Knife Reviews & Articles

QUEEN MOUNTAIN MAN LOCKBACK

Specifications

Length closed: 4-5/8"

Length (open): 8-1/4"

Blade length: 3-5/8"

Steel: D2 (on models reviewed)

Lockback

Liners: brass

Mountain Man Variants

The Queen Classic Genuine Stag Mountain Man Lockback. Already rare and sought after.

Models Reviewed:

Queen Classic Stag
Queen Classic Red Stag

First impressions count a lot. The first impression counter on the Mountain Man Lockback hit the ceiling. And more.

This is one heck of a big folding knife. Its a handful, and no matter how big your hands are, your thumb is going to fit on the bolster rather than the back of the blade, and its weighty. But folded up, it is relatively slim, and therefore it will fit happily in your front pocket.

The Queen ClassicRedstag Mountain Man Lockback

Craftsmanship

The Blade

The blades on the two knives reviewed are of D2 steel. (Others are available in the Schatt & Morgan range are 420HC and ATS-34). They are nicely ground (flat ground) with a pretty good edge straight out of the box, although not hair shaving sharp. They have a polished finish, but not quite a mirror finish. The top grind is neat, and the spine of the blade has a satin finish. There is a light etch on the blade, not too "in your face", with the Queen Cutlery Co. shield, and with "Classic Stag" and "Classic Redstag" on the two knives respectively. The blades come new with a covering of a sticky oil for protection, which you might like to leave on if you are putting the knife away.

Bolsters, mechanism and action

Bolster material is of nickel silver, and the liners are brass. Good strong thick liners to match the size of the knife. The backspring is beefy and strong, and yet the knife is surprisingly easy and light to open. The first quarter of the travel in opening the blade feels a little "gritty", and you can feel and hear it too. I count that as a slight negative feature, although it will probably wear smooth with time and usage. Both knives reviewed were the same in this respect, and it may be that the radius of the first part of the back of the tang where it rides over the spring is ground a little roughly. Once past the quarter opening, it is as smooth as silk though. Importantly, (and its one of the things that I always look for), you don't get the feeling that you might cut yourself on the blade opening it fully, as there is with some knives that are stiff to open. It feels really safe.

The locking mechanism is very sound indeed, and there is a really reassuring snap as the blade locks in place. It doesn't just click into the locked open position, theres a definite clunk. To release the lockback spring requires quite a strong thumb. You're not going to unlock this knife by accident. But its a bit too strong for my liking, and it hurts your thumb somewhat to get enough pressure to release the blade. Closing the knife is easy, light and smooth, and it clunks back into the final closed position with a clunk like the lid on a Sherman tank. The blade drops dead centre.

Handle

The Genuine Stag Knife

This is great natural stag, with a burnt finish to give it that nice mellow look. Nicely finished and polished smooth on the high points and ends. The two small fine brass pins are so perfectly flush with the stag that you can't feel them. The sping pivot pin is well finished too. The nickel silver shield is inlaid neatly into the stag, and is flush with the surface. There is a landyard hole, with a steel tube liner. On this knife the liner is well recessed on one side of the handle, but slightly proud on the other. In fact, it sticks up enough that it is slightly sharp to the touch, a pity, because I would class this as a minor fault in the finishing. (The red stag knife has this feature right though).

The Redstag Knife

I must admit, I expected this knife to be natural stag which was dyed red. But it isn't. In fact, it isn't easy to tell whether it is real stag or bone. I have to give it the benefit of the doubt. However, it isn't a natural stag finish, but a "Winterbottam", with milled (jigged) recesses to represent the natural look of stag. It fails to be convincing, as the milling marks are very evident. We have to bear in mind here though, that this is the less expensive of the two knives by far.

This photo (yes it is a cruel enlargement), shows the milling marks in the pseudo stag finish.

Perhaps I am just biased, but I would rather see real natural stag, or jigged bone, where there is no pretence that it is "copying" real stag. Having said that, it is a really good looking knife and the rich colour, from dark red to honey, is really appealing.

Sharpening

I haven't sharpened the Stag knife, preferring to leave that one in mint condition (at least for the moment!). I have sharpened up the Redstag knife though. D2 isn't the easiest steel to sharpen, and it takes quite some time to get a good edge. I haven't stropped it down to "shaving sharp", but it does a wonderful job of slice cuts, and even push cuts a notch into the cross grain of a piece of 70 year old oak with no effort, leaving a perfect shiny surface in the cross grain of the wood. In addition, this is one knife where you will be happy to do chopping cuts into wood. It is certainly heavy and strong enough to take it. As a folding "hunter" it will be both practical and versatile.

General fit and finish

The general fit and finish on the two knives is excellent. There are no gaps whatsoever between the liners and the scales or spings. One point that I always look for is the radius of the ends, and these are nicely finished with no stepping or grind marks. Both knives, however, do suffer from that "Queen feature" of having a sharp edge to the back of the tang where it protrudes above the handles in the closed position. I am certainly going to round that corner off slightly with a stone.

This knife is more than just a tool. It is a joy to look at too. Some materials, particularly the handle materials, can make a knife stand out from the others. Certainly the genuine natural stag Mountain Man really stands out from the crowd. Queen have selected some really great stag, which is something that you don't see at all often in modern (post 1998) knives since the ban on export of Sambar stag from India.

Cost and Value

The Queen Mountain Man knives start from $48.00 for the Cocobolo handle knife, to $59.00 for the carved "stag bone" (bone carved to look like stag), and then $80.00 for the upper end knives, even including the Schatt & Morgan ATS-34 "File & Wire" Mountain Man lockback knife. The Redstag Queen Classic reviewed here costs $89.00 (and there are some of the 50 produced still available), and the genuine stag is already so rare (they all sold out within days!) that you will end up paying around $160 plus for one..... if you can prise one out of someone's hands, that is! That one is going to be really sought after in years to come, and people are going to hang on to them.

Value: 10/10 whichever model you go for.

An excellent knife with a traditional look and feel.

There are seven different variants of the Mountain Man Lockback currently available as I write this (April 2005). My recommended supplier is Bill Horn of Cumberland Knife Works, not only for the excellent service that he provides, but also for his reasonable prices on Queen and Schatt & Morgan knives.

Variants:

Queen and Schatt & Morgan Mountain Man Lockback

Thumbnail Photos: Bill Horn - Cumberland Knife Works

Make Range Handle Steel Price* No. Made

Queen Classic Jigged brown bone D2 $79.00 .

Queen Classic Red Stag D2 $89.00 50

Queen Classic Stag D2 . .

Queen . Carved Stag Bone D2 $59.00 .

Queen . Cocobolo Wood D2 $48.00 .

S&M Series XII Smooth Buffalo Horn 420HC $79.00 .

S&M Series XIII Golden Age Jigged Bone 420HC $79.00 .

S&M File & Wire
Series #3 Golden Root Bone ATS-34 $79.00 .

* Dealer prices (MRP are higher)

Thumbnail Photos: Bill Horn - Cumberland Knife Works

Rod Neep
April 2005