I bought a pair of knives today. One because it reminded me of my father's old knives that I cherish quite a lot, and the other, because I was curious.
The knife that reminded me of my father's knife came from our good friends Taylor Tools. The soulless company that trashed Schrade Tools.
Once getting it unboxed at home, I fell on the floor laughing. The handle material had me fooled until I could examine it in hand. Nothing like my father's old knife. That is for sure!
The knife is packaged in the standard Schrade box. Note that there is no mention of Taylor Tools until you open the box and this little piece of scrap paper sneaks out. At least they had a Made in China sticker pasted to one end of the box...if a little small in font size. I didn't try to pry said sticker off to see if there was a made in the USA printed and hiding under there. I didn't have the heart to do it.
The real sad thing about this...I loved the old Uncle Henry line of the original Schrade. I get a little angry when I see this on the blade, knowing full well that something like this wouldn't have made it out of the old factory door. Nowhere does it say made in China or Taylor Tools. What a jip.
I will say one thing positive about the knife. The blade is sharp.
The sheath is ok I guess. I do leatherwork, and I can tell when quality is there, and if it is here, I would have to look real hard to find it. My issue with the sheath is that of finish. The sides are rough and was not finished off in a professional manner. Yes, the sheath is serviceable, and is at least made of leather. Just that the finish is poor. There is a small pouch for a small sharpening stone.
Here is a closer look at the edge of the sheath. rough and uneven pretty much describes the sheath of this knife.
Now for the best part. I was fooled into thinking it had horn handles. I couldn't get a very good look through the knife display showcase at the store. It is my fault for not looking at the knife a lot better. Either way, I got a royal laugh when I got the knife home, pulled it out of the box and sheath, and handled it. What the....its plastic. Doh! They even went so far as to make it look like it was two pieces of stag. Grrrr....
Here is the crap knife compared to my father's old hunting knife. Yes, the top is real stag.
Shame on Schrade but more than anything, shame on me for falling for the faux stag handle routine.
Next up is a much better knife. I am happy to say that the Buck 119 is nothing like the above knife.
The sheath is nothing like the one above either. It is made of leather, but the sides are super smooth and professional finished. The leather is also a lot better in quality. Another neat features, there is a wrap around the handle with a cut out for the guard that fits so right, that the knife won't budge in its sheath. The Schrade above, you can half pull out before it stops.
The steel is much finer as well...and I would guess there are no surprises there either. At least Buck isn't trying to fool anyone here with the handle material.
Note that there is a USA stamp on the tang. I didn't see any China stamp on the Schrade. Go figure.
So there you have it, two fixed knives that are worlds apart. The schrade was 1/3rd the price...and I got a good laugh out of it. So I guess I can't be all that angry with it.
Here are both the knives in their final resting place in my fixed knife mini collection. The buck is on the outer right, the cheap schrade on the far left.
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