How's Queen's QC these days?

[knarfeng]

I have a number of Queen knives in Birdseye maple, which I think date from the first decade of this century. None of them have any issues aside from the infamous Queen butter knife edge from the factory.

I have two Queen knives from the second decade of this century. One pre-Daniels. One post-Daniels. Both have issues with the cam surface on the back of the tang.
►The pre-Daniels has a non-uniform pull. hard to start. hard to end. floppy in the middle.
►The post-Daniels example is just plain rough. No amount of cleaning, oiling, or working the joint has fixed it. In fact, you can see the rough spots if you look at the correct angle.

I like D2. I like the patterns Queen produces. But proper milling of the cam on the blade is a pretty basic requirement for me. I've read several reports of some of the trestle pine knives also having odd cam movement. They need to get that issue fixed. If they still made knives as nice as the ones they made in 2005 I'd be buying nothing but Queen knives.

 

[neeman]

I have been seeing very good things from Queen. The Workhorse line, however, is NOT what to judge it by. That line is designed to be as low labor as possible to meet a price point.

I have a few Economy Line knives
These knives are the best knives on the market for the price point
They are $35 carbon steel knives with a F&F that is quite acceptable
I had to regrind the factory bevels from obtuse!
But so what\

I have solid work knives that are screaming sharp that hold very good edges and will be generational
Where else will you get $35 knives at this quality made in the USA

 

[DWWEBBER]

I'm a big fan of the older Queens and S&M's but don't have much faith in their new knives. I sent one back to the factory for a cracked handle and it was 6 months before I saw it again. If it takes that long to repair one, how many are being returned? The next one I bought, I simply sent it back to the distributor who refunded my money, less the shipping charge.

 

[mrknife]

mail call for today, nail breakers courtesy of Schatt and Morgan







editted to reflect railsplitter's info

 

[Ramrodmb]

So, Hows Queens QC these days, as it relates to these 2 new ones?

 

[mrknife]

So, Hows Queens QC these days, as it relates to these 2 new ones?

the box presentation couldve been better. they came sharp, centered. Im pleased with my purchase for the most part. Im already planning on buying another one in ebony for a user. the box was very flimsy and crumbled in transit for the most part

 

[Railsplitter]

mail call for today, nail breakers courtesy of Schatt and Morgan Heritage

Nice looking duo there, Jack. I'm a real sucker for almost any equal end pattern and those single blades look nice.

Are you sure those are from the Heritage series? The Heritage series are usually assigned the original pattern numbers from 100+ years ago. I believe it's usually a four digit number. I could be wrong but I didn't think the 99 patterns were part of the Heritage series.

 

[mrknife]

Nice looking duo there, Jack. I'm a real sucker for almost any equal end pattern and those single blades look nice.

Are you sure those are from the Heritage series? The Heritage series are usually assigned the original pattern numbers from 100+ years ago. I believe it's usually a four digit number. I could be wrong but I didn't think the 99 patterns were part of the Heritage series.

you are right, i better correct that. it looked like the stamp from the old days. i think thats why i put that. similar stamp on the blade to my heritage jack. i have been in love with the cigar pattern and have been in a frenzy these last two weeks. I blame dr.mabuse. i have 2 more 54s but big jack this time. gonna have em modded cause the pull is ridiculous, also i only want one blade.

 

[Augie]

Jack, I like those. That jigged bone one really looks like an old jack, nice jigging.

 

[mrknife]

Jack, I like those. That jigged bone one really looks like an old jack, nice jigging.

John, definitely one for the collection. dont see many of those around sadly. highly reminiscent. in fact, gonna save both and buy one more of the ebony to edc. slightly smaller than the gec cigars, which ive been obsessing over lately

 

[SadSappySucker]

Nice pair Jack! The upcoming forum knife has got me really interested in the equal end patterns.
What is the steel on these?

 

[mrknife]

Nice pair Jack! The upcoming forum knife has got me really interested in the equal end patterns.
What is the steel on these?

1095, which im surprised, cause queen/schatt and morgan usually kicks it up a notch past 420HC/1095, they do interesting steels lie ATS 34, 154 CM, and etc. but not that i could tell you the difference

 

[hamsco]

Very nice! The Jig bone looks like it is 50 years old. A very gook thing in my eyes.

 

[Sword and Shield]

I think that part of the reason for such a wide variety of reports, from exemplary to substandard, is the recent changes in Queen's ownership/management. I have had several Queens made under previous regimes that didn't live up to expectations. I've also owned a couple made since the Daniels family took over that had some issues. However, on the whole I'd say that they've made great strides in improving their product. For those that are reporting problems with Queen knives can you specify which knives it was that you had issues with? It would be interesting to know whether these were current production knives or ones that were several years old. Saying that you bought them this year doesn't really help, as I bought a Queen this year that was manufactured in 2009 and sold as new.

For myself, the five 2016 Queen knives I have are on par with any production folder currently being offered. They're at least the equal of the GECs I've purchased this year. I had good luck with 2015's offerings as well. I'm a private collector and as such see a small sample size, but from what I've seen I would say that putting Queen at the level of Case would be a mistake.

I will say that the bevels on the last couple I picked up weren't great. Not the primary grinds, but the final bevel. I don't see this as a flaw, as I was able to get them to where I wanted them fairly quickly. The two worst culprits were 1095 steel though, had they been D2 I might have seen it as more of a problem. Now that they're properly sharpened they are great slicers.

All of my Queens save one are older than the Daniels acquisition, and if I've had one constant issue, it is blade grinding. While I'm more than competent with a stone, I shouldn't need to put in an hour (as I did on my whittler) to get the bevels even and clean. On 1095 I wouldn't care so much, but on properly hardened D2 moving that much metal around is a pain even with a proper coarse stone.

 

[Dadpool]

My experience with Queen knives has been mixed overall, but not good recently.

Since I got into traditionals (March 2015), I've owned a number of (mostly pre-2015) S&M knives that were excellent: a single-bladed Scout, a Senator, a File & Wire single-bladed Gunstock, a sheepsfoot Barlow, and a Baby Sunfish. I eventually passed all of them along because other knives were claiming more pocket time, but they were all lovely knives.

On the flipside, my 2015 Tuna Valley Railsplitter -- at the time, the most expensive knife I'd ever purchased -- needed a trip back to the factory to repair excessive blade play, and that experience wasn't particularly good. And while I've only bought two 2016 Queen knives, an S&M Gunstock Jack and an S&M Coles Whittler, both had major fit and finish issues, and I returned them.

So that's . . . 3/9 knives that had issues I consider problems, as opposed to character or cosmetic flaws -- 33%. That's enough to make me gun-shy: I don't buy Queen knives sight unseen anymore, and it'd take a lot to get me to pick up another 2016 Queen knife.

(Edited to focus on new vs. old, and for clarity.)

 

[SadSappySucker]

1095, which im surprised, cause queen/schatt and morgan usually kicks it up a notch past 420HC/1095, they do interesting steels lie ATS 34, 154 CM, and etc. but not that i could tell you the difference

That is really cool. I just assumed it was in 420 or an equivalent.

 

[mrknife]

That is really cool. I just assumed it was in 420 or an equivalent.

honestly, sometimes a bit of 420HC wont hurt. I get tired of babying 1095 sometimes and having to go oil the collection. Just bought a huge bottle of mineral oil and spent most of today dipping and wiping the 1095 blades. some have 3 in 1 and some dont. eventually Ill get to all of them.

 

[pmew]

I would to see some more shots of these if you get the chance :thumbup:

 

[scruffuk]

I'm so pleased your knives turned up shiny mrknife.

Sadly my recent experience with Queen has been quite the opposite.

Here are some shots of the dismal quality I have experienced with the S&M EO Teardrop in Golden Spalted Maple:




Etchant smears


Flush when closed, not so when opened.


Gappy


Shield glue


Crappy cornering 1


Crappy cornering 2


Poop pins 1


Poop pins 2


Poop pins 3


File/sanding marks!!


Curious contouring 1


Curious contouring 2


Such a shame. I have a real hankering for a good example from Queen and a teardropped Spear.

NB. Mine too came in the same cheap, oversized, thin white cardboard box.

Edited to add: The seller also claimed to check all knives before despatching!

 

[fuzzylogic]

I'm so pleased your knives turned up shiny mrknife.

Sadly my recent experience with Queen has been quite the opposite.

Here are some shots of the dismal quality I have experienced with the S&M EO Teardrop in Golden Spalted Maple:

...

Wow, sorry to hear you received such a lemon. If it was just 1 or 2 of those things I think it would be acceptable, but all those things added together is really just...appalling.

I was tempted to purchase a Schatt & Morgan gunstock and a medium coke bottle after one got away on the exchange, but I'm not so sure now. I don't really want to take the gamble. It's too bad because the designs and especially the steel they use are all good (ats34, cpm-154).

My only experience is a Queen curly zebra wood mountain man in D2. Everything is perfect (perfect centering, super solid lock up, great walk and talk) except for the grind. The blade was not ground flat on the mark side. There's a little vertical bump which resulted in a wavy secondary bevel.