best all around knife company?????????

pretty easy in my opinion. buck, kershaw, spyderco, and benchmade. all americna made, all with affordable prices, all with great knives, and all with great warranties. get from them if you can. duh:D
 
Fallkniven!!! or maybe Spyderco,Benchmade,Kershaw and too many to mention.
The makers are keeping the "knife culture" alive.
 
In our end of the business we value companies for the professionalism of their management and the contribution they make to sales and profits. Who makes our favorite knives isn't an issue at all.

I don't think there is any doubt that Kershaw is the best and most professionally managed company in our industry. I think everyone I know in the industry would agree. They are owned by Kai of Japan and have become a powerhouse over the past several years thanks to outstanding management. If I were going to go to work for a knife manufacturer, that would be my choice. Another foreign-owned company - Gerber - is also very well managed. They are part of Fiskars.

I think if I had to choose a best-managed American company I would probably name Leatherman, although they are quite difficult for dealers to deal with. They wouldn't win a popularity contest in the industry but their operation is really impressive. SOG is a notably well managed company, as well. There must be something about the Pacific Northwest. All these companies are located in Oregon and Washington.

My choice for top contribution to sales and profits would be Cold Steel and second place would go to Victorinox.

So there is a different perspective for you. Personally, these companies don't make my favorite knives but, for me, that isn't the issue.
 
crbauhs said:
pretty easy in my opinion. buck, kershaw, spyderco, and benchmade. all americna made, all with affordable prices, all with great knives, and all with great warranties. get from them if you can. duh:D
Click to expand...

Not all American made. Kershaw makes a lot of models in Japan as does Spyderco. Benchmade makes a lot of models in Taiwan. Buck makes many models in China. Kershaw, in fact, isn't an American company. It is part of a Japanese company.
 
I don't know if there is any "best" knife company. There are many knife companies who put out a quality product and have excellent customer service. Fortunately there is a lot of selection to choose from, so most knife knuts can find something they like.
 
Swamp Rat used to be my favorite all round knife company, and still is my favorite company, but since they do not offer a steady supply of a base line, they fell from the "All Round" catagory. If your product line consists of "Wait until god knows when, then be on line when we release them" might be entertaining for collectors, but people who want to depend on a certain knife and be able to replace it when necessary , need a company that has a constant supply of knives.
To this end , I think "Buck" pretty much covers the "All round Knife" as it has many available selections, are generally affordable, and are made of competent steels.
 
I'll be a rebel and say cold steel. They don't make their own knives and they rip off other maker's designs, but you gotta admit that they make a huge range of sizes and kinds of knives. They're a great "all around" company because the simple variety of their knives.
 
I don't know how everyone forgot about Ronco... C'mon, guys, Miracle Blade anyone???
 
By "all around", I think you can only count companies that excel at fixed blades AND folders. I think the only company I can think of who I really want to buy new and interesting fixed AND folding blades from is Strider. I suppose you could also make a case for Cold Steel in the same vein, if you aren't too particular about the "new and interesting" part.

But, if we were being more specific than that I would vote Bark River for fixed and Spyderco for folders.
 
My favorites---alphbetically:

Bark River
Benchmade
Buck
Case
Spyderco
Victorinox

If I'm spending more--it will be a firearm----and I won't accept any less quality than the above mentioned knives.
 
Tough decision. I would have to go with Spderco. No make that Benchmade. No.. NO make that Kershaw. No..NO make that Buck. What was the question?
 
My opinion: The best "all around" knife company is probably is going to be one that most people know of, trust and think well of their blades. Excluding knife enthusiasts (that's a polite word for nuts) most people have never heard of Busse, Chris Reeve etc., but anyone who even thinks about buying a knife has probably heard good things about Buck & Victorinox and maybe not quite as commonly, Kershaw & Spyderco. Even on these forums when a first knife is talked about no one says Sebenza or Busse, not because they are not great knives, but because they are far more than most people need (and at a comparatively high price). I haven't see any posts where someone says buy this Buck or Kershaw where anybody acts deeply concerned with the quality of these knives as EDCs. So for my best "all around" company Buck, though Victorinox, Benchmade & Spyderco make great knives.

My 2 cents,
 
Chris Reeve, Spyderco, Victorinox in each price category. All three running away from the competition, except maybe Spyderco which has Kershaw and Benchmade pretty close behind.
 
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