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

I own some high-end knives like CRK, etc. I also like inexpensive (but quality) knives like SAKs (which easily outcut any of my Emersons) and some others.

As far as the comparison to watches, I generally buy Timex watches. I rarely need to buy them, because they last a long time. I don't care a whit about Rolex watches. They will never replace my 'cheap' Timex watches that serve me well for many years. They serve the purpose that I buy them for; I don't need a status symbol on my wrist. If others do, that's great.

I'm perfectly happy with my Toyota Camry, and don't care a whit about a Lamborghini or whatever other high-end cars. Even if I could try one out, I'd still go back to what I have, because it's been reliable, and just having the Lamborghini would be a burden to me.

Just because you have interest in some high-end things doesn't mean you need to be into high-end everything across the board. And if someone buys so-called "junk" knives but those knives serve that person's purposes adequately for them, that doesn't necessarily equate to ignorance on their part. Maybe they have other priorities and interests that are just as fulfilling to them.

Jim
 
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cbrstar said:
You can go to the dollar store and buy an excato knife to open boxes. I bet the guy who's only paying $1 to open boxes thinks the $10 knife guy is snob and over extravagant as he could buy 10 knives to his one. So what I'm trying to say is your point is moot as all knives are tools yes, but quality over quantity is actually very important to many people including myself.
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And what I'm saying is, you're "quality over quantity" argument is worthless when all most people care about is getting a box open.

Most people DO NOT care about the quality of their knife so long as it does the job. They'll use a particularly sharp screwdriver if it's handy and not think twice. You want to know how many knives get the job done? Most of them.

Edit to add: There are a ton of people who don't care about knives. They don't care at all. If they asked for a knife and you handed them some $3.00 tiny keychain lock back sold at the cash register of the local hardware store, or if you handed them a custom ball bearing M390 with mammoth ivory scales, they wouldn't care. All they want is to cut something and both will do just that.
 
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James Y said:
I own some high-end knives like CRK, etc. I also like inexpensive (but quality) knives like SAKs and some others.

As far as the comparison to watches, I generally buy Timex watches. I rarely need to buy them, because they last a long time. I don't care a whit about Rolex watches. They will never replace my 'cheap' Timex watches that serve me well for many years. They serve the purpose that I buy them for; I don't need a status symbol on my wrist. If others do, that's great.
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Your Camry might not be a Lamborghini but to many it's still an expensive but reliable car. In this situation it's like someone saying "Hey I can buy 5 Lada's and a goat for the price on your Camry. My Lada drives places and has doors and an engine so it's jut as good as your Camry you totally overpaid! If my Lada breaks down it's cheaper to just go and buy another one then even getting a oil change at toyota!!" In what universe is a Lada = a Camry? And that's exactly what your doing comparing a timex to any quality watch, or a mtech to a benchmade.

Now I agree that there are great knives out there that can be had for very little money. I don't consider a SAK really a gas station knife, though I'm sure some gas station somewhere sells them. We're talking about that mast produced no name junk that often falls apart after a week and can be bought for the same price as a pack of cigarettes.
 
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Until I came to BF, my concept of high-end knives ended at Benchmade, Spyderco, and a few others - and at that, I knew more than most of the average 'working man' whose knife knowledge starts and ends with what's available in the local big box stores. I knew of the existence of $500+ knives, but had no idea there were so many of them available.

The "gas-station" knives? I don't think they're the new working man's knife. I rarely, if ever see an Mtech in someone's hands, nor do I ever normally see them in stores. Not until I recently traveling cross country, and stopping in all the big truck stops, did I notice cases and cases of these things.

Most working guys who carry a folder are buying their knives where working guys generally shop - big box stores. Wally World, Lowes, Home Depot, Cabala's, etc, all have an isle with various $10-$100 knives. Most of those are reasonably passible as tools, which is what they're thought of by the guys who buy them - tools. If they spend $75, they think they got a really decent knife, and in most cases, they did. It cuts what they need to cut, sometimes prys things, and generally lasts them until the lose it. I see more $20-40 Coasts, CRKTs, Kershaws, Gerbers, or 'branded' (Kobalt, Winchester, S&W, Husky, etc) knives in people's pockets, by a large margin, than any gas station or mid-tech ones. It's what's available where most people shop, so it's what they buy.

BF members don't get it. Not because they don't live and work in the same world, but because they are immersed in knives as a hobby. The watch analogy is pretty spot on. But not by comparing a Rolex to a Timex (Timex Expedition is the watch community's equivalent to an Ontario Rat - tough, well built, but extremely affordable) The real comparison would be a Rolex to a Fossil, Relic, or other 'fashion brand' watch. Most of the guys in my office are completely happy with their $150-$250 fashion watches, and think they are wearing the equivilent to my Buliva or Citizen in a similar price range - they all tell time, and they all look decent on the wrist, even if the quality, materials, and movements are vastly different. Just like I'm sure audiophiles wonder how I can get by with the budget home theater set-up in my living room - I don't know if it's a good value, or just cheap, but it does what I need. Apply it to any hobbyist vs. average user.


So the modern 'working man's' knife is a $20-$50 knife. But they just assume (like any average priced product) that everything in that price range is going to be of roughly equal quality.
 
Dont know about 1$ cheap Chinese knives but i got some 15$ cheap Chinese knives and they are pretty good . I mean they won't ofcourse hold edge as good as expensive ones but they are not breaking apart after half year , they are sturdy enought to work for years (at least the ones i got). I think if somebody wants cheap Chinese knives , better to buy in price range of 10$ - 35$ , at least those Chinese knives got brands like Sanrenmu , Fura Gear , Cima , HX Outdoors , Ganzo , Enlan etc
 
NapalmCheese said:
And what I'm saying is, you're "quality over quantity" argument is worthless when all most people care about is getting a box open.

Most people DO NOT care about the quality of their knife so long as it does the job. They'll use a particularly sharp screwdriver if it's handy and not think twice. You want to know how many knives get the job done? Most of them.

Edit to add: There are a ton of people who don't care about knives. They don't care at all. If they asked for a knife and you handed them some $3.00 tiny keychain lock back sold at the cash register of the local hardware store, or if you handed them a custom ball bearing M390 with mammoth ivory scales, they wouldn't care. All they want is to cut something and both will do just that.
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I wish there was a button for liking a post +10. This is it in a nutshell.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Y'all can argue till the cows come home, but the ugly fact is, aside from the obsessed knife nuts on this forum, most people don't care if they use a knife, screw driver, house key, or the lid of a tuna fish can. As long as it cuts and gets the job done, 99% of the people out there don't give a tinkers damm. Add in the whole generation of kids who worked par time at the grocery store and got used to box cutters, they won't bother with a "real" knife.

I'd be interesting to see the sales figures of the folding box cutters vs knives from Benchmade or Spyderco, Buck, or any other popular brand knife. I'd put my money on the box cutters.
 
jackknife said:
I wish there was a button for liking a post +10. This is it in a nutshell.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Y'all can argue till the cows come home, but the ugly fact is, aside from the obsessed knife nuts on this forum, most people don't care if they use a knife, screw driver, house key, or the lid of a tuna fish can. As long as it cuts and gets the job done, 99% of the people out there don't give a tinkers damm. Add in the whole generation of kids who worked par time at the grocery store and got used to box cutters, they won't bother with a "real" knife.

I'd be interesting to see the sales figures of the folding box cutters vs knives from Benchmade or Spyderco, Buck, or any other popular brand knife. I'd put my money on the box cutters.
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I myself used alot house key to open boxes )))) The problem is Most people in rich countries these days live in apartment or house without backyard and if they got backyard then they do not have anything there to work with (just flowers etc). And the most people in poor countries got stuff to work with but not money to buy expensive ones. In the result in rich and poor countries most bought knives are cheap knives.
 
Tamernator said:
... And the most people in poor countries got stuff to work with but not money to buy expensive ones. In the result in rich and poor countries most bought knives are cheap knives.
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Cheap but useful. Everything useful doesn't have to be expensive. Consider the lowly latin machete in Central and South America..... they are used for everything (cutting) by regular folks. Sure there are better tools for some task. But the machete works or they make it work. Vic SAKs are available, but wages are such that even one of those is unobtainable for regular folks.
 
I'd agree the "branded" knives are probably more the modern day working man's knives. Cheap and will cover just about every average cutting task you throw at it. People are always asking me to borrow a knife to cut something and I wouldn't want to hand them something nice anyways lol


Cheap Browning branded Chinese 440 stainless Wal-Mart special goes for about $15 . Bought it as a throw away work knife and thought it might last a week or 2 tops. It's seen over a year of everyday work use...blade has scratches and that's about it. Will take an edge easy and holds it fairly well for most average work tasks. (Boxes,zip ties,plastic packages). It's light and has good ergonomics. is it my favorite knife ? No but it serves its purpose and does it well. I believe cheap knives have their place even if it's a small one lol just my two cents
 
HolyMuffDiver said:
I'd agree the "branded" knives are probably more the modern day working man's knives. Cheap and will cover just about every average cutting task you throw at it. People are always asking me to borrow a knife to cut something and I wouldn't want to hand them something nice anyways lol


Cheap Browning branded Chinese 440 stainless Wal-Mart special goes for about $15 . Bought it as a throw away work knife and thought it might last a week or 2 tops. It's seen over a year of everyday work use...blade has scratches and that's about it. Will take an edge easy and holds it fairly well for most average work tasks. (Boxes,zip ties,plastic packages). It's light and has good ergonomics. is it my favorite knife ? No but it serves its purpose and does it well. I believe cheap knives have their place even if it's a small one lol just my two cents
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X 2 on the Wally Mart knives^. I've been using a SOG AEGIS FL for $20 bucks and it's been outstanding. It has a nice flat grind and is thin behind the edge but it is on the thin side if you have work gloves on. I had one go missing on a job site last week and it was no big deal, I just bought another one. It's nice having a knife that you don't have to worry about sharpening Lol. The handle is the same thickness as a Spyderco Delica and slices almost as well.
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I definitely think that most sane adult would rather buy a cheap Wallymart knife than drop serious money on a quality knife. Everything here is in the vast minority of the population who actually gives a damn about the quality of the things that we cut with. To us it's a hobby, but to others it's just weird.

A couple weeks ago my girlfriend's mom asked to use one of my knives to cut up a cardboard base for a cake she was making. She knows I always have a good one on me. I handed her the Benchmade Contego that was in my pocket and she started cutting. For some reason she asked how much it was, I told her around 180 and she just stopped and handed it back. Said she didn't want to damage it. I'm laughing inside of my head because that cardboard was not going to do anything to that M4. And mind you, her mother is a professional pastry chef, has at least 11,000 invested in pots, appliances and utensils, and she's scared of damaging a generally cheap folding knife from cutting cardboard. Some people just don't understand
 
An admission; in the case of custom and higher-end production knives, I suffer from "pride of ownership". It is enjoyable to experience a product in which the standard of craftsmanship has been elevated to a level above that of one which essentially accomplishes the same goal. But, I also like the less expensive mass production knives that I own, and was made aware of after discovering, and frequenting this forum. Prior to that, I only knew of a few knife manufacturers featured in general interest outdoor magazines, catalogs, or what the hardware stores stocked.
 
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When I have had service people over (roofers, plumbers, fence builders, etc.), or seen workers in some stores, I've actually spotted a lot of those Milwaukee one-handers that are sold at Home Depot in their pockets. Red handle, wire pocket clip. One guy had a Gerber model with the oversized finger hole in the handle/pivot(?) area, which he used to open several large packets of stuff for my new fence.

Jim
 
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cbrstar said:
Your Camry might not be a Lamborghini but to many it's still an expensive but reliable car. In this situation it's like someone saying "Hey I can buy 5 Lada's and a goat for the price on your Camry. My Lada drives places and has doors and an engine so it's jut as good as your Camry you totally overpaid! If my Lada breaks down it's cheaper to just go and buy another one then even getting a oil change at toyota!!" In what universe is a Lada = a Camry? And that's exactly what your doing comparing a timex to any quality watch, or a mtech to a benchmade.

Now I agree that there are great knives out there that can be had for very little money. I don't consider a SAK really a gas station knife, though I'm sure some gas station somewhere sells them. We're talking about that mast produced no name junk that often falls apart after a week and can be bought for the same price as a pack of cigarettes.
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What people consider junk is all relative. I've heard a few people (not on the forums) say, "I wish I had a _____ (insert high-end car brand here). All I drive is a crappy Toyota." There are some knife people on the forums who consider SAKs or standard Case knives as "junk", and VG-10 as a poor-performing, low-end steel.

I'm not proud to say that my first one-handed folder back in the '90s was one of those Delica knockoffs with the black plastic thumb stud and crappy steel. It was maybe $5 at a now-defunct sporting goods store. I just wanted to try out a manual one-hander for cheap, even though by that time, I was well-aware of the Spyderco Delica. I never did carry it, but ended up giving it to a family member. She used it for various tasks for a few years, before retiring it to a drawer. For a cheap, poor knockoff, its action is still pretty good (good walk and talk), and it still locks up with no blade play. The steel is junk, though; its fully-serrated blade is extremely difficult to resharpen to a decent edge. I can see how some people would buy something like that, use it until it starts dragging, then toss it and buy another, or something similar.

That is how most people out there who aren't knife aficionados view working knives; as something expendable to be used, gotten rid of and replaced when it no longer serves its purpose for them. It's neither right nor wrong; it's just how it is for most people. Knife aficionados are an extremely tiny percentage of the world's population.

Jim
 
James Y said:
What people consider junk is all relative. I've heard a few people (not on the forums) say, "I wish I had a _____ (insert high-end car brand here). All I drive is a crappy Toyota." There are some knife people on the forums who consider SAKs or standard Case knives as "junk", and VG-10 as a poor-performing, low-end steel.

I'm not proud to say that my first one-handed folder back in the '90s was one of those Delica knockoffs with the black plastic thumb stud and crappy steel. It was maybe $5 at a now-defunct sporting goods store. I just wanted to try out a manual one-hander for cheap, even though by that time, I was well-aware of the Spyderco Delica. I never did carry it, but ended up giving it to a family member. She used it for various tasks for a few years, before retiring it to a drawer. For a cheap, poor knockoff, its action is still pretty good (good walk and talk), and it still locks up with no blade play. The steel is junk, though; its fully-serrated blade is extremely difficult to resharpen to a decent edge. I can see how some people would buy something like that, use it until it starts dragging, then toss it and buy another, or something similar.

That is how most people out there who aren't knife aficionados view working knives; as something expendable to be used, gotten rid of and replaced when it no longer serves its purpose for them. It's neither right nor wrong; it's just how it is for most people. Knife aficionados are an extremely tiny percentage of the world's population.

Jim
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You're right it is all relative. But in my original post I had said just like watches "It's for those who know" Which to me means someone has the education and understanding to understand the difference. But like you and others say a good part of the population are ignorant about knives and honestly I used to be one of them.

Now I made the mistake of comparing two extremes of the spectrum and probably should have compared something more like a Timex to a Seiko or Citizen.

IMHO we as humans look for art to enrich our lives and give it meaning. Now because I'm untrained what to look for I wouldn't be able to tell you why one painting is $200 and the other is $5000 because I lack the knowledge. But there's art in everything including knives, and that's what the trained eye is paying for. Knives are tools but they are purchased based on their aesthetics, and just like a painting the original artist commands more money and respect. The cheap copy's are just that cheap imitations of the real thing for example Ganzo has ripped every great knife maker off. They are crappy shoddy art trying to convince you they are the same as a masterpiece.

There's plenty of good knives that aren't expensive but they use their own art style so there's no need to promote junk.
 
cbrstar said:
You're right it is all relative. But in my original post I had said just like watches "It's for those who know" Which to me means someone has the education and understanding to understand the difference. But like you and others say a good part of the population are ignorant about knives and honestly I used to be one of them.

Now I made the mistake of comparing two extremes of the spectrum and probably should have compared something more like a Timex to a Seiko or Citizen.

IMHO we as humans look for art to enrich our lives and give it meaning. Now because I'm untrained what to look for I wouldn't be able to tell you why one painting is $200 and the other is $5000 because I lack the knowledge. But there's art in everything including knives, and that's what the trained eye is paying for. Knives are tools but they are purchased based on their aesthetics, and just like a painting the original artist commands more money and respect. The cheap copy's are just that cheap imitations of the real thing for example Ganzo has ripped every great knife maker off. They are crappy shoddy art trying to convince you they are the same as a masterpiece.

There's plenty of good knives that aren't expensive but they use their own art style so there's no need to promote junk.
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I know alot Ganzo models that are not ripped off. I think they were making clones at the begining, right now many people noticed that Ganzo makes their own designs
 
The only time someone wish's he had one of their cheap knives on them, is when they had to use it to defend themselves and a cop takes it from them as evidence.
Ever go through the loops in getting something returned from a court's property room?
 
That would be a time to have the cheap knife on you.... Many of us here would have a second knife with them also and it would be confiscated also. Not going to live my life on the basis of such a remote possibility of something like this happening.
 
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