I've had the following retailers inspect knives prior to shipment:
- GPKnives
- KnifeCenter
- BladeHQ
- USA Made Blade
- DLT Trading
I remember emailing MonkeyEdge to check an SNG for centering and blade play, and got a canned response:
"The short answer (that you wont like is), maybe.
The long answer: We generally dont go through all our Strider knives looking for specific aesthetic qualities (blade centering is aesthetic if the knife was tuned to be as strong as it possible, and the result was a off-center blade, as centering the blade after being tuned would equal putting the whole geometry out of balance. But more on that in a bit), as this adds a ton of work to keep things organized (sometimes certain SKUs have 10, 15, 20, or more in stock). Strider knives are purpose built, hard use knives, and are built very much function over form (not to say they dont make nice looking knives, but their focus is NOT on making them look perfect). Strider does not make marvels of precision machining, but hard use ready for work knives you can bet your life on. Most people say things to us like yeah, but for $500 I should get the quality of a (enter knife brand). This usually comes from a set of expectations that are not totally accurate for the product they are getting.
Think of it like a Humvee and an Escalade. Both are SUVs, both can cost $100,000 and yet they are very different. Humvees come factory direct with a crappy paint job, uncomfortable seats, and a lousy ride. If you take it for a ride on the freeway, you will have a pretty rough ride that will not be comfortable. By the same measures, you wouldn't take an Escalade to a warzone. See, each was designed for a specific purpose, and each was built with that purpose in mind. No need to hand finish and make a Humvee beautiful, and no need to give an Escalade smaller steel rims with big knobby tires and armor plating.
We understand wanting to get specifics on knives you are looking at, but in the end it is a Strider knife. The striped finish on the blade will scratch and wear over time (it sort of is supposed too), and the blades arent always centered (Mick has a whole rant on how they actually arent supposed to be centered due to the design of the knife). The lockup is supposed to be what some people call sticky from the shop. Its oversized, so when the lockup breaks in (literally material being ground down, smoothed out and hardened) they match up super secure. The aim to that the knife will lockup super strong and not ever give out in a moment of hard use and abuse. Sure, we have seen perfect Striders straight from the shop, where everything is beautiful, and centered and
But trying to find one that hits all the marks of being perfect is not really a feasible expectation.
Another analogy (we like analogies) is Snap On tools. Some of the best tools on the market, and also at a premium. When those tools are designed and built, they are done so with the assumption that the tools are going to be used, abused, beaten up and generally misused. The tools are designed to withstand that and keep going. Less thought is put into how well that two-tone finish is going to last, or if the handles will stain from oil or grease (they do).
Now we are definitely not trying to sound like jerks, but just explain WHY we don't go through all our knives looking for aesthetic variations. If we just answered 'no' we definitely would have come across badly. When the buyer is wanting more precision and focus on aesthetics than the people who build the knife in the first place, that is a situation set up to fail or disappoint. It has become almost a fashion of late for folks searching for pretty Strider knives (something that just sounds wrong, like wanting a pretty power drill or chainsaw). While they do look BADASS, they look so in a rough, been there-done that, ready for anything way. Strider knives have a sort of "look" that people love and want to get, but sometimes they don't actually know the deal about Striders, and just see a cool knife that they assume is the same as another knife brand.
Tons of people do not agree with this, and that is totally fine! Your money and your knives, and we want to make sure everyone gets what they want. So we tell this to folks because they think they know what a knife is or what they are all about, when in actuality the expectation of the knife does not meet the reality of what it is. We have sold more Strider knives than anyone on the planet, and we are the first to say that Striders are not for everyone. If what you are looking for are hard use tools, designed for that purpose, built to that standard in mind, and ready for whatever you can throw at them, than you want a Strider. If specific aesthetic properties is a determining factor, than a Strider may not be the right knife. Before you think we are trying to be rude, let us explain: I personally have knives that I have purchased for looks alone. I have knives that I liked, but have searched around for the 'right' one. I also have several Strider knives, some with off centered blades, some that had scratches on them fresh from Strider. They still cut, smash, and everything else I expect and trust they will do. That is what they were designed and required to do, nothing more, and they excel at it. So it's 100% okay to want a knife to look a certain way. If your criteria has some level of form outweighing the function of the knife that is a determining factor of whether you want the knife or not, that is awesome, and you may be better suited looking at other makers.
Please let us know if you have any questions, and we will be happy to answer as best as we can."
