United Cutlery

United could be listed in both the hall fame and shame. Fame because they have a long reputation for making quality products at reasonable prices. I am a knife collector and have many United knives in my collection. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, United broke new ground for collectors in several ways.

1. Movie Knives: Starting with the awesome knives carried by Rambo in the Rambo trilogy. United created a new arena of collecting as people could buy replicas of the knives and futuristic weapons seen being carried by their movie heroes. The Rambo III knife (designed by Gil Hibben) has been one of United's biggest sellers and is still selling after 17 years. This phenomena has carried on through the Star Trek and Lord of the Rings movies series.
2. Collector Series: Building on the success of the Rambo III knife, United created a "Fantasy" series of annual "art" knives designed by Gil Hibben. The series (16 annual knives to date) has been incredibly successful and collectable. United expanded the concept by issuing numerous variations of limited edition knives and combinations designed by Hibben and other artists/designers.
3. Imported Quality: United changed the thinking of many collectors who felt that quality knives could not be produced in Taiwan.

Now the SHAME: United built a faithful following of collectors who anxiously awaited each years addition to the Hibben fantasy series of knives. Countless collectors have each one of the 16 knives (and many have several variations thereof) going back to 1990. Those who began collecting the series late, after some of the earlier pieces were no longer in production, scramble to fill in the missing pieces of the series through Ebay and knife collector forums.

United decided, without notice or believable explanation, to not release a 2006 edition of the series. Their "official" explanation, though their marketing firm, was that they planned to end Hibben series 1 (1990-2005), have a 1 year hiatus, and resume with Hibben series 2 in 2007.

The problem is, this is a crock of bullshit. I know firsthand that Gil Hibben sent the prototype for the 2006 knife to United nearly a year ago and he did not find out that it did not go into production until the time it should have been released. Further, he had never heard anything about the "Series 1" and "Series 2" thing even though the series bear his name! Somebody screwed up at United and they are now trying to do damage control because they realize they have pissed off a lot of their most loyal long-time customers. They add insult to injury by trying to pass off this lame Series 1 & 2 explanation.

I don't know what is going on at United or why they dropped the ball on this one. I have heard various rumors about the company being in financial trouble and maybe that is the real reason. The bottom line is that discontinuing, or breaking the continuity, of this series has upset and voided the trust and loyalty of a lot of collectors (read: customers). United has the opportunity to correct this blunder. There is still time to get the 2006 edition into production and deliver late. Better late than never. But they are losing credibility quickly among collectors.

Shame on United for the arrogance of not listening to their customers and forgetting what made them successful in the first place.

UPDATE: United Cutlery did indeed file bankruptcy and close down. The United Cutlery name and along with it's remaining assets were purchased by the owner of Bud-K knives. He moved the company to new headquarters in Thomasville, GA and plans to operate United as a totally independent and separate company from Bud-K. New products should be shipping in 2008.

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