Bear and Son knives Question

[Meigscl]

I was curious of everyones option as to why Bear and Son knives have never been good sellers/popular with collectors. I live close to the Jacksonville plant where they are made and have been to their yearly knife sale and tour of plant and most are made in the USA except for some. Was just wondering why they have never been a real popular knife in the collectors minds. When I went last year I found it was interesting that they make Moore Maker knives (very popular) and other brands as well for companies.
I usually pick up a few of the damascus knives or Moore Makers there for good deals.
I believe that is where the Parker Edwards were made before Bear took over the company.
Just wondered everyones thoughts on this.

[OLDE CUTLER]

There have been several old threads on Bear and Son knives, and many people like myself think their quality is not very good. Of the 3 I have, 2 of them should never have left their facility.

[Mumbleypeg]

If you do a search here for Bear you’ll find a lot if posts about them. As OC said many of them with comments about poor or inconsistent quality. IMHO if you can hand pick one you can get a good one. The lack of consistency is the major reason for lack of collector interest. I wish it wasn’t so because I’d really like to see them succeed.

Those made for Moore Maker seem to be the most consistently good in my experience (I have a few), I think possibly because the Moores inspect them and don’t accept defective product.

Ken

[cudgee]

As stated, QC issues. Sad, i would love to support them, but 3 times bitten 6 times shy.

[royal0014]

I, too, have been to the factory sale a few times.

Besides the hit and seriously missed quality issues, B&S products really don't stand out in the collector market.
Even when they get it right, it's mediocre . . . imho

[ken98k]

I have a few Bear MGC and Bear and Son knives. To me, they are a company that I really want to like, but I have been frequently disappointed
when the product arrives.
They seem to have 2 faults.

1. I don't know it's their lack of quality control, or their standard of quality does not meet with mine.

2. The design of many of their knives just plain lacks something. Spark? Pizzaz? For example compare their trapper to the Case 54. The case trapper is probably the best selling traditional pattern out there. Bears rendering of this classic pattern just just doesn't do it for me, nor with most other collectors.

[peanut740]

Because they suck.

[Ridgegrass]

I've only had about a half dozen: two traditional lockback hunters, a modern flipper, and three fixed blades, and they' were all fine. Nothing to fault them for.
As said above, I hope they can overcome any difficulties. Hate to see an American company fall to some foreign outfit. J.O'.

[Reverand]

I like Bear and Son knives, and have bought several at the factory sale as well. As far as their hit-and-miss quality, I believe that a lot of unscrupulous people buy their factory seconds and sell them online as new knives. If they marked their knives as Seconds, I think that it would help their reputation.
They have proven that they can make beautiful knives. I bought a couple of Trappers this past November that are as pretty as any production knife, but it is true that many of their designs are lackluster.
I will continue to support them however, even if they sre underrated by many collectors.

[cody6268]

Someone from Bear told another collector I knew that Amazon bought their seconds, and sold them at bargain basement prices, but never told anyone that they were, in fact, seconds.

My Bullet Trapper is just about as good as any Camillus or Schrade-produced knife that I own. I think Moore Maker does a better job QC'ing than Bear themselves, so I tend to buy theirs; as opposed to others.

[Railsplitter]

I have zero experience with Bear & Son knives but I noticed recently that David Yellowhorse has a couple models on his website. The fact that David considers them good enough quality to customize should stand for something, I guess.

[Dan In MI]

The one Bear & Son I own is pretty good in terms of fit and finish and factory edge. It's not likely the sort of thing I'd buy again, as it's only 2.5 inches closed, but you could do worse for $16. I agree that they would do well to mark their factory seconds as such and jazz up their designs a little.

[tvic]

I have a couple, and I’m perfectly happy with them. I’ve handled several in SMKW and haven’t seen a problem yet. Why don’t I have more? I’d just like to have more variety to choose from. As Ken mentioned, maybe a little more “pizzazz?” With the way everything is going overseas these days, YES, I want to support them and see them succeed!