$15 Chinese Knives vs. the Good Stuff

[stvpourciau]

Man I picked an excellent, maybe one of my favorite finds of all time today at a local flea market for $10.

I wasn't buying the knife nor did I look at it at the time, I was buying fir the sheath to fit one of my older German made knives, then I got home..

For all intensive purposes this knife is great for a "budget hunter" or outdoors enthusiast.

It is amazingly out together and designed, I dont expect to get any edge retention out of it but other than that it's built like a rock, fixed blade.

My guess is 3/16" thick, 3.5" drop point hollow ground hunter with full width visible tang that actually gets wider at the guard rather than narrower so it could take a beating if need be (especially being a softer steel) and from what I can tell, genuine stag scales. I'm very impressed and I intend to do a thread on It soon.

The knife is marked as a North American Hunting Club "Caribou", H1725.

 

[GIRLYmann]

back in the early 1980's the late
al mar marketed his own line of japanese made knives.
it was one man's vision of turning these imported knives into something more
by marketing them at premium prices.
who knows if some individual could do the same for chinese made knives?
all i know is that
folks who use to buy fury or tomahawk brand knives
will cease to be the living memory of early chinese imports,
and since technological progress can only improve the end product;
later generations would have grown up with little or no resistance towards this bias.
who knows the future possibility that the chinese might even run factories in africa someday?
wouldn't it be funny, finding knifenuts still complain about their knives then?

 

[baja820]

I usually carry one or two of these or one cheap knife and one higher end knife... I always hesitate when someone asks "can I use your knife" I'd rather that ding up a 8cr13mov blade than the s30v blade on my Ritter mini grip.

 

[Fanglekai]

I have a couple Enlans that are great. Surprisingly good f&f. 8cr sharpens easily and gets very sharp. For $14 shipped It's hard to complain.

 

[theAntihero]

Some cheap knives arent bad at all. Ive got a Timber Rattler Bowie thats fantastic, a Schrade Cliphanger has been my EDC for years and Condor makes some fantastic stuff that isnt expensive at all.

 

[Bob6794]

I usually carry one or two of these or one cheap knife and one higher end knife... I always hesitate when someone asks "can I use your knife" I'd rather that ding up a 8cr13mov blade than the s30v blade on my Ritter mini grip.

I make them bring what they need to be cut to me instead of risking it. Than again I only carry those cheaper knives with 8cr13mov or Aus 8 generally as it's all I can afford right now.

 

[Lycosa]

Inexpensive, instead of cheap.
Hey, a well made knife is just that, at any price, made anywhere.
rolf

 

[dmattaponi]

I like some "cheap" (and in some cases foreign made) knives, and have found them to be good values...Victorinox SAKs, Buck 110, Spyderco Persistence, Case Sodbuster. I do not purchase the cheap "no name stuff" stamped with S&W, etc., mostly because with the ones I've mentioned above I can get a "known commodity" at a good price that works well over the long run.

 

[NeilB]

Inexpensive, instead of cheap.

I agree. There are some really excellent and inexpensive knives on the market now. We live in a sort of golden age of knives right now, I think.

 

[Frotier76]

Actually the knife I use at work is a Gerber Contrast and I've bought a few as back-ups as a twenty dollar knife...obviously I like that model by Gerber....

*It's thin,sturdy,made with a stainless steel body and G-10 inlay and comfortable to use

*frame lock design

*7Cr17MoV as a Chinese developed comparison stainless to 440A is pretty close to the original steel it simulates. Needs a better heat treat to be equivalent to say Schrade USA's 57-59rc hardness on this steel versus 55-56rc from China. But just like 440A it is holding that edge to cardboard and isn't a cheap quality steel like 420HC.First time I've ever been able to say that about Chinese steel. I'm not exactly complaining because the American knife industry dropped 440A as a more costly stainless.

Here's a good example on hype Kershaw used for their limited edition of the Kershaw Blur and it's steel carpenter BDZ-1...sounds enticing doesn't it? It's 440A...seriously. If you check a steel chart it's 440A exactly with a lower chromium level and re-named. So a 'high performance' steel is just the same steel used on older knives with a new marketing concept to boost sales.

My EDC of almost fifteen years is a REKAT but some knife snob out there will find something to pick at about it as a American made knife.People will rub imported knife manufacturing into the ground far more than they would a USA made knife equally as bad.

 

[Tommythewho]

For $15 I'd buy that knife and put it in my toolbox just because it says snap-on in cool looking lettering.

 

[TBL]

Knives are the reason we are all here. They could be made here... they could be made in China. They could be $10 or they could be $1000 as long as they preform when you need them to. To this day I still carry my first $5 pocket knife in one of my cargo pockets. I dare say it gets as much use as my ZT.

I've just started using "premium" knives. The extra money I have spent on these only makes me spend less time sharpening (and in some minor cases shaping). Is it worth it? that is entirely up to you. I enjoy carrying a mix of expensive and cheep knives. Its all about using the right tool for the right job.

 

[dkb45]

My SRM 763 (maybe it is a 764) arrived shaving sharp with perfect lockup, centering, and bevels. I can't say that for many of the Benchmade knives I have or had. Where a knife is produced is a pointless detail. Who makes the knife is the real meat of the discussion. I have seen some great Chinese knives (generally by SRM) and some real piles of poop. I have had amazing American knives, and a few that I would be embarrassed to carry. Same for Japanese. The country means nothing compared to the actual maker.

I, for one, am really glad to see the quality of Chinese knives coming up in whole, and I am astounded at the quality of many Taiwanese knives. This just means that US made knives need to be more competitive, not complacent. When your competition makes better knives for half the price your options are to shut down or step it up.

 

[spydercobenchmadekai]

If it works for you, great. I don't want one, I don't want an Enlan, I don't want a SRM, I don't want any knife without a reputable manufacturer backing it.

However, like I said, if it works for you, great.

I will carry a Chinese Kershaw, Spyderco Tenacious, or Ontario Rat because I feel that these knives are not the average Chinese junk and have a warranty to boot.

 

[mugsie]

I'm not saying Chinese knives are junk, but they are where transistor radios were from Japan in the 50's and early 60's. Look at the AK vs. the M16. Say what you will about a sloppy chicom AK, but in Nam I've found them buried in the delta paddies and muck for months, take them out, swish them around in the water to clean them off and they all fire perfectly. Couldn't do that with the M16.

Do I buy Chinese knives, or anything foreign? NO! I do not, because if I have the option of purchasing foreign or US made, even though the US is more expensive, I purchase US. I am a staunch conservative and loyalist and support this country every chance I get (although the present administration in Washington is slowly trampling our constitution and destroying the country our forefathers fought so hard to establish).

So because something is Chinese, don't be a snob and automatically write it off as junk. Buy US because you support the country, but don't automatically downplay foreign built just because it's foreign built.

 

[Sharpnessis]

The AK was Russian. SKS, though, all China.

 

[22-rimfire]

So because something is Chinese, don't be a snob and automatically write it off as junk. Buy US because you support the country, but don't automatically downplay foreign built just because it's foreign built.

It all depends on price.

Sharpnessis, Russia made SKS's too. They were the better made ones.

 

[Fanglekai]

Some of the cheap chinese knives are ok. A sharp knife will cut, but premium features make a knife more enjoyable to use. Buy whatever floats your boat.

 

[bdmicarta]

Here's a pic of the knife, in case you are curious. To be clear, this crappy knife is so "crappy" that it isn't even listed on Snap On's site.

I would suggest that Snap-On doesn't have any connection with this knife and it is a fake.

I can't say for sure but I would be surprised if anything connected to the Snap-On company was sold at Autozone.


I've read threads on this forum for Enlan knives and I've read some good things about them. I would think that the knives you see in the gas station for $3 are junk, but an Enlan that you pay $15 for might not be such a bad knife. I have a Spyderco Tenacious and it is a very nice knife, and they don't cost all that much more than $15.

 

[NetshadeX]

I don't think all Chinese stuff is terrible all of the time but I feel they're hit and miss. Point being if I go the same store OP went and got the same knife, mine might be a total different story. I have even had it with the Spyderco Tenacious. I handled about 5 of them, gifts included. Lock up and grinds were all over the place, you just have to be lucky to get a good one.

Taiwan is a different story, in my experience those are easily on par with US produced knives.