$15 Chinese Knives vs. the Good Stuff

[numbersman]

Attitudes differ widely from country to country. The Chinese seem to have a more predatory approach to business, and they don't seem to take pride in their work, the way the Japanese do. When you are making so much money selling cheap crap to everyone, and you like it that way, why do you need to change? My tip is that things won't change much for quite a while, if ever.

 

[TheChunk91]

If buying a china knife I would much rather buy it from a reputable company I can trust, like spyderco or kershaw. The spyderco tenacious and resilience are the only china made knives that I have, but I prefer to stick with usa, japan or anything thats not from a country known for alot of cheap labor and low quality products. I hate to say it but sometimes the f&f of china and taiwan knives are as good or better than usa or japan knives but thats the way it is sometimes, I will always be usa proud though. It seems like that knife you found is a pretty decent one though and its always enjoyable when that happens.

 

[leghog]

This knife was $15. If it came with a premium steel, I would have paid $100 for it....

"If", the biggest word in the English language.

I've had a few cheapos that kind of held up except for edge retention.

A knife is only as good as its steel, and it doesn't need to be the latest greatest wonder metal. Good ergos and excellent F&F with crappy steel and/or heat treat still equal a crappy knife.

 

[idaho]

The problem with Chinese knives is that they have shown how almost ridiculous are "premium" knives priced.

But one thing - when buying from a knife company, you can expect constant quality (more or less), when buying just random "knife from China" one would get 99% total absolute crap

 

[leghog]

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

Huh? You're kidding, right?

Else tell that to Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov who designed the SKS and for whom the rifle is named (Samozaryadnyj Karabin sistemy Simonova). I owned a Russian SKS until I gifted it to a friend 15-20 years ago.

 

[neeman]

Rough Rider manufactures very good slipjoints
The F&F is exceptional
The SS steel is as good as US made knives

Rough Rider Saw Cut Peanut

 

[Myal]

spend $15 on a knife , you get $15 worth of knife ... and your money went overseas

Spend $450 on a locally produced knife, your money stays local , you get well over 20x the knife , durability , function , fit and finish etc , there is just no comparison . Its like comparing chalk to Nectar of the Gods

Not only that , the cheap knife , itll end up scratched up looking and beat up and well , USED ..

buy an expensive knife , and hell , I mean , just look thru the picture threads like the EDC thread ... expensive knives , daily carried, daily users , pretty much always keep their out of box shiny unused look regardless how hard they are used or long and often they are carried .

 

[singularity35]

A knife is only as good as its steel, and it doesn't need to be the latest greatest wonder metal. Good ergos and excellent F&F with crappy steel and/or heat treat still equal a crappy knife.

I never said it was crappy steel or crappy HT. I was really comparing edge retention to premium steels. Really, it depends on what you need to do with your knife but the steel was 8Cr13Mov which I don't like but will be quite sufficient for most people.

 

[Valle]

The Chinese have built intercontinental nuclear missiles, parts of every computer we are now using, and have recently put a robot on the moon.

You bet they can make a good pocket knife.

 

[Gerard Breuker]

Ignorance and prejudice are usually the best way to determine the quality of any product.

 

[leghog]

spend $15 on a knife , you get $15 worth of knife ... and your money went overseas ...

Or just buy an old USA-made Schrade or Camillus for $10-$20 or even less.

 

[Myal]

Or just buy an old USA-made Schrade or Camillus for $10-$20 or even less.

For me , USA made gear is just another import ...

 

[leghog]

For me , USA made gear is just another import ...

What's the availability of Australian made production knives?

 

[Myal]

What's the availability of Australian made production knives?

Compared to ?

 

[Sharpnessis]

Huh? You're kidding, right?

Else tell that to Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov who designed the SKS and for whom the rifle is named (Samozaryadnyj Karabin sistemy Simonova). I owned a Russian SKS until I gifted it to a friend 15-20 years ago.

Oops! I was only familiar with the Chinese version. When firing it, I had to keep my hand on the clip or it would fall out! Lol

 

[richard thurman]

What about Paul Chen hanwei knifes and swords?? They are being made in china and there is nothing cheap about them. From my understanding they are handmade too and they are not cheap by a long shot. I think it is who in china is making them rather than they were made in china.

 

[leghog]

Compared to ?

Compared to nothing. I'm just curious about the availability of Australian made production knives in Australia.

 

[James Y]

As others have mentioned, I also remember when 'made in Japan' meant poor quality, but of course in the '80s that began to really change. Although back in 1977, I bought a Japanese-made lockback that resembled a slimmer Buck 110 that was very good quality...it was my first lockback knife. Back in the '70s, I also owned some cheap American-made pocketknives that were junk, and would fall apart with light use. Manufacturers in every country are capable of good and poor quality.

But funny enough, 'made in Taiwan' is a much more recent stigma that only began to turn around starting in the late '90s or so. Now, of course, we can see there can be and is excellence in Taiwan manufacturing. There are some people who even continue to confuse China and Taiwan (and sometimes even including Japan!) as some monolithic manufacturing entity when they are all unique and different.

As for 'made in China', I own only about 3 Chinese-made knives...a Henckels Santoku, a Byrd hawkbill, and a Messermeister picnic knife. They work great, but I prefer Swiss, Japanese, U.S., and Taiwan-made knives. Not for any political reasons, but just because I do.

Jim

 

[Codger_64]

Or just buy an old USA-made Schrade or Camillus for $10-$20 or even less.

Quit that. You're giving away one of my secrets. Quality of cutlery coming out of China currently varies widely, depending on the demands of the comissioning importer. They make knives at almost every pricepoint one can imagine. Some of my favorite traditional patterns are made there now. And they are made to sell at the approximate price point as the originals sold for here thirty or more years ago. The manufacturer then had $5-7 in materials, labor, packaging and other overhead when they sold it to a merchant for $10-14, who then sold it to retail customers at $17-22. The Chinese copies sell for nearly the same on the retail end. And having had the opportunity to compare them, the quality of materials and workmanship apparent on the originals just isn't there on the imported ones. Am I surprised? Nope. They are building what their customer/importer wants at the pricepoint he demands. Using an inflation calculator, the knife which sold retail for $22.00 thirty years ago should cost $101.30 today. For a true picture, look at the reverse calculation. Thirty years ago these new knives would have been imported and sold for $4.41. What should one expect from knives at this pricepoint?

Personally I find that acquiring new examples of old U.S. made knives to be a pretty safe bet on quality. And using this calculator I find that most often I can buy them for below their original retail, often below their original wholesale. I am gifted the cheap imported stuff occasionally by friends and family who don't know the difference. I keep them put back in their packages and continue to use my U.S. made knives. But that is just the way of an old Codger.

Oh, incidentally, I've never seen production slipjoints and fixed blades from Australia here. I would likely be of a mind to try one if I did.

 

[GaryPogueCustomKnife]

You can put me on the list of buying cheap Chinese made knives. Back when i was just getting into knives, I didnt really see a difference between a $100 dollar knife and a $10 dollar knife (I was just a kid). So i went to some hunting expo type thing and bought some cheap chinese knives. Some were absolute crap, and just a few were actually pretty decent. The decent one was labeled Rite Edge and came ith digital camo grips. I did some bushcraft and small game skinning and it held up fairly well. Another one i purchased was from my local ace hardware. It had some kind of camo coating on the blade and handle. It did not have any makers mark but it was supposedly made from 440c stainless, it turned out to be a really decent folder and sharpens like nobodys business. Its a 50 50 chance a cheap chinese knife will turn out decent.