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Showing 1 of 28 conversations about:
Artisan Cutlery Classic Folding Knife
reswright
3851
Sep 27, 2019
I've seen a few people here with reasonable opinions about knives that seem to like Artisan Cutlery, so I try to reserve judgment about them.
Why I try to reserve judgment: to me, their catalog looks like someone took someone else's catalog full of knives, handed it to a generic metalworker that had never designed or made a knife before, and said 'make me a bunch of stuff that looks just like this'. Kinda like how Chinese gunsmiths tried to reverse engineer Western pistols in the early 20th century for military use. What they end up with will work, but if you know what you're looking at, you'll see a lot of things that make you scratch your head and wonder if they really understand what they were trying to reengineer -- design elements that look like Western elements but aren't functional. I see a bunch of stuff that looks cool, like blades with wild looking curves and grinds and over the top geometry, but I have a hard time connecting it to a purpose.
rumata13
563
Sep 28, 2019
reswrightI've also noticed that this knife looks different from what they have in their catalogue, for example nut and screws are blued on all knives in catalogue, while the ones on Drop have no blued hardware. Could this be a knock-off?
http://www.artisancutlery.net/image/catalog/catalog_page/ART2018CATALOG.pdf
(Edited)
reswright
3851
Sep 28, 2019
rumata13Or a cheaper run by the OEM, using cheaper hardware because they're selling at a lower cost.
Or a cleanup production run, using up leftover parts and putting them together with standard hardware.
Or a ghost shift knife, produced in the same factory with the same logo but inferior material, to be sold via the black market, and Drop came across them while sourcing deals. If this is the case they could know, or they could think the knives were ok and just never did their QC as buyers.
Or this is a knife that was originally meant to be OEMed for someone like DDR (just pulling a name out of the air, but the handle kinda looks like DDR) and the deal fell through after production began so it got labeled as Artisan instead and the final look of the knives was settled after they put out this year's catalogue.
Or Artisan buys their production from more than one manufacturer, or there's a bunch of different firms that decided to get together to produce the brand Artisan Cutlery and they all have slightly different quality standards when it comes to the parts they use.
Or, or, frickin' or.
That's the problem when you have no visibility into the manufacturer. If everything's fine, everything's fine -- if something's wrong, it could be anything.
Rudolph
279
Sep 29, 2019
reswrightYeah, I thought this might be the next We. I liked the three tiered offerings (390,35,&D2) , and the fact the designs were seemingly the same through the tiers. I can't speak for the higher ends I bought the Falcon (now renamed the Megahawk , whatever the hell a megahawk may be) in D2 , and am not very impressed . The knife is heavy and large (in fairness I was aware of the specs.) ,the fit and finish were passable although the centering was off , but could be sured up by tightening the pivot (just having a time finding a bit , no tool included , and I'm missing the right size in my set) . But it is still just eh! ,the higher end do look nicer (obviously) but I just can't seem to find the drive to invest hundreds of dollars in one . I have to agree at first glance they seem like fresh designs but when it comes to ordering one just can't commit. I don't know but the feeling I get is maybe too many too fast . I will admit this new CJRB do seem nicer than the Artisan proper D2s , but not in a rush there either. Maybe it's carbon fiber/titanium burn out, but I find myself drifting back to We (ironically carbon fiber and titanium but just a little more flair). I at least for a while usted to get a little excited by Artisan's new releases now they have just faded in with Kizer and Bestech for me in the " not bad" category.
reswright
3851
Sep 30, 2019
RudolphI'd have bought the CJRB by now for the same reason but for me it's the D2 keeping me from doing so. It's got its uses but I think a lot of people sell it in knives for economic reasons more than material ones.
I think S35VN is common in Chinese knives for the same reason -- economics. I think they figured out how to make it themselves, and they're the source of the niobium that makes S35VN the alloy that it is. Nb is a rare earth -- expensive and messy to source. Crucible has to buy it from the Chinese in the first place, at their prices.
I like the little differences in steels, from budget to top end. I just get a little tired of all the D2 and S35VN.
Rudolph
279
Sep 30, 2019
reswrightIf the Chinese have had it for more than a week they've reverse engineered and are producing it that's just a global fact (look at the "clone" world of knives m390 and titanium for a $100 not to mention s35prices). It's what bothers me the most about Chinese companies I wonder sometimes if the same companies selling s35 out the front door for $300 arent selling it out the back for $50. All the same until I hit the lottery I'll be buying from them.
reswright
3851
Sep 30, 2019
RudolphI think it's beyond the need to wonder at - so long as we aren't being too precise with the word 'companies'. There are many Chinese approaches to that sort of enterprise. I've seen it estimated that China makes half the world's steel and sells their steel for 25% less than US and European firms charge. A certain amount of that is accounted for by scale, a certain amount by centralization, and quite a bit of it comes from government subsidies - like getting special rates from the electric company, which can mean millions a year when it comes to powering a factory.
I think it might be best to say that they sell all their production whenever they can, even if it's total junk sometimes. The price you get and the quality you get seems to depend on your access to and the strength of your relationship with the manufacturer, who is someone that you and i don't get to just walk up to IRL, or their trusted agent who often has relationships to protect and is also uninterested in letting us come chat them up.
We have a saying that 'three can keep a secret if two of them are dead'. The Chinese seem to have more of a 'Two can keep a secret if one of them is me and the other one is dead and buried in my basement so don't even ask, ' thing going on.
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