Why no love for Eickhorn?

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JJR512

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I'm curious about Eickhorn, and why the brand is practically unheard of in the US.

Eickhorn in a German brand with a long history, and their products seem to be fairly high quality.

The first time I ever heard of Eickhorn was on a gun-themed message board, when the following picture was posted:

post-167-093073700%201282409968.jpg

(Photo from some Russian forum: http://rusknife.com/topic/1656-eickhorn-km2000/)

The gun was what was being talked about on that site, but it was the knife that attracted me. I did some research into it, and it's the KM2000, as I'm sure some of you recognize. This knife is currently issued to the German armed forces, and may be the only tanto combat knife issued in any military at this time.

In fact, it was this image, and this knife, that got me interested in knives to begin with. Before that, I didn't really think much about knives. I've almost always had a pocket knife of some kind, but I never put much thought into what I had, it was always whatever I could find in a store when I needed to buy one (which was very rarely). But this knife brought me into the world of knives.

After looking deeper into the Eickhorn product lineup, I began to gravitate towards another of their models, the SEK-M:

P3220898.jpg

(This image was posted in a FS thread here on this forum: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/729686-FS-Eickhorn-Solingen-S-E-K-Dagger-(Special-Emergency-Knife))

I bought one of these from a German retailer on eBay. To date, it's the only Eickhorn knife I own, although I would still like to get a KM2000. Now they've redesigned their knives a bit, the blade profile of the KM2000 is a bit different, but the KM2000BW has the same profile seen in the photo above. They've also changed metals, from 440C (I believe) in the knife in the photo above, to N695, which is also what's used on my SEK-M.

So like I said at the start of this post...why is Eickhorn so unheard of in America? There are other foreign knife brands that are respected here, on this site (Mora, to name but one), and I believe Eickhorn's quality is probably a match for most of the mass-produced manufacturers that get a lot of respect around here.
 
Mora is well known because every single bushcraft blog/site/show features them in some capacity. Also, a deal like Moras are generally don't remain secrets for long. This is the first I'm hearing of Eickhorn, honestly.
 
Quiet said:
Mora is well known because every single bushcraft blog/site/show features them in some capacity. Also, a deal like Moras are generally don't remain secrets for long. This is the first I'm hearing of Eickhorn, honestly.
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It's the fact that one brand but not another gets featured on every single bushcraft blog/site/show etc. that I'm questioning. What is the deal you're referring to, when you say "a deal like Moras"? Are they exceptionally well-priced or something? To be honest, I don't know much about Mora; I've looked at them, they looked boring to me, and I've never paid much attention to them, and have no idea how much they cost.

Eickhorns are definitely not inexpensive. The KM2000 costs about $160 on eBay, which is probably the easiest place to find one in America (as is the case with all Eickhorns, it seems to me). The SEK-M that I have costs about $300.
 
JJR512 said:
It's the fact that one brand but not another gets featured on every single bushcraft blog/site/show etc. that I'm questioning. What is the deal you're referring to, when you say "a deal like Moras"? Are they exceptionally well-priced or something? To be honest, I don't know much about Mora; I've looked at them, they looked boring to me, and I've never paid much attention to them, and have no idea how much they cost.

Eickhorns are definitely not inexpensive. The KM2000 costs about $160 on eBay, which is probably the easiest place to find one in America (as is the case with all Eickhorns, it seems to me). The SEK-M that I have costs about $300.
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I'm not sure if I understand why you're questioning why Moras are featured and these Eickhorns aren't. For one thing, Moras are tremendously inexpensive. Inexpensive, yet they offer pretty much everything you need in a camp knife, and nothing you don't. Mora knives are also not "tacticool" like both knives you posted are. Bushcrafters, woodlore folks tend not to like tacticool knives. Also, they start at around $15.

Speaking of looking boring, that KM2000 looks like a Kabar Tanto knockoff, honestly. Why spend $160 on that, when you could just get the Kabar instead which will cost much less? It's at least made here, and I'd rather support an American company.

"Way to be a hypocrite, Quiet! Moras are made in Sweden!" Yes, that's true. Point me in the direction of an American made Scandi-grind, carbon steel, super light, super cheap knife and I'll buy a bunch of 'em. Until then, I'll run my Moras.
 
Eickhorn is a well known brand in my country, since a lot of people still think that German knives are the best on the planet, but they don't make anything I personally find interesting (especially at that price point).

And it's not such a hard brand to find in the US, knifecenter.com carries it. I'm sure there are other dealers as well.
 
Fairly old designs, mediocre steels, and high prices are probably the reason. That km2000 is one of the best looking tanto combat knives you can get though.
 
Quiet said:
I'm not sure if I understand why you're questioning why Moras are featured and these Eickhorns aren't. For one thing, Moras are tremendously inexpensive. Inexpensive, yet they offer pretty much everything you need in a camp knife, and nothing you don't. Mora knives are also not "tacticool" like both knives you posted are. Bushcrafters, woodlore folks tend not to like tacticool knives. Also, they start at around $15.

Speaking of looking boring, that KM2000 looks like a Kabar Tanto knockoff, honestly. Why spend $160 on that, when you could just get the Kabar instead which will cost much less? It's at least made here, and I'd rather support an American company.

"Way to be a hypocrite, Quiet! Moras are made in Sweden!" Yes, that's true. Point me in the direction of an American made Scandi-grind, carbon steel, super light, super cheap knife and I'll buy a bunch of 'em. Until then, I'll run my Moras.
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Ok, so Moras are considerably cheaper, that is a valid point. As I mentioned earlier, and asked about, I'm not aware of the pricing structure of Mora knives.

The Eickhorns are not "tacticool"; they are tactical. They aren't designed to look cool to people with no tactical needs; rather, they're designed to be functional for people with legitimate tactical needs. As I mentioned, the KM2000 is a military-issue knife. The SEK-M is used by some specific military forces, and other variants of the SEK line are used by police and rescue agencies as well. They have knives that practically scream "look at me, I'm wicked", but if a bushcrafter took one into the woods, they'd complain that the saw on the top blade edge doesn't cut wood particularly well. Well, it's not designed to; it's designed to cut plexiglass, Lexan, etc., because it's an aviation knife, made for getting pilots out of downed aircraft. But it looks wicked and no doubt some people who don't understand what it's for will just call it "tacticool".

I'd put the KM2000 up to the Kabar Tanto any day. And unless you have information on the design dates, I don't know that it's accurate to call the Eickhorn a ripoff of the Kabar; for all you or I may know, it could be the other way around!
 
Franciscomv said:
Eickhorn is a well known brand in my country, since a lot of people still think that German knives are the best on the planet, but they don't make anything I personally find interesting (especially at that price point).

And it's not such a hard brand to find in the US, knifecenter.com carries it. I'm sure there are other dealers as well.
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knifecenter.com currently has eight results if you search for Eickhorn, and none of those eight are either of the two I mentioned in my original post. Eickhorn makes dozens of different knives.

Now I can understand you not being interested in any of Eickhorn's products. I understand taste is unique to each person. Personally, I'm not interested in anything Mora makes, and I could name several other brands as well. But you're one person, and I'm trying to understand why almost nobody in the US, relative to other brands, is just not interested in Eickhorn.

I wonder if it's a cultural difference (Germans making knives that are good for their home market, which due to cultural differences, might not have much appeal in the American market), or perhaps marketing (maybe if Eickhorn bought lots of ad space in a variety of knife, gun, and other similar magazines, their market share in America would grow), or something else.

But if Eickhorn is more well-known in other countries, I'd love to hear about it!
 
DB731 said:
why the big screw in the handle?
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Oh, that's just there to hold the scales on.

Meanwhile, some knife nut in Germany might be looking at a picture of a Becker and wondering why it has three big screws instead of just one.
 
Eickhorn is great. Used one in the army and got the later model the KM2000 here on BF :thumbup:
= Kabar Tanto? I beg to differ (I have both)
Here 3 pictures of mine (stripped the blade and deepened and darkened the laser etch)



The screw holds the full tang in the handle. The handle is not two scales it is one solid piece with a full tang hole. The tang exits the bottom a little bit for what is known as a skullcrusher.
The guard is very comfortable and is bend up towards the spine so that you can place your thumb there for delicate tasks.
The sheath rotates in any direction, even if its attached to a carrier system. No need to remove the whole thing to orientate your sheath differently. Diamond sharpening plate is there too and works in a pinch.
Sheath and knife can be disassembled completely for maintenance. Nothing rattles around since there is some spring holding the blade in its sheath.
The blade can be flexed a lot (I think 30 degrees) with out breaking or being bend. As thick as it is I cant imagine how much force that would take anyways.
 
World knives used to carry them, as did Michigan knives. I've looked at them before, nothing about them interested me particularly---which isn't to imply they caused revulsion in me, just lack of interest, rather like your feeling for Moras. Now, if they did a huge marketing blitz, I'm sure they'd generate some amount of following here, but I agree with the earlier assessment of low quality materials for the money, and the example I looked at exhibited notably uneven grinds. Also, a little bit of very easy searching will yield results on this site complaining of poor serration design (hanging in materials instead of cutting them), poor overall build quality (excessive blade play in a folder) and a complete lack of communication from the company when contacted.
I don't think they're terrible, but I think that at a similar price point, the list of other options that will absolutely smoke them in terms of steel, design, and construction is rather vast.
And yes, they're "tacticool" whether you like it or not. That is not, in itself, a bad thing or an indicator of low quality, but since--as you said-- that knife is built to excell in getting out of a downed aircraft and (let me throw in a grand ol' Dark Ops Knives reference) deanimating sentries...if these two tasks are not something you will legitimately find yourself doing, then you're not buying it to be tactical. And that's fine! I own a number of kukries and am in no danger of becoming a Ghurka, nor does my progress towards Samurainess seem to be accelerated by any of my swords. ;)
Bottom line, if they appeal to you, buy a few and use the hell out of them, and then tell us about it!
 
JJR512 said:
Ok, so Moras are considerably cheaper, that is a valid point. As I mentioned earlier, and asked about, I'm not aware of the pricing structure of Mora knives.

The Eickhorns are not "tacticool"; they are tactical. They aren't designed to look cool to people with no tactical needs; rather, they're designed to be functional for people with legitimate tactical needs. As I mentioned, the KM2000 is a military-issue knife. The SEK-M is used by some specific military forces, and other variants of the SEK line are used by police and rescue agencies as well. They have knives that practically scream "look at me, I'm wicked", but if a bushcrafter took one into the woods, they'd complain that the saw on the top blade edge doesn't cut wood particularly well. Well, it's not designed to; it's designed to cut plexiglass, Lexan, etc., because it's an aviation knife, made for getting pilots out of downed aircraft. But it looks wicked and no doubt some people who don't understand what it's for will just call it "tacticool".

I'd put the KM2000 up to the Kabar Tanto any day. And unless you have information on the design dates, I don't know that it's accurate to call the Eickhorn a ripoff of the Kabar; for all you or I may know, it could be the other way around!
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At this juncture, I'm forced to consider the strong possibility that you work for Eickhorn, possibly in some sort of market analysis role, and you've been asked to ascertain why the US isn't buying much of your company's product. The answer is simple. We have plenty of companies here in the US that make products that blow all I'm seeing from Eickhorn out of the water. Sorry, it's just how I see it. It's also a valid answer to your question. Congratulations on your company winning the Bundeswehr contract.
 
Ok, I just went back and did a split second's worth of research. Are you really contending that I'm wrong for comparing the Kabar to this Eickhorn, when the street price for the Kabar is a little more than a third of the KM2000's price (as you stated), and on top of that, features a superior steel? Really? Come on, now. 440A stainless against 1095? LOL No. Not sure how "cultural differences" could play into it, when the two knives I compared look very similar.
 
JJR512 said:
Eickhorns are definitely not inexpensive. The KM2000 costs about $160 on eBay, which is probably the easiest place to find one in America (as is the case with all Eickhorns, it seems to me). The SEK-M that I have costs about $300.
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Your answer is right there. If eBay is the easiest place to find one in America, no dealer is pushing them, the company has no presence, no advertising here, and you can get similar value from manufacturers who do show their products here.
 
I forgot! I do own an Eickhorn! I was given a German Expedition knife by a very well-intentioned person who knew I loved knives and wanted to get me something special, and bought the most expensive knife she could find at a cutlery shop in Texas. I still have it somewhere---the ergonomics of the "handle" are absolutely atrocious--has been commented on by every single person that has ever picked it up--but I've thought from time to time about making some scales for it. In its case, the steel is not bad (D2) though not as well suited to the size/design of that knife as other alloys would be.
 
Quiet said:
Ok, I just went back and did a split second's worth of research. Are you really contending that I'm wrong for comparing the Kabar to this Eickhorn, when the street price for the Kabar is a little more than a third of the KM2000's price (as you stated), and on top of that, features a superior steel? Really? Come on, now. 440A stainless against 1095? LOL No. Not sure how "cultural differences" could play into it, when the two knives I compared look very similar.
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Which KaBar Tanto are you talking about?
The one with the huge swedge? The one with more belly? They all look different to the KM2000 and all have less than ergonomic guards and no skull crushing thingies. Also no screws on the Kabars and not so easy to disassemble and maintain and don't get me started with the KaBar sheath.
This is a KaBar tanto (my model)
K-92-KA-BAR-Next-Generation-Tanto-12-inch.jpg

Source: http://lairdfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/K-92-KA-BAR-Next-Generation-Tanto-12-inch.jpg
 
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