Bear and Son question

[leggo]

A friend loaned me a 2115 B&S catalogue , and I see some knives at a nice price if they are good ,I've never owned one . Any opinions on the fit and finish and overall quality of B&S ?
In particular I'm looking at 1095 carbon steel Barlow.

[BIGHEAD]

I have had a couple of them and liked them. Buy one and form your own opinion would be my answer to you.
They are made in Jacksonville Alabama in Parker's old factory.

[leggo]

Ya BigHead and they say they have over 300 years of combined knife making experience , and the knives are 100 % American made.

[bestgear]

I've had a number of interactions with Ken Griffey who runs the show for Bear & Sons and all of them have been positive. They are truly an American cutler who stands behind their products. Tom

[kootenay joe]

Some of the Taylor Schrades that are Made in USA were made by Bear. You can tell which ones as they have no handle pins, only a spring pin. I think they also make the Moore Makers that previously were made by Camillus, the ones with Delrin handles.
kj

[leggo]

Okay thanks you guys for the input . After buying 3 CASE knives at a garage sale this morning , I'm going to have to hold off on a B&S for now though. I forget who it is on this site who on his posts always says " WARNING UNCONTROLABLE KNIFE BUYING " or something to that affect...sure the H*LL is right ! One of the days I'll get that Barlow

[kootenay joe]

leggo: " WARNING UNCONTROLABLE KNIFE BUYING "
this is actually serious. I am afflicted and i see no end in sight. once the money is gone, you sell to buy more. But, it is fun and there is always more to learn so never boring. Likely you know this already cuz that's why we are here.
kj

[RandyFew]

I have a Bear Stockman with stag handalls that I like. On the other hand I have the 4 Remington scout knife reproductions they made that aren't so great. There was a 5th knife to be made, but I never saw one.
Randy

[bestgear]

You would be correct Randy, Bear & Sons never received a purchase order from Remington to make the 5th edition. I've attached a photo of what was to be made. You would also be correct about the fit and finish on the pervious 4 editions of the Remington BSA replica knives of course we were all hoping for the same quality that was produced in 1924 which may not have been realistic. Tom

[Old Hunter]

I bought the first B&S Remington Scout Knife (2009) and wasn't impressed enough to buy anymore. I did buy a bone-stag 4" Stockman at an ACE Hardware (most of the ACE stores that have the ACE knife cabinet will have several B&S pocketknives to choose from) - the Stockman was okay for a $30 USA made knife (about the quality of a Colonial Ranger). It cuts okay, so I keep it in my duck blind bag - that way if I drop it through the blind and into the cold water I won't be upset about losing a good knife. OH

[leggo]

leggo: " WARNING UNCONTROLABLE KNIFE BUYING "
this is actually serious. I am afflicted and i see no end in sight. once the money is gone, you sell to buy more. But, it is fun and there is always more to learn so never boring. Likely you know this already cuz that's why we are here.
kj

Ya kootenay joe
I've been laid off from work for 2 months now , and still looking for knives all the time . I've been through the car and bike restoration addiction and finally was able to get rid of that (money pit ) habit , ...I don't think I'll be able to break this addiction ( don't want to though ) , and most knives are cheaper than chrome shops ) , you're right...it is fun . Next thing to go is the stamp collection !!

[hardman]

I have pretty mixed opinions on Bear & Son. On the positive side, they use some high quality materials. They have some pretty cool jigging patterns, often have a nice blade swedge, and long pulls. Their knives have some great features.

On the negative side, I have twice gotten knives that felt like there was sand in the joints upon opening or closing. A close inspection of the backsprings revealed the reason. There were/are ridges on the backsprings about every 1/32 of an inch. I called after I encountered this on the Remington Annual Bullet knife for 2015 and was told by Ken Griffey these were "chatter marks" left from the water jet that cut out the backspring. When I bought the 2016 Remington Bullet knife, I got the same thing. Kind of frustrating. And, the 2016 knife had such a wavy blade edge it looked like it had been ground/sharpened by a drunk. And, I am turned off by their deceiving use of the term "Genuine Stag Bone," which is a tricky way to say bone jigged to look like stag, i.e. fake stag.

I wish Bear & Son nothing but the best, like I do any USA knife manufacturer. I was disappointed when I got two knives with "chatter marks" a year apart. And clearly they need to tighten up the quality of their workmanship to match the quality of their materials.

[Mumbleypeg]

You would also be correct about the fit and finish on the pervious 4 editions of the Remington BSA replica knives of course we were all hoping for the same quality that was produced in 1924 which may not have been realistic. Tom

I received the first two of the Bear & Sons Remington BSA reproductions as a gift. I hadn't seen them previously and was at first excited when I saw them. Then when I looked closer at the knives and handled them, to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I wasn't expecting the old 1924 Remington quality but I was expecting the Camillus-made Remington reproduction quality, which IMHO was pretty good. The Bear & Sons quality, at least on those knives, bordered on POS and was far below that of Camillus. I did some investigation and found these were not inexpensive knives. I've had no interest in Bear & Sons since then.

Ken

[jerryd6818]

I bought one of the B&S Scout knifes as a birthday present for one of my best friends. F&F was so bad I was too embarrassed to give it to him so I sent it back. I talked to Ken Griffey (nice fella) and they reworked it. When I got it back it was tolerable enough to gift with no embarrassment. The other four I have/had (one is gone) are pretty decent knives.

[313 Mike]

I too have experienced vast swings of quality with Bear and Sons knives...I have a nice bone stag trapper with excellent fit and finish, and have had two other products of theirs where the " quality" was almost laughably bad. Unfortunately they are a company that has completely fallen off the radar screen for me when it comes to future purchases. And I say unfortunately because I really "want to " like and support them as they are a USA knife company, but I just can't abide their lack of quality control...

[Chuck Stardust]

I bought this one and its absolutely incredible! Smooth and has walk and talk. If they were all like this....the only detraction is the glued in badge...it is deep set and kinda angled. Looks funky....that would draw a very negative eye for a collector piece. For a user.....it would be marvelous. It's very sharp out the box....and everything else looks aligned and symmetrical. I really like this one.

Charlie

[leggo]

That's a nice looking knife Charlie. I like the shield design ,and the serial #.

[QTCut5]

I got "bombed" with this one from another AAPK member (who shall remain nameless). Although it is "Genuine Bone Stag" it actually fits quite nicely in my Genuine Stag Stag collection and is a decent knife in terms of fit and finish, very solid, too.

~Q~

[leggo]

Q That bone stag looks good ,nice color and texture. Thats a nice blade style for using.

[QTCut5]

Thanks, Leggo--like I said, it's a great knife, solid lock up, smooth walk & talk with nice snap, and not too bad looking either. I also appreciate the fact that, unlike so many of my knives, it's NOT 1095 steel, which, unfortunately, is the only type of steel that just doesn't seem to do well (in a collection) in the salty-humid-tropical climate where I live without constant (obsessive) maintenance and/or daily use (or forced patina).

~Q~

[melton714]

I have had a couple of them and liked them. Buy one and form your own opinion would be my answer to you.
They are made in Jacksonville Alabama in Parker's old factory.

I live three miles from the Bear & Son Factory and have had the opportunity to get to know Ken Griffi personally. I spoke with him this morning.
I can say this I have several of his knives as well as the Remingtons they make and I wouldn't trade any of them. Not that I don't have some I favor more because of their looks or age but for a good looking durable knife you won't go wrong with a Bear.