William Henry...As good as a custom?

I see thread like this and I just gotta laugh at the irony.

Why?

Because going back for years there would be tons of people, when discussing a sebenza, would say "Yah, but you could buy a custom for $350". The go on to say that a production was souless blah, blah blah.

What I want to know is where the heck are those people right now and why haven't they poo poo'd the WH?

After all I could buy 4 really nice sebenzas for $2000.
 
Nobody's poohed poohed WH because they have a much wider and more interesting product line than CRK. They also offer embelishment that takes a lot more skill, hand work and time. They also offer a wider variety of locks and designs.

The CRK folders are all the same cookie cutter sebenzas and mnandis For those that are "custom, unique or special edition" the designs mostly look the same and were once new but now old. The only other change to the basic sebenzas are glued-on scales that usually make the original butt ugly knife just kitschy.

However, I and many others agree, that WH products are overpriced, but then so are sebenzas.
 
brownshoe said:
Nobody's poohed poohed WH because they have a much wider and more interesting product line than CRK. They also offer embelishment that takes a lot more skill, hand work and time. They also offer a wider variety of locks and designs.
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Actually, currently the only lock WH offers is the button lock.
 
WH because they have a much wider and more interesting product line than CRK
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WHl all look pretty much the same to me, but that's not the point, it's PRODUCTION by God! PRODUCTION!!

kitschy
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That's in the eye of the beholder as well, straight Ti and wood seems more honest and straightforward then engraving and gold coating. :p
 
I hope you guys aren't really giving me crap about a thread I started a few YEARS ago! :)

Just for the record, WH no longer interests me... :)
 
DaveH,Almost bought Klotzli a couple times.Never handled one.In pictures they look plain jane but functional,blades looked nice also.Good Steel too. What didn't you like about them?
 
I have to be honest, despite the godless number of Blade Knife of the Year awards they rack up, WH's hold little or no interest for me. They kinda look the same to me as well.
 
I really like WH knives. I do think they offer good value, but if I was thinking of spending the $300.00 to $350.00 that a mid-line WH knife costs, I would be looking at customs. With a custom I get a knife made the way I want it, not the way a company tells me that I have to accept it.

As far as quality is concerned, I am sure that WH is as good or better than many similarly priced customs.
 
DaveH said:
it's a slow day. :p

So what do you think of WH now?
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Well, funny you should ask... :)

I no longer feel WH to have F&F that I find especially impressive, sure, I have seen many that did have excellent F&F (in the years since I started this thread :) ) but, I have also run across many that had off center blades, and locks that I found less than perfect, of course, the same can be said for custom knives too, but, as was said, if I'm going to spend $400-$1000 on a knife, there are some very good customs in that range, with I think better F&F and materials.

I do like the looks of some of the limited run WH's, but theyre not cheap, and, again, for that kind of $$$, I'd go custom. I will say that WH's do tend to have very smooth actions and crisp detents, but, I did see too many lockup issues and off center blades to hold them in the high regard I once did.

Isn't it funny to see how your feelings change over time? :)
 
leatherbird, my experience with klotzi was from examining them at knife and gun shows a few years back. At the time they we're using ATS-34 (sometimes 440C) with various handle materials. they where pretty decent, but there was some flex in the handles, I didn't find them especially comfortable, designs sometimes not that useful, and 2nd tier materials. IMO they where significantly overpriced when they're main selling point was "Made in Switzerland".
 
I have 2 Klotzli's and several William Henrys. I like them all, but don't really find much similarity between the products of the two companies, other than the general high quality of materials and workmanship. They are both known for "gentlemens folders", but my Klotzlis (a Walker-design/cocobola and a Sarra) have thicker blade stocks and frames and feel more substantial than my W.H. T-9 and T-10 (which I consider to be strictly light duty instruments). The Klotzli's, are, I believe, more versatile and suitable for a wide range of tasks. They also have the smoothest actions of any of my non-axis lock production folders. The W.H. Spectrum and Icon are probably similar to my Klotzlis in build, but have significantly larger blades and would also be suitable for general use. I'll have to admit, though, that I haven't been able to bring myself to cut anything with the last two :)
 
I was just on the WH website trying to decide on which will be my very first WH. I've narrowed it down to 3 possibles. All under $300 MSRP.

t09-cfd.jpg

t09-i.jpg

t09-a.jpg
 
Alvin Hom said:
I was just on the WH website trying to decide on which will be my very first WH. I've narrowed it down to 3 possibles. All under $300 MSRP.

t09-cfd.jpg

t09-i.jpg

t09-a.jpg
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If you can find them. They are all out of production.

FYI, I know where you can find the middle one. Email me for info. ;)
 
Alvin: The price I see on the WH website (where I admit to spending an inordinate amount of time looking at their archive photos) shows an MSRP of $345 for the CF handle/Damascus blade model you posted.
 
jujigatame said:
Alvin: The price I see on the WH website (where I admit to spending an inordinate amount of time looking at their archive photos) shows an MSRP of $345 for the CF handle/Damascus blade model you posted.
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I just double checked. You are correct. It'll be a while before I might pull the trigger on one. My bday just went by, so it'll be either Father's Day or Christmas.
 
ROBB said:
...just too light.The carbon fiber folders are so light weight that it "feels"cheap.Now I know these are gentlemans folders but holding them gives me no confidence that they could cut more than envelopes or very thin cardboard.I may be totally wrong,I have never tested them.For all those people who complain about liner locks the W.H. models do not have thick liner locks.This along with the extreme light weight just inspire no confidence to me.
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Agreed. I was tempted to buy a William Henry last year, but handled one in a local knife shop and was turned off by what felt like an extremely delicate folder. They are probably great knives, but I wanted to have some measure of confidence even in a gentleman's knife, and I thought W.H. was a bit too "light grade" for my tastes. (I ended up with a less expensive and more traditional Buck folder.)

YMMV -- Handle one if you can before purchase since it is a substantial investment...

Regards, -Alex
 
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