Ridiculous budget blade-4 dollar Ozark Trails folders, good blade-pic heavy

I paid the $4... just trying to think of a fun way to destroy the knife shaped object at this point. :D
 
The steel is so soft that IF it's had any heat treatment, then they've wasted money in the process. File gouged deeply and the grinder didn't spark.
.

Many stainless steels won't spark while grinding em. As I said quality control is all over the board. I've been messing around with mine and it's holding up as well as expected. I reprofiled mine to 15dps with a 20dps micro bevel and it's holding an edge better than I thought it would.

It's a beater that'll see the worst of jobs, if it breaks who cares.
 
I bought one after seeing a thread on the high road.

I like the general blade profile and price is ridiculously low but mine, like a lot it seems, has lock failure. Hard flips kept jamming it til it pretty much didn't lock, looked like the tiny bit of blade steel that was holding the liner just ripped away. I tossed it

Don't get me wrong, its the best 4 buck knife I've had.....but I've got a sanrenmu that I got for 6 bucks that is leaps and bounds better.

If I only had 4 bucks to spend on a knife, I'd buy a construction razor knife. Now if the lock was fixed I would gladly buy many.
 
Every year these threads come up about the knives at Walmart at Christmas. I have not got one of these yet but probably will (why not at the price). One thing to consider is that this $4 knife will be the best knife that its target market may have ever bought. It will beat those beyond scary gas station knives in almost every way.
 
With all due respect I just don't see how it is any better than a gas station knife. Yes, it has g10 scales. But even the guys who have shown appreciation of these knives have admitted that the locks fail. The steel is very very low budget, and the overall construction is iffy. From my point of view, it is still from mainland china, the same as the gas station knives. Therefore I can't see how it's such a big improvement.
I think the reason so many people are being naysayers is because it's funny that although you all have much more expensive knives, you are touting the greatness of these, even if it's just "at this pricepoint". Personally I'm not busting any of your chops, I couldnt care less what knives people like, but it's laughable that a Walmart knife is being praised at all. I mean let's be honest, the next step up is Frost cutlery and Mtech:rolleyes:


Edit: I do agree that these will reach their target market, but that doesn't really mean anything. Like I said above, if somebody's first knife was an Mtech and they came on bladeforums spewing of its greatness, they'd be shut down fast. But if somebody's first knife is an Ozark trail, then by all means they're on their way to a Sebenza:)
 
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With all due respect I just don't see how it is any better than a gas station knife. Yes, it has g10 scales. But even the guys who have shown appreciation of these knives have admitted that the locks fail. The steel is very very low budget, and the overall construction is iffy. From my point of view, it is still from mainland china, the same as the gas station knives. Therefore I can't see how it's such a big improvement.
I think the reason so many people are being naysayers is because it's funny that although you all have much more expensive knives, you are touting the greatness of these, even if it's just "at this pricepoint". Personally I'm not busting any of your chops, I couldnt care less what knives people like, but it's laughable that a Walmart knife is being praised at all. I mean let's be honest, the next step up is Frost cutlery and Mtech:rolleyes:


Edit: I do agree that these will reach their target market, but that doesn't really mean anything. Like I said above, if somebody's first knife was an Mtech and they came on bladeforums spewing of its greatness, they'd be shut down fast. But if somebody's first knife is an Ozark trail, then by all means they're on their way to a Sebenza:)

I was going to make a joke about how my Mtech knife is better than a Sebbie, but then you edited your post.
 
Anybody that really believes Walmart has their best interest in mind, when they bring stuff like this into the country should remember.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
 
I don't see the beater part either. To make a good beater a knife has to be able to withstand a beating. I looked at these twice now and walked away both times. Nothing but junk. 4 dollars? Who cares, they're still junk.
 
I am not the designer, I am the buyer. The knives are 420J2. I typically do concern myself with blade steels (looking at some CPM S30V and 154CM options this coming year) but for a knife under $4, blade steel is not at the top of my priorities. Most consumers of $4 knives look at different blade steels and all they see is alphabet soup.

Even with Walmart having the best ocean freight rates in the world, the downstream replenishment of knives can be extremely expensive. They are typically slow turning items, and therefore replenished individually as they sell. This means that they have to be break-pack items in a DC, so someone physically has to pick each knife and repack it before it goes to a store. The handling is where it gets expensive.
I appreciate your informative, reasonable replies even under scrutiny.


So the blue/black tanto model is also available at Wal-Mart? I didn't see it when I went.
 
Jill- yer not a hater, are you?
:D

Yeah I hate Walmart. They have put every small business out of business and flooded the country with cheap Chinese crap. Making billions while paying workers next to nothing. Plus they've contributed greatly to destroying America's manufacturing industry. That's just a fact you should remember while gushing over these 4 dollar wonder knives.
 
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So, Why was Wal-mart allowed to set up a business?
Please…
And, I'm not gushing. These are good knives at a good price.
rolf
 
I appreciate your informative, reasonable replies even under scrutiny.


So the blue/black tanto model is also available at Wal-Mart? I didn't see it when I went.
Yea it is, at my Wal-Mart it's not with the rest on that middle of the aisle display thou. I found it on a spinner rack near the rifle display.
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While some of us are saying good things about these knives, it's from the perspective of it being only a $4 knife, for the price they're great. However in no way would I recommend this knife as someone's primary knife or edc carry.

These knives are great in the sense for $4 you can get a decent knife that will work great thrown in a tackle box, tool bag, or to give to irresponsible youngens who will likely lose or misplace it as a starter knife so they get the feel for carrying a pocket while. (And if they happen to lose it your out $4, not $50-100).


Also keep in mind how many folks are going to be introduced to the knife world bc of these blades. Likely many who wouldn't normally buy a pocket knife will just bc it's only $4. Then after a while of seeing how useful a pocket knife is in every day tasks, they'll start looking into getting a better knife. I know of many now knife nuts who started out by buying that cool looking $15 knife at the gas station.



Also on a side note, I think so many people here instantly write these knives off as junk merely due to the price tag. If these were being sold for $15 I think allot more people would be curious.
 
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Yeah I hate Walmart. They have put every small business out of business and flooded the country with cheap Chinese crap. Making billions while paying workers next to nothing. Plus they've contributed greatly to destroying America's manufacturing industry. That's just a fact you should remember while gushing over these 4 dollar wonder knives.

Jill I can assure you that I'm not personally making billions. I have many friends in upstate New York and the Portland area who I think would vouch for me saying that US sourcing is at the very top of my list. The only thing more important to me is delivering great value to my customers. Our ideas of value might not be aligned, but I know that I'm taking bigger steps in the right direction than any of my competitors. The only other retailer who is having any success at this is Amazon. I'm not too familiar with how this board treats Amazon, but I love them and hate them. They do a fantastic job of passing on the lowest possible price to their customers, and they get cheered for it. Just remember that a retail world ruled by Amazon is a world where millions of "underpaid" workers become unemployed.

Now that I got that part out of my system, I really appreciate being able to be a member of this forum and to share opinions with all enthusiasts. I've already channeled all of the feedback I've received so far back to my supplier. I love getting paid to work at something I'm so passionate about, and communities like BF help make that possible. I know that not everyone will like or appreciate this or any knife, but I enjoy just talking about it.
 
So, Why was Wal-mart allowed to set up a business?
Please…
And, I'm not gushing. These are good knives at a good price.
rolf

Google it yourself, learn the truth. This isn't the place for me to attempt to educate you.
 
Jill I can assure you that I'm not personally making billions. I have many friends in upstate New York and the Portland area who I think would vouch for me saying that US sourcing is at the very top of my list. The only thing more important to me is delivering great value to my customers. Our ideas of value might not be aligned, but I know that I'm taking bigger steps in the right direction than any of my competitors. The only other retailer who is having any success at this is Amazon. I'm not too familiar with how this board treats Amazon, but I love them and hate them. They do a fantastic job of passing on the lowest possible price to their customers, and they get cheered for it. Just remember that a retail world ruled by Amazon is a world where millions of "underpaid" workers become unemployed.

Now that I got that part out of my system, I really appreciate being able to be a member of this forum and to share opinions with all enthusiasts. I've already channeled all of the feedback I've received so far back to my supplier. I love getting paid to work at something I'm so passionate about, and communities like BF help make that possible. I know that not everyone will like or appreciate this or any knife, but I enjoy just talking about it.
Don't let the negativity discourage you, haters gonna hate.

That being said, out of all the models I've handled I think the best one ergonomically is the tan flipper. If you could reproduce that with a much better steel, a lil work to the lock design, make it a true flipper, multi position pocket clip, and pay closer attention to quality control while keeping it under $25- $50 you'd have an awesome product.


lfsJriA.jpg
AYsXVWY.jpg



Also forgot to add that the main thing you need to focus on currently is the quality control. Like I previously mentioned while shifting thru looking for one I saw way too many that had defective locks. You could clearly see the lock wasn't engaging the tang in the package. Some one who doesn't know knives or what to look for is going to end up cutting themselves. The tan model atleast has the flipper to save they're fingers, but the other models not so much. Go into Wal-Mart and look thru em, at mine in sc I found atleast 5 of each model like this, and I only dug thru maybe 3 rows of each.
 
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Yeah I hate Walmart. They have put every small business out of business and flooded the country with cheap Chinese crap. Making billions while paying workers next to nothing. Plus they've contributed greatly to destroying America's manufacturing industry. That's just a fact you should remember while gushing over these 4 dollar wonder knives.

don't forget walmart just gave the buyers/customers what they wanted. otherwise they'd be out of business by now. we can blame big companies all we want, but in the end it's the consumers who drove this.......
 
don't forget walmart just gave the buyers/customers what they wanted. otherwise they'd be out of business by now. we can blame big companies all we want, but in the end it's the consumers who drove this.......
In addition they may pay their associates lower than most, but they also provide better benefits that others don't. They also do a lot for the communities they are in both with company money and fundraising. They also offer stock purchase plans for associates. This is free market capitalism and those that provide the best prices will always win out. Small businesses are fragile anyway and if Wal-Mart drove them out they were likely struggling anyway. Good strong small businesses carry different products and do well even with a Wal-Mart.
 
I've given a couple of mine some spine wacks and haven't had any lock failure yet. Maybe it's cause I took a look at the liner and how it was positioned in the package before I bought them, I saw some that definitely looked questionable and made sure to avoid those.
 
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