Chinese knives...am I xenophobic?

Yes you are missing something.

 

I always get a laugh out of the "buy 'merican" bubba talk...the simple (and sad) reality is that US manufacturing has severely declined in the last 50 years in large part because our offshore competitors have simply played the game of capitalism better than we have as a nation.

There are plenty of good Chinese made knives, the Kershaw Thermite is a great example. However, there are also plenty of garbage knives made there too, such as anything sold by Gerber...

 

Chinese factories and workers make goods to a specification dictated by the company placing the order. They make a lot of cheap, low quality stuff. They can also make high quality stuff, but it costs more. If you expect Chinese goods to be cheap, expect them to be low quality.

 

It's not xenophobic to avoid Chinese or Made in China products if the reasons behind it are grounded in reality (e.g.: bad experiences over quality) or politically motivated. The same reason I refuse to buy American goods as much as possible as my way of expressing distaste for American foreign policies specially targeted to contain or control China and assert American trade or military dominance over Asia.

It's xenophobic if the boycott is due to simply labelling the Chinese and their country as "Asian scumbags" or something along the line.

As for knives, all my knives are Chinese knives or, in the case of S&W and Schrade, made in China. Only one has failed to date, and those that I use are still going on like troopers with my daily tasks. And these are $9 - $14 knives we are talking about.

Disclaimer: I'm an Asian Chinese (but NOT a China Chinese).

 

It amazes me how little people know about the politics of economics but throw a post like this up.....

The Chinese have done zero. They have been used as a cheap labor force for "multinational corporations"

Trade rules where changed (abolished) so AMERICAN companies could go and use cheap labor, it starts and ends there. It's called PROFIT margin.
The only goal here was to build it cheaper and sell it at the same price. The benefits are being felt by nobody but the rich who got a lot richer in both countries...

"Quality" in this context is irrelevant.

Simple.

 

I'm the same way man. Only own my delica made in Japan because I needed a knife and fell in love with the feel of it. Other than that I try to get as much USA stuff as possible. My entire toolbox is made in USA with a few blacksmith made tools. Most of my knives are made USA or made by me. Shoes and hat are made here. I don't see myself xenophobic so much as America is my family. My dad grandad great grandad etc fought to protect it so America and all its good and bad is my home and my family. I feel that buying stuff made here benefits everyone better. Sure you might be missing out on some but if you have t fallen in love with a knife enough to ignore made in China label I don't think you're missing out.


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I think china is capable of quality manufacturing. They are getting better as time goes on, however companies dont outsource product manufacturing to china for their advanced capabilties and environmentally conscious ways. I prefer to support the american way of life and avoid purchasing chinese goods unless absolutely neccessary. When it comes to knives i have no interest in buying chinese made. Sure i can get a kizer with top quality parts at a discount price but i prefer to pay the extra money for american made, or any other non discount labor country of origin. If we buy products made in china that are sold for half the price of american equivalent, we will soon have no american made products to choose from because they too may be forced to outsource just to compete.

 

By denying yourself Chinese made products, you deny yourself Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife. Now there, don't you feel bad?
In all seriousness, there just isn't getting around buying Chinese products, electronics especially. If I can get what I want made somewhere else, I choose it. I don't see myself ever buying a knife made in China, but if one that's unique and of especially good quality came up and there was not an equivalent from somewhere else, then I suppose I may buy it.

 

Precisely.

 

All I can say is Kizer. They're incredible knives, original, and not made with slave labor, as is the stereotype for chinese manufacturing.

 

I'm in the same boat as the op. Knives are my hobby and for some reason Chinese knives just don't float my boat. I don't 'like' them when I have got them, regardless of the quality, which can be top notch. No objective reason for my dislike of them just my emotional response and feeling.
Matt

 

The Chinese made knives for hundreds if not thousands of years, long before any white man ever set foot to America. Just like the Americans, they make good products as well as crap products.

 

This is not a Chinese issue, or for that matter, any other nation that is being taken advantage of for their cheap labor force and lack of regulations around not only workers and their environment/pay/conditions/etc, but also manufacturing without any real care for how it effects the environments we/they live in.

I can't stand these American "multinationals" and I do my best to support American small business.
Multinational Corporations employ the cheapest labor force possible, pay zero tax in the countries where they actually sell their product, and have no regard for the social and environmental effects of their profit ahead of EVERYTHING else mentality.

Small business, that's the future we need to save right now.

I would be more than happy to purchase a product from any country in the world as long as there is transparency in how/who actually made it.

Fair trade and not "free" trade. Free trade benefits 20 people....

 

I once worked for an "American small business", that business employed around a dozen people (Americans), and that business stayed in business by buying and selling products made in China. Without those products, there wouldn't have been a business, and no jobs for those dozen employees.

This is very common. Many small businesses in America operate on a razor-thin profit margin and exist only because of cheap, outsourced labor costs. If they had to pay to have their products, or the parts they need for their products, made in the US, the costs would be prohibitive, they wouldn't be able to stay in business, and they wouldn't be able to employ any Americans.

It's simple economics- the more you have to pay to produce your product, the more you have to charge the consumer in order to make a profit, pay your employees, and stay in business. But if your products are too expensive, people won't buy them, and you go out of business. So naturally business owners look to cut costs wherever possible.

Buying from small businesses in the US is great, but don't be surprised if the products they sell, or parts of those products, are made using cheap foreign labor, and in countries that care nothing about the environment, because it's quite common. And "Made in the USA", doesn't always mean that every part of an item was made in the USA, it could mean that parts were made outside the US, and then finished and/or assembled in the US.

Welcome to the "Global Economy". Small businesses in the US are often just as dependent on cheap foreign labor as the big corporations.

 

Another nail in the coffin of the idea of buying wholly domestic goods is that even if you chop down a cherry tree from your backyard and mine and forge your own steel, the -machines- you use to produce the product were likely made in China or were made from parts made in China or...

I don't get nationalism when it comes to consumer goods - and, honestly, I don't think most people who are really passionate about "made in the USA" goods completely understand the international market as it is and has been for decades.

I don't care where it's made as long as it's made responsibly and correctly. American hands and Chinese hands develop the same callouses from labor, you know? Everyone has a mouth to feed.

 

Kizer is making great knives for the money,so is Stedemon,i just would not buy a lot of them, if you ever need to sell them and need money fast they might not sell as fast as zt benchmade,ect. and your gonna take a pretty big loss in order to move them.im not buying any more Chinese knives for this reason, unless its at a real good price.The reates are grwat, I have 3 but seems like all their latest releases are 375+ its just way too much,i don't feel comfortable having that much into one.even on the exchange I saw a horizon d for 295 just couldn't do it.

 

When I was strictly into Benchmades I was the same way.

Then I found a few overseas Spydercos I really liked and haven't looked back.

 

There is no problem in my mind with spending $11.68 for a Rough Rider slip joint made in China. It is as nicely finished as made-in-USA knives costing three or four times as much.

Thirty years ago I had a perverse fascination with some Chinese hand tools, for their crude simplicity, sometimes quite comical, and for their low prices. I bought them not so much to use as because they were fascinating objets. It gives me no pain now to buy a tool that succeeds on both levels.

 

I do prefer patronizing American products as much as possible, however as others have also stated the international trade and manufacturing has blurred lines. When you buy an American Automobile many components are made in China and Mexico and then assembled here. A Haas CNC milling machine does not know what country it is in and who is feeding material and programming it.

Quality of a manufactured part has more to do with predetermined specs and QC than where it was made. I own Cris Reeve Knives, Hinderer, Randall and Reate all high quality knives. Oh and I'm on my Apple IPad, and used my Iphone (Chineese made) today and drove my Dodge Challenger with 5.7 Hemi motor made in Mexico. I would love to see more manufacturing return to the USA, maybe someday.