S&W buys Knife maker

[H Richard]

Just in the last couple days, Battenfeld Technologies division of SWHC buys Taylor Brands Knife-maker. This includes Schrade, Uncle Henry, Old Timer, & Imperial brands. Taylor is a long time knife-maker for S&W issues. Price was $85 million. (That's a lot of knives).

 

[J.R.Bauer]

Is this good or bad? Seems like lately every time a company is sold the quality goes down sad.
John

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Most of those brands are now made in China aren't they?

 

[30-30remchester]

Is this good or bad? Seems like lately every time a company is sold the quality goes down sad.
John

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

No worry about quality declining as Taylor has been building cheap quality knives for decades.

 

[blues7]

No worry about quality declining as Taylor has been building cheap quality knives for decades.

^^^This^^^

 

[OMCHamlin]

Is this good or bad? Seems like lately every time a company is sold the quality goes down sad.
John

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Schrade, Uncle Henry, Old Timer, & Imperial brands... I actually think all of those are now made in China, so I'm not sure how much further their quality could fall.
Perhaps they're negotiating to have Pakistan or North Korea make their product instead of China?

 

[shouldazagged]

The quality of the Schrade Old Timer line has deteriorated markedly, from what I've observed, since the original company went under (assisted by Wal-Mart) and Taylor bought the brand. Some if not most of the Old Timers are now stainless. I bought the good old ones for the fine 1095 carbon steel.

 

[chaparrito]

S and W "collector" knives will soon be available on late night TV. Oh goody!

 

[Marshwheeling]

The conventional wisdom over at BladeForums holds that current Taylor brands quality is pretty decency. I have one Taylor Old Timer stockman about ten years old, so it must have been within a couple of years after Taylor acquired the Schrade brands. Fit and finish are not the best, but it has held up pretty well, more than enough knife for the usual EDC tasks. It would not surprise me if more recent production was pretty decent.

I say that because I have seen some very nice Rough Rider traditional knives, not related to the Taylor brands, but representative of the quality that Chinese manufacture is capable of producing. However, neither Rough Rider or Taylor offers carbon steel, AFAIK. For that, you have to pretty much go to Case (CV) or Great Eastern (1095).

 

[garddogg56]

I collect knives and taylor knives are on the lowest end of the totem pole I wish S&W would contract there knives to Buck,Case or GEC KEEP IT ON OUR SHORES

 

[mauser9]

Yeah heard it myself tonight. Also stated that S&W profits up 31% for the 2016 fiscal year.

 

[amazingflapjack]

What goes up...

Yeah heard it myself tonight. Also stated that S&W profits up 31% for the 2016 fiscal year.

Quality needs to head in the same direction.

 

[30-30remchester]

A wise man once said that a man that carries a cheap knife should tape a quarter to the handles. That way if it was lost, the person who finds it will at least have 25 cents.

 

[Fishslayer]

A wise man once said that a man that carries a cheap knife should tape a quarter to the handles. That way if it was lost, the person who finds it will at least have 25 cents.

Cheap knifes are "good enough" for what I need them to do and if I lose one... "meh"

Good ones stay at home. WAY back in the day I had a Schrade similar to a Buck Hunter. I thought it was superior to the Buck. No idea what ever happened to it...

 

[alwslate]

About a week ago I was in a local Walmart store and made my way back to the sporting goods area of course. Just browsing the area
since there were no .22s in stock I spotted a bunch of blister packs of
two small Schrade Old Timer pocket knives on hangers for just under
$15 for the pair. I have never been overly impressed with Schrade
quality in the past but these looked very good through the plastic of
the package and for under $7.50 each?? I bought a package and I
have been really impressed at the quality for the price. Blades are
stainless and very sharp. Package says made in China but thankfully
the word China isn't on the knives. The clean machining on them
seems to say "CNC". Sold by Taylor these two at least seem to be a
good step above the old "Old Timers" with their quick rusting carbon
steel blades and only average fitting.

 

[jack the toad]

Little off topic but IIRC, the same folks that owned S&W also owned a lock company... does this mean that we can expect to see integral bayonets on future S&W's?

 

[Sayoc01]

Most people don't understand about China knives.RR ,Taylor etc.Knives look great & work well"at first"! The heat treating SUCKS! Quality Control,give me a break!! First run is usually great...then it goes downhill! I'm retired & sharpen knives...won't buy China....I'll spend more for made in USA or even save & go custom.Buy the best & cry once!!! I've delt with China factory reps.personally....they handled a product I was representing...we stopped using them!
Jim

 

[chief38]

Don't really get why S&W would spend $85 million on a Company that makes cheap knives in China. Those brands are from yesteryear and while they were once considered descent working knives I know of no one who buys them anymore.

Personally, if S&W wanted a knife division they would have been better off starting up a high end knife Company and making them in America with the tidy sum of $85 million. It seems to me that the knife makers that make the high end products are the ones that have a huge demand, charge high prices and usually have a back-log of orders. The brands like Uncle Henry, Schrade, Imperial and Old Timer are sort of "has beens" and now that they are all made in China - they are low end knives and are a "dime - a - dozen".

While I personally do prefer the old fashioned style traditional pocket knives over the more modern flip out and locking folders, most people these days don't. Either S&W knows something I don't or they need a better CEO. I suppose time will tell, but it always seems that when a Company like S&W gets into a sub-line, it never really does well. I seem to remember them playing around with bicycles, knives, holsters and other lines that were never a real success.

 

[Gamecock]

10-4 on Japan. When the American market wanted cheap, they made cheap. When the American market wanted quality, they made quality.

I was incredulous 45 years ago when my sergeant in the AF told me of guns he had made by B. C. Miroku. He said they were great quality. NFW I thought.

Today, I own a few. Brownings.

 

[armallard]

A wise man once said that a man that carries a cheap knife should tape a quarter to the handles. That way if it was lost, the person who finds it will at least have 25 cents.

I was duck hunting with a guy that just bought a new A5 Browning Not Belgian made and after the first shot it kept jamming on him I gave him a dollar bill he asked what that was for I told him to put it in the barrel and throw it in the river that way he could say he lost something man was he pissed I just kept shooting them with my old 870.