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

Dfunk1210 said:
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.
Click to expand...
Not much marketing out there unless it's in a knife magazine, hunting and or fishing. It would be great to see some tv commercials now and again,
 
Makael said:
Not much marketing out there unless it's in a knife magazine, hunting and or fishing. It would be great to see some tv commercials now and again,
Click to expand...

I actually meant more like branding, and marketing keywords like tactical, designed in america, titanium bonded, Mtech USA.
 
I imagine most people aren't buying their knives at a gas station but are, instead, buying their knives at the hardware store, the Wal-Mart, maybe a sporting goods store, whatever while they are out doing something else. I would also posit that they aren't interested in talking to a person to look at something behind the counter and instead more interested in buying whatever knife looks neato in a hanging clam pack, preferably without having to get someone to unlock the hook.

I guess the thinking goes something like: Hrm, those one hand opening pocket clip knives look handy, I should get one. Oh, there's a bunch hanging here by the checkout at the hardware store where I happen to be buying nails. Oh, all of these are locked but this Coast knife isn't, I'll get that.
 
I have been known to simply cut the packaging to get something off a locked hook in a hardware store. Knives come in handy! The less expensive knives tend to be in clam shell packaging on display.

I know some stores sell a ton of the really cheap knives. As mentioned before, they are frequently impulse buys which is why stores place certain items near the cash registers so you might buy them on impulse. But I'm still okay with cheap knives. Everything has it's place.

I tend to agree that folks buy inexpensive knives at places like Walmart (Ozark Trail brand) rather than at a "gas station" unless for some reason they need a knife right then.
 
I was just thinking how the definition of a working mans knife has changed at least where I live over the years.

When I was a kid in the 80's every Grampa had a traditional slip joint folders as a "working mans knife" they also seemed rather fond of these cheap no name puuko knives they all seemed to keep in their tool boxes.
My Dad's generation the baby boomers were all about the SAK's and the occasional Buck 110. I don't know if it was because of MacGuyver but just about every tradesman had a SAK in his pocket.

Then I remember everywhere not being flooded by cheap Chinese knives, but cheap Pakistani knives. Every flee market, gas station, or hardware store had them and they were beyond redeemable.

I can't help think the ideal work mans knife has changed again for my generation. It isn't cheap gas station knives but Leatherman multi tools. I don't know too many tradesmen that go without a Leatherman anymore. For instance my little Brother is a Electrician, and yes he has a drawer full of cheap knives because he doesn't know how to sharpen them, but I've never not once seen him without his Leatherman.
 
Most people are irresponsible, and don't carry a knife. Others simply don't know what a good knife is or are too cheap to buy a quality knife.

The people on BladeForums are the exception rather than the norm.

The average person has minimal interest in cutlery, and doesn't really care what type of knife they use.

I've met maybe 3 people outside of a knife/gun show/store that knew anything about knives or carried a decent blade.
 
Makael said:
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.
Click to expand...

I agree with that. But sometimes even when you know better, they work just fine. As a blue collar employer, only a couple of my employees would consider spending $50 or more for a knife, and even a $25 knife is out of the question for most of them.

It's their fault, really. They have kids, some of them several, wives that don't make a ton of money either, and so many other things have demands on their pay checks (this time of the year especially, when we can't work because of the weather... so no pay...) they just don't have any disposable income. For anything. And if they showed up at the house with a Bladeforums "minimum acceptable to a knife nut knife" they would be skinned alive by their respective wives. So it is a treat for them when I buy them a new knife at Home D****t (not an approved vendor) when we pick up materials. I buy what they have at the big box stores like Blue Hawk, Coast, Husky, etc., and they are really pleased. They know they aren't carrying the type of knife I am, but it is more than they would have had, and they use them till they wear out. About six months on the average.

Most folks around here have PLENTY of disposable income and forget others don't. I myself think of the stuff I see at the truck stops, flea markets, gas stations, Army surplus stores, etc., as really dangerous junk, but I have to remember "one man's ceiling is another man's floor". I make sure that if one of my guys (or some of my friends for that matter) get one of those cheap knives I find unappealing, dangerous, or just fugly, I always tell him how impressed I am with it without being disingenous. Especially if it came from one of his kids (all they could afford), his wife (didn't know better), or some other source that he is proud of.

But... that's just me and my take on the topic of this type being a "working man's knife". Personally, I think most of those knives are sold to aspiring mall ninjas as juvenile delinquent weaponry.

Robert
 
Last edited:
jbmonkey said:
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
Click to expand...
Sounds like Massachusetts....:confused:
 
midnight flyer said:
Most folks around here have PLENTY of disposable income and forget others don't.
Click to expand...

I have almost no disposable income.
I do have a credit card and a bunch of nice knives though. ;)
But no car...part of the whole lack of disposable income thing (no cash to dispose on things like gas, insurance and repairs...not to mention buying the car itself).

But while I freeze my ass off waiting for the bus during the winter, I can console myself with happy knife thoughts. :thumbsup:
 
jbmonkey said:
what if they only have diesel........?
Click to expand...
Well, then it's probably and *ss station, with an abundance of lot lizards and a HUGE Gil Hibben $400 Sreamin' Klingon blade on the wall behind the counter, right above the "Stay Awake For 72 Hours" capsules.:D
 
NapalmCheese said:
I imagine most people aren't buying their knives at a gas station but are, instead, buying their knives at the hardware store, the Wal-Mart, maybe a sporting goods store, whatever while they are out doing something else.
Click to expand...
Yep. If I were just looking for a knife to cut things with, and wasn't into knives, I'd shop at a place where I'd expect to find tools. Hardware, sporting goods, big department store like Wal-Mart or Target, or auto-parts stores.

Convenience store knives are usually impulse buys by teenagers. Lots of people don't know how to sharpen a knife and consider them to be disposable when they get "worn out," which means the blade is dull or chipped/bent/damaged from using it for prying or turning screws.
 
I really don't remember much about why i needed a knife or why, when i started doing some work with wood i picked up my small two blade case for i think around $6 at a hardware store where i was buying some other needed wood working tools.

It was really until i worked part time in a knife Dept. that i started to understand many people had many different reasons and needs for wanting a knife.

Had many trades men who had a habit of losing their knives, and wanted a really cheap knife but it needed to be sturdy and able to stay fairly sharp a while also be easy to sharpen.

Then we had people come in ask to see the Microtech's work one a while and lay out maybe from $250 to $900 dollars and get it boxed up and leave.

This is when i started to understand that i had to start learning some things about blade steels, and what knives were better for some types of cutting work then others.

Our store did not have any knock off type knives, but when at our local firearm shows i notice a lot of brands that i had never heard of but were around $10 and they were being sold.
 
In the distant past, as in the late 1800s, my family made knives in northern Vermont. I'm pretty certain what this means is that they purchased rat-tailed blades and used their river mill to make and install basic wood handles. They also made axe handles, oars and paddles. Regardless, these knives are simple, direct and even crude knives not entirely unlike Old Hickory knives. They cut like nobody's business but they aren't fine cutlery and they were sold to farmers and woods folks in rural Vermont. Cheap knives for working folk.

I think we should be careful to too easily denigrate the role of "truck stop" type knives. It's not a new phenomena. When I was a kid, brands like Ulster and Imperial produced a boat load of frankly cheap stuff. The original Ulster Swinden Key knives were designed to minimize production costs. Ditto cheap celluloid scales. The all American Barlow knife as its origins disputed (did it start in Massachusetts or did the design immigrate from England?) but nobody disputes that Sheffield produced bulk inexpensive knives for the American market.

Here is an interesting discussion on the etymology of the term "jack knife". The discussion actually begins with the term "jack-leg", which is an insulting term meaning either shyster (as in a jack leg lawyer) or shoddy and untrained (as in a jack-leg carpenter). The connection being that a jack-leg carpenter is one who would likely use a "jack-a-legs", which is an originally Scottish term for a cheap folding knife. And this appears to be derived from the folding knives made and stamped by Jacques de Liege.

http://www.word-detective.com/2012/01/jackleg/

Anyway... cheap knives have always been with us. And not all of them are crap.
 
When I am working and using a knife off and on, I have to make a focused effort to make sure I return the knife to my pocket after use. It is just too easy to loose or sit them down and forget them and leave them somewhere you can't return to try and find it. So, that is the tradesman point of view on reasons to choose an affordable functional knife. It is one of the main reasons I carry a large SAK. I don't consider them "cheap", but the world doesn't turn over if some how I forget or loose the knife. I don't cut wire with my knives unless it is a last resort and a thin wire. Have a multi-tool for that function or a pair of wire cutters with me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top