another new kershaw?

Guys, slow down a little. This has to do with sales most likely.
Not everyone can afford a $50 plus knife.
Kershaw is probably trying to get another customer base under their belt.
This will entice the folks buying fakes and junk to come over
and buy something better made. I'm pretty sure the quality will be
there, not Tyrade or Offset quality, but none the less a decent
knife that won't fold up on you when you use it.

My hats off to them for their forethought and innovations. :thumbup:

mike
 
2brothers said:
Guys, slow down a little. This has to do with sales most likely.
Not everyone can afford a $50 plus knife.
Kershaw is probably trying to get another customer base under their belt.
This will entice the folks buying fakes and junk to come over
and buy something better made. I'm pretty sure the quality will be
there, not Tyrade or Offset quality, but none the less a decent
knife that won't fold up on you when you use it.

My hats off to them for their forethought and innovations. :thumbup:

mike
Click to expand...

i hear you and what your saying about developing a new customer base but i think kershaw is more intelligent and resourcefull than to do what they did. I still feel if you make a knife for 25 china is gonna do it for 7 and then youve lost that "potential" customer since he can get the seven dollar knife 18 bucks cheaper and since they are obviously un educated buyers they will see that they are still both chinese so why spend the extra money. It doesnt matter what price point kershaw brings a knife down to. if someone will build it cheaper people will buy it regardless. This is just why knife companys fall into this rabbit hole to begin with. I think education is the key not trying to compete with an economy that has no care in the first place. Just my opinion but i think kershaw just handed them another design idea..... and sold out.
 
Mike and Purp both make valid points. There are benefits and drawbacks to both. Made in the USA is important, as a thread here a week or so ago proved, but enabling Kershaw to offer a low priced entry level knife into their line is more than likely a tactical business decision. IF the knife is well made, stands up to Kershaw's reputation for offering quality products, and provides their excellent standard of customer support (ie. not having to wait for parts to come from China), it opens up a new demographic of customers for Kershaw. This may/will lead to them becoming knife nuts and therefore looking further into Kershaw's more lucrative production models. Remember, the knives we clamor for most, and are most revered by the majority of us Kershawholics are sprint runs, and don't provide the company with enough profits to pay the light bill in the bathrooms for a month.

Sal recently posted in the spydie forum that their company has made the decision to manufacture more of their line overseas. Does this mean that Spyderco's quality will greatly diminish? Only time will tell, but this decision is a tactical business decision, based upon the best info and projections Sal & Co. can determine at this point.

Just like a fence, there are going to be people on both sides. I do believe Thomas and Co. have given this much thought and feel it is in Kershaw's best interests, or we would not be seeing this new knife brought to production. I, for one, will buy this knife based on Kershaw's reputation, and if it falls apart in a few months, then no more Chinese Kershaws for me. But I will give Kershaw the benefit of the doubt at this point.

As for Fish's comments on blade steel, I've got my own opinion on that. And we all know what opinions are like, so with that disclaimer, here's my feelings on the subject. From a price point, going to a higher quality steel might increase the retail cost of the knife by as little as 5 bucks, I don't know. But having a street price of $ 30 is still higher than $ 25. As for the quality of AUS6 vs. 13C26, I'm no metallurgist, but the Cr content is high enough in the AUS6 (and 440A) to classify it as a true stainless, where the 13C26 cannot be called the same. Perhaps this decision is based on cost, corrosion prevention or both. Again, I defer to Thomas, as he is privy to the information we don't or should have.

So, with this said, I will support Thomas and Kershaw on this endeavor. He's always listened to us, and has tried his best to bring us Kershawholics the knives we request. If this is his attempt to offer a Kershaw to the masses, then I will support this. Look at it this way, if they don't turn a profit, we'll have no more high-end Kershaws to drool over!

Now a quick question to Chip at The Kershaw store...I've seen you lurking in the past few days, and if you're trying to tailor your business to us Kershawholics, then great! Are you a stocking dealer with an agreement with Kershaw or a reseller who must depend upon a larger Kershaw distributor for the availability of your inventory? Thanks for answering these questions, and post more often!

Well, I've offered my take on this subject, and to try to keep the community together rather than create the divide that this issue could do, so I'll sit back now and watch the progress of this post.

Thanks for reading guys,

SPX
 
SPXTrader said:
Now a quick question to Chip at The Kershaw store...I've seen you lurking in the past few days, and if you're trying to tailor your business to us Kershawholics, then great! Are you a stocking dealer with an agreement with Kershaw or a reseller who must depend upon a larger Kershaw distributor for the availability of your inventory? Thanks for answering these questions, and post more often!
Click to expand...
A little history - We are a web only business which means we are not direct with Kershaw. They do require a physical storefront to be direct. We do work directly with Kershaw in assisting our customers on warranty matters and special ordering replacement parts where many dealers don’t seem to do. We do stock some, but we are also dependent on multiple distributors. The Kershaw Store has been conducting business for over two years and I have been in eCommerce dealing in knives for well over five years. I started out with The Knife Connection until it was sold back in Oct 2005 and I then started The Kershaw Store later that same year. Out of all the brands we sold at The Knife Connections, Kershaw was our favorite. They make the best production knives period, and they have the best customer support for both the consumer and the retailer. SPX I hope I addressed your questions and thank you for asking. - Chip
 
i created a monster in this thread (at least in terms of pretty cool discusion!)

as Mike said, this knife promisses to get those who buy the crappy knives to buy this Kershaw, and then find out "hey, i dont have to loose my fingers from the knife failing on me!"

as with mike, my hat is off to Thomas and crew.
 
Don't forget the sorts of volume that Kershaw deals in. If you do business with retailers like Walmart, this is pretty much an unavoidable eventuality. The only way to meet the price point AND volume they demand is to produce in China. We all know how Kershaw feels about Made In The USA and we can be sure this was not a decision taken lightly. As has been mentioned, this is a huge opportunity to bring in a new customer base and introduce people to Ken Onion's designs and SpeedSafe. These are people that would never spend $40 or $50 on a pocket knife. After they use and enjoy their Oso Sweet, imagine how much more open minded they'll be to any of the higher end Kershaws.

At that price point, it also won't be painful to buy them for friends to get them into knives, and you can be sure you'll be getting them a decent knife.
 
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, and amber waves of grain ... Oh, wait a minute! Kershaw's parent company is Japanese! And they own that factory in China, they don't contract out work on their knives. This is business, not an Olympic event with crowds cheering as the flags go by. :)

You are not obligated to buy any knives that don't fit your requirements. But a business has to keep on top of its market and expand it at every opportunity. This strengthens them to be able to afford the creativity and quality they've shown all along.
 
I saw this the in Kershaw Store also and almost started a thread then, but was searching around first trying to fine info. I found no info. :) I kinda wish it was just a flipper and not speedsafe in this model. I will try one, I like the overall look so far.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, and amber waves of grain ... Oh, wait a minute! Kershaw's parent company is Japanese! And they own that factory in China, they don't contract out work on their knives. This is business, not an Olympic event with crowds cheering as the flags go by. :)

You are not obligated to buy any knives that don't fit your requirements. But a business has to keep on top of its market and expand it at every opportunity. This strengthens them to be able to afford the creativity and quality they've shown all along.
Click to expand...

i agree with some of this but i was just always let to believe that the speed safe system was reserved for usa produced knives. And if im wrong why no speed assist splinter or other japanese knives with onions name on them?
 
Chip from the kershaw store said he had trouble posting pics, so here is a page from my new 2008 kershaw dealer's catalog. Disregard the line in the middle of the page that says "made in the USA", it applies to the Needs Work, which isn't visible in this scan. The Oso is still going to be from China, but so what, for the price it's gonna be a heck of a little knife. Hopefully you guys can all read the print on the page.
scan.jpg
 
thanks for the scan jonnymac44. it looks even better in that pic.

as esav said, times have changed. Kershaw has their reasons for the change to allow a non-usa made knife to have the AO feature. i wonder if it is anything other than sales though.
 
The ad is confusing because it's only part of the page. The made in USA part refers to the other knife there.
 
hmm, so let me get this straight. The ad makes it look like the knife is made in the USA, because the words MADE IN THE USA sit right below the picture. On top of that, it says nowhere in that ad that the knife is made in china... Now its possible that i am missing where it states made in china, because it is very late and i am very tired, but i don't see it, and i read the info twice.

You would think that if kershaw was proud enough to stamp MADE IN THE USA in gigantic print right under the knife, then they would be proud enough to print MADE IN CHINA, somewhere on the ad.

if kershaw wants to make knives in china, then thats fine. but at least make it clear so that your customers who don't want to deal with that can continue buying knives made in the USA
 
i dont know man, i just am really having a hard time swallowing this. i think the reason im mad is that is a really nice design and unlike the general public i DONT want a cheap knife. so i guess its not so sweet afterall.
 
Kronos said:
hmm, so let me get this straight. The ad makes it look like the knife is made in the USA, because the words MADE IN THE USA sit right below the picture. On top of that, it says nowhere in that ad that the knife is made in china... Now its possible that i am missing where it states made in china, because it is very late and i am very tired, but i don't see it, and i read the info twice.

You would think that if kershaw was proud enough to stamp MADE IN THE USA in gigantic print right under the knife, then they would be proud enough to print MADE IN CHINA, somewhere on the ad.

if kershaw wants to make knives in china, then thats fine. but at least make it clear so that your customers who don't want to deal with that can continue buying knives made in the USA
Click to expand...

Ok, now I'm starting to wish I'd never posted that at all!!! I originally did it only because Chip from the Kershaw store said he wasn't too savvy about posting pics and he had some Oso sweet info he wanted to share with everybody. Let me make this clear. The catalog that this was taken from was sent out with my 2008 DEALER'S packet. Elswhere in my information packet, all kershaw knives, their prices, and their manufacturing data can be found for the dealer's reference. Like I tried to explain before, the one scan that I posted was just so people could get a glimpse of this new model. I stated clearly to DISREGARD the line about "made in USA".

It's too late, and I'm too tired right now to post the entire booklet for you guys, but please just trust me on this. I don't believe there was any misrepresentation on Kershaw's part. For those interested, take a look and buy it if you want. If you want to spend more on your Kershaws, then go right ahead and skip it, you can stick to the USA made models. I, for one have plenty of USA made, high end Kershaw blades and am certain that there is still room in my collection for the Oso Sweet.:thumbup:

Cheers,
Jon
 
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