wasteland16354 wrote:It's not weird, it's nice to see something new from the company.
no, it's weird.
queen has been a maker of premium, classic slipjoints and fixed blade knives for decades.
now, it releases a damascus-bladed modern japanese-looking thing (i guess it's a liner lock?).
it's as if ford decided to release a moped or a lawnmower.
if nobody had ever seen this knife and you showed to a bunch of knife collectors and asked them who made it, you'd probably hear "al mar," or "a.g. russell," or "mcusta," or something like that.
nobody would guess "queen."
in the marketing world, that's known as brand confusion.
every successful company spends a lot of time carefully crafting a brand identity.
it's not normally considered good business acumen to release a product that is totally out of character.
And the handle is just right for the blade, trust me it's not to big for the blade.
trust has nothing to do with it.
the handle, aesthetically speaking, is too big for the blade.
the slim blade looks tiny sticking out of that bulbous handle.
i'm sure it feels great in hand and cuts like the dickens, but looks play a role in it as much as functionality.
it's just not a visually "balanced" looking knife.
and after reading the description on the queen website, i think i understand why.
"First folding knife Justin Gingrich (Ranger Knives- OKC) has designed"
what?
i'm fairly surprised that a manufacturer of queen's caliber would actually make someone's first folder design.
case uses tony bose folder patterns.
queen counters with ...justin gingrich's very first folder pattern?
i'm sure this knife will find its fans and it'll probably sell well, but it would have made a lot more sense to market it under the "ontario" name, since that's where mr. gingrich's knives already have a foothold.
is queen going to start making fencing foils next?