What companies are off of your radar?

SOG
benchmade
blackhawk
cold steel
randel


the only knives i want are busses spyderco crk, and a few scrapyards
 
Off the radar;

Strider-Owner's attitude
Ontario-Business practices
Dark Ops-Please
Spyderco-Don't like blades with holes in them.

So what's on the radar?

R.A.T.
Emerson
Greco
Grayman
Kershaw
Benchmade
 
Wenger
SOG(mostly)
CRK(untill i gain some capitol :) )
United cutlery
Cold steel
Al Mar
Dark Ops
Emerson
MoD
Mercworx
microtech
Smith & wesson

to name a few
 
I've looked at many brands of knives and I can find at least one or more model's of each manufacturer I'd like to buy. However if I did that I couldn't pay my mortgage.
So I stick to a few brands that I like the most.
Kershaw, ZT, Rat Cutlery, Spiderco. I'd like to get an Emerson Wave and one of the new Ka-Bar fighting knife's like my dad carried in WWII.
Of course any knife made in China is off my radar.
I just like to buy American, made In USA knives. Yes I know that there are some decent knives made in China but thats just the way I feel.
 
No need for me for Busse, Swamp Rar, High priced folders. Can't see ever tosssing down over 150.00 for any knife made. Just have no use for big names and super hype when many stardard knives for half the cost will the job about as well,
 
Wouldn't say I would ignore a manufacturer but many don't interest me at all, but you can never be sure if their next offering will change your mind....

Here's a few that don't move me:

Leatherman (Victorinox do multi tool better)

Gerber, found the quality awful

Spyderco, great company and quality products but they are ugly!

Canal Street unbelievably overblown and overpriced,3 out of 3 examples all had very poor snap and quality issues. GEC do the Traditional thing SO much better.

Most Tactical stuff.
 
Tblock1 said:
Well of course a knife is going to lose blade length if you are using it hard for 5 years and re-sharpening it a bunch of times. What knife wouldn't? In my opinion that is a tribute to spyderco that it only lost that much blade length.
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I concur. A couple of industrial-grade kitchen knives in the restaurant I worked for were resharpened every other day, because they're used hard to chop chicken and beef. When I did the sharpening for one year, the loss was not perceptible (maybe 1-2%) because I knew how to sharpen them. I quit and visited them a year later; the blades lost 10% length.

In a different restaurant, a japanese teppan cook I knew had a considerably shorter (and smaller) knife because he's been doing it for years and the knife was literally sharpened every day. He's ok with it because it actually showed the length of his experience and separated him from the rookies with their big, brand spanking new knives.

Moral of the story: it's normal for real hard use knives to lose volume.
 
On the Radar:
  • Spyderco - Somehow I have more of them than anything else.
  • Benchmade - Probably would have more if their price points were more like the above.
  • Lone Wolf - Neat, well-made knives with a little quirkiness.
  • Victorinox (Wenger, too) - Love 'em all.
  • Cold Steel - I only have a Voyager, but can't help looking, if only at the meat-cutting video.
  • Case - Just got a carbon steel stockman almost by accident and love it.
  • CRK - If I keep collecting knives, gotta get one, right?
  • Microtech - Gotta get an OTF, too doncha?

Off the radar:
  • Kershaw - Has almost all of them and only kept the Leek and Titanium Bump. Haven't had a Tyrade or JYD yet, though.
  • Boker - Wasn't impressed with the Subcom or Trance, though you can't argue they aren't nice for the money.
  • Strider - Thought maybe I'd add it to the "eventually" list, but recent detailed threads made me rethink.
  • Gerber - Had one and it fell apart.
  • CRKT - Had one that was as dull and clunky as an China knockoff.
  • Byrd - Had one and it was nice, but not as nice as a Spyderco. I think I'll stick with them.
  • Al Mar - Haven't looked yet.
  • Emerson - Got one and it is terrific, but all the models seem so similar, I don't think I need another.
 
No:

Gerber: They have some higher-end fixed blades and folders that are good, but the rest of their products have gone to hell.

Cold Steel: While the few of their knives that are still made in Japan are very good, and they have some good folders, I abhor their advertising practices and product descriptions.


Yes:

Benchmade: I have been happy with everything I've ever purchased from them, especially the automatics that I have recently purchased, like the Infidel OTF and some of the knives they have made for H&K.

Spyderco: Between them and Benchmade, I would have a hard time deciding who made the best mass-produced knives. Both are probably my favorite brands.

Strider
Chris Reeve
Rob Dalton
Microtech (just received a SOCOM and an Ultratech that I really love, another Ultratech is on the way! NEED MOAR AUTOS :))
Becker
 
If I were into production knives, there are the ones I would avoid:Cold Steel, Gerber, CRK&T, Dark Ops, , Boker, Micotech, and Mantis.
 
enderwiggin said:
LOL. That's amazing. For YEARS I've just shied away from Wenger thinking they were a competing "knock-off," but never looked into it.

Seriously sitting here chuckling about that right now. :thumbup:
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They have only owned Wenger since May of 2005, but they have both been making "real" Swiss Army Knives for over 100 years.
 
cpio said:
Gerber: They have some higher-end fixed blades and folders that are good, but the rest of their products have gone to hell.
Click to expand...

Funny that you should mention that. I have a devil of a time trying to convince people around here that the high-end Gerbers are still very good knives. I own four $100+ USA-made Gerbers and love them.

And yes, people, the cheap stuff is crap. No argument there.
 
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