How's Queen's QC these days?

You're probably right Jake. I'm sure there is more going on behind the scenes than we realize. It's just frustrating from a collectors/ users perspective looking from the outside in.
I truly do hope for the best. I think Queen upping their quality would create some nice competition for GEC. Plus, they put out some really interesting/ classic patterns. Their design team definitely deserves some recognition.
 
For me, all my purchases are online. I place an order and cross my fingers. :/

Same here. All the dealers around here carry modern folders. You see no quality traditionals, like GEC, Queen, etc. I read the comments & reviews here on BF before ordering my traditionals & so far I've been lucky.
 
That's a shame. I have had Queens in the past. I think my late 90's/early Winchester mini-toothpick was made by Queen. I've been meaning to give them a shot, but stuff like this scares me off a bit.

Oddly enough, a local "junk store" stocks a fair amount of common Case patterns as well as inexpensive diamonds in the rough vintage knives, but they don't carry anything "next level".
 
I acquired a recently run S&M Coles Whittler from the secondary market about a month ago. It is a real good example of bad fit, finish, and construction. I will post some pictures if I ever get motivated to waste time handling that knife again. I don't think I'll ever buy another queen manufactured knife from the 2nd hand market again. At least with retail you have an opportunity to return/exchange it.
 
jrawk That's regrettable:( The Coles Whittler is a very recent release, if not from this year I think?

As others have said, we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but some of their recent stuff is frankly disturbing. I'm inclined to think that they may have extremely worn-out machinery that is disabling QC in a fundamental way. It is nearly 4 years since the change of ownership and the release of the new dawn knives after all.
 
I acquired a recently run S&M Coles Whittler from the secondary market about a month ago. It is a real good example of bad fit, finish, and construction. I will post some pictures if I ever get motivated to waste time handling that knife again. I don't think I'll ever buy another queen manufactured knife from the 2nd hand market again. At least with retail you have an opportunity to return/exchange it.

That's too bad. If you haven't yet, I'd double check that the seller won't accept returns. Some sellers will accept returns even if "no returns" is selected. Also, anything bought by PayPal is returnable whether or not the seller wants to accept returns. Alternatively, you could also send it to Queen for warranty repair. Hope that helps.
 
Sad to hear that, my experiences with recent Queen s have been hit and miss as well. I was hoping that Daniel's ownership would have ironed out a lot of the poor qc.
Matt
I acquired a recently run S&M Coles Whittler from the secondary market about a month ago. It is a real good example of bad fit, finish, and construction. I will post some pictures if I ever get motivated to waste time handling that knife again. I don't think I'll ever buy another queen manufactured knife from the 2nd hand market again. At least with retail you have an opportunity to return/exchange it.
 
their excellence in the hand, in use and in appearance/quality. But, these are all from pre 2012, their quality appears in stark contrast to contemporary offerings. Most of the latter are frankly rather odd looking and lacking in aesthetics as well.

I agree with this as well. They seem to be putting out a lot of 'fat' misproportioned folders in stark contrast to the classic well designed stuff they used to do. Shame as queens are my favourite knives.

That being said I'm still hanging out for a run of #2s with a sheepfoot secondary from the small stockman. I'd likely buy 4 to last me a lifetime.
 
That being said I'm still hanging out for a run of #2s with a sheepfoot secondary from the small stockman. I'd likely buy 4 to last me a lifetime.

That would be amazing! I just might have to roll the dice and pick one up if they produced something like that.
 
jrawk That's regrettable:( The Coles Whittler is a very recent release, if not from this year I think?

As others have said, we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but some of their recent stuff is frankly disturbing. I'm inclined to think that they may have extremely worn-out machinery that is disabling QC in a fundamental way. It is nearly 4 years since the change of ownership and the release of the new dawn knives after all.

Could be equipment. My guess is under-skilled craftsman. This one in particular wouldn't even pass as a GEC factory 2nd. The fluting on the bolsters is terrible, jagged and not straight. The elk covers are not flush with the liners. And worst of all, the tip of the wharncliff main blade makes contact with the pen secondary blade tang so the tip is bent.

That's too bad. If you haven't yet, I'd double check that the seller won't accept returns. Some sellers will accept returns even if "no returns" is selected. Also, anything bought by PayPal is returnable whether or not the seller wants to accept returns. Alternatively, you could also send it to Queen for warranty repair. Hope that helps.

after the holidays I'm going to try my own hand at correcting some of the issues. I haven't re-handled a splitback whittler yet or tried to do file work on bolsters ever. So this seems like a adequate cadaver to experiment on... especially if Santa brings me the new belt sander I wrote him about. ;)
 
Decided to do a short review of the latest arrival from Queen.

Apologies for the basic photos but it get's light at 10am here and dark by 3.15 and getting darker so I have no opp to get any 'twilight pix'..

IMG_4258.jpg


This is a Keystone sawn bone based on the 69 Barlow frame, so it's a Swell End single-blade.

THE GOOD

I like the 3 3/8" size, really ideal and Swell End mean a comfortable in hand effect. The Sawn Bone which is basically natural colour bone with black dye is good to look at. Well fitted around the liners and bolster. Nice small bolster too. Pinned shield, well inlet. All 4 pins nicely done. All stainless construction, no brass yes! Arrived sharp and good cutter out of the box.Hard to find any gaps, this is good, spring flush on open and close, brisk snap, no half stop.

I pulled the trigger on one of these before seeing your post. Mine thankfully has really good fit & finish though the blade favors the right side when closed but doesn't appear to rub the liner. It's actually "watertight" as I've seen some call it when there's no gaps or light visible between backspring, liners, & bone covers. Very comparable to GEC in that dept, actually. What I can't get over & what's surprising to me is the black bone coloring rubbing off onto my hands so easily. More than a bit of a turn off w' that. Despite that, I do like the knife. I hope they figure out a better way to color/dye saw cut bone moving forward.

Did you ever get yours to stop shedding color?
 
I am honestly glad to hear yours is a decent example as I like Queen knives (when they're good).

The bone dye really shed colour when being washed which greatly surprised me, I was washing it to try and improve the appalling gritty action. I was wondering if I hadn't washed it then it would've been staining the hands, food and clothing. As it is, it still sheds colour when dry.... Even if the F&F had been acceptable, I'd still not be impressed by the tinny blade which is cheap looking and unconvincing compared to its rivals'
 
I picked up this Schatt & Morgan a month or so ago on the secondary market. I do not know when it was made but the quality of the knife is excellent! The only issue I can see is the there is a gap between one of the liners and the back spring. Not a big issue to me and I really like the stag.

It appears to be one of several limited runs of Schatt & Morgan knives done since the Daniels family took of Queen Cutlery.



 
Thought I would post a brief review of this 2016 Railsplitter that I just received today.

Long story short, this example shows some signs of improvement in Queen's quality department in my opinion. I detect only a couple of very minor flaws that probably wouldn't even be noticed by anyone other than a knife enthusiast.

First and foremost, the shield is pinned. I can see the pin when looking into the blade well on the backside of the liner. As far as I've ever been able to tell, Queen used to use a different shield on the Amber Carved Stag Bone knives which is what these covers are. The older shields that were glued on have a raised Q and kind of a brushed finish as opposed to these flat shields with a somewhat polished finish. I wouldn't swear by it but I honestly believe that you can tell if a Queen shield is pinned just by looking at the shield in pictures. I believe all flat shields, like this one, are pinned and all raised shields are glued. I've been told that all Queen shields are pinned as of late 2015/early 2016 so if my theory is correct, we won't be seeing those raised shields anymore.



I like good snap on my knives and although the snap on these blades isn't anything to dance in the streets about, it certainly is more than satisfactory. If there were a "snap scale" of 1-10 I would rate the snap on the small blades at about a 7 and the large blade about a 6. Could be a little better maybe but good enough for a user who dislikes weak snap.

One of the "flaws" that I detect is that the out of the box "gritty" blade action that Queen is notorious for is still present. It's rather mild though and I plan to clean and lube the joints but I've found that the process makes little to no difference because the gritty action is caused primarily by roughly finished cam tangs. I've gotten used to this type of action and it doesn't bother me anymore but others might find it unacceptable. It's really not that bad and the positive traits of the knife outweigh this minor manufacturing glitch.

The other flaw is that there is a minor gap between bolster and covers at the mark side front bolster. Not a big gap but enough for a knife knut like me to notice. You can see it best at the angle in this picture.



Fit & finish are good otherwise and so far, I haven't detected any blade rub or blade play on any of the blades.

It has been mentioned before that Queen no longer uses Culpepper (sorry if I have the wrong name) to supply their Amber Carved Stag Bone. Some of the new stuff is aesthetically questionable but I can say with complete honesty that I really like the covers on this example. In fact, I think I like them better than the old style ACSB. If all of the newer stuff looked like this I would have no problem with it at all. This stuff is pretty nice.





I think that pinning all shields is the smartest decision that Queen has made recently. A decision that can only have a positive outcome. Not a bad thing about it. Overall, I'm happier with this knife than I really expected to be. I assumed that I would be content with it but I'm actually liking it very much. It's not perfect but it's a knife that I will be proud to carry and that's really what it's all about.
 
Good to hear Rick. I must say I like the look of that latest ACSB very attractive as I think it's an important constant in their line-up. The new type of shield is struck inwards rather than the relief finish of the previous style. Pinned pins are ALWAYS better, no question about that!

Thanks, Will
 
Thanks for the review. I'm glad you got a decent one. I'm also glad to hear that their quality is improving. I've got a couple of queens similar in fit and finish to yours - slight gritty action due to rough finish on the blade cam tang. I've found the the S&M line are less troublesome, overall.
 
its still terrible. I bought some schatt and morgans recently as gifts, and had to send one back due to chipping bone.
 
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