Frost knives

R

RMO

Joined
Aug 14, 2009
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I haven't seen much about Frost knives for quite some time and I'm curious to know if they still aren't very good quality.
 
Don't believe anything has changed other than they may have added a new series or two with their traditional offerings.
 
German steel, German machinery, from what I hear.
I have a couple of doctors' knives that are fine, except they needed some thinning behind the edge. The same complaint was regularly made of the late, great, American, Queen Cutlery.
Also the bolsters are more sharply square than I like.
And I have a Frost congress I don't like at all. Same sharply square bolsters, and extra clunky because each blade is on its own spring; no crinking.
I don't have any RRs to compare them to, but I suspect the Frosts are a step below.
 
Which Frost?
Jim, Family, or the Puukkos?
Frost (Family) "Made in Pakistan" knife shaped objects are far below the old "Made in Japan" (or Taiwan) no name "gas station special" knives that sold for a dollar or less at DX, Phillip 66, and Union 76 service stations back in the 1950's and 1960's as far as quality goes.
Truthfully, "Frost Family" knife shaped objects have never been noted for so much as "mediocre" quality.
If you have enough of them in a bag, they MIGHT make a good kayak, canoe, or surf board anchor.

From what I've heard, the Jim Frost, and the Frost Puukkos are of good quality. I've never owned or handled one, however.
They cost considerably more than I am able or willing to spend.

I avoid everything with "Frost" in the manufacturer's name, and strongly advise others to do the same.
If you have to get a knife at the Frost price point for whatever reason, get a recent offshore made Imperial, instead. They are a much higher quality knife across the board than a Frost Family knife.

If you want a good inexpensive high quality traditional folding knife, try Rough Rider, Marbles, and BTI contracted Old Timer and Uncle Henry.
(the BTI contracted Imperial's aren't bad, but the Old Timer and Uncle Henry are better.)

Marbles recently came out with a series with D2 blades and black canvas Micarta covers for under $18 retail. I have one of the MR431 Sowbelly stockmans from that series. I am very happy with it, and "EDC" it. (I don't change my knives on a daily basis.)

DISCLAIMER:
I "don't do" modern one hand opening or flippers, liner/frame locks, thumb studs or hole, or pocket clips, so I cannot comment on the quality of their offerings in the "Modern" category .
I've never tried one of their fixed blades, either, so I don't know about the quality of the Rough Rider, Marbles, or the various Schrade brands fixed blades.
Therefore I have no comments as to quality concerning their products outside the traditional folding knife category.
 
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It surpises me that since you can get so many decent old US made pocket knives on the second hand market over there that anyone would bother with anything else
 
RMO said:
I haven't seen much about Frost knives for quite some time and I'm curious to know if they still aren't very good quality.
Click to expand...

I like Frost knives up to a certain level but have my flavor of criticism...

* You're not going to find perfectly cut bone scales at their low price tag on their slipjoints and lockbacks and shouldn't expect it. But they do serve their function and there are some comfortable designs like the Choctaw.

*There are some purely composite liner lock modern knives by Frost that get called "junk". I agree with this perception because there is no secondary steel liner to resist hand torque and prevent the liner lock from slipping in hard cuts. But not all of them are single liner design. No matter where a knife is made (or costs) in the end you have to Loctite all the screws if the factory doesn't do it.

*I'm very fond of the older stainless handled lockbacks like the Silver Hawk, Hawk Eye, and they did one on the Vulture. They aren't as good as a Spyderco in terms of finishing of the steel handle and they need a little oil to break in. But they aren't Spyderco priced. Now I did buy my father in law a plastic handled Eagle Eye about 18 or 19 years ago. He uses it mostly for cutting hay bale twine and opening bags of feed. It still locks tight and cheap steel lasts...it was only $5 but he likes it and hasn't lost it.

*On the Japan models they did have a much better fit and finish. Surgical Steel (420j2) worked just fine for common knife tasks. But the spring bar design on the lockbacks was so strong it took two hands to disengage the lockback lever. You had to leave them open halfway for a few weeks. Then you can do it one-handed but still takes an awful lot of resistance to disengage. The reason why is because the spring bar is crafted from the steel spacer all as one piece so the spring is quite thick. They had extremely strong lock-up but took years of use to wear in that spring bar enough to be considered comfortable to operate. People cannot complain about breaking in a Triad Lock by Cold Steel until they've tried a vintage Frost. At least that's my observance from owning a Red Hawk III and a Peacemaker. I'm not surprised Frost transitioned to two-piece construction on their newer lockback designs when they switched to Chinese manufacturing.

Frost knives are cheap cutting tools yet there's a portion of designs that I like enough to say that I can't hate the brand. Buy a cheap keychain lockback by Frost that has a bit of vertical blade play when locked it's called junk. If that flaw is on a $20-40 USA made lockback though people here will make excuses for it. You can't blame folks for liking cheap knives when quality is all over the place no matter where it's made or how much it costs.
 
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