American made production knives?

Toyota, Honda and Nissan are all Japanese based but they now are bringing 1000's of jobs to the American worker. So that's a good thing. Same with Kershaw IMO.
 
fudo said:
Kershaw leaves a positive impression because they are going above and beyond the call...to be a good corporate citizen. I wish more companies followed their example.:thumbup:
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I couldn't agree more! In addition to being a great company made of great people, they also make AWESOME knives!
 
You blame unions for the collapse of the american market and then post that follow up sentence? I hardly think unions are to blame.
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The follow up sentence was sarcasm. ;) In the whole scope of the American market , of course unions take some blame but , there are plenty of guilty sources to point one's finger at , our own government for starters.
 
I think you overemphasize it is made in specific country. It doesn't guarantee anything...

Not to mention some special tactics - like buying raw material for e.g. shoes in say China or India, loading it on ship along WITH Chinese/Indian workers and by the time ship arrives in destination port, shoes are finished, unloaded and marked as "made in (put destination country)"

Putting together parts (sometimes hardly anything more than packaging) made abroad sometimes equals to being domestic product :thumbup:

Countries (OK, countries' ECONOMIES) are not enemies, it is proven economic theory that practicing international cooperation and trade brings benefit to all parties involved.
 
Case and Queen have already been mentioned, but don't forget companies like Colonial, Bark River Knife & Tool, Bear and Son, or Knives of Alaska. There may be some other small companies around that I don't know about. Buck to their credit still makes all of the companies old line regular product, the knives that they import are pretty much lower priced stuff to provide them with a lower cost knife to compete in that market, you can still get all the made in USA Bucks you want.

Queen amazes me, such a small company, and the volume of knives they turn out is astounding. Besides the Queen branded product, they make or have made Robeson, Schatt & Morgan, most of the Winchester knives from Bluegrass Cutlery, quite a few of the "Case Classics" from Parkers, all of the bone and stag handled Moore Maker knives, the Marbles MSA pocket knives (not the new imported ones), and special order private branded knives for companies like Vintage Knives. All from a little bitty factory with less than fifty employees.

Bear and Son is right here in Alabama, in Jacksonville I believe. So far, I haven't been all that impressed with their knives. Some look OK, many not so good, and the workmanship is so-so, from what I've seen.

Bark River makes an amazingly diverse line of fixed bladed knives, but mostly in what I'd call big game hunters and woodcraft knives. They are missing a portion of the the market by not making more goodies like the Bird and Trout model they made for a short while. Nice pointy 4''x5/8''x1/8'' blade, very nice for us small game hunters. I love a 4'' to 5'' bladed drop point as much as the next guy, and they have some real beauties that are similiar to the old Marbles Woodcraft and some old line American styled classics, but most of them are not anything I can use, too big, too rounded, too wide a blade.

I have no problems with buying imported knives from countries with comparable economics to our country. Germany, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Italy, Norway, etc. The bother comes from buying from communist countries. I disagree with their politics and the treatment of their people by their governments, and their world policies, so sending them money via manufactured products would be like me, a hunter, sending money to animals rights nutz. I've always avoided China knives. A few weeks ago, I decided to try one, what has been called "the best of the Chinese knives", Frost Cutlery's Steel Warriors. I bought the lockback whittler in jigged brown bone. The first one made about three openings before the lockback would no longer hold it locked, so I returned it and got another, which almost made the drive home before it failed also. Both of these knives had very very poor blade grinds, dull edges, gritty rough walk, slack in the joints when fully opened, blade play both directions, and both of them failed to lock the main blade after just a few openings of the knife. I could take my thumb from a weak grip on the knife and push on the back of the blade and pop it open. The shop gave me my money back on that one, and I added ten bucks to that and bought a Camillus made in USA, while a few are still on the shelves. The Camillus is flawless in operation, if a tad roughly finished. Too bad there won't be any more when those are sold. :barf: Makes me very sad to see a century old household name company bite the dust and become an import repackager with precious few employees. Anyways, I bought my first and last China made knife, I saw what I needed to see out of it, and my first impressions were on the money. :barf: again. Lesson learned.
 
Works for me Thomas. Like I said. "I like your knives and I think you folks do a good honest job."
 
I'm sure I'll take a beating for say this but...:foot:
I don't think its such a bad think (My self not being from the USA) that they are taking their business to other countries. When I read "Made in USA" on a knife, my mind translates it inn to "WAY overpriced".

Not trying to offend anyone, just saying what I'm thinking.
I think a lot of USA knifes are of good quality:thumbup: , but the price is just not equal to the quality:thumbdn:
 
Piranha Knife Company is USA made, well that is what the dealers list. Can not find anything more about what state the Company is based, or even a Internet site. It has always seemed strange to me that they would not have a website yet.
I try my best to support our great country in buying USA made, it is getting harder to find a company that takes pride in staying loyal to this country, since so many corporations are sell-outs (firing millions in the US and then hiring overseas or hiring any foreign worker after cutting an American job).
Just my opinion and on this point I have sadly been hit hard with a sell-out corporation.
Best to all
 
Hi Hawkings,

Quality to price ratio is determined by the value of the currency in the country of origin. It is an unrealistic comparison and will usually be won by the country with the lowest valued currency in the world market.

As the value of the curency changes, the quality / price ratio also changes.

Good quality is good quality regardless of where it is made. Value is another question.

Quality / quality comparisons show skill and effort of the guy making the knife. It is good to give credit for quality where it is found, regardless of price. If you want to include price, the Chinese Yuan is 8 - 1 on the US dollar. That makes the $30 Chinese knife $240. Is it a good $240 knife?

sal
 
I really don't worry about where my knives come from, or where anything I buy comes from. I do a little research and see if it i s a reliable/well-built product, and if it is...I buy it.

I have several "all American" knives, and several foreign knives. 2 of my swords were made in a forge in China, and I couldn't be happier with them. I'm a little more biased when it comes to cars, I am a big foreign car fan, I have a very hard time finding American cars I feel are "worth the money". Maybe I'll just move overseas :P
 
How much choice do even well respected companies have not looking into foreign production, when the market is being filled with cheaper products (yes, some well made). Remember the market is being directed by the buying habits of consumers ready to buy at lower costs. The company as an entity fights to keep its place in the market, it has to move along or ship out....Profit is the motive, profit keeps it alive, profit is its main concern.

This is reality, the trend will not change...weather we like it or not we have to live with it!

How much choice do even well respected companies have?
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Hawkings,

Quality to price ratio is determined by the value of the currency in the country of origin. It is an unrealistic comparison and will usually be won by the country with the lowest valued currency in the world market.

As the value of the curency changes, the quality / price ratio also changes.

Good quality is good quality regardless of where it is made. Value is another question.

Quality / quality comparisons show skill and effort of the guy making the knife. It is good to give credit for quality where it is found, regardless of price. If you want to include price, the Chinese Yuan is 8 - 1 on the US dollar. That makes the $30 Chinese knife $240. Is it a good $240 knife?

sal
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Sal,
I highly respect you and I agree it is value of COSTS (be it cost of materials, transportation, labor, energy or other) that gives one country advantage over other.
However I have to disagree wtih you as for the value of currency (as determind by exchange ratio you used in your example) doesn't give good (or any) guideline.

E.g. Italy (before Euro) have relatively low currency value, yet being traditionally socialistic European (financed by high taxes) country it wasn't good place for outsourcing the production say from Germany which currency had higher value.

(btw China has fixed currency exchange ratio and it is based on USD)

What you can more likely use to compare is purchasing power parity index or e.g. Big mac index


And yet, you have to consider more factors - e.g. Mikov, Czech brand, should have advantage (from low PPP) in cost compared say German or American brands. But it doesn't. If you want knife of similar qualities you will pay the same if not more. Mikov is also producing SAKs similar to Victorinxs. However although price is bit lower they aren't of the same quality (mind you, Swiss living standard is extremly higher than Czech).

PPP would be much more important factor in so called "cost plus pricing" than it is in usually used competition based pricing.

As Hawkings stated "made in USA" (or e.g. "Swiss made") can (and does) drive the price up - why? Because (as many posted above) it is something people are willing to pay for. The very same reason "made in China" drives the price down :)

Quality/price ratio is very important, as I think anyone could make absolutely perfect knife IF one was not limited by price.

Having said that I have to tell that I find (some, not all :)) US brands reasonably priced (IMHO mainly due to high competition on US market).
(and to value this statement, ask yourself how many $100 folders can person with average income buy with his gross[b/] monthly income? In Czech Republic: 9)
 
Mikov doesn't operate at an efficiency level of a US based firm because of technological limitations. Cheap labor is still expensive when compared to automated systems for volume output. Exchange rates will affect pricing, but it depends on the mechanisms and if cost/pricing is done in the producer or market currency.
 
I was a pretty young kid growing up in the mid to late eighties, so it could easily be a faulty memory. But when I went for the drive with my parents from my small town to the big town of Newnan (They had a Wal-Mart!) hearing the radio announcements for Farm-Aid, and hearing about farmers, and factory workers not being able to make it due to the shift of labor overseas. But there was this shift in thinking also. I remember a huge surge towards "Buy American!" I even remember seeing the banners stating such while shopping in Wal-Mart. I about drove my poor mother nuts cause I didn't want any clothes that weren't made in America. There was a jingoistic shift in thinking, and people seemed to care. They thought beyond "yeah, but it's a great price" or "aint nuthin' I can do about it anyways" I swear I remember such a time growing up in rural Georgia. Maybe it was just a dream, or the incorrect interpretation of an 11 year old mind. I dunno. If it ever happened it sure would be nice to see again.

I still try to buy American every chance I get. Sometimes, ya' just can't, but it's always worth trying to me. I can't help but to think maybe such choices make a difference in some way. If not, then at least it helps me to sleep at night, even if I am a fool.

So far we have:

Anza
Bark River
Bear and Son
Black Hawk
Blade Tech
Byron
Canal Street
Case
Dark Ops
Entrek
Foster
Knives of Alaska
Lonewolf
Pro Tech
Masters Of Defense
Microtech
Pirahna
Queen
Tops

Am I mistaken thus far? are there any I've neglected to add to the list?
 
I typically buy overseas not for the price...if anything I pay more. It's just a different styling, a different method, an older and more refined system....it's jsut DIFFERENT. I like the background and the heritage behind alot of japanese styled blades...so I want the REAL thing, straight from Japan. I want to see "made in Japan" and feel like it's authentic.
 
Hi Huugh,

no disagreement on that the reality. The market will ultimately determine sale. And that those decisions will be based on quality / price ratio. More often than not, based on what is the the "best the customer can afford".

Buying American is best for Americans, in the long run. But, buying American is becoming more and more difficult, even for Americans.

I still make the distinction between;

good quality.
good quality for the price. ;)

I do not agree than anyone can make quality production pieces. I have been to many factories all over the world. I see differences in skill level, knowledge level, passion level, determination level, ego level and a host of other factors that make one company able to produce better quality, (based on my definitions of quality) than another.

Scissors,

I believe Chris Reeve Knives is all American made. Randall King is only US made.

Is your list only USA production.

I thought that some of the companies listed did some importing.

sal
 
Runs With Scissors said:
So far we have:

Anza
Bark River
Bear and Son
Black Hawk
Blade Tech
Byron
Canal Street
Case
Dark Ops
Entrek
Foster
Knives of Alaska
Lonewolf
Pro Tech
Masters Of Defense
Microtech
Pirahna
Queen
Tops

Am I mistaken thus far? are there any I've neglected to add to the list?
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***** Buck *****
 
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