All About Pocket Knives

I am looking for input particularly from anyone having experience with the Moore Maker brand. Centered in Matador Texas, this label has long offered common patterns durably made at fair and modest prices. They offer other items, e.g. tools for installing and repairing fences. MM does not make their own knives. They have used a variety of manufacturers including GEC, Queen, and Baer Brand.

It appears to me that over the past year or so, MM has expanded their line, particularly with regard to variety and quality of handle materials. I may be mistaken in this as I have not followed them closely. But because of this I have purchased a couple and am very pleased with them. I believe the quality of their F&F is well above their price point. The blades are well centered with tight runups; the hafting is impressive, quite excellent with smooth transitions equalling and sometimes surpassing far costlier knives.

It seems to me that for anyone wanting a quality knife, such as a GEC, but is put off by the premium prices, MM might be a useful alternative, although if you acquire knives for future sales, the profit is unlikely to be there. As using knives, I think they offer real value.

If you have any of this brand, I'd like to see some photos. Also learn your experience with them. And, are they older models from the past or more recent acquisitions?

Glad you’ve discovered Moore Maker knives. Lots of posts here about them - a search for “Moore Maker” found 58 pages of posts. Here’s a link to one of mine that answers some of your questions. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=47254&p=487349&hilit=Moore#p487349.

My impression is the Moores do their own incoming QC and cull any defective knives. Just my opinion. There’s an ebay seller who sells Moore Maker knives having cosmetic defects. The seller clearly describes the defects, and posts pictures pointing them out. I assume he gets them either from the Moores or from the manufacturers because the Moores won’t accept them for sale through their site or their distributors.

Ken

The bottom one was made by Canal Street, and the top on looks like a Queen(?). My thought was that Moore Maker is nothing more than a name anymore, contracting the knives out. I don't know about the history, but I would guess that at one time they made their own knives.

Montanaman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:13 pm The bottom one was made by Canal Street, and the top on looks like a Queen(?). My thought was that Moore Maker is nothing more than a name anymore, contracting the knives out. I don't know about the history, but I would guess that at one time they made their own knives.

To my knowledge they have never made knives. Their web site says they started out making bits, spurs, fencing tools, de-horners, etc and got into knives at the request of their customers. (See the post I linked above for more details.) Matador, TX is a small town in the Texas Panhandle. It’s the headquarters for the huge Matador Ranch. There’s not much else there - pretty much everything is either owned by, or supports the ranch and its employees. BTW you can call them. Chances are one of the Moore family will answer the phone and answer your questions. https://www.mooremaker.com/about.html

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:34 pm To my knowledge they have never made knives. Their web site says they started out making fencing tools, de-horners, etc and got into knives at the request of their customers. (See the post I linked above for more details.) Matador, TX is a small town in the Texas Panhandle. It’s the headquarters for the huge Matador Ranch. There’s not much else there - pretty much everything is either owned by, or supports the ranch and its employees.

This is correct. All the knives that carry the Moore Maker name have been made by someone else according to their specifications. BTW, I actually called MM a while back, and yes, someone did answer the phone. Heavy Texas accent. I heard a dog barking in the background too.

__________
Mike

For many years Camillus was the primary manufacturer for Moore Maker, according to the conversations I had with Tom Williams. At that point in time Moore Maker only carried carbon steel knives. I think I have seen some stainless Steel knives wearing the MM brand made since Camillus closed about 2007.

I have seen knives that were definitely Canal Street, Bear nd Sons, as well as Queen patterns. But there's a couple patterns I didn't recognize. The old Moore Makers were excellent knives.

orvet wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:12 pm For many years Camillus was the primary manufacturer for Moore Maker, according to the conversations I had with Tom Williams. At that point in time Moore Maker only carried carbon steel knives. I think I have seen some stainless Steel knives wearing the MM brand made since Camillus closed about 2007.

I have seen knives that were definitely Canal Street, Bear nd Sons, as well as Queen patterns. But there's a couple patterns I didn't recognize. The old Moore Makers were excellent knives.

Camillus did make a lot of knives for MM, but Queen was their first source starting in the late 80's, and was their only source until Camillus starting making the "working knives" line for them in the early 2000's. They made patterns in yellow handles and some in buffalo horn, all in carbon. The Camillus made MM's were super nice knives.

Thanks to all of you for your knowledgeable information. Much appreciated.

knifeaholic wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:35 pm

orvet wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:12 pm For many years Camillus was the primary manufacturer for Moore Maker, according to the conversations I had with Tom Williams. At that point in time Moore Maker only carried carbon steel knives. I think I have seen some stainless Steel knives wearing the MM brand made since Camillus closed about 2007.

I have seen knives that were definitely Canal Street, Bear nd Sons, as well as Queen patterns. But there's a couple patterns I didn't recognize. The old Moore Makers were excellent knives.

Camillus did make a lot of knives for MM, but Queen was their first source starting in the late 80's, and was their only source until Camillus starting making the "working knives" line for them in the early 2000's. They made patterns in yellow handles and some in buffalo horn, all in carbon. The Camillus made MM's were super nice knives.

Thank you Steve, I was unaware that Queen made them before Camillus did.

I agree that they are better as working knives than as collecting knives. I have a couple yellow MM Mini Trappers that I believe were made by Queen. I like them very much in every way except their propensity to rust in storage if not properly protected. I solved this issue simply by forcing a patina using white vinegar. I'll post up some photos later.

BTW--there are some nice ones currently for sale on eBay. I especially like this double-swaged, single blade, yellow handled Trapper with the Schatt & Morgan tang stamp.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Queen-Schatt-M ... 1431.l2649

I've always assumed that my Moore Maker was made by Queen but after Steve's comment about the yellow handles I'm not quite as sure anymore.

This was gifted to me by a good friend. It's an excellent quality knife with moderate pulls and very smooth action.

Pinned shield too.

Railsplitter wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 7:15 pm I've always assumed that my Moore Maker was made by Queen but after Steve's comment about the yellow handles I'm not quite as sure anymore.

This was gifted to me by a good friend. It's an excellent quality knife with moderate pulls and very smooth action.

Pinned shield too.

Your knife was made by Queen - that was one of MM's first two or three patterns. Queen made most patterns in both smooth yellow bone and jigged yellow bone for MM.

The Camillus made MM's were smooth yellow Delrin and genuine Buffalo horn, none with pinned shields.

knifeaholic wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 7:24 pm

Railsplitter wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 7:15 pm I've always assumed that my Moore Maker was made by Queen but after Steve's comment about the yellow handles I'm not quite as sure anymore.

This was gifted to me by a good friend. It's an excellent quality knife with moderate pulls and very smooth action.

Pinned shield too.

Your knife was made by Queen - that was one of MM's first two or three patterns. Queen made most patterns in both smooth yellow bone and jigged yellow bone for MM.

The Camillus made MM's were smooth yellow Delrin and genuine Buffalo horn, none with pinned shields.

Thank you Steve!

For awhile i collected the yellow bone (smooth & jigged) Moore Maker knives that were made by Queen. I phoned them once years ago and one of the 2 Moore brothers answered. No receptionist or secretary. I enjoyed the call.
I was once told that MM owns the pattern dies for most of their knives. They would send the dies to Queen or Camiilus to get runs of knives; i.e. the MM knives are not exactly the same as the corresponding Queen or Camillus ?
Once Camillus closed (2007) the quality of the MM knives went down, at least in the small sample i had.
Some of the older Queen ones are stamped with the date, like "1999" or "2001", etc. If you have a chance to buy one, do so. They are first rate knives with 1095 steel.
kj

The “middle man” representing Moore Maker was at one time Blue Grass Cutlery - may still be. Blue Grass is the company responsible for the Black Box Winchesters, Primbles, and Case Classics among others. At least that was the arrangement as told to me when I visited the Moores in the late 1990s.

They told me (and it says so on their web site also) they own the dies and tooling for some of their patterns. Having been involved in some similar arrangements during my career, I can say that does not necessarily mean the manufacturer to whom the tooling is provided cannot make and sell for themselves or others, products using that tooling. It all depends on the negotiated contract. So it’s possible knives made using tooling owned by Moore Maker could be used to make the same knife for both Moore Maker and the company making them. Moore Maker may have exclusivity on the pattern, or on certain features like handle materials or colors, etc.

It’s impossible to make assumptions about it without having first-hand information.

Ken

Quote: "It’s impossible to make assumptions about it without having first-hand information"
Right, but for the older Moore Maker knives the only thing one might want to know is: made by Queen or Camillus ? In general the bone handled knives were made by Queen.
kj

I have a couple of Moore Maker knives that I carry and enjoy. This stockman was made in 2014 by whom I do not know. It is large 4 1/2" and heavy. It shows a bit of blade rub.

RalphAlsip wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 11:41 pm I have a couple of Moore Maker knives that I carry and enjoy. This stockman was made in 2014 by whom I do not know. It is large 4 1/2" and heavy. It shows a bit of blade rub.

Queen

Here's one, however, that despite being sold to me by Moore Marketing (their eBay arm which is how they ditch their rejects) as a second (for a deep discount), is one of the best knives I own. And I use it regularly. It's perfectly sized (3.75" closed), solid, and feels great in my hand. I paid $33 for it in July. MM's MSRP is like $80. Looking at eBay, others with the same defects, still sold through Moore Marketing, recently sold for $55 or more. I feel like I stole it! What amazes me is that Utica can put out stuff like this, while producing the pretty lackluster Kleins. It seems that aside from the Klein Tools and Moore Maker contract knives, they've discontinued nearly all their traditional offerings, to focus on tactical and fixed blade offerings.

2013 (comes from box) Moore Maker (Utica) 5213UDLB Double Lockback Trapper in smooth white bone.



While the spey blade has a tiny hint of up/down play when open and locked, the real problem is this patched crack. It's never spread, so it's just a cosmetic issue.
Note file mark denoting reject.

Case uses stainless steel backsprings on their CV knives. Moore Maker doesn't. The rockers on this knife are carbon steel also. Which is weird, as many of my modern Kleins (also made by Utica) seem to have stainless backsprings.

I think the huge amount of Queen-made Moore Makers released on the market, often rejects from Queen is not only hurting MM's sales, but also their reputation. I have a 2015 5201LL, and it's awful. Spey wobbles, and the linerlock for the clip has considerable play. I had the sharpen the blade. Not just a resharpening, but I had to put the edge on it. It was just ground.

Their shipping charges are insane, also. Like $14 for one knife. I can ship as many knives as I can shove in a flat rate box for $8.50; tracked and insured, and it usually get where it needs to go in three days. It's a bit tough, as while there are lots of Texas-based online retailers with the knives at better shipping costs (South Texas Tack comes to mind); MM seems to still have a few Camillus-made knives kicking around in their inventory.

Moore Maker ceased using Queen as a supplier several years ago, I suspect due to the same quality issues you describe and that most of us saw. As of recently however they still had some inventory of Queen-made and Canal Street made knives.

Here’s a recent thread with some details. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=68038

Ken

We have a very good leather/saddlery maker over here, i noticed they had a Moore Maker stockman on their website, no details on it's manufacturer or any other information, just a photo. Has yellow scales, but not cheap, $110 Aus or $78 US. I know nothing about them, you gentleman do, is that expensive or about average.

cudgee wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 1:37 am We have a very good leather/saddlery maker over here, i noticed they had a Moore Maker stockman on their website, no details on it's manufacturer or any other information, just a photo. Has yellow scales, but not cheap, $110 Aus or $78 US. I know nothing about them, you gentleman do, is that expensive or about average.

It depends. Are the yellow handles bone or Delrin (they have both but most traditional patterns are bone) and what pattern is it? Here’s the web site https://www.mooremaker.com/store/c7/ALL_KNIVES.html where you can find their knives and prices. Some other sources sell some patterns cheaper, but some patterns are only available from Moore Maker.

Ken

Here are my two Moore Makers (both modified by Lansky1):
2015 Liner Lock Wharncliffe Trapper 5101LL Yellow Bone
2016 Mini Trapper 5200 Yellow Bone

I think they're "OK" knives...Certainly not Case quality, but OK for work knives. The 5101LL still has a bit of play when locked open.
For this level of quality I wouldn't pay any more than $30-$35 for either of these. YMMV

I just ordered a new one from South Texas Tack (due to having their shipping costs being much cheaper, most of the MMs I have bookmarked are on their site, not MM's). This will be my first made by Bear and Son. It's the 3101LB, which was one of the cheaper options at $30. I like Moore Maker's lockback offerings, since typically, not a whole lot of cutlery firms offer them in carbon steel--Moore Maker does with pretty much the entire range. It is in my "sweet spot" range at 3 5/8 closed. Yellow Delrin handles so I don't lose it, and a clip-point profile, which is better than the drop most smaller lockbacks tend to have.

The shipping charge was $10, and this was for two-day, which also happened to be the cheapest option.

You have a better strike rate than me, i have 3 Bear and Son and none are up to scratch. I have one the same as your latest addition but the large one, not a Moore Maker but a Bear and Son, it went into my toolbox as a rough user for dirty jobs, it is just a piece of rubbish, hope yours is better.