D
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Here I am, but please don't adress me as some sort of guru around Fällkniven knives.There are more recent and thorough guys around nowadays.
However as stated in several posts above, halfmoon chipping occurs when edgegeometry meets the wrong technique for the job.
It's not related to specific brands and occurs every now and then. I have done the same mistakes myself and learned my lessons the hard way.

About Fällkniven and initial microchipping, it can occur (but not always) when the knife is new. After a few sharpening sessions, the edge gets stable.
This also goes for a lot of brands and I always set the edge to my own standards.
All knives will eventually go dull if used and knowing how to restore + sharpen an edge are skills worth learning.

Regards
Mikael
 
The Fallkniven (and Japanese technology often) involves including a high hardness steel core in a softer steel outer cladding. This allows to combine a long lasting (and very sharp) hard inner core with a more compliant outer blade. The downside is that the whole blade doesn't live up to the toughness you expect from that "tough" outer core. Chopping and wiggling out sideways a stuck blade, for example, may damage the cutting edge. The knife is not bad, you just used it badly.
 
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Chronovore said:
I've owned some pretty bad knives over the years. The worst offenders were sourced at ye old county fair, mostly won as game prizes. Some had silly fantasy designs. Some looked more traditional but were just plain bad. The problem is that it's hard to give a specific example or reference a model online. For that, it seems you at least need to rise to the level of MTech, Tac Force, etc. :p
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Sometimes I think that piece of scrap steel would be better than some knives sold online if I shaped it (or cut it out) decently, heat treated it just by making it glow and dunking it into water and then sharpening it.

I know that it'd probs suck, but it'd possibly be more durable than some stuff that's being sold lol...
 
And yeah M marcinek and Mikael W Mikael W I can now see how it would happen.

When you cut something, cardborard or bottle for example - line should be straight, if if's eliptical - you're not doing it right.
So practicing the movement is beneficial.
And not only cutting performance won't be good, but you risk damaging the edge.
At least that is how my grandpa taught me.
But it's not hard to learn those simple movements.
And blade shape also plays role in a way how you might want to take that swing...

I might be wrong, but this works for me.
 
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