Worst knife you've ever purchased...

TBL said:
Worst knife I have ever purchased was a Gerber Bear Grylls Ultra compact fixed blade. While I normally don't buy the brand, I was on vacation and thought the little fixed blade for $30 would find a niche in my EDC. I was disappointing to find out that the only thing this thing would be useful for is butter knife. The HT on it may be botched or something as the knife does not hold an edge. After using it to cut my first cardboard box with it the blade had dulled. I first gave it the benefit of the doubt and though it was dulling by rubbing on the sheath. So I sharpened it and went back at it! Two cardboard boxes later and the knife that had just shaved the hair off my arm was now struggling to cut cardboard. Looks like its going to end up as a throwing knife in the garage.
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^ this 100% I got the Gerber paracord fixed blade and the "steel" is ridiculously soft. It makes Victorinox' steel look like ZDP-189. It's almost like it's made of tin. HRC must be in the low 30's.
 
Horn Dog said:
The worst recently, not counting the junk I bought as a kid, would be the SOG Jungle Primitive. What a piece of junk. It won't chop or saw. It won't take an edge. A cheap Colt Jungle Commander is a much better chopper, and it is 420 as well. The CS machete kukris are much better. So are the Condors, Ontarios, and $6.00 Tramontina machetes. And I usually like SOGs. I have a bunch of them. That one is a dog.
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Concur on SOG 10-11" machete/knives. Mine was the similar Jungle Warrior, and it actually sent me to the hospital because it was so dull and unsharpenable... It litterally would not take an edge, and came truly butter dull. Then instead of cutting a branch, the branch "coiled" and snapped the sharp point back 1" into my leg, because I was holding it loosely to try to swing it harder to get it to cut anything at all... Fortunately I was not far from a someone's phone...

My miscalculation was that, in steeply climbing terrain, one leg will be raised closer to the path of the hacking... Beware of uneven terrain...

Too bad as the grinds certainly are very crisp and neat, as good as knives costing hundreds... And the steel certainly is hard as hell...

Gaston
 
A G10 Kizer, don't remember the model. Extremely stiff, bad grind, severely off center.

I've had quite a few knives I regret buying. Not that they were terrible knives, just they were for me. These top the list:
Brian Tighe Mini-Tighe Rod: The curvature of the handle along with the short length made using it difficult.
ZT0350TS Blem: Off center, and just didn't like it.
 
northend816 said:
I have two the Gerber fast draw and Gerber Evo
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I think it's pretty safe to say that any Gerber made in the last decade will fall into 'worst knife' category, along with Mtech, Frost, and the other no name Chinese brands. Although I'm sure it goes against forum rules, there should be a sticky for newbies that tells them to avoid these manufacturers. I figured this thread would be good for alerting others to crap knives that were made by otherwise good manufacturers.

it's definitely not always true that good knives are expensive, but good cheap ones are far and few!
 
Worst knife by far was the Kershaw Tension (Cabela's exclusive). Paid $17. G10 handles, looked nice in the package. Would have been nice for a cheap knife if the framelock would fully engage. Lockup is so poor it looks like it was fitted by Harry Potter's Professor Trelawney.
emma-thompson.jpg
 
SOG Trident. Soft HT'd AUS 8, coil spring assist that was always slow, seat belt cutter slot that did not work with the tanto blade shape, lock design that will always have play, all for an offensively expensive price. Basically the knife that turned me off SOG for everything but their multi-tools and Tomahawk line (which are both fantastic)
 
Microtech Troodon. This was the perfect knife for me. It had everything I wanted in a pocket friendly knife. Brand new out of the box and just 12 opening/closings later it broke. Sent it back and since then my love for pocket cutlery has been on the decline.:(
 
Another here for the Gerber Paraframe. Opens smooth and fast but developed irreparable vertical play within a couple weeks. It's like the framelock just shrunk. Had a friend with the same exact knife, fell apart (Literally) in his pocket, reached in and pulled out the handle, then reached in again and pulled out the blade.

Also, S&W knives are generally garbage.
 
Wunderbar said:
Microtech Troodon. This was the perfect knife for me. It had everything I wanted in a pocket friendly knife. Brand new out of the box and just 12 opening/closings later it broke. Sent it back and since then my love for pocket cutlery has been on the decline.:(
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Curious what batch was yours from? Seems like Microtech may have put out a lot of OTF's with bad springs early 2014. My Troodon from 08/2014 has been my daily carry since and has been rocking and rolling without a hiccup.
 
The worst knife I ever got was a CRKT M16-10KZ knockoff that I got for about $10. I got it on Ebay, and when it arrived, I was very disappointed (even for a knockoff). Just felt like crap in the hand, could not take an edge, fake lawks system. It made me very very sad.

On a better note, that purchase got me to go out and buy a legit CRKT M21-14DSFG. While it's not my favorite knife, it's in my top five based on fit and finish, as well as pricing. There's very few knives that I get for $40 that feel as strong as this knife (IMO)
 
I had a Tac-Force stiletto one time. The liner lock somehow broke when I was stabbing it into a piece of drywall I had lying around. A ballpoint pen stabed better.
 
draggat said:
I think it's pretty safe to say that any Gerber made in the last decade will fall into 'worst knife' category, along with Mtech, Frost, and the other no name Chinese brands. Although I'm sure it goes against forum rules, there should be a sticky for newbies that tells them to avoid these manufacturers.
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Sometimes people have to learn through experience. Before I knew better I purchased a few Gerbers of the made-in-china variety, to include the miserable EVO, a knife of such poor quality I don't even want to give it away.

Also, anything by Tec Force should be added to that theoretical sticky of horrible brands to avoid at all costs. Tec Force and Frost Cutlery make Gerber look like Spyderco :D
 
1. S&W Karambit - just a total pile. Screws just fell out.
2. Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife - It was like trying to sharpen a banana and held an edge about the same
3. Gerber Paraframe - awful.

All of this was before I found the wisdom of this forum.
 
A 280 dollar custom fixed blade that was duller than a butter knife. I could saw my arm with it and not draw blood. It was a Bill Coye Ridgeback.
 
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Benchmade 755MPR. It sits in a drawer of my file. It's so fat and so heavy, that it sits in the bottom drawer so it won't fall through to the floor. A beautiful blade of M390 wrapped up in a fat piece of G10. The ONE scale is 0.200" thick. Who ever needed ONE scale that is that thick on a small folder?
BRICK...BRICK.
I know; I know. I complain a lot...about BM.
 
Man, the paraframe is winning this in a walk. I almost want to get one to just see how bad it is for myself.
 
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