Are the Chinese eating the USA's lunch in knives? (no jingoistic intent)

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Chinese luxury items-not even once.

Chinese manufacturing sometimes represents a “good value” but that’s how we got to this consumer hell in the first place. We have a throwaway culture. Change starts with us, and it’s easy when it comes to luxury items that we don’t actually need to survive.

Buy whatever you want, but I’ve found that with knives, shoes, watches, appliances, furniture and furnishings, the cost upgrade to buy American or European is negligible while the quality/engineering is actually far better.
 
I would not say they are beating US made knives, but they have certainly caused disruption.

The price points offered are hard to compete with, for obvious reasons.

I will say, that in some cases when purchasing a knife made in China, you are gambling with the assumption it is made as advertised.
 
An example of China made products;

I bought a pillow advertised as made from bamboo. Used it a few times after having to air it out extensively as it had a strong chemical oder. It was not inexpensive.

After a few uses, I noted that I was getting poked by something sharp.

I cut it open, and it was filled with shredded foam, with bits of metal wire.

I assume it was filled with shredded pre-owned furniture with springs, doused in chemical cleaner, sewed up, boxed and shipped.

This is an inherent problem with quite a bit of products made in China. Substandard quality, and false advertising. Knives included.
 
Anyone saying that China isn’t making a huge impact in the American market is coping.

Whenever a small company wants to make a small run of a design who do they go to? China.

Whenever a big name American brand wants to make an affordable folding knife to compete with the largest sector of the market which civivi owns by the way, they go to China.

China owns the knife market.
 
There was some testing a while back of different Chinese knives to see if the steel that was advertised was legit. They tested multiple examples from different brands and Eafengrow was one of the companies that were proven to be selling some crap steel and marking it D2 or whatever. Maybe they don't do that anymore, but that is one brand I would never buy myself.

Most of the better known Chinese brands proved to be legit in the test results I saw.
 
Love Them Knives !

He was doing hardness and metallurgy testing .. And yes , many times what was Claimed was false .. ( well , so the results of testing claimed )
 
NWFRS said:
Chinese luxury items-not even once.

Chinese manufacturing sometimes represents a “good value” but that’s how we got to this consumer hell in the first place. We have a throwaway culture. Change starts with us, and it’s easy when it comes to luxury items that we don’t actually need to survive.

Buy whatever you want, but I’ve found that with knives, shoes, watches, appliances, furniture and furnishings, the cost upgrade to buy American or European is negligible while the quality/engineering is actually far better.
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Definitely a throwaway society. I try to repair or have repaired everything I can. There's still a shoe repair guy in my town, and last fall I had him resole my winter boots. It was $100, but it beats paying $300 for new ones, especially when the leather is still in good condition, as is the fleece. I replace the insoles every few years, and the first pair of vibram soles/midsoles lasted 8 years.

I just replaced the chipped and worn out control sticks on my nephew's Nintendo switch lite. $200 for a new one, or $30 for new controls.

Cars are like that too. Can't "pound out" a dent anymore. They just replaced the whole fender, bumper etc, and chargeva hefty price for it too.

I try to buy from America or at least a capitalist country when possible. I'm betting both my cgm and insulin pump are made in China though.
 
I see the Italians making more of an impact on mid-priced knives, rather than the Chinese.
I assume supporting the EU economy should not be a problem for most.
 
I bought 1 Chinese made knife. Paid less than a hundred for a button lock flipper in damascus and micarta. I cannot find a fault on it, grinds are symetrical and even down to a nice thin edge, all sharp corners are broken, action is fast and slick, no blade play, blade is perfectly centered, it cuts well, scales are well fitted and handle is comfortable, damascus is evenly etched. And it's a pleasure to use.

I'm forced to admit that I paid more, way more, for usa made knives where all of what I mentionned was a problem. If they continu raising prices at the current rate, and treating quality control like an afterthought, well, I don't like to be a doomsayer, but there's only one way that it can end.

Old farts like me will always associate China with poorly made products, it cannot be helped, but the younger generation of people aren't that blind.
 
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I always prefer to buy USA first, anywhere besides China second, and will occasionally buy something Chinese made. It has nothing to do with value for me though. I already have many knives in the $500+ range and everything in between. I only buy Chinese made if they are offering something I want that I can't find anywhere else. Jack Wolf is a good example. Nobody else is doing modern slipjoints in traditional patterns nearly as well, anywhere. If there were a a USA company making a comparable product, I would pay 25% to 35% more easily.
 
chalby said:
There was some testing a while back of different Chinese knives to see if the steel that was advertised was legit. They tested multiple examples from different brands and Eafengrow was one of the companies that were proven to be selling some crap steel and marking it D2 or whatever. Maybe they don't do that anymore, but that is one brand I would never buy myself.

Most of the better known Chinese brands proved to be legit in the test results I saw.
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which is weird any company there would lie about chinese d2, which is readily available in china and not exactly pricey. it's hardly a steel to even brag about.
 
calm said:
I assume supporting the EU economy should not be a problem for most.
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The EU isn't the USA, so, I don't generally buy from them either. What can an EU knife do that a USA made knife can't? Nada so far as I figure.

Though my Fairbairn Sykes IS a Sheffield made example, but I feel that falls under my "historical pattern" clause.
 
On budget knives, absolutely. Even some of the American companies having knives made for them in China are getting smoked in terms of quality for the dollar. (For instance, all the companies still releasing $50ish knives in 8Cr13Mov.) For the people who say "the Chinese knives are not as good", go pick up a recent budget knife from Kizer. Try a Civivi or even a Sencut. Under $100, the better Chinese companies are totally crushing it. (I specify "the better Chinese companies" because there are still bad actors out there. Eafengrow is one of those bad actors. They appear to be a rebranding distributor as opposed to a manufacturer and several of their knives have tested false on the claimed steels.)

Setting aside widespread performance issues with Chinese D2, we've been seeing relatively decent heat treatments with budget knives in steels like 14C28N, Nitro-V, and 154CM. WE has figured out an industry-best heat treatment for 9Cr18Mov that easily competes with Spyderco's VG-10.

Above $100, things are not so clear. If you want a nice knife with good action in titanium and super steel, there are lots of competitively priced options. However, the heat treatment on most of the Chinese knives in S35VN, M390, etc. is generally not as good as what you'll get on say, an American Spyderco in the same steel. An important question there is who is going to notice that difference or how much it matters, but that opens another can of worms regarding who actually needs a high-end super steel versus how many people are using a $500 folder just to open the mail or take Instagram pictures.

Personally, I tend to shop closer to home for premium or custom knives.
 
jbmonkey said:
which is weird any company there would lie about chinese d2, which is readily available in china and not exactly pricey. it's hardly a steel to even brag about.
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When you are cheating in the budget arena, the cost difference between 3Cr13 and Chinese D2 can be the angle. More often, we see 5Cr15 or even 8Cr13Mov stamped "D2". It's enough of a difference to matter. Some of that could be holding just enough of an edge to fool someone with a moment's use. (That kind of stuff comes up with counterfeiting, but expecting truth in claims on a counterfeit is nuts in the first place.) More often, we see this with rebranding distributors like Eafengrow. They buy whatever knives look like they'd sell in whatever cheap steel, and stamp them with whatever steel identity they think will help them to sell.

To see an example of cheap stampable knives that might get used in such a scheme, check out Shieldon's website. While lots of OEM work happens in the dark, they openly advertise a variety of ready-to-go models in 3Cr and other low-end steels for bulk ordering. If you ever see one of those on Amazon, AliExpress, etc. in "D2" or "M390" and a different company name; that's the kind of scam I'm talking about.
 
Ripped from the headlines and fits in here.

techcrunch.com

How Shein's influencer trip to a Chinese factory backfired | TechCrunch

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Those factories are not better at building better knives. They're better at convincing the public to trade low to questionable quality goods that may be based on stolen IP for the public's instant gratification.
 
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