Why does frost cutlery get such a bad rap?

needler420

needler420

Joined
Apr 29, 2011
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I understand a lot of their new line stuff is of lesser quality and comparable to flea market and gas station cutlery.

I have been doing some research on some of their older stuff when it was still manufactured in Japan with surgical steel along with companies like Parker who around the same time also imported from Japan. I was quick to dismiss and shun the company as a whole as crap but now I'm discovering not only was some of their cutlery quality but they do have collectible, valuable knives even.

I am a big fan of Parker eagle cutlery so it made me take more notice in frost cutlery. I mean I know the brand since I know knives but I've always dismissed them quickly.

I assume it's mainly their newer knives. Some of their older stuff is very good quality for a budget.

You can't buy made in Japan knives cheap any more. Lynn Thompson even stated this year a lot of his made in Seki Japan knives were being sourced to Taiwan and gave the explanation why. Basically in Japan newer generations don't enter the trade as often and learn the skill and comparable to American manufacturing it would be greater cost, higher labor etc. They aren't willing to work for cheaper labor, much like the American manufacturing market.

And really this is nothing new just about every single American cutlery company outsources, schrade, case, spyderco, camillus, Buck, Gerber the list can go on.

Just like when people try to find the older brand knives mentioned above made in USA and willing to pay a premium on them I see the same with stuff like Frost cutlery made in Japan vs China. I know I am also in the minority though. Most people will bash frost cutlery to hell and back.

Ever since I started watching JW bullets and his appreciation for retro and discontinued knives I took more notice at cheaper brands that are often shunned.
 
I don't know anything about the company in the past. I just associate it with putting out inferior products that aren't worth the money.

There are other companies out there which h were know for quality but now aren't known for that.
 
Frost's older production ranged from very good (they used some of the subcontractors Blackjack used) to poor. Even back in the 90's Frost's business was divided into various subclasses.

Highest quality was Hen and Rooster (who were subbed out to Boker, Linder, and probably Olbertz) and a tiny bit of their own Japanese line. Then they sold Case XX knives, both the common models, and limited editions (both authorized and unauthorized. The 3rd level was their own Japanese knives, which in my opinion, were under Parker, but compared well with Taylor, Fury, etc.... Last was Flying Falcon and Bear Hunter. Flying Falcon was the cheap plastic knock offs, and Bear Hunter was the Pakistani line made out of mystery Solingen Steel.

The main Japanese line were decent budget knives, but even Rough Rider would beat them in fit and finish now. They were gritty, used average steels (420J2, 440A, and maybe a little AUS-6), with very plain budget finishing. Sheaths were a decent to actually kind of good. Another decent point about them, is that being budget imports allowed them to experiment with different designs quite a lot.

If you are going to collect them, try and find catalogs from 1992 - 94 or so, those have a good mix of all the lines.
 
You have to keep in mind that 30+ years ago and before, "Made in Japan" was as sure a sign of quality as "Made in China" was 10 years ago. Post-War Japan cranked out a lot of cheap garbage, knives and tools being one of them. As they recovered, invested in themselves, and healed from the war, their manufactured quality skyrocketed. When something comes from Japan these days, its a pretty safe bet it's good stuff.

Flash forward to 2018, only the most obstinate of buyers will lump all of China's offerings as "cheap Chinese crap". Now, China has played a bit of dirty pool in order to keep their currency low and make it an attractive place to manufacture products, but by and large as time and investments have improved so has their quality. It's why you can have high quality budget-friendly traditional patterns like Rough Rider as well as higher end super steels with titanium handles like you find with We knives.

Anyway, my point is that most of Frost's stuff is bottom of the barrel stuff regardless where i was made. Some of it may be good, but really Frost is about as the last rung of quality where a knife actually has a name stamped on the blade. Now, maybe they are trying to make their stuff better these days, but when I was a kid 30 years ago, the Frost Cutlery I cut my teeth on from the flea market and junk shops was terrible. For what they sell for, you can find some really great values in other brands.
 
It seems that Frost is more concerned with quantity rather than quality. Just about anyone old enough to hold a knife has either had contact or at least heard of Frost Cutlery. Some of their knives can take a beating and them some, others may snap with little or no effort. Either way, their knives are a small investment. Frost cutlery markets their products toward folks that don’t see the need to spend a lot of money on an item simply designed to cut stuff, and it is probably a larger portion of the population.
 
Its hard to make a good knife that holds an edge when your using recycled car bumpers and tin cans....
 
Back in the 50's and 60's Frost made most of the "gas station specials". They still do.

They were not - and - are not - known for having a decent heat treat, a lack of blade play, good fit and finish, taking and holding an edge, or being sharp out of the box or blister pack.
They were and are a low quality product.
Some would (and did) say even when the Frost gas station special knives cost between 35¢ to 50¢ (with tax) that they were overpriced.

Most of the Frost branded knives today are made in Pakistan, not China.
AFAIK, only their upper tier knives that do not have Frost on them are made in China.
 
Pakistan is the future leader of quality knives.

I kid, but global economics and manufacturing infrastructure is interesting.
 
I don't have any older Frost's to compare, but the few I do have are poor quality when compared to my Rough Rider's and Colt's.

One of the few items I have that is actually lesser quality to my Frost samples, is my very first knife (large hobo) received in the early seventies. No idea of the actual maker, just stamped "Japan".

I fear for my fingers every time I open this thing. The individual tools are poorly stamped, and appear to be very mild unhardened steel (pot metal?). I used my K Tool to pry them out for this picture.

2m4w102.jpg
 
bflying said:
I don't have any older Frost's to compare, but the few I do have are poor quality when compared to my Rough Rider's and Colt's.

One of the few items I have that is actually lesser quality to my Frost samples, is my very first knife (large hobo) received in the early seventies. No idea of the actual maker, just stamped "Japan".

I fear for my fingers every time I open this thing. The individual tools are poorly stamped, and appear to be very mild unhardened steel (pot metal?). I used my K Tool to pry them out for this picture.

2m4w102.jpg
Click to expand...

I have something very similar. A bit of research hinted at these being post war "just make something" manufacturing. Mine supposedly dates back to the 1950s. Good example of how a country can really turn their fabrication around.
 
Monofletch said:
When I think of Frost I see the guy on TV with the big block of wood. “You get 33 Delta Rangers- 44 Nighthawks and our Big Boy collection” 237 knives for $8!!
Click to expand...
They got several hundred dollars from me in the late 90s. :oops: Can't even lie. The only folding knife (shaped-object) I've ever used where the handle cracked in half in my hand from cutting cardboard. Stellar stuff! :D

Gas station cutlery is correct. Knife = cutting tool, Frost Cutlery = close to knife-shaped-object...
fantasy designs, cartoonish grinds, Shrekish choils, absurd 'serrations', ludicrous 'SPEC OPS' and 'MARINE' tactics, brittle plastics, everywhere pointless holes - cut with a wonky precision equivalent to Q******R's holes ;), and Surgical Steel from China (at least on mine). These trademarks are not limited to their larger 'Bowie' and 'Hunter' models, but are found in their folders as well. Don't mean to bash, more of an Is what it is scenario.

Dreadful shots to go with lovely wall hangers -- showing their only worth:
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^Maybe another worth as I use this one at the studio table as a scraper. Cuts like a Slim Jim...or a chainsaw without the chain.
 
Jim Frost could be considered the inventor of the disposable knife. Although, with the rockwell hardness of a dried cowpie, one wonders if they're even up to one use. Making a one dollar knife is a waste of resources and labor. I once handled an "Eagle Eye". It was the biggest POS I have ever seen. I wouldn't take one if it was free!
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I have something very similar. A bit of research hinted at these being post war "just make something" manufacturing. Mine supposedly dates back to the 1950s. Good example of how a country can really turn their fabrication around.
Click to expand...

Did you have pics in your post? Just saw some img markers.

Conversely, just 6-7 years later, another Japanese made knife became the focus of a boyhood grail acquisition. And at what, around 40 years later, I would say this knife is quite decent quality, even by today's standards. Though now it does only stand duty in a display case, as the bone handles have developed a number of pin cracks.

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Poor quality. I agree with you that they can be OK or even good. (For the older ones)

But the whole reason we're here is that were aficionados and OK or "good enough" is NOT good enough. We're educated enough to know better. Don't settle. Better to have one quality knife than 10 Frosts, IMO.
 
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