All About Pocket Knives

In my efforts to "thin the herd" I ended up swapping some of my knives yesterday. In addition to some decent knives, the fellow threw in a little Queen 3-bladed pen knife (and a Chinese Buck, which seems surprisingly nice). The Queen is nice & tight, reasonably sharp, no obvious quality issues. These seem to get mixed/poor reviews, just wondered if anyone here has any feelings on them.

JMHO,YMMV I put the knives made in 20',30's 40's and 50's up against any made. In the 60's they made some cheap looking knives as well as nice ones, after that it's hit or miss with many more good than bad.

Queen closed their doors in 2018, and for a few years prior to that they had problems with consistency, or so they say. I've got a lot of the various Queen brands of knives, and they're all top notch. As unlikely as it would seem to anyone who knows me, maybe it's just good luck.

I think that a lot of the trouble with Queen knives that some people like to talk about comes more from the family squabble that led to the formation of GEC. You know, GEC is sheer perfection, and so forth.

Now, in my opinion you've got to kind of draw a line between Queen of Titusville, and think of the modern day Queen knives. I've read any number of theories about who's producing them now, maybe Cooper, maybe Bear and Sons, some are made in China. The USA knives I've handled so far have been pretty crude. I sincerely hope they get their act together and carry on the Queen name with some dignity.

If your knife is a nice example, I'd just consider it to be a nice knife and not worry about it.

Most of my Queens are post 1980 and so far there isnt a single one with issues. I met the lady who was production foreman for a number of years and she said she kept an eagle eye on quality, so much so she was referred to as the production bitch. Id put my Schatts, Robesons and Winchesters up against any production knives;mThey beat the pants off any Case. Bill Howard told me that after '16 quality became quite iffy. There again, I have some and they are tops. Im picky when procurring new knives. probably wouldnt consider any of the new non queen stamped knives.What is it you would have, but a fake.

robpa wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 3:29 pm Most of my Queens are post 1980 and so far there isnt a single one with issues. I met the lady who was production foreman for a number of years and she said she kept an eagle eye on quality, so much so she was referred to as the production bitch. Id put my Schatts, Robesons and Winchesters up against any production knives;mThey beat the pants off any Case. Bill Howard told me that after '16 quality became quite iffy. There again, I have some and they are tops. Im picky when procurring new knives. probably wouldnt consider any of the new non queen stamped knives.What is it you would have, but a fake.

I agree with everything Rob said. The ones made by Queen in the last part of their USA chapter are marked DFC on the back. Those are the ones you have to be careful with buying. These are inconsistent and there are issues. But there are also many marked DFC on back that are just fine. It really is hit or miss with those. Any before the Daniels family got ahold of Queen are consistently well made.

So what about the Queens being sold on SMKW now? They say they’re USA made, and they aren’t cheap. Anyone own one of these?

I wouldn’t consider buying a Queen made after mid 2010s or thereabouts without having first personally inspected it. Those made before then were consistently good. After that it’s hit and miss. Don’t get me started on the ones made in China.

But I’ll say the same thing about those from any maker (including GEC). Once upon a time quality was a given - you couldn’t even play in the game without it. Not that way now.

Ken

tvic wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:18 pm So what about the Queens being sold on SMKW now? They say they’re USA made, and they aren’t cheap. Anyone own one of these?

Tim, check the thread on the Queen collector's forum, you will "reviews" and photos. They appear to be made by Bear &Sons.