Are generic gas station Chinese slip folders “working man” knives?

A

AP2018

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Dec 9, 2018
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I had a meeting a couple of weeks ago where I was talking to a firefighter, he does a lot of instruction with police and law enforcement and is, as far as I can judge, is pretty knowledgeable.

He had some kind of slung bag, like a maxpedition kind of, with what I think was some generic no name folder.

I thought about how he might actually need to depend on his knife while I was headed off to lunch and back to the office carrying a dpx folder.

I just watched a bladehq video talking about how Spyderco is a blue collar economic knife. I love Spydercos and they are great values, but I almost never see knives like Spyderco or Benchmade outside of gun/knife gear guys. Almost all the pocket clip knives I see are unknown generics.

I suspect even my dirt cheap wal mart Chinese Kershaws stay sharp longer, but I guess no one is cutting 8 hours straight with a gas station folder.

Are “good” knives now a hobbyist thing? In the 70s and 80s regular guy knives were decent American made knives in hardware and tractor supply stores. Now the average guy seems to have whatever Chinese folder he ran across at a minimart.
 
I suspect it is mostly about price on the cheaper knives and the perception that they will fulfill the purpose in mind for non-knife people. For the most part, the cheaper knives are what you often see in hardware stores and so forth. The upper end slip joints are usually Case knives in those stores. I suspect when they see something like Spyderco and Benchmade knives in places like Cabelas or Bass Pro, they are stunned by the prices. If you want "cheap" and a slip joint, I say go Rough Rider all the way.
 
Generic gas station knives are impulse buys for people who might need a knife right now or have recently needed one and didn't have one. Something to buy "just because there was a need and they forgot and remembered just now, so might as well get one, it's just a few bucks" instead of researching beforehand and buying something of better quality.
 
don't see knives in mini marts/gas stations here. see plenty of pot/weed stuff though. pipes, rolling papers, cheap garbage cigars to be turned into big pot joints. not kidding being serious.

guess people here care more about smoking pot than a cheap knife..:D
 
I've never seen a knife for sale in a "gas station", which I take to mean convenience stores, and that includes real gas stations from my youth.
 
I think the working man deserves better. It doesn't cost much to get a decent blade. It does however take a little knowledge to know the difference between cheap crap and inexpensive.
 
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I think you're right, OP. Gas station knives are working man's knives now. Probably, they never even get sharpened properly.

Then, one day, that working man runs across a properly sharpened Spyderco, Cold Steel, etc., is blown away, then shows up here the next day with his introduction post. :D
 
fjblair said:
I've never seen a knife for sale in a "gas station", which I take to mean convenience stores, and that includes real gas stations from my youth.
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No need to put the quotes on gas stations. Away from the cities, almost all big gas stations along the interstates sell crappy knives.
 
Most working fellers in my area carry at least a Kershaw or a case. Gas station knives around here are more for pimple faced teenagers.
 
I honestly have seldom seen many knives at gas stations. I guess I have missed them at truck stops? But the "gas station knife" wording mostly refers to cheap Chinese made knives these days and Japanese knives in the past. I have no problem with them; they fulfill a need whether it be an impulse buy or not. Better to have a knife, any knife, than none at all.

Places like the big knife store in Sevierville TN sell a lot of cheap stuff too along with the good stuff.

My very first knives were of the cheap variety costing about $0.50 to $0.75. That was years ago. They worked then and they work now.
 
One of my local service stations has an M-tech display. I live in pretty much smallish town midwest America and haven't seen a city in years, so I can't speak for that. All of my acquaintances carry some sort of pile of such garbage, and I have to bite my tongue every time they use or otherwise fidget with their blade. Fortunately my neighbor is a retired Army Combat Engineer and fellow knife nut who appreciates and uses good quality knives.
 
Here the gas stations don t carry knives. Liquor stores though now you can get some stun guns, batons, knives and what not.
 
I know plenty of folks that are happy with cheap chinese gas station knives. I never would be. Whatever floats their boat I guess.
 
Smaug said:
No need to put the quotes on gas stations. Away from the cities, almost all big gas stations along the interstates sell crappy knives.
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Interstate truck stop/mega convenience store/chain fast food joint combinations are not the same thing as "gas stations" in my experience. YMMV.
 
fjblair said:
Interstate truck stop/mega convenience store/chain fast food joint combinations are not the same thing as "gas stations" in my experience. YMMV.
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They also have a load of gas pumps. Most people would classify them as gas stations, whether but or small.
 
I haven't seen knives for sale in any filling stations (term for today's gas stations, from a bygone era. You stayed in the car while the attendant, with oily rag in back pocket,. pumped your gas, cleaned the windshield, and "checked under the hood").
As kids, around 11 years old, we could get cheap pocket knives at the "dime store" (today's "variety" stores). They were kept in locked, glass counter cases, along with other valuable treasures; Scripto Vu lighters for example. These knives performed exactly four tasks; carving points on small green, fresh-cut tree branches; carving initials into a tree's trunk; throwing the knife at the tree; and Mumbly Peg. No batteries required.
 
Being a knife nut just isn’t for everyone. There’s just so many knives out there at every level of price and quality. And all sorts of marketing to wade through. Short of knife nut level research or just plain throwing money at it, there is no way the average joe will be able to know what is good and what is garbage. And for these people, a good looking knife at a perceived price/quality will just have to suffice and these are usually just some random China made knife.
 
Well 99 percent of what people use their knives for like cutting thread, cleaning fingernails, taking a tag off clothing a sharp rock would work. Chinese or Taiwan knives are more than enough knife. Not for me but when you don't know any different they work fine. Most of my customers have listened to me talk about the Buck factory sales that most of them go to them now. What they used to carry is different than what they carry now.

Educate or show off your knife to a non enthusiast and you might just get them to jump the fence.
 
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