- Joined
- Sep 17, 2001
- Messages
- 1,218
For years now I'd come to think of Camillus Cutlery as, if you'll the pardon the cliche, "as American as apple pie".
Then I'm flipping through the latest Camillus products (be warned, I've been off the knife scene for some time, so this knife may not be as new to you as it is to me) and I see this thing called the Camillus HEAT.
"Groovy" I say, "A Smaller, affordable Dominator is always a nice ide..." and then I pause and notice the blade material listed as AUS-8.
I blink deliberately for a few moments to make sure I'm not looking at some typographical error, but you'd have to be a pretty confused typist to intercharge "AUS8" and something like "440A" or "420HC".
My mind ponders this briefly but the answer is obvious, this knife isn't made in the United States.
Now here's the part I don't understand, or perhaps I understand it all too well: In the days when everyone's pockets were lined with gold and gas only cost about $1.10 a gallon (not so long ago, indeed), companies like Spyderco and Al Mar continued to sell Japanese knives, fine. Later, we saw Emerson enter the low-priced foreign fray with their Hard Wear series. And finally, I witnessed Benchmade go through some large-scale product restructuring. But I see this, and it almost makes me want to cry. Today, when our national economy is in such a poor position due to the very exportation of manufacturing jobs such as these, my old faithful Camillus lapses to the dark side.
I will, however, attempt to be compassionate enough and assume that the reason for this has quite a bit less to do with greed and more to do with being competitive in a time when people are simply buying less expensive knives, although, as far as I can tell, Camillus has been well able to produce afford American-made knives (Beckers, CQB Black Ops, Various Slipjoints, Arclite, and EDC).
So would someone explain to me why in the time when we need someone to stand up the most, Camillus has stepped down?
Then I'm flipping through the latest Camillus products (be warned, I've been off the knife scene for some time, so this knife may not be as new to you as it is to me) and I see this thing called the Camillus HEAT.
"Groovy" I say, "A Smaller, affordable Dominator is always a nice ide..." and then I pause and notice the blade material listed as AUS-8.
I blink deliberately for a few moments to make sure I'm not looking at some typographical error, but you'd have to be a pretty confused typist to intercharge "AUS8" and something like "440A" or "420HC".
My mind ponders this briefly but the answer is obvious, this knife isn't made in the United States.
Now here's the part I don't understand, or perhaps I understand it all too well: In the days when everyone's pockets were lined with gold and gas only cost about $1.10 a gallon (not so long ago, indeed), companies like Spyderco and Al Mar continued to sell Japanese knives, fine. Later, we saw Emerson enter the low-priced foreign fray with their Hard Wear series. And finally, I witnessed Benchmade go through some large-scale product restructuring. But I see this, and it almost makes me want to cry. Today, when our national economy is in such a poor position due to the very exportation of manufacturing jobs such as these, my old faithful Camillus lapses to the dark side.
I will, however, attempt to be compassionate enough and assume that the reason for this has quite a bit less to do with greed and more to do with being competitive in a time when people are simply buying less expensive knives, although, as far as I can tell, Camillus has been well able to produce afford American-made knives (Beckers, CQB Black Ops, Various Slipjoints, Arclite, and EDC).
So would someone explain to me why in the time when we need someone to stand up the most, Camillus has stepped down?
