Why do Fallkniven knives chip so easily?

Mikael W said:
They have to offer at least two years and that's what most company's do offer, regardless of what the product is.
Some company's offer longer warranty's and they are free to do so, but the US warranty for life is illegal.


A few years ago when Fällkniven started to expand in the market east of the Ural mountains in Russia, I spoke to Peter about warranty's.
He said claiming warranty is more a western world phenomenon and the people on the Taiga, are more focused on knives that doesn't brake.
He gets very few claims from that part of the world.



Regards
Mikael
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Well that sucks. Sounds like they can offer a better warranty but choose not to. Also, the government will let them offer a better warranty but no the best warranty available. I looked at a lot of Fallkniven blades today, they have some really great looking knives. I just can't get behind the company's business philosophy. Maybe in Europe and Russia people are made of money but I need more from a company for my dollars.
 
MattBlade said:
Ok guys, how well does the spine stand against batoning? I know that some of the Fallkniven knives use a VG-10 core with 420J2 steel as the exterior. Will such a soft steel stand up to medium to heavy batoning?
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After Noss used his Falkniven and a sledge hammer to turn a concrete slab into little pieces he pounded it through a 2"x1/4" steel bar with said hammer.
At that point the knife was still serviceable and had not experienced catastrophic failure.
 
craytab said:
Well that sucks. Sounds like they can offer a better warranty but choose not to. Also, the government will let them offer a better warranty but no the best warranty available. I looked at a lot of Fallkniven blades today, they have some really great looking knives. I just can't get behind the company's business philosophy. Maybe in Europe and Russia people are made of money but I need more from a company for my dollars.
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Fällkniven products are sold allover the world by 40 distributors and there are 3 distributors in the US: Moteng, JB Outman and Blue Ridge Knives.
Obviously there's a demand for Fällkniven knives throughout the world, with their present buisness approach.
It must be up to You to decide, what brands You want in Your inventory of knives.


Regards
Mikael
 
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I only own two Fallknivens but I'm going to remedy that situation. I guess I can understand the concern regarding the warranty, but as I have never needed (knock on wood) to submit a claim it's just not one of my most important criteria when purchasing a knife.

In the unlikely event I had a defective Fallkniven product I'd trust that I would discover the issue within two years or that they would honor a legitimate claim with supporting documentation. But as Mikael stated above, only you can decide what you want and what your criteria for purchase will be.
 
If u look at it from a #'s standpoint, if 1 of a thousand breaks and you've seen ten complaints about then how about 9,990 that were fine. I love my juni and volcano. Beautiful pieces and I use em hard. No complaints
 
I have many Fallkniven users and don't feel that they chip so easy. Have you ever considered why you don't ever seem to see threads about micro-chipping on production knives made from softer steel and that tend to come with thicker dull edges?
 
Personally I love Fkn knives. They are amazing knives. I paid $100 for my F1 and it's been perfect from deer hunting to fishing to food prep and wood work. It's the only stainless steel fixed blade knife I would buy. I use mail carbon steel knives but I would love to get more Fkn knives.
 
MattBlade said:
Ok guys, how well does the spine stand against batoning? I know that some of the Fallkniven knives use a VG-10 core with 420J2 steel as the exterior. Will such a soft steel stand up to medium to heavy batoning?
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If the knife is being used to frequently baton, I do not think VG-10 laminate at higher hardness is the ideal choice. A less expensive fixed blade in 5160 or A2 seems to make more sense for that purpose, or in 3V if the price premium 3V brings is OK. It's not that VG-10 is a bad steel...in fact it's a great steel; it's just not the best choice for that specific type of usage because more appropriate steels exist and they are affordable, IMHO. There are 5160 fixed blades of good quality one can get for under $100 and VANADIS 4 Extra fixed blades for under $160. If that kind of work is being done to a knife, which will be hard on the knife itself by default, most likely wreck the cosmetic finish, and can have inherently increased danger of harm to the user if a failure were to occur, an inexpensive fixed blade built primarily for toughness in a tool steel makes the most sense to me personally, from a performance, financial, and safety perspective.

I don't think their knives have chipping problems, or at least their 3G laminate folders don't. On the 3G folders I have used, Fallkniven seems to favor higher hardness/wear resistance over the highest toughness, and I think this is partly why their high-quality, general-usage folders are among the most practical knives for EDC and general usage around. For normal folding knife tasks, the 3G laminate has plenty of toughness and it results in a folder that holds an exceptional edge. The P(3G) in carbon fiber, which is one of my favorite small folders, also keeps a relatively thin blade, which I strongly prefer for an EDC and think it makes the knife perform better doing 99% of the work that type of knife will generally see. I cannot speak to every model they make, but the quality of the P3G is simply exceptional and it deserves much more credit than it is given.

If someone is going to use a folder in a fashion that folders should really not be used at, the P3G is probably not the best match. In such a case, a folder with a thicker blade in a steel that favors toughness may be more appropriate. One example would be the Spyderco LionSpy in ELMAX steel, which is a super tough folder but one of greatly limited practicality compared to the super-practical 'P'. Ultimately, I favor the design of the PG3 for my EDC, which I use for regular, normal tasks. For heavier and abusive work, I generally use a $60 RAT5 in 1095c or a $150 Mission in A2 which are tough as can be, and between the low price and high toughness, I do not worry about damaging them given they are built to take the abuse (plus they spare my more expensive folder or smaller fixed blade that I carry and look at constantly from the unavoidable cosmetic damage). Rather than going to an all-in-one which is often a compromise of mediocracy, I prefer to use two separate edged tools that excel in their respective classes to best match them to the various tasks at hand, personally. That's my personal opinion. YMMV.
 
pnsxyr said:
If the knife is being used to frequently baton, I do not think VG-10 laminate at higher hardness is the ideal choice. A less expensive fixed blade in 5160 or A2 seems to make more sense for that purpose, or in 3V if the price premium 3V brings is OK. It's not that VG-10 is a bad steel...in fact it's a great steel; it's just not the best choice for that specific type of usage because more appropriate steels exist and they are affordable, IMHO. There are 5160 fixed blades of good quality one can get for under $100 and VANADIS 4 Extra fixed blades for under $160. If that kind of work is being done to a knife, which will be hard on the knife itself by default, most likely wreck the cosmetic finish, and can have inherently increased danger of harm to the user if a failure were to occur, an inexpensive fixed blade built primarily for toughness in a tool steel makes the most sense to me personally, from a performance, financial, and safety perspective.
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If You want max toughness / edgeholding out of VG-10, the best RC is around 59!
Now have a look at the laminated VG-10 blades from Fällkniven.
The core is VG-10 at rc 59 and that's about 30 % of the steel in the laminate.
The rest, around 70 % is 420j2 at rc 55!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't 420j2 at rc 55 one of the toughest stainless steels availible?

Add to this the propertie's a blade gets from cross-sectional geometrie's like in the H1, S1 or A1.
Sabergrind with thick convex edges and 0,2" -0,24" bladethickness.
This is a very good geometry for splitting firewood with a baton.

Fällkniven philosophy is to offer maximum toughness and edgeholding in a Stainless knife!
If You don't want a knife in Stainless, there are a number of good alternatives in A2 Toolsteel, 5160, 1095, O1 and so on...
Bark River is one name to mention, but there are a ton of good makers, who uses Toolsteel.

S1 splitting firewood:

chx2.jpg




Regards
Mikael
 
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Per a site directed search, the two year warranty is not on the fallkniven website except in the catalog pdf. There is also nothing on their website, other than in the catalog, on repair and that's only for warranty repair. If you goober up your fallkniven, they don't repair.

Since they only give the 2 year warranty required by Swedish law and offer no repair services, that pretty much tells you their philosophy on customer service.
 
If you look at the products with a "no questions asked" lifetime warranty, you'll see the markup in the price. You'll also pay for the guys getting replacements of their 10 year old knives broken by abuse. Not appealing to me.

The other lifetime warranties with the usual legalese including numerous exceptions, I see more as an advertising claim. I wouldn't want to fight in court for a couple hundred dollars max to have the warranty enforced. In the end, it's the decision of the manufacturer how they handle it anyway, lifetime warranty or not.

So far I've sent knives back after inspection, but never had one fail afterwards. Considering all that, the difference between a 2 year and a lifetime warranty in a simple tool like a knife is not worth a single dollar to me.

Oh, and giving only warranty as required by law is pretty standard in Europe, no matter if you're buying cheap or premium brands. I think this is a cultural difference, nothing special about Fällkniven.
 
Stick to batoning softer rock ! Here in the USA if I had a problem I'd return it to the dealer . Makes much more sense. They'd probably replace it.
When I got my S-1 I was redoing my home . I thought let's give it a good test.I removed the rug from the stairs. Living in the country it collected lots of abrasive dirt .Cutting it up of course scratched the softer sides of the blade but the harder core held up well.A tough test. I have never batoned it and never shaved my arms ! It's done important things like taking apart deer. Worked for me !
 
steff27 said:
If you look at the products with a "no questions asked" lifetime warranty, you'll see the markup in the price. You'll also pay for the guys getting replacements of their 10 year old knives broken by abuse. Not appealing to me.

The other lifetime warranties with the usual legalese including numerous exceptions, I see more as an advertising claim. I wouldn't want to fight in court for a couple hundred dollars max to have the warranty enforced. In the end, it's the decision of the manufacturer how they handle it anyway, lifetime warranty or not.

So far I've sent knives back after inspection, but never had one fail afterwards. Considering all that, the difference between a 2 year and a lifetime warranty in a simple tool like a knife is not worth a single dollar to me.

Oh, and giving only warranty as required by law is pretty standard in Europe, no matter if you're buying cheap or premium brands. I think this is a cultural difference, nothing special about Fällkniven.
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This simply isn't true. Take Esee as an example. Much less expensive than Fallkniven. Has a forever, transferable, unconditional warranty. Here in the USA I guess we place more value on a company's business philosophy and word. Many of our knife companies have the best warranties in the buisness. And it is worth something.
 
Since they only give the 2 year warranty required by Swedish law and offer no repair services, that pretty much tells you their philosophy on customer service.
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You know the Ruger firearms company has no written warranty, because it would give legal rights to the warranty holder. They however are well known for standing by and fixing their products.
I will continue to buy Fallkniven products because they have consistently in my experience been as advertised. You know in the US customers in western states are known for not complaining about products. They simply stop buying whatever make or brand doesn't live up to expectations. As expensive as Fallkniven is they get my repeat patronage because I haven't needed the warranty.
 
Mikael W said:
If You want max toughness / edgeholding out of VG-10, the best RC is around 59!
Now have a look at the laminated VG-10 blades from Fällkniven.
The core is VG-10 at rc 59 and that's about 30 % of the steel in the laminate.
The rest, around 70 % is 420j2 at rc 55!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't 420j2 at rc 55 one of the toughest stainless steels availible?

Add to this the propertie's a blade gets from cross-sectional geometrie's like in the H1, S1 or A1.
Sabergrind with thick convex edges and 0,2" -0,24" bladethickness.
This is a very good geometry for splitting firewood with a baton.

Fällkniven philosophy is to offer maximum toughness and edgeholding in a Stainless knife!
If You don't want a knife in Stainless, there are a number of good alternatives in A2 Toolsteel, 5160, 1095, O1 and so on...
Bark River is one name to mention, but there are a ton of good makers, who uses Toolsteel.

S1 splitting firewood:

chx2.jpg




Regards
Mikael
Click to expand...

I must be off with VG-10?...I thought max toughness was around 56-57 HRC and max edge-holding was 59-60-ish? My VG-10 knives which are laminate are in the 59-60 ballpark and they are plenty tough for general usage (although they are kitchen knives, so I can only say so much in regards to max toughness), as are many of the solid VG-10 knives I have. But I do not consider VG-10 an ideal steel for usage in which steels like A2 are designed for...especially given how A2 holds a terrible edge and corrodes like crazy and yet it is still used a lot because its toughness makes it a great candidate for big choppers.

While I would prefer not to do it with any knife, I think many of those tool steels are ideal picks if the task involves something like splitting a 6+ inch log of hardwood that involves pounding the spine of it with a hammer or another large piece of wood. One A2 blade I have I really like because it has on a few occasions "made love" with a piece of rock due to my stupidity and it didn't get "knocked up". :)

This is all my personal opinion so I could be 100% wrong, but if an inherently abusive task like batoning large pieces of wood are going to happen, I prefer less expensive knives in tool steels that tend to have more toughness at the expensive of edge holding and (often) corrosion resistance.
 
brownshoe said:
Per a site directed search, the two year warranty is not on the fallkniven website except in the catalog pdf. There is also nothing on their website, other than in the catalog, on repair and that's only for warranty repair. If you goober up your fallkniven, they don't repair.

Since they only give the 2 year warranty required by Swedish law and offer no repair services, that pretty much tells you their philosophy on customer service.
Click to expand...

Are you saying they don't offer any repair services at all just because it's not mentioned on their web site? Have you contacted their customer service department, because I would be absolutely shocked if they have no repair service at all.
 
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Given that people have reported positive experiences with service from Fallkniven, it seems that they do offer service along with the two year warranty posted on their website. Again: "You have 2 years warranty." http://www.fallkniven.com/index.php?...pop=1&lang=en

Batoning is not inherently abusive. Being abusive is inherently abusive, whether chopping, batoning, or cutting. Abuse in all three activities has been amply reported.
 
True...I guess "abusive" was a bad word and I should have used something like "potential accelerated wear" and specified "a tendency for cosmetic finishes to get really beat up and Fallkniven has such nice cosmetic finishes that I prefer a less expensive knife for tasks that can be pretty hard on the cosmetics". Sorry about that!
 
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