How's Queen's QC these days?

It's a real shame, but I think that's a well founded worry. Things don't sound good. I almost bought one of the recent gunstocks, but when the seller wouldn't send extra pictures I decided against it. Too likely to have issues.
 
J_Curd said:
I bought the Cole's whittler and one of the coffin handled jacks with Burnt Lightning covers...both had fundamental grind issues, again. I'll circle back in 2020.
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Hi Joe, can you clarify on "grind issues"?
The last two Queens I bought had really funky actions due to poor machining of the cams. The opened and closed with issues. Is that what you mean, or was it the cutting edges?
 
In August 2017 I went into their Open House to find a particular knife and I found a few but the quality of each was so low that I would not buy either of them . Very disappointing with glaring F & F issues .

Harry
 
I've had some minor complaints with Queen Cutlery but it hasn't stopped me yet. I have a thing for their now disco'd dark stained Cocobolo line and am still trying to grab nice ones that come open. Nice wood with that D2 is a favorite for me though I do find myself more leaning towards the GEC line. Especially in Ebony/Blackwood.

Joe
 
Mastiff, I would very much agree that the D2 line of knives in Stagbone, BEM,Coco,Zebra are very well finished knives and extremely attractive patterns. The sharpness is often dicey and getting D2 up to spec is not always easy...but build quality is usually very high. Unfortunately, the current offerings -usually in 420 and carbon are not at the level of competitors by and large.

I would very much like to be proved wrong about the last point though.

Thanks, Will
 
If you can find any old stock, or nos, from Bill Howards tenure-get it. F&F are always better, and any issues with grind can be fixed with diamonds, by yourself, a lansky et al. , or a pro sharpening/regrinding. Personal experience has shown that.
Thanks, Neal
 
Old Engineer said:
In August 2017 I went into their Open House to find a particular knife and I found a few but the quality of each was so low that I would not buy either of them . Very disappointing with glaring F & F issues .

Harry
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agreed, I was there and saw those knives as well. Ive had to do some work to make some of my queen/s&m work ok which if I am paying that much shouldnt be required.
 
I keep coming back to Queen for consideration when I am looking for a small to medium sized Toothpick knife and they have a decent looking one, made in D2 IIRC, but the remarks about the lack of QC is making me weary of them.
 
knarfeng said:
Hi Joe, can you clarify on "grind issues"?
The last two Queens I bought had really funky actions due to poor machining of the cams. The opened and closed with issues. Is that what you mean, or was it the cutting edges?
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The blades on my Queen Barlow & Queen made Northwoods stockman, both in D2, are pretty thick behind the edges. Maybe that's what he was referring to. The Barlow is rough opening/closing, too. My Queen #26 stockman & the #49 that I had were fine blade & QC-wise.
 
knarfeng said:
Hi Joe, can you clarify on "grind issues"?
The last two Queens I bought had really funky actions due to poor machining of the cams. The opened and closed with issues. Is that what you mean, or was it the cutting edges?
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Happily; I wasn't trying to dump and jump :)

These were also very very difficult to open. Hard to capture, but the wharncliffe has a big grind line and the clip has a concave over-grind.

38089897756_03b8ce7442_c.jpg


38089891306_0e67fc376d_c.jpg
 
There were some major staff issues that were hurting Queen since the Daniels took over. There has been a lot of changes and reshuffling going on in the last 6 months there with employees and management. In my opinion, especially with the new master cutler they have, I expect to see better knives coming from them starting in 2018.
 
NewBlades16 said:
They suck! Save your money and buy a GEC for about the same price. Simple as that.
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Beg to differ. Kind of think "suck" doesn't really belong here.

However, in the spirit of your comment, GECs continuous use of 1095 proves they cut their corners knowing that their fan base will accept lower quality materials. Sorry, but even among carbon steels, 1095 is nowhere near a premium steel and it "sucks" on edge retention compared with M4, O1, D2, 154CM, M390, etc. You'll see premium steels in many Queen made products. Using premium steels on higher end knives is part of the historical tradition in pocket knives.

And then there are those ugly sunken rivets, they certainly "suck"...don't buy no ugly knife...:)

I think this Queen QC thread deserves a place in the GB&U.
 
I got a S&M gunstock stockman from 2006 just a little while ago, mainly because I didn't want carbon steel and as much as I love Case knives I didn't want their tru-sharp either. The fit and finish was great overall, but just like other people have mentioned, the grinds were pretty bad. That has a big ol clip blade and it actually has a recurve because the sharpening was so poorly done. It took a long time to get an edge on it due to the angle too. I only have a sharpmaker and it took some work to fix it and the edge still doesn't feel right to me. Their knives look fantastic and the materials are good too so lets hope the process to put it all together well catches back up...
 
brownshoe said:
Beg to differ. Kind of think "suck" doesn't really belong here.

However, in the spirit of your comment, GECs continuous use of 1095 proves they cut their corners knowing that their fan base will accept lower quality materials. Sorry, but even among carbon steels, 1095 is nowhere near a premium steel and it "sucks" on edge retention compared with M4, O1, D2, 154CM, M390, etc. You'll see premium steels in many Queen made products. Using premium steels on higher end knives is part of the historical tradition in pocket knives.

And then there are those ugly sunken rivets, they certainly "suck"...don't buy no ugly knife...:)

I think this Queen QC thread deserves a place in the GB&U.
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The guy asked about QC and I responded. If you feel this thread belongs in the GBU then tell him not me, or tell the moderator that made a comment here and did not mention moving to the GBU. As a payed member, I responded like all the others did here. Kindof zeroing me out. Huh.
 
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brownshoe said:
Beg to differ. Kind of think "suck" doesn't really belong here.

However, in the spirit of your comment, GECs continuous use of 1095 proves they cut their corners knowing that their fan base will accept lower quality materials. Sorry, but even among carbon steels, 1095 is nowhere near a premium steel and it "sucks" on edge retention compared with M4, O1, D2, 154CM, M390, etc. You'll see premium steels in many Queen made products. Using premium steels on higher end knives is part of the historical tradition in pocket knives.

And then there are those ugly sunken rivets, they certainly "suck"...don't buy no ugly knife...:)

I think this Queen QC thread deserves a place in the GB&U.
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In the spirit of making a traditional pocket knife the traditional way I don’t see how it could be considered cutting corners when they aren’t using a modern “premium steel”. If that’s the case then anything less than the best is “cutting corners”. It all comes down to opinion I guess what’s the best in your eyes may not be the best in mine. I’ve had excellent experiences with 1095 and appreciate the history it has as a blade steel. I realize that there are steels that are widely considered to be better, but I’m content with my well ground 1095, versus a premium steel with a poor grinds.

This forum is a good example of how things are going for each company and Queen isn’t exactly knocking anything out of the park lately.
 
JD Bear said:
I got a S&M gunstock stockman from 2006 just a little while ago, mainly because I didn't want carbon steel and as much as I love Case knives I didn't want their tru-sharp either. The fit and finish was great overall, but just like other people have mentioned, the grinds were pretty bad. That has a big ol clip blade and it actually has a recurve because the sharpening was so poorly done. It took a long time to get an edge on it due to the angle too. I only have a sharpmaker and it took some work to fix it and the edge still doesn't feel right to me. Their knives look fantastic and the materials are good too so lets hope the process to put it all together well catches back up...
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Interestingly, I like the recurve on the Queen stockmen. I have seen quite a few made between 2002 and 2015 and all of them had a recurve.
This makes me think that it is a deliberate feature, not simply the result of poor grinds. They look something between the Type A and Type B clip blade styles in the picture below:

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/310648517995-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

Regarding the poor grinds in recent Queen knives in general, I do not dispute any of the posts above.
Queen knives tend to have variable levels of fit & finish issues, but I find F&F issues on Case knives as well.
Overall, I like the Queen knives and prefer the D2 steel over The Case Thru Sharp 420 HC.
 
I bought a recent offering of a S&M gun stock with a CPM 154 clip blade. Looking along the top of the blade it really is a rough cut out, which makes the rest of the blade appear wavy. The keystone shield WAS glued in because the pin hole in the bone was off center, glueing was the only option at that point the shield fell out about a week after having the knife. The whole thing left me being really picky about Queen and Schatt and Morgan offerings. Will not buy one now unless I handle it first. I have about forty five older Queen and post 1992 Schatt & Morgan’s. These knives are some of the best knives produced. I hope the QC improves or it could mean bad news for Queen Cutlery, with more bad reviews not only here on BFC but other talkings and reviews elsewhere.
 
I completely agree, Rusty. Queen/S&M's best period was the fifteen or so years from the mid '90s to the late '00s. Consistently as good as any production knives I've handled. Bill Howard is now reproducing that high quality at GEC. It's a great shame that at the time when Queen's quality went down, their prices have gone way up. The curly zebrawood line of Queen knives from 2010-12 was still well made, with gorgeous covers and D2 steel, priced around 50-60 dollars each. At the same time period GEC were charging $75-100 for their bone or wood handled knives using the much cheaper 1095 steel. Since then GEC have gone up around 20%, while Queens have nearly doubled in price. I sure hope they find some good cutlers soon.
 
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