All About Pocket Knives

I have a folding hunter kbar 2 blade knife that I bought in the late 50's which the big blade broke at the pivot pin and fell out, and when I sent it back to kbar they say that they only cover manufacturers defects and sent it back to me. Seems like kind of a 'cheap' approach, and they missed an advertising opportunity.

As my memory serves, at that time the knife came with a lifetime warranty. Does anyone have any information to confirm or deny that memory.

Thanks

How did the big blade break?

Tim

Most knife companies limit their warranty to "manufacturing defects".
It would be surprising if any company would have replaced that one.
Would have made for a good story though!

Almost all companies period, limit their warranties to defects in materials or workmanship. I know there are very small number of companies out there who have unconditional lifetime warranties but I can't think of one right now. Onset of Alzheimer's.

I broke my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Fessed up and told her exactly what happened and she insisted on replacing it under warranty. Rare occurrence but a very happy customer.

i have a queen moose made in the 70s,the blade broke where the pin went through it and the blade fell out and they replace it for free said back there it was there fault still have knife,had to wait about a month as that pattern was out of production and had to look up die to make blade

i don't know if craftsman still does their unconditional warranty. but tools are mainly used with a lot of different pressures put on them. so it would be hard to prove it isn't a manufacturers defect.
since companies like kabar have changed hands since production. it is hard to imagine they would honor some of the previously made knives with that sort of damage.

the pin hole in the blade. broke right through it but I lost the blade.

Chris

chetr1200c wrote:i don't know if craftsman still does their unconditional warranty. but tools are mainly used with a lot of different pressures put on them. so it would be hard to prove it isn't a manufacturers defect.
since companies like kabar have changed hands since production. it is hard to imagine they would honor some of the previously made knives with that sort of damage.

In knife repair I use a lot of pin punches. I regularly break 1/16” pin punches.
Last week I took four 1/16” punches and one 3/32” pin punches back to Sears. All were Craftsman punched. Sears replaced them for free! I love Craftsman’s warranty!

60 years ? ? I doubt the chinese, ( ) who now make marbles, would even know where to look for that pattern # but I'll bet they could "copy" one if they had an original.

Just saw this - - Maybe the main blade on the single blade one would fit http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kabar-Knives-11 ... 500wt_1170

orvet wrote:Sears replaced them for free! I love Craftsman’s warranty!

I do too

I bring back tools that get "accidentally" broken all the time

Miller Bro`s wrote:

orvet wrote:Sears replaced them for free! I love Craftsman’s warranty!

I do too

I bring back tools that get "accidentally" broken all the time

I remember when I was about 16(yes I CAN remember back that far!)we were running a B class stock car.One of the features we incorporated into the car was a large diameter screw that went down through a nut welded on the rear crossmember(early Ford cross spring)to facilitate adjusting the pre-load on the rear spring.

Somehow the screw had become welded to the nut and we couldn't heat it up without destroying it so we took a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar and slipping a 6' long pipe over it tried to break the bolt loose.We managed to bend the breaker bar a full 90 degrees and the bolt still refused to break free.Trying to bend it back resulted in the bar promptly snapping in two pieces.

There was a local Sears store just down the end of the driveway and across the street so we took the bar down to see if we could get a new one. The manager looked at it and said," What did you use on it?" and one of the idiots says," A six foot pipe!".

They gave us another one but charged us a dollar for handling! We didn't argue.

i was doing extensive remodeling inside and outside of a three story home back in the 70's. well i noticed at the end of the job that i had misplaced my prybar somewhere and could not find it. so i bought a new one...well, years go by and i am still working pretty much full time. 6, 7 days a week, the person we did the remodeling for called me up to clean the gutters that were 3 floors high. i sent a worker to do it. he cleaned the gutters out really good. in fact the thing that was really clogging up the gutter was my old prybar. he wanted to give it back to me when he heard it was my lost tool. i said he could keep it. a few jobs later he was prying up an old wall with the tool and it broke. he was ready to pitch it in the ditch when i told him its a craftsman. well he took it to sears and they no longer made that model so they gave him a brand new top of the line prybar, much better and very much stronger than the old one......

gotta love those warranties
one of the guys i worked with only bought craftsman tape measures. he would take em back for new ones every time they broke, as tape measures do......

We shopped a lot at Sears when I was growing up (Revolving credit) and many of my dad's tools were Craftsman, including his pocket knife. Well Sears was a regular stop most every Saturday when we "went to town" (even though we actually lived in town. There's some things you just can't take out of country folk.). One Saturday dad was talking to the guy in the tool department which was another thing he did on a regular basis and happened to mention that he had broke one of the blades in his pocket knife. The salesman said let me see it. Dad handed it over and the salesman took a look at it and walked away, only to come back with a brand new knife which he handed to dad. Dad says, "but I broke it." Salesman says, "It doesn't matter. It's a Craftsman."

One time after I was grown, I found a 3/8" ratchet laying in the street. The release button was missing from it so I gave it to a buddy of mine. He took it back to Sears and they gave him a new one. I was P.O.ed at myself for quite some time for not thinking to do that.

Did Kabar advise you to contact anyone about getting the knife repaired? Last I heard, even though your knife was made when Kabar was under different ownership, they still send folks to an independent repairman for repair of their older models (Yours sounds like an 1184). I happen to know for a fact that the individual they recommend is very reasonable on his prices on parts for those old knives as well as what is charged for the repair. I also know that while he can't guanantee the parts, he does guarantee the work for life. I can even guarantee you that he will have the cell phone connected to the number they gave you turned on by 10:a.m. today if you want to give him a call. I'll be waiting to hear from you.

Bob,
Thanks for the reply. I think I uploaded a picture of mine and it doesn't look like any other 1184 I could find a picture of. The case head is different shaped and the handle is solid black. The small blade shape is different also.

That's the folding hunter before the more recent 1184. A lot of the older Kabar's weren't stamped with model numbers. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen one of the old black handled ones that was model stamped.

Real good talking to you and yes, I've got a blade for it. Send me a copy of that letter too if you don't mind. Kabar has my name on it, but never bothered to show me what else is on there. If my address isn't on there, just let me know by email and I'll send it to you.

Speaking of warrantees, Robeson Cutlery Co. guaranteed customer satisfaction. If unsatisfied, for any reason whatsoever, they would replace the knife.

That warrantee was in effect for their entire existance, 1879 - 1965.

Of course, that warrantee might be one of the reasons they could not sustain the company past 1965.

Charlie Noyes

Turns out that there were some slight changes from the old black handled model and the 1184. The blade for an 1183 is almost a perfect fit. Almost, because if falls just a hair low of the top of the backspring in the open position. Good news is that it solid and the blade used had never been in a knife before, so it should have a lot of years left on it now.