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bld522 said:
Wolverine doesn't need any help, IP. He's just pulling your chain. But it's nice of you to chime in anyway. :)

So there you go, Wolverine. Need to hear it from anybody else or do you think you know what to do now?
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I figured as much, but why give him any excuses to continue with that particular line?
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I would start with Kizer, personally. They have some fantastic deals in their lineup, fit and finish is very good and just all around well made. Reate and Stedemon are also excellent options.

On the lower end I would mostly recommend the products designed and marketed by American companies, knives like the Tenacious and Thermite, though there are far too many options to list at all comprehensively.
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Thanks for the brands. I'm in the process of looking at Stedemon now. Oh , but I just saw your last post (concerning me) so forget all that. China sucks.

Bld , you have a message , you emotional little guy.
 
Wolverine666 said:
You've got me curious. To which brands do you refer ? I'd like to check them out.
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I'll bite. Go check out the following Chinese brands for the sub-$25 segment, blade length 68mm - 88mm.
  • Enlan / BEE
  • Ganzo
  • Sanrenmu

These brands have received very favourable reviews in this forum: a Google search should net most of the results you will need to see. I also have some of their knives and I can say that they are definitely delivering a value well above the $10-$15 I paid for them.

For larger ones at the same price range
  • Inron
  • Tekut
  • Harnds

I have not had any experience with these three brands yet, but I'll be getting a couple from each of them when the next paycheck comes just for curiosity's sake.
 
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Wolverine666 said:
Thanks for the brands. I'm in the process of looking at Stedemon now. Oh , but I just saw your last post (concerning me) so forget all that. China sucks.

Bld , you have a message , you emotional little guy.
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Thanks, Wolverine. It was great chatting with you.

This much I can tell you. I've been around here for a long time and I know quality when I see it. If you do decide to take the plunge, I think you're in for a delightful surprise. I hope you enjoy your new Chinese-made knives as much as I enjoy mine. :thumbup:

Have a nice day! :)
 
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bld522 said:
Thanks, Wolverine. It was great chatting with you.

This much I can tell you. I've been around here for a long time and I know quality when I see it. If you do decide to take the plunge, I think you're in for a delightful surprise. I hope you enjoy your new Chinese-made knives as much as I enjoy mine. :thumbup:

Have a nice day! :)
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Thanks pally. Always a pleasure 😀😀😀
 
Etna said:
I'll bite. Go check out the following Chinese brands for the sub-$25 segment, blade length 68mm - 88mm.
  • Enlan / BEE
  • Ganzo
  • Sanrenmu

These brands have received very favourable reviews in this forum: a Google search should net most of the results you will need to see. I also have some of their knives and I can say that they are definitely delivering a value well above the $10-$15 I paid for them.

For larger ones at the same price range
  • Inron
  • Tekut
  • Harnds

I have not had any experience with these three brands yet, but I'll be getting a couple from each of them when the next paycheck comes just for curiosity's sake.
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I wouldn't include Ganzo and Inron on the list of recommended Chinese knives; a large number of their offerings are direct rip-offs of Benchmade or Hinderer designs. SRM, Enlan/Bee, Tekut and Harnds seem mostly original, but some of their offerings seem to be "made in the likeness of", your mileage may vary, but no blatant cloning or counterfeiting that I'm aware of.

Now, for the Chinese knife "skeptics"...

A low cost Chinese manufacturer that I can recommend is Real Steel. They offer "upgraded/locking" versions of some SRM models and some in-house designed. If you're a fan of the Ontario RAT1, check out their H6 Blue Sheep. Lately they've begun offering some designer made knives for ridiculously high MSRP like the Megalodon and the Stinger. I think we'd be hearing more about the higher end Real Steel if there was a US distributor that could offer them for the usual discount off of MSRP. They're much more popular and available in Europe however.

Speaking of the Ontario RAT1...Chinese made and one of the best value EDC knives you can get. Not to mention the Kershaw and Spyderco/Byrd Chinese knives.

Moving up the price chain, you have Kizer Cutlery. Truly incredible value knives that can be easily found in the $75-$175 price point. If you haven't owned a Kizer, you owe it to yourself to purchase one that catches you're fancy and see the value, fit and finish first hand. One potential drawback on Kizer is that most of their designs are flippers. If flippers aren't your thing, they don't have a lot of models to choose from, but I can suggest the 4303/403 thumb stud models. Kizer has begun making knives for some well known AMERICAN custom knife designers like Ray Laconico and Matt Cucchiara

Finally, we get into the high end Chinese knives like Reate, Stedemon and another that escapes my memory right now..."carson forge tech"...or something like that...somebody help me out. I can't speak for Stedemon, but Reate makes some incredible blades, again collaborating with custom AMERICAN designers like Todd Begg and Liong Mah.

If all you've ever seen are M-Techs or Tac Force knives, I can understand the blanket statement that Chinese knives are crap. But as a knife lover you really do owe it to yourself to look at some of the incredible offerings coming from China simply to be aware and then decide to buy or not to buy them. I support your decision either way.
 
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Etna said:
I'll bite. Go check out the following Chinese brands for the sub-$25 segment, blade length 68mm - 88mm.
  • Enlan / BEE
  • Ganzo
  • Sanrenmu

These brands have received very favourable reviews in this forum: a Google search should net most of the results you will need to see. I also have some of their knives and I can say that they are definitely delivering a value well above the $10-$15 I paid for them.
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Of those brands, I have only owned two Ganzo folders, one which I kept and another which I gave away. Functionally, they were very good, but one of them had some features/details seemingly copied from other knives that weren't fully implemented. The most glaring of these was a spot for mounting a clip other than the one actually included with the knife. It definitely looked as though it was a case of someone copying the designs of multiple knives and then lumping them together on a single knife. Like maybe the person looking at the design didn't know what a little square cutout and two screw holes were for but kept them in the design . . . just in case.

So, not a bad knife, but definitely something "off" about it. The other Ganzo, which I kept, is quite nice, but getting a patented Axis lock on a $20 knife is a curious thing.

For larger ones at the same price range
  • Inron
  • Tekut
  • Harnds

I have not had any experience with these three brands yet, but I'll be getting a couple from each of them when the next paycheck comes just for curiosity's sake.
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I have a Tekut Ares fixed blade. It has a not-quite-kydex sheath that looks nice but has an awful lot of flex in it, and the blade is only 7Cr13MoV as I recall, but it I wouldn't hesitate to use it in an unkind manner. It resides in a "go bag" on account of being suitable (if the steel holds) for prying if necessary. Meanwhile, I also have a Harnds Viper folder, bought here on the Exchange. Without having it in front of me, I can't recall for sure at the moment, but I believe it had either an uneven grind or a slightly bent tip. Either way, it is a very nice knife. I take it on camping trips for food prep if I don't feel like bringing a fixed blade for that purpose.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Tekut or Harnds, and I have mixed feelings about Ganzo.
 
Again, I don't think Ganzo should enter into a discussion of LEGIT Chinese knives. It's pretty clear that:

Ganzo G704 = Benchmade H&K 14205 Snody
Ganzo G710 = Benchmade 950 Rift
Ganzo G711 = Benchmade 741 Onslaught
Ganzo G712 = Benchmade 860 Bedlam

The Ganzo G720 is a LionSteel SR1 with an Axis lock thrown in...that's a double whammy!

These aren't knives released in Ganzo's distant past, these are all current knives available at rivers and auctions. The don't go all the way to counterfeit by claiming to be "Benchmade", but they are clearly copies.

That should disqualify Ganzo from discussion as a viable Chinese offering for the purposes of this thread.
 
I like quality, so if the quality is there, I'll buy it.

I have knives from different countries and don't block a knife BECAUSE of its country, that'd be RACIST.
 
HwangJino said:
I like quality, so if the quality is there, I'll buy it.

I have knives from different countries and don't block a knife BECAUSE of its country, that'd be RACIST.
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I am leery of Pakistani and Chinese knives, but won't rule them out if the quality is there. My favorite is knives from the former Warsaw pact countries by various custom makers because they have good quality with better pricing.
 
That would be racist??? Really man. So I served in the US military and am a proud veteran and would rather buy the stuff that I can control from this country that I love I'm racist ?
 
HwangJino said:
I like quality, so if the quality is there, I'll buy it.

I have knives from different countries and don't block a knife BECAUSE of its country, that'd be RACIST.
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I take it you're joking, but if not you may want to look up the definition for racist.
 
The Chinese could take their knives and shove them where the Sun doesn't shine.General Douglas MacArthur should have been allowed to solve this problem a long time ago but unfortunately politicians got envolved. Sorry I can't buy Chineese kives...USA made whenever possible support the hard working people in my native country.My Money in my choice feel good when I look in the mirror.. With most other products we dont have a choice, but fortunately with knives we have a choice and the choice is crystal clear in my eyes
 
Twinsdad said:
That would be racist??? Really man. So I served in the US military and am a proud veteran and would rather buy the stuff that I can control from this country that I love I'm racist ?
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Of course not. Race is a myth . . . a persistent myth, but a myth nevertheless.
 
Hackenslash said:
Speaking of the Ontario RAT1...Chinese made and one of the best value EDC knives you can get. Not to mention the Kershaw and Spyderco/Byrd Chinese knives.

Moving up the price chain, you have Kizer Cutlery. Truly incredible value knives that can be easily found in the $75-$175 price point. If you haven't owned a Kizer, you owe it to yourself to purchase one that catches you're fancy and see the value, fit and finish first hand. One potential drawback on Kizer is that most of their designs are flippers. If flippers aren't your thing, they don't have a lot of models to choose from, but I can suggest the 4303/403 thumb stud models. Kizer has begun making knives for some well known AMERICAN custom knife designers like Ray Laconico and Matt Cucchiara
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The Ontario Rat 1 is manufactured in Taiwan.

All the China Kershaws I've had or handled have been very good quality for the price point.

The Cucchiara collaborations are pretty good looking and put Kizer on my radar. The Laconicos may get me to pull the trigger.
 
Anything with Ray's name on it deserves attention in my estimation. And I know Ray well enough to know he wouldn't put his name on a production knife if he didn't have faith in the company standing behind it.
 
KenHash said:
No, I don't think that's an example of racism.
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Lots of examples you can point to, Ken, but not a single one based on fact. There is no such thing as race! We are all one genus, one species, one subspecies . . . Homo sapiens sapiens. There are no further biological subdivisions based on the notion of race nor are there sufficient genetic variances to support such a notion.
 
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I don't really have an innate bias regarding where a piece of steel is made. If its solid, I'll use it happily. If its not, I won't.

That being said, I don't tend to venture into the production arena all that much anymore. The closest I get are mid-techs/semi-customs. I prefer Striders (their "production" line as well as MSCs and DDCs), Jake Hoback's work, and Southard's midtechs. Each are awesome in their own right, and I find that they make blades of a particularly high quality.
 
bld522 said:
Not that it's any of your business, but I own shares in the largest equity index fund on the planet. The underlying assets of the fund consist of the shares of thousands upon thousands of companies. And you can bet your sweet bippy that a bunch of those companies manufacture products in China.
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You impress yourself too much.
 
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