ALL THINGS BUDGET KNIVES

I’m on a QSP kick right now, Today I received a QSP Penguin. It has linen micarta scales, a sheep foot wharncliff blade shape, and D2 steel.

This small knife has great pivot action, a beautiful design, and high quality build. This is my first micarta knife, and the scales are very smooth and well done. I thought micarta would be more textured and grippy. Overall, I am very impressed with the two small QSP knives I have.

Right on man…I bought the blue jean micarta nice grippy texture and liked it so much I bought the brown micarta which is a much smoother texture but still very nice.
I opened up the blue when I got it and wiped and relubed.
I opened a few amazon boxes and a few days later I opened it up again and found corrosion on the blade near the pivot. I got most of it off, they both now have lightly oiled blades.

Oh no, that is a bummer that the blade started corroding. The QSP Parrot has a 440C blade, no issues so far. I better keep an eye on the Penguin though.

It’s all good….just make sure to wipe the blade down after use. I should have known better because it’s happened ty other D2 knives I have.
My bad….it’s still gonna cut stuff :laughing:

With Micarta it’s same as with G10 or carbon fiber.

You can polish it to the max and get a finish like on the Spyderco Hungarian or you can sandblast it like most G10 scales are finished.
If you use a raw cloth or wool for laminating you will feel the weave even after polishing, if you make paper micarta you won’t.

You can even try to clean the surface with acetone, if the Micarta is made with epoxy you can sometimes wash it away on top, exposing the base material.
With acrylic that might now work. Oh, if you’d ever want to try it, disassemble your knife and try it on the underside of the scale :wink:

Just got in my Large Feldspar in Green Micarta, what a great looking knife, but….

Very nice! Great knife, and extra sweet with the micarta scales.

The texture of this Micarta is much grippier than the Penguin, feels great.
But the lockup is a failure.
The knife I received is too dangerous.
I will be sending it back for a replacement.

Good idea. I’ve had a couple CJRB knives. The blades were great but fit and finish left something to be desired.

Both of them arrived stiff, bone dry, and with a light powdery residue inside. My Large Feldspar could barely be opened! I took them both apart for a thorough cleaning. There was a tiny bit of rust inside one of them that was easy enough to polish out. There was some darker residue that resisted alcohol but came off with mineral oil. The caged bearings required a little extra care. I re-cleaned and re-oiled the bearings a few times until that darker residue stopped leeching out from around them. Like some other budget knives with nested liners, the ergonomics of my Feldspar benefited significantly from having the inner scale edges chamfered.

After all that, they ended up pretty nice. The radically improved action on my Feldspar paired beautifully with the strong detent. The issue is that I wouldn’t expect an average consumer to do all that work. Frankly, they shouldn’t have to.

I am not a big Gerber fan but this looks nice and has my interest! I like the deep choil and the size looks great. D2 steel with bearing swivels and frame lock, Micarta scales as well. Not a bad price :smiley: I’ll have to try this one out.

I emailed them about this lockup issue and they want me to print out a return shipping label and they are going to charge me $3.00 for the “fee” for the lable.
3 bucks is not much but I feel I should not have to pay that fee, they are responsible for the quality of their products that they ship out.
I emailed them again, awaiting their response.

I bought a Contender Guillotine with this same problem. I had to disassemble it and file down the blade stop. The angle was way off. Now its got a positive solid lockup. The knife was riddled with quality issues from sanding marks left in the scales to stripped screws.

I was tempted to do this myself but I thought they would send me a replacement after they QC’d it, but they want to refund me.
I want a replacement as this is damn good looking and feeling knife.

That’s why I kept the Contender because I really liked the knife. I was able to get a full refund and keep the knife because it had so many quality issues. Maybe take the refund and order another one. Its a pain in the butt I know but sometimes its worth it. Best of luck to you.

Response from vender is that I will know be credited back the 3 bucks they charge for the label “shipping fee”….then I can reorder the same knife. I’m cool with that but I need them to reassure me that it will be inspected before shipping.

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There store credibility is 90%, can somebody translate, in english what the reviews are.
Seller Info

I’m really digging those 2 unnamed knives.
They are small but I’m cool with that.

Noish, love the blue.
I have a couple of old Land 910 Plus’
…SRM make pretty solid knives

Good deal and fairly inexpensive way to try S35VN and Titanium if you like the design:
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/KUKI3454S1/kizer-cutlery-ki3454s1-matt-cucchiara-mini-flashbang-flipper-s35vn-stonewashed-blade-titanium-handles?utm_source=specials&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=specials-2020-9-23&kcno=123&mc_cid=2617822d8d&mc_eid=7418a1aa14

To be fair, most people seem to love the CJRB knives. I want to think that we are outliers. Given that both of mine had some of the same sorts of issues doesn’t inspire confidence. Now, I did order both of them through Drop and within a relatively short time of one another. I don’t know if that affects anything or not. I just know it was disappointing.

One thing to consider is that Artisan has a new steel out. It’s a PM budget steel that shows some promise. New knives in this steel should be showing up at retailers any time now. It might be worth holding out for one of the new knives. Not only will it give you a chance to try their new steel, it’ll guarantee that you are getting new stock. I feel like CJRB is still kind of new and Artisan has been going through rapid growth. It’s at least possible that they had a few kinks to get through. If there were some QC issues that have since been overcome, it’s hard to know when stock for an existing model was made. Getting a new model in AR-RPM9 will guarantee a current window on their QC.

Personally, I’ve been holding out to try their new Sea Snake and Arroyo models. I’ll order them as soon as they hit White Mountain Knives. I’ll disassemble them for inspection as soon as I get them and I’ll be glad to share my findings here.