Picked up a coupla Smith and Wesson knives over the weekend...

Local Big 5 was having a knife blowout... 75% off of most S&W knives, so I picked up a few. A big 'un, 4.25" blade with thumb studs for $16 (retail $70), and a smaller one with thumb studs for $9 (retail $60).

PURE GARBAGE.

Even at the discount prices I paid, the price was still too high! I can't believe how awful these knives are. They're flimsy and the action is rough. Pain in the butt to close the blade because the liner lock is so rough.

I don't know that S&W knives are popular here, but considering they're geared toward law enforcement officers, I find that S&W offering such a poor quality licensed product to be BAAAAAD.

scott.cr said:

Local
I don't know that S&W knives are popular here, but considering they're geared toward law enforcement officers, I find that S&W offering such a poor quality licensed product to be BAAAAAD.

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Most of the S&W knives were done by Tailor cutlery I think. They are marginal at best. Smith would like you, and everyone else to believe by the names on the knives that LEO's use them.

I have never seen a LEO with one for duty use. I never carried one. I started out with the good old Buck 110 like everyone else in uniform. As better knives became available the Buck went to the knife drawer. At the time of my retirement I was using benchmade and microtech's.

Alot of times gun compnaies auction out there name to other compnaies to be used on their products, so with the case of knives, most of the time a chinese compnay might win the auction and be abel to mark their knives smith and wesson...they do that with many different gun companies, the names sell the knives...

I bought a S&W "Texas Rangers" commemorative bowie style knife on close out a year or two ago, and was very favorably impressed with the overall build quality and finishing. It was made by Taylor, and marked Seki, Japan.

Recently looked at a S&W "Texas Holdem" knife, and it was a made in china poc that even my FIL who lives for cheap would not have wanted it, even as a gift. Some time ago I gave him a "Pony Express" commemorative, and remember being disappointed it wasn't made as well as the "Texas Ranger" example. I'm done with "S&W" knives.

On a similar subject, back in the late 80's I bought a S&W hunting knife, decent steel, brass guard, and rubber handle that kept a razor edge for many tasks. A "folding into the handle" style blade on another S&W knife was given to my wife, after I had her initials engraved into it. Probably quite a collectors item now.:mecry:

They're about what you'd expect for the price, disposable. Perfect for gangstars and serial-killers alike. Stock up!:thumbsup:

I've seen S&W knives at Big Lots for $7!

I just got a couple spyderco ladybug 3's for me and my brother for are keychains on ebay these things are really cool there razor sharp and well made with VG10 steel so puny pretty cool i think.I just got the plain edge ones for opening those narly plastic packages and stuff.:twothumbsi know this is off topic i should have put it in the who likes small knives thread but i was excited because i had just got them in the mail

Pure garbage. If you want cheap and good get a Mora or something. S&W knives are a joke.

Outdoors Fanatic said:

Pure garbage. If you want cheap and good get a Mora or something. S&W knives are a joke.

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An electrician friend of mine has used his carbon fiber-handled S&W SWAT folder for years, as a work-knife. He's happy with it, and the lock has held up well. (Oh he definitely abuses that knife).

Overall though, I agree. S&W is trading on their name. I've seen better quality knives at half the price of a typical Taylor Cutlery S&W piece.

I only use certain ones but I like them as junkers mostly. The boot knife IMO is only good for a pig sticker. The bullseye pocket knife is good for looks and does hold an edge as well as most other stainless pocket knife that is commercially made but the only problem is that they don't use any thread lock on the screws that hold it all together and I had one fall apart on me. I have a winchester pocket knife and I use it a lot. Its not that bad actually. Holds an edge a bit longer than the S&W knives out there. Its also better built.. I don't trust any lock back knives out there and only use liner locks and this one is very well constructed IMHO.

An anti-litter organization gave me an automatic opening S&W knife last year as an award for writing X-number of littering citations. It's a pretty nice knife but I was kind of surprised at the slowness of the opening action. Instead of an instant "swick" opening with the push of the button it's kind of a slow "kalunk" opening. I just put it in the knife drawer because it's pretty big IMO for EDC. The blade is etched "Law Enforcement & Military Issue". The box say's manufactured by Taylor Cutlery for Smith and Wesson. Until I read this thread I thought I really had something.