Your most disappointing knife purchase

74 yo and I got a Cold Steel Pro Lite. Opened great, but I could not get the Triad disengaged. Handed it to a 9th grade fb player, and he could. He's enjoying his new knife. Only CS ever like that for me, other Triads included.
 
CRKT Stiff K.I.S.S. I bought it in high school, swayed by the advertising. Never had another chisel edged, skeletonised, paracord wrapped knife since.
 
Wurger190 said:
CRKT Stiff K.I.S.S. I bought it in high school, swayed by the advertising. Never had another chisel edged, skeletonised, paracord wrapped knife since.
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I've had one of those forever. It's my garage knife for any crappy or dirty task...opening bags of dog food, cardboard, or anything requiring me not caring what happens to the knife. That AUS-6 refuses to die. LOL!
 
Blues said:
I've had one of those forever. It's my garage knife for any crappy or dirty task...opening bags of dog food, cardboard, or anything requiring me not caring what happens to the knife. That AUS-6 refuses to die. LOL!
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I don't doubt it! I was just left feeling let down - it was a lot of money back then and it just wasn't what I expected.
 
L.T. Wright skeleton key. The kydex sheath was extremely loose and it fit poorly in my hand so I returned it. On the other hand my L.T. Wright gen 5 is my favorite knife I own.
 
I have to really rack my brain to determine "most disappointing" knife purchase, because there is a not a knife I have ever owned that I did not need to change at least some small thing about. But nearly every time after I made the change(s) I was happy with the knife. But I guess the top of the list for me would be the Spyderco Yojumbo, because even after all my changes it just didn't quite come out of the pocket with the ease and reliability I wanted. It's at the top of my list because it was the one I most wanted to like, and just couldn't enough to keep or carry.

The whole story:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/spyderco-yojumbo-review.1737343/
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/sold-modded-yojumbo.1744951/
 
bayouace said:
74 yo and I got a Cold Steel Pro Lite. Opened great, but I could not get the Triad disengaged. Handed it to a 9th grade fb player, and he could. He's enjoying his new knife. Only CS ever like that for me, other Triads included.
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That's really too bad, as it's a great knife for its price point. If you lived next door, I would have adjusted the spring tension for you in exchange for one good apple, or maybe a couple ounces of walnuts.
 
I'm going to be completely honest and say that my first and so far only Chris Reeve sebenza was my most disappointing purchase. I bought it second hand, and as far as I can tell it was unused. I had admittedly high hopes based on reviews here and from The Tactical Knife by James Morgan Ayers. Don't get me wrong I appreciate the fit and finish on my small sebenza 21, and I have a small pj 31 on order, but I just can't see how some guys see the sebbie as the end all be all of folding knives. After toting mine around for a few days I went back to my Douk Douk. I hold out hope that one without the inlays will do it for me, but I'm honestly doubtful. Maybe it's because I'm a bitter old man at heart, or maybe M.C. Cognet stumbled on to perfection back in the 20's
 
I hate to sat this, but maybe my Native 5 G10. The action isn't great and the ergos aren't doing it for me. My Para 3 is a much better knife, and was $25 less expensive, haha.

I may change my mind though. But as of right now I'm not as excited about the Native as I thought I would be. My Seki made Endela is a way better knife, and half the price.
 
Schrade Cliphanger, hands down. Worst knife ever made.

Here’s what I said about it way back in 2005:

It has a handle as ergonomic as a cactus, a blade that won't hold an edge, a retention system that doesn't work at all, a thumb opener that absolutely sucks, the roughest opening of any folder EVER, and a "liner lock" about as thick as rice paper! (with it "locked" open, you can move the blade toward the handle and watch the "liner lock" bow) The thing is an absolute piece of trash. I use mine as a grout scraper, and it barely functions at that job!

WHAT AN ABSOLUTE P.O.S.!!!!!!

———————//

My opinion remains unchanged. That turd deserves every bit of scorn heaped upon it’s cursed hide. :thumbsdown::mad:
 
My biggest disappoint was a Microtech Swampfly. Quality was excellent. Very nice overall. But my disappointment was the smoothness of the action when flipping. It was decent, but not as smooth as everyone said the Microtech Bali’s were (because of the bushings). Regretfully I sold it about 16 years ago before the prices skyrocketed on Bali’s from the early 2000’s.

second disappointment that I still own is a case sodbuster. I bought it before I started making knives and even then I could tell the quality was poor. Terribly QC.
 
Definitely the Sebenza 31. One of the worst actions I’ve ever felt in a knife, awful lock stick, bad centering, and extremely stiff detent. The action and lock stick got so bad that I eventually had to pry the lock bar open with a key to close the knife. Sent it in for warranty but it still wasn't totally fixed or anywhere near as good as other CRK’s I’ve owned. Sold it for a big loss.

Runner up would be the Paramilitary 2. Over hyped lock and a scratchy action. The only thing it does better than the Military is having the clip oriented for tip up carry.

The only disappointing thing to me about Strider Knives is that I don’t have enough money buy more.
 
Silvanus said:
Runner up would be the Paramilitary 2. Over hyped lock and a scratchy action. The only thing it does better than the Military is having the clip oriented for tip up carry.
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So nothing, then. ;)
 
Benchmade 940-2. QC was pathetic for the price. Such an amazing design was/is deserving of a better effort.

The 3 Massdrop knives I bought—first runs of the Falcon & Crux, second run of the Gent. The hype made them out to be touched by the finger of god or something....then all the hipster fanbois went orgasmic over them. Honestly, they’re *ok* knives. I’m mostly disappointed in myself for falling prey to the marketing campaign.
 
I'll echo the Sebenza 31 comment. Mine came with plenty of lock rock. I followed along the lock rock mega thread and saw enough people getting replies from CRK saying it was normal. Enough to make me not bother with trying to get it repaired under warranty. I ended up trading it for a 21 and have lost a lot of interest in the brand since then. I'll always love the 21s, regulars and Zaans. Now that they're putting holes in the Mnandi it's clear they're catering to a niche that I don't exist within. I wish I just returned the knife to the dealer.

The only knife I did return to the dealer was a ProTech Invictus. Obvious tool marks on the spine of the blade. Asymmetrical edge to the point it almost looked like a chisel edge Emerson or MSC. ProTech told me in an email that this stuff is normal but they would look at it. Said I was expecting too much from the price point basically. I've read nothing but glowing reviews of ProTech and this is my only experience with their knives or their CS, so I'm going to assume it's out of the ordinary for them.
 
Out of all the knives I've ever bought or owned only 1 comes to mind when I think disappointment. Spyderco Manix 2.

I was a diehard Spyderco fan and had a few Enduras and a Delica before I got the Manix 2. I really liked the Manix 2 although the caged ball bearing lock seemed stiffer than I thought it would be. It was okay though and I still liked the knife and especially the 154CM steel. That is until the polymer lock cage broke. I fixed it the best I could with JB Weld and it lasted for awhile, maybe 6 months or maybe a year. When my repair failed I called the company and asked them to just send me a replacement polymer cage but they refused to do that and no matter what would not budge on the issue. I sent it to them like they insisted I do and they did fix it as they said they would. Then I gave it away and never bought another Spyderco knife.

I was planning to buy a Manix 2 XL before the polymer cage on my Manix 2 broke. I never beat on the knife or even used it hard and I don't know why it broke. The one I had was clear polymer but when they sent it back it was replaced with a black polymer cage. Maybe they changed material or something since I bought my knife originally, maybe it was just a color change. They never said anything about that and I didn't ask. At that point I was already planning to give the knife away when I got it back and that's what I did.

I lost faith in the polymer caged ball bearing lock design after that first failure and probably wouldn't have bought anymore of their knives with that particular lock. I almost definitely would have bought a Military since then if I wouldn't have had that negative customer service experience. The fact that the lock broke in the first place was the thing that disappointed me the most. Maybe it was a bad choice of material, a bad lot or maybe I just got one that had a micro-crack or stress from the manufacturing process. I never beat on it or misused it in anyway, it just broke.

That was my only true disappointment with a knife that I can ever remember.
 
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