What brands WON'T you own?

I won't buy from = Mtech, Mantis, Dark Ops, Frost (not the Mora folks), TOPs, Bark River, Microtech, United, Taylor, SOG, Opinels, Gerber knives, or Strider. Either mall ninja, crap, or overpriced for what ya get imo.

I don't have a problem with my Gerber MTs tho.

The only CS I'd buy again is the Bushman. Good knife for $20. The rest doesn't appeal to me and LT does stupid "commercials".

Chris Reeves & Busse is out of my price range. Might be able to one day afford a Scrapyard.

No experience with Falkniven (sp?), Wenger (I always buy Vic), Schatt-Morgan, Queen, & Condor.


I like ...
Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw, Vic, Boker, Case, Buck, Kabar, CRKT, RAT.
 
CRKT- Once a decent knifemaker, now turns out complete junk. Burned twice and never again (lock and handle failure).

Cold Steel-cheap steel, poor design, IMO should only be bought and sold at flea markets in the throwing star/ninja sword booth.

Leatherman-Tim Leatherman is anti-second amendment. I prefer a 15yr old Gerber multi-plier design to any of his stuff (one-handed opening).


Until Kershaw does something about their handle design, I'll remain reluctant to buy one. Good quality, but their handles don't work for me.


ETA: Recently picked up a NIB Surefire EW-04 Delta folder. Outstanding quality and impeccable machinework. Very impressive although 3 weeks ago I would've never believed they could produce such a fine knife.
 
robicon said:
CRKT- Once a decent knifemaker, now turns out complete junk. Burned twice and never again (lock and handle failure).

Cold Steel-cheap steel, poor design, IMO should only be bought and sold at flea markets in the throwing star/ninja sword booth.

Leatherman-Tim Leatherman is anti-second amendment. I prefer a 15yr old Gerber multi-plier design to any of his stuff (one-handed opening).


Until Kershaw does something about their handle design, I'll remain reluctant to buy one. Good quality, but their handles don't work for me.


ETA: Recently picked up a NIB Surefire EW-04 Delta folder. Outstanding quality and impeccable machinework. Very impressive although 3 weeks ago I would've never believed they could produce such a fine knife.
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Interesting about Tim Leatherman? If its true then Leatherman will not get my money.
 
I have learned alot from the threads here regarding many brands. The only knife failure I had was a Kissing Crane trapper low end had the scales fall off! There are too many other brands to try them again. Some mentioned that they will not buy a knife because of the look, style or design. Specifically Kershaw brand. I think they should wait until they have handled a knife prior to saying they do not like it. Traditional knives appeal to me in looks, more than Kershaw or Benchmade, but I am now liking certain styles of more modern designs. Ergonomics are not always pretty until you cover them up with your grip. Great thread!
 
Another man here who doesnt brand name discriminate.

I have negative experiences with several models from various brands ( CRKT , Benchmade , Spyderco ) but that did not sour me on the whole line of knives.

There are plenty I will never buy even if I had the extra cash just because the knife itself doesnt appeal to me.
 
Ehh I'm not really picky about knives I buy, the most expensive knife I own is a Buck 110 which I paid 30 dollars and a Buck stockman which was 23 dollars. Most of the knives I own are under 15 dollars because I don't have the extra money to buy 30-50 dollar knives everytime I get a new one haha.
 
Probably will never own a Buck or a Schrade or a Case knife.
But before you fans of the above flame me, there's absolutely
NOTHING wrong with these knifes. Probably some of the most
reputable around. It's just they've never been my style of
knife that I like.
 
It seems that most bashing I have read about in this thread was on the lower priced offerings from the various manufacturers. It is hard to produce a knife that can be retailed for around $20-30. Near impossible to make it in the USA. I have never purchased CRKT, SOG, or new offerings from Cold Steel or Gerber (only have vintage examples). They all have nicer models priced above $100 but rarely commented on here. In the four pages of comments I was surprised to see no one mentioned Rough Rider, chinese made and easily found for around $10-20. May not be the highest quality but decently made for the price point.
I mostly collect the USA made Schrade and Camillus knives. These were also made to a price point and were not the same level of quality as Case or Queen knives ( I am generalizing here). Although I love my vintage knives I have seen a lot of them fail over the years when put to hard use.
 
I'm also of the camp that has reservations about writing off ANY company entirely, just in case they're liable to change. That said, however, I'm not too interested in wares from folk who don't offer anything in good ol' fashioned materials like carbon steel, wood, horn, brass, et cetera. There's probably manufacturers that don't and never will deviate from space age stainless steels and polymer/resin-based handle materials, so it's unlikely that I'll be getting anything from them, perhaps with some rare exceptions.
 
barrabas74 said:
I am curious as to what Benchmade has done to get on peoples Bad List?
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I can't remember specifics, but I think it's more about changes their distribution policies. Maybe someone here can expand a little on it.

thx - cpr
 
syltetoy said:
Interesting about Tim Leatherman? If its true then Leatherman will not get my money.
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-Donates campaign funds to liberal politicians.
-Has made comments against private ownership of so-called "assault rifles" (by definition an assault rifle is ClassIII and tightly regulated, not semi-auto like the sheeple believe)
-Manufactured a special run of Leatherman tools for the ATF which were inscribed "ATF-Always Think Forfeiture"


Politics aside (which is reason enough for me not to support him) his design requires two hands to deploy the pliers...a no-go for me.
 
tirod3 said:
BUT - choosing to eliminate not only a knife, but a whole brand because of metaphysical concerns - like politics or the reputation of the maker, things that can't be scientifically evaluated or tested - is an emotional reaction. In that, everyone has the right - but as is pointed out, in America, you have the right to be wrong. And the more vociferous the opposition, especially when the products are useful, even superior, just drives others to investigate and ask why.
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I can't imagine what is metaphysical about it. If a company hurts you or cheats you, then you are likely not to want to do business with them. I once had to sue General Motors to pay for a warranty repair. No GM allowed in my garage. Nothing metaphysical about it. They fell down on the job.

Some of the time it's discovered it's just a clique-ish thing of community identity to disparage a manufacturer. Other times, reasons have substance. Most of us agree that price influences our choices, and that the reputation of the customer service department could affect our decision, even though some complainers have what might be perceived as unrealistic expectations.
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As long as the reasons relate to personal experience and not second hand experience then they have substance. Different people can and do have different experiences with the same product or company. There is no universal truth - only individual ones.

All that, however, is just a smokescreen for the real issue - does the purchaser actually understand the maker's intent - why they designed the knife for what job under what conditions? Those that do, and choose not to buy it are making a good decision. Those that don't understand and buy, or not buy, based on emotional assessement, just seem to dig themselves in deeper attempting to explain.
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Every decision to buy anything by every person is emotional every time.
 
By the way, for all you folks bashing Gerber out there, while I agree that their foreign-made stuff is junk, they do still make a handful of knives in the USA, and they're every bit as good as anything out there. Pricey, but well worth it in my opinion.
 
Samael said:
By the way, for all you folks bashing Gerber out there, while I agree that their foreign-made stuff is junk, they do still make a handful of knives in the USA, and they're every bit as good as anything out there. Pricey, but well worth it in my opinion.
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As I stated before, I like their multi-tool. I've got one of the first models Gerber ever produced. I've had and used it for ~15years without issue.

I'm also a fan of their LMFII. It is an excellent value and I have no qualms about recommending it to campers on a budget.
 
syltetoy said:
The chant on the Becker Forum is to send it back to KA-BAR. So I did and they sent me another blemished one (two times) ! : ( Some say its alright to have blemishes at that price point but I say no way as cheaper $10 knives made overseas are perfect. Ethan Becker wants to make it right but he isn't KA-BAR or KA-BAR quality control which is the problem.

Its an easy fix for me as there are too many knife companies in competition to worry about KA-BAR and their quality control problems.
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I completley respect that and its a very legitimate reason.
 
Understand that the people that inhabit this forum are not typical knife buyers. The people here are far fussier about fit, finish, materials and brand recognition than most people and are willing to spend more money than most people on knives. They are enthusiasts as well as being knife users.

Companies like Taylor, (S&W) United, Frost etc. are bigger than most most the companies that make the knives favored by this group. They appeal to lots and lots of folks. Companies like Gerber and, formerly, Buck added products like these to their lines in order to get some of that market share. For one reason or another this approach works pretty well for some (Gerber) and not for others (Buck.) Buck has gone back to nearly exclusive domestic production and are doing better because of it. I think that's terrific. Gerber sells their imports by the cart load I think that's terrific too. It's a big industry and you can't view it accurately from the microscope that is an internet forum.
 
robicon said:
-Donates campaign funds to liberal politicians.
-Has made comments against private ownership of so-called "assault rifles" (by definition an assault rifle is ClassIII and tightly regulated, not semi-auto like the sheeple believe)
-Manufactured a special run of Leatherman tools for the ATF which were inscribed "ATF-Always Think Forfeiture"


Politics aside (which is reason enough for me not to support him) his design requires two hands to deploy the pliers...a no-go for me.
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Good to know! I have not and will not buy from Leatherman.
 
Aside from the obvious stuff, like low quality design stealing crap brands and goofy mall ninja stuff, I won't buy anything below my quality standards, which includes brands like CRKT, SOG, etc.

These two companies are personally blacklisted for what I consider unacceptable business practices and a general disregard for honesty and integrity: Benchmade and Strider.
 
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