Buying American ?

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Zombie Zeke said:
Who cares about where a knife is made as long as it's a good design and executed well...

It's like a car, if it's reliable and priced right are you going to say no and wave an American flag?

Knives are great and I would support individual custom maker before going out and buying a name brand product just because it's stamped made in the USA. At least then I know my money isn't going into some corporate shill's pocket.:thumbup:
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I too support custom makers before production makers, be they from wherever...........
 
I have absolutely no problem with people who only buy American, but when they start name calling others who don't share the same view then we have an issue.
 
Being a proud European, I am pretty neutral about buying American knives (which is better than my perception of American cars). Yes, if the design is to my taste. I have several Spydercos, and at least one of the other main brands.
Following the reasoning of many here, would you all rather say that I should buy, say, Boker, Fonteille-Pataud and Maserin rather than American knives?
 
Dagon said:
Being a proud European, I am pretty neutral about buying American knives (which is better than my perception of American cars). Yes, if the design is to my taste. I have several Spydercos, and at least one of the other main brands.
Following the reasoning of many here, would you all rather say that I should buy, say, Boker, Fonteille-Pataud and Maserin rather than American knives?
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No, I would not consider it odd if you wished to support the economy in your area in these difficult economic times.

How do you feel about buying a knife that was outsourced to China/Taiwan by an American or European company?

Most everyone here likes knives quite a bit and carefully chooses their next purchase. And just as I carefully look into features such as grind, steel, handle materials, and price, I also look at who gets the money I spend on it, and which country some or all of that money ends up.
 
As a certified knife snob, I try to purchase made in USA and Japan only. (In terms of production knives, that is, customs I have from USA and South Africa). However, I am preparing myself to buy a Gayle Bradley which is made in Taiwan. Yes, it will be tough but I think I can handle it. :p

I must qualify my statement by saying that I really like the steels made by USA company Crucible steels, so that influences my decisions a lot. Lately the steel a knife is made from will very much influence my decision whether to buy it or not. That said, there are many fine steels that arent made in the USA, such as those from Bohler and Hitachi for example.

Seriously though, purely from an economic point of view, for all sorts of reasons, it is always a good thing to support products made in your own country. :thumbup:
 
No, I would not consider it odd if you wished to support the economy in your area in these difficult economic times.
How do you feel about buying a knife that was outsourced to China/Taiwan by an American or European company?
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I chose on quality and design appeal. It's the best way to ensure that companies do an effort to stay at the forefront of competition.
My Taiwan-made Spydercos are among the most precisely built production knives that I own. They feel as precise as my Klotzlis. I carry them with pleasure. My Boker Plus knives are also excellent at the price (not as good as the Taiwan-made Spydies, rather a good quality/price) - which is great because it allows people on a budget (or non-knife people) to still have access to a pretty convincing knife.
 
Seriously though, purely from an economic point of view, for all sorts of reasons, it is always a good thing to support products made in your own country.
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Don't agree, this customer behaviour can easily lull local producers in a false sense of comfort.
It's because of this attitude that American cars are in my opinion eclipsed on both a quality and pleasure level by German and Japanese brands
 
Personally I think that it's a matter of pride really. I think a lot of people are sick of the fact that most products we can purchase come from China, and it creates a kind of demoralizing atmosphere regarding America. So then when an American company comes around still producing really great products, it kind of has a restorative effect.

Personally though, I think that most people that justify their purchases of American products are too selective. Why only buy American knives? Why not American clothes? American cars? American everything. Not that it's even all that possible to do that anymore, my point is that a lot of the times I see the same person that goes on, "Oh, yeah, Kershaw is a great American knife company," probably bought a bunch of Hanes t-shirt or underwear that same day at WalMart, and then drove home in their Japanese car.

In any case though, I grew up with a somewhat deflated ideal of American production. There was much sentiment of, "It's not like it use to be," and you often hear the phrase of, "We use to make things in this country," announced with so much lament by the older generation. Actually being able to purchase an American product--and one that is good--checks this demoralizing idea. For a brief moment you can go, "Oh, wait, we do still make things... Good things!"

One thing though that I've always wondered about in regards to all of this though. In the height of American production, when we were turning out most of the world's products, couldn't you relate American industry to how China is today? If I'm not mistaken labor unions and other types of measures were taken to confront unsafe production environments. Isn't it odd that this seemingly idealic time that an older generation often pines for would probably be regarded in much the same way as Chinese industry is today?
 
I buy knives that I like. If They happen to have been made in my country then I consider that a bonus.

It would be extremely hard to live your life buying things that are only made %100 in America, since almost nothing is. Just about everything we own at least has components that were made over seas in it.
 
…and just wanted to get the general consensus on if this view is unrespectable
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Well, I don’t think that this is an unrespectable view.
Though for other reasons, I prefer local products as well.
(of course, products made in Germany in my case)

I have received some flaming lately for expressing my opinions on this ..
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I think the 'flaming' could rather be about the time and the context
when these kinds of opinions are stated.
For example, some people might want to learn about a certain 'foreign' knife
and maybe they don’t want these threads going down south most of the time
because of a brief (OT) discussion about global economy.
(I didn’t see one of these threads where you were flamed, so this is just a guess)

Let it be said , i have no problem buying an "X" made knife if it is made in county "X" but frown apon outsourcing in this day and age of economic unrest !!!
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I’m with you here and I hate it to see cheap knives, designed and streamlined
for low production costs using old, respected brand names.
On the other hand, that’s the way our economic system works.
We take the advantages, so I reckon we have to live with the disadvantages as well.
We can’t have it both.

Just my opinion of course
 
As a non-American I really don't care if a knife is made in the USA or not - it really isn't a factor to me.

I really like my Opinel knives made in France - I have 4 and they are fantastic slicers.
I also like my Mora knives made in Sweden - I have 2 and 3 more on the way, great wood carvers.
I like my HI Ganga Ram, hand made in Nepal.
I like my Ontario RAT-1 made in Taiwan - great knife at a fantastic price.
I like my Spyderco Endura made in Seki City, Japan - well made and good value.

Having said that I also greatly admire ESSE as a company and I like their knives. I have an Izula and if I had the spare money right now then I would be ordering a Lite Machete, Junglas and an ESSE 4 and I would be looking to buy a HEST folder too.

I also have the KA-BAR Becker BK-7 & BK-9 which are also great knives and they are priced pretty well - being American doesn't mean too expensive, you don't necessarily have to buy 'made in China' to get a good price.

I like my Leatherman Wave & Squirt multi-tools not because they are made in the USA (my Victorinox SAK is also good) but because they are good tools that are well made.

As for those people that insist on only buying knives that are made in the USA - well that is their choice, let them do what they want. I'll carry on buying what I like regardless of the country of manufacture. TBH when someone wont consider a good knife because they 'only buy USA made' then I pity them for missing out on a good thing. When I receive my Mora Bushcraft Triflex and head to the bush to play with my $20 bushcraft knife I'll be happy that I've gotten a great value knife and if someone else isn't interested in that great quality - well it can't stop me from enjoying mine can it? I understand that Mora or Opinel aren't to everyone's tastes, but to not buy those great value brands for no other reason than they weren't made in USA - well that's a different way of thinking to mine, that's for sure.
 
softrockrenegade said:
Who here thinks the idea of only supporting USA made knives from a domestic company is a noble thing to do?...

Let it be said , i have no problem buying an "X" made knife if it is made in county "X" but frown apon outsourcing in this day and age of economic unrest !!!
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If you think "only supporting USA knives" is a noble thing to do than that implies that buying a foreign made knife is not a noble thing and hurts American and the American economy. But in next sentence you state you don't have a problem with buying an "X" made knife if it is made in country "X"

From what I understand you are against buying a Spiderco (An American Company) Sage (made in Taiwan) but it's okay to buy a Japanese knife from a Japanese company. Is this what you are saying?

If I buy a Japanese knife I'm not supporting a USA made knife or a USA company. Isn't the effect the same as buying an American branded knife made overseas?
 
Dagon said:
which is great because it allows people on a budget (or non-knife people) to still have access to a pretty convincing knife.
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What I am trying to say is that most of us here are knife people, and that many of us probably do have our choices affected by where a knife is made. If a non knife person buys a knife, they will probably not care where it is made, or what it is made with, just the price. As knife people we know to look at more features than just price and appearance. Also most of us knife people will be willing to spend more to get a better product and we dont just buy knives because they are cheap.

Dagon said:
Don't agree, this customer behaviour can easily lull local producers in a false sense of comfort.
It's because of this attitude that American cars are in my opinion eclipsed on both a quality and pleasure level by German and Japanese brands
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I think we can all agree that there are many reasons that American cars are eclipsed in quality and performance by European and Japanese brands. US car companies have made a lot of bad decisions lately, but I dont think those decisions have been a result of nationalism.


As much as I would like to buy all American everything, its just not possible anymore. Knives are one thing that I know America can do well and has a great history with. There are also many great American knife companies producing a good product still today, so I can confidently buy American only... not so with other products
 
I would prefer to boycott undemocratic lands if i have a choice.
I would probably always buy domestically made products if they could compete in modern design and quality with the best US and japanese products.
 
Yea, I believe supporting your countries goods when you can is a good idea. :D

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IMO it is important for loyal Americans to buy USA made products whenever possible. IMO it’s my patriotic duty to buy American in order to keep jobs here. Given the economic state the US is in, it is imperative Americans buy domestic products. Please read, http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1528737

“The most obvious reason to buy American made products is quite simply to keep Americans working, if you buy products made in the USA it will obviously help keep American workers employed, it helps American businesses stay in business, and helps the economy.”
 
I buy my knives from America first but will buy from countries friendly to the U.S. if it is a good quality knife such as Spyderco knives from Japan.
 
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