Lone Wolf Knives - William W. Harsey design T2

Addicted_to_Knives

Addicted_to_Knives

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My recent acquisition and new family member - Lone Wolf Knives model T2 & T3 by William W. Harsey.

I found out this was early 2000s production and this company was bought by Benchmade and Les De Asis of Benchmade killed this brand.

The way this knife feels it's just an awesome Made in USA knife. I do not know much about William Harsey but this feels like a great tactical knife. I liked it so much I also got the used T3 on ebay auction... This is a wonderful monster, sleek and beautiful just like T2, but bigger.

As far as I know S30V superblade was not used in knives in early 2000s, so this is strange to see a knife made in 2001-2003 era with CPM S30V blade that appeared in the knife world in mid to late 2000s if I am now wrong...

It feels like Benchmade killed a much more higher end luxurious brand, as if Toyota killed Mercedes. Just does not make sense.. This knife feels such an awesome quality, so perfect, so damn sexy, I just want to keep opening closing it and continue cutting paper.

Anything else you guys know about this mysterious brand that suddenly disappeared from the face of earth? Why would not Benchmade resurrect it?

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T3 model

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I was so excited when these came out back in the day. I picked up a few T2 models. Sadly they were all plagued with lock up and fit/ finish problems so I sold them all cheap.

Too bad because Harsey Designs are classic.
 
I've had a T2 Harsey just like the one in your picture since around 2005 when I bought it new. I think Benchmade bought them not too long after that. It's been a solid knife, but I don't carry it much. Nice blade shape, and seems well made. Never had any lock up, nor fit and finish issues.
 
I can’t speak as to why BM BM’d all over Lone Wolf and turned them into a budget knife line before shuttering it, but Spartan has taken up the reigns of the Harsey design and manufactures what is, by all accounts, a fine knife.

There are a few brands that have fallen by the wayside, but I would make a potentially-mistaken capitalist assumption that their downfall was poor marketing that resulted in poor sales, which made a buyout by a popular brand sound appealing. Lone Wolf was probably not far off from closing their doors beforehand, and their incorporation into Benchmade’s lineup did not work out favorably for either party in the long run.
 
Comeuppance said:
I can’t speak as to why BM BM’d all over Lone Wolf and turned them into a budget knife line before shuttering it, but Spartan has taken up the reigns of the Harsey design and manufactures what is, by all accounts, a fine knife.

There are a few brands that have fallen by the wayside, but I would make a potentially-mistaken capitalist assumption that their downfall was poor marketing that resulted in poor sales, which made a buyout by a popular brand sound appealing. Lone Wolf was probably not far off from closing their doors beforehand, and their incorporation into Benchmade’s lineup did not work out favorably for either party in the long run.
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It seems Benchmade did somewhat the same thing to Bradley Cutlery. I had a Benchmade manufactured Alias I and it was a pretty good knife, but they went away also.
 
Do yourself a favor and look up Bill Harsey. He's a bit of an icon in the knife industry. Don't just cut paper with that knife! Use it! Enjoy it!

That said, the clip would be a hard pass for me.
 
craytab said:
Do yourself a favor and look up Bill Harsey. He's a bit of an icon in the knife industry. Don't just cut paper with that knife! Use it! Enjoy it!

That said, the clip would be a hard pass for me.
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Thank you. I've been researching Willian Harsey, to my surprise I had never heard of him - yes he's a quite popular dude.

I use some of my knives - duplicates that I carry Benchmade Barrage 581, ColdSteel SR1, Benchmade Onslaught 471. The rest is just a nice display collection of 50+ (majority discontinued & rare models) knives at home that I enjoy to watch, touch, open close, etc... makes amazing conversation starter with guests, friends and I've paid quite a $$$ for my collection, so I have very hard time cutting anything else than a single sheet of paper. It's an art form for me, some people like paintings, some vintage pictures, some magazine covers, I collect and enjoy knives... This hobby helped me get through chemotherapy etc when I was not too mobile and just have a different type of an emotional attachment to each of my knife. They're like my children... The ones I wanted to use everyday I bought additional same model knives and I carry them. Do get criticized for not using them, they are not a tool for me, they are piece of art that has a story of a designer why he made that particular knife, when , how, what's the story behind the model, etc... That's why I am trying to gather story here behind the Lone Wolf Knives brand. There's info on google but the members are more knowledgeable and have more interesting info. So I am asking...
 
Per one story Lonewolf made some bad decisions and had some bad luck with an auto knife. This was about the sam time the economy tanked at the end of Bush II term. Benchmade bought them out but couldn't match the quality or the price. They realized it with the Paul Defender and killed the brand.
 
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