Is Marble's still any good?

D

dsp1

Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
7
Hi,
Like the title says, I was wondering if Marble's still makes a good knife. I have one of the older ideal model's from the 40's/50's that I use for hunting. When sharpened, that thing becomes ungodly sharp. I was just curious if the new marble's knives are made out of decent steel and able to really hold an edge. One last thing before I forget, for those of you with old or new(un-coated) carbon steel blades, you should really invest in some ballistol, either the liquid or aerosol. It is the best stuff I have ever used. Most of the time gun shows are a waste of time, but sometimes you run across something really great.:D

Dan
 
I picked up one of their China knives, and it wasn't all that great, but well worth the less than twenty bucks shipped I payed for it. You get what you pay for, and I've heard that some of the axes being made in China are actually pretty dangerous, at least two or three of our members here had the axe heads fly off soon after purchase.
 
IMO the best Marbles knives were made during the 1997 thru 2001 period.

Those were made under Mike Stewart (who later left and formed BRKT) mainly out of 52100 steel.

After the 2002 transition/takeover, quality at Marbles went WAY down in steel, fit+finish, CoO, warranty, you name it.
 
Well... I was wondering about the american made knives, last time I checked, they were around $80-100 and up without shipping. I was just hoping that for that price they still make a pretty damn good knife. walleyeguy7, with the exception of my very first knife(and for that reason only) a buck 110, all of my favorite and most used knives are from that time period. Especially one very old and pretty beat up imperial pocket knife. It is the only knife I have ever actually shaved with, easiest $25 I ever made. One of these days I need to learn how to replace the busted bone handle slabs. She's a hard working girl and deserves to look good again. It's a real shame what that company did to itself. They used to make one hell of a knife. I just hope marble's hasn't gone the same way.
 
What Tony_A said. My Fieldcraft and Campcraft in 52100 are among my finest knives. After Mike Stewart left, quality went downhill IMHO and never recovered.
 
Oops, ignore the above post, for some reason I can't delete it. Thanks guys, sucks to hear it though. Sorry Tony_A, your post wasn't up yet when I first started typing the reply; the way it ended up seemed like I was ignoring you.
 
dsp1 said:
Oops, ignore the above post, for some reason I can't delete it. Thanks guys, sucks to hear it though. Sorry Tony_A, your post wasn't up yet when I first started typing the reply; the way it ended up seemed like I was ignoring you.
Click to expand...

No problem.

If you're ever interested in buying a 97-01 Marbles knife (via E-bay, or wherever,) here's a thread that should help you identify + date those particular years:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5922960#post5922960

The difference in quality (IMO) is worth the effort to track them down.
 
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