Most Over-Rated and Under-Rated Brands of Production Knives

If mcusta offered more models with a tip up clip I'd be more interested.
 
DocJD said:
It's like with Volvo owners , kind of a cult thing of pride in shared pain and sacrifice ...o_O
Click to expand...
I resemble that remark! :mad:
Actually, as a Volvo owner, I have to admit they are nice cars, but not necessarily my first choice. Over decades and several samples, mine have held up pretty well but expensive to repair when they needed it. Also, on older ones, finding parts can be a challenge. Once, the climate control module on our 20 year old 740 went haywire, a simple R&R fix, requiring only five minutes and a quarter for a tool. None to be had locally, but an internet search turned up exactly one for sale in the whole North American continent, in Canada. For myself, I would drive anything, but my wife is the big Volvo fan in the family. She thinks they are the safest vehicle on the road, her biggest concern, and since I don’t really care, I defer to her wishes. My favorite of all the cars we have owned in a lifetime was a 1983 Ford Escort station wagon (don’t laugh), probably the only trouble free Escort ever made. The passenger door was bashed in from a fender-bender, in which I pocketed the insurance money (the other guy was at fault) and didn’t bother to fix it. But it started every time, no matter what the conditions, got me to and from places near and far, even when the weather was so bad there were stranded cars all along the highways, never stranded me anywhere, and when I finally sold it, got more than what it cost in original price plus maintenance, not counting insurance. My wife hated the car. Go figure. But I have to admit, our current Volvo has so far been running pretty good, and I’m enjoying all the updated features. Also, the wife is happy again, which is always a good thing.;)

On topic: My experience has been on the lower end of the knife range; Buck 110, Vantage Pro and Select in large and small; Spyderco Delica and Native; Leatherman Crater (not counting multi-tools); Opinel #9 Carbon and SS; a couple of Moras; a brand new Ontario RAT 2; and of course, several SAKs. I haven’t been disappointed with any.
 
Last edited:
So there are certain companies that mostly push crap/ hype/ or nonsense, BUT, may still have one or two good products. So, here goes.

Uverrated, Over Hyped Garbage:
1. --> Emerson (crap steel, crap locks, cringy fantasy type designs, horrendously overpriced to the point of absurdity). Only redeemable quality of Emerson, is the wave deployment, and even that idea/ design had purportedly been taken from someone else.
2. Benchmade
3. Al Mar (Avg steel, avg design, hideously overpriced.
4. Busse (it's simply overrated, no other way to put it)
5. Cold Steel (cringe advertising, overhyped). With the exception of the American Lawman, and Recon's, I would not pay for anything they sell. Love the CTS-XHP steel on the American Lawman though.
6. Gerber (don't know what happened to them, but they are no longer any good. Aside from their Fairbarim/ Applegate lines, everything else is production crap).
7. Microtech
8. CRK
9. SOG
10. TOPs Knives

Underrated:

1. LionSteel (Excellent steel, handles, locks, designs)
2. Fox Knives
3. ESEE
4. Zero Tolerance
5. Falkniven

JUST REMEMBER; Emerson = Crap
 
11BB4 said:
JUST REMEMBER; Emerson = Crap
Click to expand...

Since this is your one and only post here, I can easily guess this is a troll. BF is fairly civilized, but very easily stirred up. A stupid comment like that is certainly intended to fire up the fan boys, and when repeated, no doubt about it. And they will come, even when they know they are being trolled.

Learn some decorum. Learn some manners. Learn your place. With no posts to let people get to know you, you don't have the credibility here to post something that belligerent and hope to have any ideas of being taken seriously.

Robert
 
Over-rated - ESEE. I've got many knives in 1095 and I truly hate to say this of a US company, but I have never seen 1095 rust as fast as the ESEE 5 and 6 I own (and yes I keep them coated when not in use). Won't own another.
I've bought a couple Sypderco's and for me they just didn't live up to the hype... but it's not a quality issue, more of a personal preference of the shape of them just not working for me and again - the price point for what you get - I expected more of a wow factor that just wasn't there for me.

Under-rated - because of EDC'ing a Trekker as my knife for work - Victorinox. Really had no interest in them before but now I'm collecting them like crazy, and restoring some old ones that are pretty bad off. After having used this Trekker pretty harshly on a daily basis and seeing how well it has held up (which I honestly didn't expect of it when I bought it) I'm hooked.
CRKT's neck knives - although I wish they had used Kydex for the sheaths, the knives themselves have performed awesome for $20-40 knives.
I also would have liked to see more TOPS/Buck collaboratives.
SOG's S35VN - I want to see more knives like the Pillar from them.

To each his own...
 
midnight flyer said:
Since this is your one and only post here, I can easily guess this is a troll. BF is fairly civilized, but very easily stirred up. A stupid comment like that is certainly intended to fire up the fan boys, and when repeated, no doubt about it. And they will come, even when they know they are being trolled.

Learn some decorum. Learn some manners. Learn your place. With no posts to let people get to know you, you don't have the credibility here to post something that belligerent and hope to have any ideas of being taken seriously.

Robert
Click to expand...

>You don't have the credibility here to post

LOL Clearly, I posted and am now posting again.

I don't know who died and made you God of BF, but as it turns out, a question was posed (what do YOU think the most overrated and most underrated knives are) I provided the OP of the thread with my subjective personal opinion. If you don't like what I have to say, GET OVER IT.

I hope I don't need to educate you on the on the finer points of what the definition of belligerent actually means do I? Look it up. And I really hope that I don't need to explain to you that on something called a forum, opinions and subjective viewpoints are given do I?

This is not a political forum where you can silence opinions and views that differ from your own e.g. "Stop NOT liking what I like or else". If I am wrong, please enlighten me. Now learn your place.
 
4V978Gk.gif


Hoo boy...Fridays around this place sometimes....
 
Before this goes too far, remember- Discuss the topic and not each other.
If you ask an opinion, you will receive one. It may not be the opinion you like or it may be counter to your experience..but it's an opinion nonetheless.
 
I don't know if it's overrated, but I'm not very enamored with Al Mar knives. Admittedly, my experience with them is limited, but the one I owned ended up being defective, and others I've handled have felt meh (to me).

Jim
 
11BB4 said:
So there are certain companies that mostly push crap/ hype/ or nonsense, BUT, may still have one or two good products. So, here goes.

Uverrated, Over Hyped Garbage:
1. --> Emerson (crap steel, crap locks, cringy fantasy type designs, horrendously overpriced to the point of absurdity). Only redeemable quality of Emerson, is the wave deployment, and even that idea/ design had purportedly been taken from someone else.
2. Benchmade
3. Al Mar (Avg steel, avg design, hideously overpriced.
4. Busse (it's simply overrated, no other way to put it)
5. Cold Steel (cringe advertising, overhyped). With the exception of the American Lawman, and Recon's, I would not pay for anything they sell. Love the CTS-XHP steel on the American Lawman though.
6. Gerber (don't know what happened to them, but they are no longer any good. Aside from their Fairbarim/ Applegate lines, everything else is production crap).
7. Microtech
8. CRK
9. SOG
10. TOPs Knives

Underrated:

1. LionSteel (Excellent steel, handles, locks, designs)
2. Fox Knives
3. ESEE
4. Zero Tolerance
5. Falkniven

JUST REMEMBER; Emerson = Crap
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity who did Emerson purportedly steal the wave design from and where did you hear that he did?
 
Lapedog said:
Just out of curiosity who did Emerson purportedly steal the wave design from and where did you hear that he did?
Click to expand...
By the way, I'm pretty sure the Wave is in the public domain now. Patented 1997, period of 20 years.

EDIT: NM. Looks like it's dated March 9, 1999.
 
Last edited:
Lapedog said:
Just out of curiosity who did Emerson purportedly steal the wave design from and where did you hear that he did?
Click to expand...

I no longer have the article as I came across it a few years back. But, I do have the quote from one of the SF guys saved on my external.

So what happened from the article I read, was that a Green Beret from the 5th SFG had a beefy folder, but the Special Forces (SF) Operator had a hard time deploying the blade with gloves on while the other gloved hand was busy. The SF fella didn't have the luxury of ordering a replacement blade/ knife off Amazon as this was years and years ago. So, the SF Operator made a little Notch in the back of the blade, or the "spine" of the blade with a little file. He had it with him when he crossed paths with Emerson at a show or something while on leave. Showed Emerson, then went about his way. Shortly after, as in a year or so, while the SF fella was on deployment, he heard about the "wave deployment" design, that Emerson had "come up with". The the whole SF team knew this guy (the green beret) had originally come up with the design. The plan was to sue Emerson when he got back stateside, but he was KIA. Never went to court.

Quote: "we all saw him file a notch into his folder well before he met Emerson, so we know he came up with it originally. What Emerson did to Mitch is low and dishonorable"

Sorry no links or anything, this was years and YEARS ago. Might be true, might not. I tend to lean towards the idea that a whole team of SF aren't gonna lie about something like that IMO.
 
11BB4 said:
I no longer have the article as I came across it a few years back. But, I do have the quote from one of the SF guys saved on my external.

So what happened from the article I read, was that a Green Beret from the 5th SFG had a beefy folder, but the Special Forces (SF) Operator had a hard time deploying the blade with gloves on while the other gloved hand was busy. The SF fella didn't have the luxury of ordering a replacement blade/ knife off Amazon as this was years and years ago. So, the SF Operator made a little Notch in the back of the blade, or the "spine" of the blade with a little file. He had it with him when he crossed paths with Emerson at a show or something while on leave. Showed Emerson, then went about his way. Shortly after, as in a year or so, while the SF fella was on deployment, he heard about the "wave deployment" design, that Emerson had "come up with". The the whole SF team knew this guy (the green beret) had originally come up with the design. The plan was to sue Emerson when he got back stateside, but he was KIA. Never went to court.

Quote: "we all saw him file a notch into his folder well before he met Emerson, so we know he came up with it originally. What Emerson did to Mitch is low and dishonorable"

Sorry no links or anything, this was years and YEARS ago. Might be true, might not. I tend to lean towards the idea that a whole team of SF aren't gonna lie about something like that IMO.
Click to expand...

See funny thing is Emerson’s invention of the wave was an accident.

The wave first appeared on the Emerson Commander which was a knife requested by Seal Team Six members. They requested a little guard on the spine of the knife which Emerson thought was a dubious idea at best but put it on anyway. That wave feature is that guard which was designed to prevent an enemy’s blade from sliding up the knife. (Which again Emerson knew was an unlikely scenario)

So the story goes that Ernie Emerson wasn’t even aware that the wave could be used to open the knife until he recieved a phone call from those customers informing him that the knife kept opening by itself accidentally when they drew it from their pocket.
 
Could be true. Ernie may be many things. Lack of knowledge does not predicate lack of existence, however, this is the first time I've heard of this, and in general some things get re-hashed here so often that its nearly time to number them like the joke about the inmates of San Quinton and their comedy.
Also this topic in particular has been beaten to death time and again, this particular vintage only reaching back six years. over/underrated, it all depends on where you are in your journey. Sharpen your own blades man. At the end of the day, "It's just your opinion, dude"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top