Knife that didn’t live up to the hype.

Brand new Randall Model 14. A flaming piece of shit for various reasons. Can't wait to sell it.
Why exactly is that? Your terminology does little to tell people what your issues are other than perhaps it "smells".;) What are the various reasons?

As far as Randall's go in general, they have just gotten too expensive for me to dabble in them any more since I don't collect or need most of the fixed blades I already own.
 
Probably the CRK Umnumzaan (Startac), bought new directly from Wilson Combat. It's my first CRK and I never carry it. I don't like the way it opens. Quality is great but such a boring knife. IMHO.
 
Wow, I must have been out of the game for far too long! I never thought I'd read about negativity when it comes to cutlery companies like ZT, Emerson and even Spyderco. I just bought a new Spyderco and the bevel was straight, true and uniform--front to back and left to right.

As I stated, I have a very cordial relationship with the people I buy knives from. Is it possible that they "inspect" the shipments of folders and only mail out the best copies? Of course, that would entail shipping vast amounts of rejects back to the manufacturer.

Wouldn't all of us have heard about such a big dust-up before this, if that's the case?
 
Mine would have to be the HK Mini Axis. Bought it with my savings from working at a restaurant in high school, wages then were 4$ so the knife was pretty high end to me. Carried it at my school, broke down some boxes and noticed it clicked every time I cut. Checked for blade play and it has horrible up and down play that makes clicking noises. I thought it would get better with use as the axis lock would travel further on to the blade tang once it's worn. Nope, play got even worse! Finally, during a four-day road trip away from home, the omega spring broke. Luckily I had a Spyderco tenacious as a backup. I took it back to an authorized dealer when I got back in town, they replaced the spring and tried to adjust the knife to eliminate the lock rock but it didn't work, the lock rock is still there. Lost my faith on the axis lock after that, I still have a few Benchmade in my rotations but I would never carry them without a secondary knife in my bag or back pocket.
 
SwampRat Ratmandu - purchased 2011 or so. Primary grinds varied on each side. One side started in the middle the blade and the other side started about a 1/3 of the way down from the spine.

Consequently, the edge bevels did not align either and the knife barely had a working edge.

Perhaps this asymmetry was on purpose, but it was not mentioned in the product description.

Did afford me the opportunity to re-bevel an edge for the 1st time.
 
This is one of those "hot and cold" situations for me. I didn't really like the 110 because to me it resembled a bar of soap. My fear was that any grease or sweat (making the grip slippery) would end up with my hand sliding onto the blade.

So I experimented. At that early period I had never owned a 112, thinking that a smaller knife might make a secure grip more difficult. I was wrong. From the manual series I jumped on their automatic series and never looked back.....

So which knife do you feel did not live up to the hype?
 
Wouldn't all of us have heard about such a big dust-up before this, if that's the case?

We seem to be hearing about it now, aren't we? Unless you feel folks here are unjustified in their disappointments.

I was sorely disappointed by a couple CRKTs I bought early in my "career" when I didn't know better. Fortunately the opinions and knowledge of the good folks here have saved me from further disappointment!
 
Why exactly is that? Your terminology does little to tell people what your issues are other than perhaps it "smells".;) What are the various reasons?

As far as Randall's go in general, they have just gotten too expensive for me to dabble in them any more since I don't collect or need most of the fixed blades I already own.

Lets see. It has no tip/point. The tip is actually rounded and blunt. It is not sharp.....at all. It won't slice paper, and definitely won't cut your finger if you run it down the blade. The upper swedge is also dull. There are "air bubbles" or basically holes in the epoxy that holds the handle onto the tang. That answer came straight from Michael Randall himself. The whole blade is covered in scratches. Like someone polished it with sandpaper. The blade is not .25 thick, and barely measures .20. The blade is also short by 3/8 of an inch. And the icing on the cake is that when I called the Randall shop I actually spoke to Michael Randall about these issues. He instantly got angry, and wouldn't answer any of my questions except the one about the holes in the handle, and repeatedly screamed "send it back" over and over. I bought the knife three years ago from an authorized Randall dealer that so called "Captain" down in Florida. He's a clown too. I waited a long time to buy a Randall knife, and it turned out to be a piece of shit. Randall's suck, and my knife is a fine example of the garbage that is coming out of the Randall shop. That alleged "Captain" brags that he sells at "catalog price". Bullshit. He gets shop seconds for pennies on the dollar, and then sells them for catalog price. He sucks too. A Ka-Bar will run circles around that Randall all day long.
 
Lets see. It has no tip/point. The tip is actually rounded and blunt. It is not sharp.....at all. It won't slice paper, and definitely won't cut your finger if you run it down the blade. The upper swedge is also dull. There are "air bubbles" or basically holes in the epoxy that holds the handle onto the tang. That answer came straight from Michael Randall himself. The whole blade is covered in scratches. Like someone polished it with sandpaper. The blade is not .25 thick, and barely measures .20. The blade is also short by 3/8 of an inch. And the icing on the cake is that when I called the Randall shop I actually spoke to Michael Randall about these issues. He instantly got angry, and wouldn't answer any of my questions except the one about the holes in the handle, and repeatedly screamed "send it back" over and over. I bought the knife three years ago from an authorized Randall dealer that so called "Captain" down in Florida. He's a clown too. I waited a long time to buy a Randall knife, and it turned out to be a piece of shit. Randall's suck, and my knife is a fine example of the garbage that is coming out of the Randall shop. That alleged "Captain" brags that he sells at "catalog price". Bullshit. He gets shop seconds for pennies on the dollar, and then sells them for catalog price. He sucks too. A Ka-Bar will run circles around that Randall all day long.

I've been waiting 5 long years to get it mine done, and this is one of the most perfect knife I own.
Maybe skipping the line was a bad idea?

k06CIL1.jpg
 
Interesting thread, but I’ll just list the ones from my recent memory: The Northern Arm Skaha, Olamic Busker, spyderco lil native were all meh to me
 
Emerson for me.

I want to clarify that I’m not anti-Emerson knives. They work for a lot of people; they just didn’t work for me. And I owned about 7 or 8 Emerson knives, which I bought new between 1999 and maybe 2002 or 2003, so I gave them a fair try. I wanted to like them, but they simply weren’t for me. The handles were comfortable, but I didn’t like the thick single-sided grinds, and on a couple of them, the liners would slip a bit (but not completely unlock) with light to moderate hand pressure on the blade spine. A couple were chisel edged so thickly they couldn’t cut at all. It would have required removing a great amount of metal for those particular blades to have actually cut anything.

Jim
 
Lets see. It has no tip/point. The tip is actually rounded and blunt. It is not sharp.....at all. It won't slice paper, and definitely won't cut your finger if you run it down the blade. The upper swedge is also dull. There are "air bubbles" or basically holes in the epoxy that holds the handle onto the tang. That answer came straight from Michael Randall himself. The whole blade is covered in scratches. Like someone polished it with sandpaper. The blade is not .25 thick, and barely measures .20. The blade is also short by 3/8 of an inch. And the icing on the cake is that when I called the Randall shop I actually spoke to Michael Randall about these issues. He instantly got angry, and wouldn't answer any of my questions except the one about the holes in the handle, and repeatedly screamed "send it back" over and over. I bought the knife three years ago from an authorized Randall dealer that so called "Captain" down in Florida. He's a clown too. I waited a long time to buy a Randall knife, and it turned out to be a piece of shit. Randall's suck, and my knife is a fine example of the garbage that is coming out of the Randall shop. That alleged "Captain" brags that he sells at "catalog price". Bullshit. He gets shop seconds for pennies on the dollar, and then sells them for catalog price. He sucks too. A Ka-Bar will run circles around that Randall all day long.
So, why didn't you send it back? These issues surprise me as I have never seen or heard of such with a Randall knife. Never heard of factory seconds either....
 
I've been waiting 5 long years to get it mine done, and this is one of the most perfect knife I own.
Maybe skipping the line was a bad idea?

k06CIL1.jpg
If you like the classic style and I do, they are quite the lookers!! They also cut really well. My brother in law owned a couple Randalls and he would bring them along when he would visit before he married my Sister. I knew I wanted one, but it took a number of years for me to make that $ leap in knives. One of my favorites is the Jack Crider Special.
 
That's a bummer about your 909. I have one, and I was shocked when it was discontinued. It was a real workhorse of a liner lock with a very practical blade shape. Mine lives in my truck too, but it would be readily relied upon in an emergency. It may be my favorite all around ZT.

I dont doubt you though. Build quality has been a bit hit and miss for me when it comes to the last couple years of ZTs.

I'm going to add honorable mention of a knife I actually carry most every day: I'm kind meh on my Ultratech. The action is fine, but can be a bit finicky. I like the steel, but the wiggly lock up makes it less than ideal for fine cutting. Special care must be taken as to not let anything gum it up. Servicing the tool yourself is frowned upon by the manufacturer.

I carry it as a boot knife. Weighs next to nothing, clips well into my boot, stays out of the way, tango edge can be pressed into many roles. Still, $300 and it ends up being literally the 4th knife on my person I would grab.
I was shocked too, it wasn't in production long for being such a good, simple utilitarian design. But perhaps that's not ZT's focus anymore. Despite the flaws on mine, its still usable and can be trusted in a pinch. Unfortunately I've had similar hit or miss luck with the newer ones too.

Gee, I hope you bought that from Josh. He sells Zero Tolerance, and has for many years. I
I bought mine from Knife Center. They've always done me right and were patient through the whole ordeal with the 909.
 
What’s a knife that you think didn’t live up to the hype surrounding it when you got it?

Most of them. After dropping several grand in the past couple years I'm only using two, a Shiro and an Anso. Personal preferences to be certain. Examples from CRK, Burger, Laconico, Cheburkov, and others, while all good knives, left me wanting for something in each case.

But these are design issues, not quality deficits.
 
So, why didn't you send it back? These issues surprise me as I have never seen or heard of such with a Randall knife. Never heard of factory seconds either....
I don't trust the dealer. That "Captain" down in Florida. When I received the knife it came in the wrong wrapping paper. It was for a different knife. Plus it came in a cardboard box with some news paper half assed thrown in, and I never got a bill of sale/receipt for the knife. There is a Randall guy near me that will buy it, so its going to go to him.
 
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