New knife from Queen?

[Will Power]

Pattern No.51 The way it was c 2005

 

[Half/Stop]

Please let us in on any insight into the quality you can garner, if you make the trip. I'm sure we'd all be extremely appreciative.

Logan I probably won’t be making that drive. With the situation at hand and closer examination of the photos I don’t think it’s worth the drive for me personally. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of discussion here in a couple of days.

 

[FLymon]

To me Queen will always be Peters Heat Treated D2 blades, Culpepper Bone, good quality, handsome knives.
This doesn't look to be any of that depending on the actual build quality.

My Queen Mini Trapper
Not my "best" knife by any means, but a favorite for sure.

 

[JohnDF]

If you're not proud of who made the knife, enough so that you're happy to tell when asked, then maybe that's a problem...

Yes, well said and exactly my point.

 

[Rich S]

I've always liked the older Queen knives, esp. their barlows, but that knife on the Tenn. Mnt. shop just doesn't cut it; not close to normal Queen quality.

Rich

 

[Pinemoon]

pretty ugly 'queen' stamp hope its just a mock up

That's what I noticed too. It doesn't look like the old stamp. That, that particular outlet, and the price has me thinking it's not what we are hoping for.

 

[hornetguy]

Personally, I think we should hold off on judgement until someone actually has their mitts on one.... all this speculation, based on photographs is almost pointless.
No, the "stamp" is not like the "old Queen"... because it looks to me to be a laser engraved "stamp". The quality might not be quite as good as the "old Queen"... but, sadly, the "old Queen" went out of business. Times change..manufacturing changes. If you had been told 5 years ago that a Chinese knife company would be making knives that rival the quality of many US manufacturers, would you have believed it?
I'm with Rachel.... I would love to see some more US companies making knives of the same quality as Case or Buck. Competition is a good thing for quality.

If this knife is at least as good as the Bear and Son knives, at 75% of the cost of a comparable Case knife? That's not too bad. I'd rather see "casual buyers" of knives go with a low cost knife from a US company than with the Chinese option.

 

[JohnDF]

I received my response from the seller...
My order cannot be cancelled once it has been placed.
So, it looks like I'll be getting one, which I'm still kind of excited and curious about.
However, I'm not happy with the seller and probably will send no more business their way.

 

[Norcaldude]

I received my response from the seller...
My order cannot be cancelled once it has been placed.
So, it looks like I'll be getting one, which I'm still kind of excited and curious about.
However, I'm not happy with the seller and probably will send no more business their way.

Never had any intention of buying from them but that makes it certain I never will.

 

[Prester John]

I received my response from the seller...
My order cannot be cancelled once it has been placed.
So, it looks like I'll be getting one, which I'm still kind of excited and curious about.
However, I'm not happy with the seller and probably will send no more business their way.

I think they're lying about not being able to cancel. What's so hard about that? You should also be able to return it for a refund.
Well, it wasn't that expensive, and it may be a decent knife. But I won't be doing business with them.

 

[Hivoltage]

SMKW is the worst and I’m from TN

 

[jlomein]

I think they're lying about not being able to cancel. What's so hard about that? You should also be able to return it for a refund.
Well, it wasn't that expensive, and it may be a decent knife. But I won't be doing business with them.

My experience: placed a phone order with them, then 30 seconds later called again because I forgot to use my 10% off newsletter coupon. They refused to honor the coupon or cancel my order, saying an order is final once placed.

I know it's my fault for forgetting the coupon, but their hardline stance is rare among good dealers, and I'll be shopping elsewhere in the future.

 

[Corso]

I sent the only Bear & Son Cutlery knife I bought back it was very badly made

shame realy as I'd always wanted a single blade peanut

 

[22-rimfire]

Personally, I think we should hold off on judgement until someone actually has their mitts on one.... all this speculation, based on photographs is almost pointless.
No, the "stamp" is not like the "old Queen"... because it looks to me to be a laser engraved "stamp". The quality might not be quite as good as the "old Queen"... but, sadly, the "old Queen" went out of business. Times change..manufacturing changes. If you had been told 5 years ago that a Chinese knife company would be making knives that rival the quality of many US manufacturers, would you have believed it?
I'm with Rachel.... I would love to see some more US companies making knives of the same quality as Case or Buck. Competition is a good thing for quality.

If this knife is at least as good as the Bear and Son knives, at 75% of the cost of a comparable Case knife? That's not too bad. I'd rather see "casual buyers" of knives go with a low cost knife from a US company than with the Chinese option.

We'll see. But in recent years there have been real quality problems from Queen/S&M. I think I've bought three or four since the ownership change prior to the bankruptcy, and all were fine. But I have read of a lot of issues.

 

[22-rimfire]

SMKW is the worst and I’m from TN

I have bought a lot of knives and stuff from them and have not had any issue other than the price tends to be a little higher than most dealers. But I like to visit their store and in fact look forward to it a few times a year. I limit my visits as I know what I do when I get there $$. With KSF in TN now, my visits are less important as I can visit KSF quite easily. But a store visit there is a lot different from SMKW.

 

[mbkr]

We'll see. But in recent years there have been real quality problems from Queen/S&M. I think I've bought three or four since the ownership change prior to the bankruptcy, and all were fine. But I have read of a lot of issues.

All my Queens and S&M's have been very well made too, with one exception. I have a #56 that has a lot of blade play. It has a different blade set than other 56's I've seen. I bought it after the bankruptcy and think it was made out of whatever parts were handy while the barbarians were storming the gate.

 

[dsutton24]

Let's see... There's a lot of angst over buying a knife from a web page that has two huge photos and a clear description of the knife. We felt fine about the purchase until the internet started expressing opinions based on nothing. We all know that Queen is out of business, so somebody has bought the name. That somebody had a knife made and offered it for a fair price. The seller is one of the best known retailers around. Somehow we still manage to feel snookered despite the fact that nobody has actually laid their hands on one yet. Queen made knives that were absolute gems for a hundred-plus years, but they turned out some knives that had problems at the end of their life. The knives that had problems were .0042% of their total production, but still Queen had problems, and that is unforgivable. So, this knife that nobody has seen will be a dud. It's all the fault of the retailer.

Knife collectors are weird.

 

[Hivoltage]

Pretty much I bought one but I’m not returning it.

Let's see... There's a lot of angst over buying a knife from a web page that has two huge photos and a clear description of the knife. We felt fine about the purchase until the internet started expressing opinions based on nothing. We all know that Queen is out of business, so somebody has bought the name. That somebody had a knife made and offered it for a fair price. The seller is one of the best known retailers around. Somehow we still manage to feel snookered despite the fact that nobody has actually laid their hands on one yet. Queen made knives that were absolute gems for a hundred-plus years, but they turned out some knives that had problems at the end of their life. The knives that had problems were .0042% of their total production, but still Queen had problems, and that is unforgivable. So, this knife that nobody has seen will be a dud. It's all the fault of the retailer.

Knife collectors are weird.

Let's see... There's a lot of angst over buying a knife from a web page that has two huge photos and a clear description of the knife. We felt fine about the purchase until the internet started expressing opinions based on nothing. We all know that Queen is out of business, so somebody has bought the name. That somebody had a knife made and offered it for a fair price. The seller is one of the best known retailers around. Somehow we still manage to feel snookered despite the fact that nobody has actually laid their hands on one yet. Queen made knives that were absolute gems for a hundred-plus years, but they turned out some knives that had problems at the end of their life. The knives that had problems were .0042% of their total production, but still Queen had problems, and that is unforgivable. So, this knife that nobody has seen will be a dud. It's all the fault of the retailer.

Knife collectors are weird.

 

[JohnDF]

So, this knife that nobody has seen will be a dud. It's all the fault of the retailer.

It's not the knife I'm judging... at least not yet.

 

[r8shell]

It's not the knife I'm judging... at least not yet.

I understand. That email read as evasive.
I've got a few problems with that particular store, but it's off-topic for this discussion.

It's true that there is a long history of cutlery firms farming out work to each other. Camillus made knives for many different companies. Even nowadays, there are folks in Texas who are convinced that their Moore Makers are made in Matador, Texas because that's what's stamped on the tangs.

It will be interesting to see when you get it in hand. As long as it doesn't have matchstrike nail nicks.