Knife Quality Control

K

KnifeBogie

Joined
Jun 19, 2020
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I have a question for all the knife people. I've been on the fence about quality control and maybe I'm just being a stickler, but this would be the 2nd time I feel like quality has been missed. First time I sent knife back because the tip was ground more on one side of the tip and there was a noticeable indent on one of the sides from grinding. Returned for a replacement and this one seems to have been ground off-center. Trying to get opinions on the matter. Love the knife overall but for a 160 should I really be getting a better product?
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This has been on my mind as well. I've had bad luck ordering knives online; I send about half back due to some fit and finish error (unless it's a budget user blade). This is why I prefer to buy knives in person now if possible. Even though they're tools, I don't think its too picky to expect a certain degree of quality from knives esp when you get past $100. Watches are tools too, and I seem to have a lot better luck with quality control on them... just in my experience though. Doesn't deter me from buying knives, esp if they're from a reputable company.
 
The link should be fixed hopefully. I agree though, I seem to have a very hit or miss with online knives. It's very frustrating especially if you're going to pay that much for a knife and something you plan on using for hopefully a lifetime.
 
As a knife user, I usually have two categories for QC issues: aesthetic and functional. If it’s a minor blemish that’s strictly an aesthetic issue, I just shrug it off. Non-negotiable functional issues like bladeplay, off-centering, extremely uneven grinds means the knife gets sent back. But that’s just me.

If this bothers you to the point of affecting your enjoyment of the knife, just have it exchanged. At the $160 price range, I’d argue that there should be minor or nonexistent QC issues.
 
DangerZone98 said:
As a knife user, I usually have two categories for QC issues: aesthetic and functional. If it’s a minor blemish that’s strictly an aesthetic issue, I just shrug it off. Non-negotiable functional issues like bladeplay, off-centering, extremely uneven grinds means the knife gets sent back. But that’s just me.

If this bothers you to the point of affecting your enjoyment of the knife, just have it exchanged. At the $160 price range, I’d argue that there should be minor or nonexistent QC issues.
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I concur. This is one of the reasons I stopped buying Benchmade five years ago. They raised the prices a lot and QC went down the tube.

I feel a slightly uneven grind is minor, and not uncommon among mass produced knives.
 
K.O.D. said:
I concur. This is one of the reasons I stopped buying Benchmade five years ago. They raised the prices a lot and QC went down the tube.

I feel a slightly uneven grind is minor, and not uncommon among mass produced knives.
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Damn, that’s disappointing to know. I was interested in the Presidio II. Those CF scales looked sexy.

True, I’m not looking for 100% perfection in grinds. It will correct itself anyway as you sharpen through the years.
 
KnifeBogie said:
I have a question for all the knife people. I've been on the fence about quality control and maybe I'm just being a stickler, but this would be the 2nd time I feel like quality has been missed. First time I sent knife back because the tip was ground more on one side of the tip and there was a noticeable indent on one of the sides from grinding. Returned for a replacement and this one seems to have been ground off-center. Trying to get opinions on the matter. Love the knife overall but for a 160 should I really be getting a better product?
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Now that's seriously off center, that'd bug the hell out of me.

My Boker BugOut had uneven secondary bevel and there were strings of plastic from molding on the handle scales. And one of the scales was thicker than the other. And plastic shavings were falling out from sheath.

Now my friend bought Boker BugOut and got it yesterday, and it's grind is much better (still not perfect at one side) but knife came DIRTY from sharpening, full of white/gray dust! He used that dust to strop it tho lol. But his sheath is a lot better, handle scales are smyetrical and it came way sharper than mine was since he said it was shaving sharp, mine would only barley shave with some pressure. But handle scales are still kinda white and not that smoothed out.

But why am I telling you this?
Well, that is 28€ knife (that's how much he paid for it).

Your knife is in 150€ category, and it has way bigger flaws than knives in 30€ category.


Drop Forged Hunter - was perfect and cost me 40€.
Recon Tanto in SK-5 - only had slightly uneven grind near secondary point, I solved it in 5 minutes, it cost 60€.
Warcraft Tanto - 200€ but no imperfections, fit and finish on point, smmetrical and very sharp.

My point is that this is unacceptable at this price range, especially since you already sent one back, and now second one has even more serious defect. It's sad to think that other companies have tighter QC even on budget knives.
 
I think it is sad that this is what we have come to. Pay pretty good dough (not if you are a custom or Sebbie guy, this price range is a tool box knife for some) for a knife, and repeated problems are unacceptable. In your case, it seems that if it isn't one issue, it is another. I think a lot of us have been there, and it is frustrating.

Worse still, the last few knives that I have bought were significantly less $$ than that, and they were great on all counts. In the last 3 years I bought a Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter, a CS Bush Ranger (excellent work knife!), a couple of Ruicke knives, a Tangram, and just recently due to a mention here, a "Harnds" brand knife.

All have great fit and finish, the grinds on the CS UH were a little off, but easily correctable. Cold Steels were both about $100 or a little north, and the Ruickes were just under $40 and the Tangram (with the Grimsmo influenced tanto) was about $35 in VG10. The Harnds Warrior is a big honking knife, and the fit/finish/centering/lockup are all outstanding. G10 on the Harnds is excellent, rolls on a small detent bearing, and the D2 blade came very sharp, obviously hand finished. The Harnds knife was something like $32.

So when I get a knife that can't compete with something like that Harnds that was literally 1/6 the price, I have problems. I can be hard headed and lazy, and sometimes I will take less than I paid for, but not often. And it will take a bunch of us sending back poor specimens of work sold at premium prices before the manufacturers will change.

After all, if they cared in the first place knives like yours (KnifeBogie) and the Bokers described would never have left the factory.

Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
After all, if they cared in the first place knives like yours (KnifeBogie) and the Bokers described would never have left the factory.
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Yep, I totally agree, I still overlooked it at Boker and so did my friend, because, at around 30€, well you'll cut them some slack.

But at other hand, Drop Forged Hunter was perfect at 40€, no flaws at all. My friend was like "They didn't care to even clean my knife? What if I got a lemon they forgot to temper too?"
 
Sounds like I'm making the right decision to return it again. You can't tell that well in the pic but you can see on the right side of where the jimping is, that it goes inward as opposed to it being straight on the left side. Flip it over and you can clearly see how off-center it is. All feedback has been much appreciated.
 
That's bad. Unfortunately, you have to learn the hard way which companies to buy from and which to avoid. As others have said, I've received perfect knives from Cold Steel, Tangram, Kizer, Mora, ESEE, Victorinox and Kabar which cost much less than your knife. I have two factory 2nds from Survive Knives, one of which cost less than yours, and I cannot for the life of me find a single issue.

I've been burned by companies and refuse to buy from them. If I can buy an $8 Tractor Supply SAK special or a $27 Tangram and receive a perfect knife, there is zero excuse for a crappy $160 blade to leave a factory.
 
I received great knives from TOPS, Cold Steel, and even a Spanish brand called Jeo-Tec as I was curious about how the MoVa steel would perform. Not one problem and were much less. Very frustrating considering the rest of the knife is great but with the defect of the blade, can't bring myself to settle.
 
Knife QC?
Like everything else, some have it and some don't.
The QC inspector is almost usually always a human. Human can miss things, or may apply his or her own standards which may not be as high as some customer's standards.

If the problem is cosmetic, I deal with it. "Uneven grinds?" Big deal. That can be dealt with when sharpening the blade(s).
Things that affect the functionality like a wiggly wobbly blade with pinned construction? Broken backspring because whoever in marketing that designed the hang-pack wanted all four blades (on two back springs) half open?
It goes back.
 
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