Different knife brands made in the same factory

I understand that this is a common practice, what I don't understand, is the secrecy.

I mean if I owned a knife business with little to no native facilities (Cold Steel, AG Russell, etc) and contracted say, Queen or Schrade USA to make some of my folders, or Camillus to make some fixed blades, why not advertise that? Especially as those places produced some great stuff. Instead, it's a big guessing game.

Why keep the actual makers a secret?
 
Tony_A said:
I understand that this is a common practice, what I don't understand, is the secrecy.

I mean if I owned a knife business with little to no native facilities (Cold Steel, AG Russell, etc) and contracted say, Queen or Schrade USA to make some of my folders, or Camillus to make some fixed blades, why not advertise that? Especially as those places produced some great stuff. Instead, it's a big guessing game.

Why keep the actual makers a secret?
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My company subs out parts to be made. We don't tell the competition what companies are making our parts.

For that matter, we do not tell our customers, either. Once the parts are made, they are made to our specs and to our standards of quality. We want our customers to focus on us and our product that gives them satisfaction. Not where and how we make it or have it made.
 
knarfeng said:
My company subs out parts to be made. We don't tell the competition what companies are making our parts.

For that matter, we do not tell our customers, either. Once the parts are made, they are made to our specs and to our standards of quality. We want our customers to focus on us and our product that gives them satisfaction. Not where and how we make it or have it made.
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That's exactly true about most manufacturers,and they do that where I work, hence my original question, and on top of that I am nosey, and just want to know...:o

Fox cutlery, Rowen Manufacturing, Moki...I wonder if I can dig up some specifics on models, I'll have to check the internot, and I'll post it up for the hellavit.. Enquiring minds want to know:D
 
It would not surprise me at all if the same Chinese factory was making knives for Benchmade, Spyderco, CRKT, Coldsteel, and Franklin Mint... all at the same time. But this situation wouldn't be unique to China either. It's not at all unusual here in the US for competitive brands to have their product manufacturered in the same factory. It obviously puts the factory in a delicate situation, but there are protocols to handle it.
 
If you ever see "How its made" you may notice that for hacksaw, bikes and many other things manufacturing plants on the final stage pring one or other brand on the product they just manufactured.

So this is common practice, however it is misleading because how you can differ manufacturing quality for all this brands which all made on same plant?

I think we should know where it is made otherwise all this claims of one brand being better (more expensive) then other is just false, because they all made in th same place by same people etc.

However I am not buying knives made in China anyway...

But it will be nice to know what company really has facility and actually produce their knives. I know Kershaw has US based plant, Bark River also (and making knives for others), Buck for sure, Spyderco but who else?

Thanks, Vassili.

P.S. What about SOG, Benchmade etc.
 
A great many of Spyderco's Seki models are made by G. Sakai. I have a Japanese knife magazine that shows the factory and some of the models made there (the Salt series, Delica, etc.).

I believe Camillus used to make the Carbon V models for Cold Steel. I own an old (1970s) Buck Cadet, my first Buck knife, and it was also made by Camillus, as were some of the Remington knives in the past.

Jim
 
nozh2002 said:
So this is common practice, however it is misleading because how you can differ manufacturing quality for all this brands which all made on same plant?

I think we should know where it is made otherwise all this claims of one brand being better (more expensive) then other is just false, because they all made in th same place by same people etc.
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Like mentioned earlier, customer specification will dictate the quality, and levels of quality from one plant, and the same laborers.

I've run and do run machine shops.
I can do quick, dirty work, or high precision work on the same machine, with the same workers.
It depends on the quality required, and what the customer is willing to pay.

Hell, you could tell me you want 100 of the same part, 50 with tight tolerances, 50 loose, and you'll get what you pay for.
Same guy, same machines, different end product.
 
So thats the reason why I seem to see a lot of cheap knock-offs of CRKT, COLD STEEL and Benchmade at surplus stores. Some are 95% accurate like the Steve Ryan Model and the Recon 1...Because they were made in China. Maybe thats the only bad reason for these nice knives to be made there. It makes it easier to make counterfeit ones.
 
they may not be truly counterfeit (i.e. they are counterfeit, but are simply an overrun done by the same factory that makes the original). chinese factories in any industry are infamous for doing overruns on their products and simply selling them. its why north face fleeces can be bought in any market in china that are identical to those sold in the u.s. (except a fraction of the price).

not trying to troll either, thought it was useful information tangentially related to the topic.
 
js0930 said:
they may not be truly counterfeit (i.e. they are counterfeit, but are simply an overrun done by the same factory that makes the original). chinese factories in any industry are infamous for doing overruns on their products and simply selling them. its why north face fleeces can be bought in any market in china that are identical to those sold in the u.s. (except a fraction of the price).

not trying to troll either, thought it was useful information tangentially related to the topic.
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Well, as I was told many times here when I ask why companies move production in China - "They keep their responsibility for their shareholder to make best profit..." So Chinese also keeping their responsibility to make as much profit as possible for their communist holders...

Thanks, Vassili.
 
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Tony_A said:
I understand that this is a common practice, what I don't understand, is the secrecy.

I mean if I owned a knife business with little to no native facilities (Cold Steel, AG Russell, etc) and contracted say, Queen or Schrade USA to make some of my folders, or Camillus to make some fixed blades, why not advertise that? Especially as those places produced some great stuff. Instead, it's a big guessing game.

Why keep the actual makers a secret?
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Because the "actual" factory is not the responsible party.

Also the "actual" factory has a multitude of subcontracors, as do US factories. So, who made the screws? Who ground the bevel, who polished the blades, etc.

The "branded" maker is making the knife even if the President is not running the laser. The "branded" maker (Buck, Spyderco, etc) creates the design / product, picks the materials, sets the QC standards and solves the problems.


sal
 
FYI - I am not buying knives made in Communist China even with Spyderco label.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
johnu2 said:
They also made some of the carbon v knives (like the Recon Tanto, SRK etc) for Cold Steel before they were changed to AUS8.
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I agree they were. The timing of Camillus' demise with the switch of Cold Steel from Carbon V to AUS 8 in many of their blades is a correlation too closely occurring to discount as chance.
 
nozh2002 said:
FYI - I am not buying knives made in Communist China
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There really are two Chinas, communist China and Shenzhen. The basic problem American manufacturers face in China is that, in some ways, the place is to darn capitalist.
 
nozh2002 said:
Well, as I was told many times here when I ask why companies move production in China - "They keep their responsibility for their shareholder to make best profit..." So Chinese also keeping their responsibility to make as much profit as possible for their communist holders...

Thanks, Vassili.
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Capitalism is what drives the new "communist" china. And we get it--you don't like knives that are made there, ok.
 
generallobster said:
Capitalism is what drives the new "communist" china. And we get it--you don't like knives that are made there, ok.
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Really? So Communist Party is not in charge of everything? Tell me please who set yuan exchange rate to have on the level that no any country in the world can compete China manufacturers - even Mexico. Is it regulated by free market or set by PolitBuro, or whatever they have there? Doesn't US repeatedly ask them to set exchange rate to fair and was denied all the times?

Commies is still in charge and rapidly arm, taking advantage of Russia isolation by ignorant West, buying best weapons from them on the money they made in US - like 6th Fleet (or whatever US put between Communist China and Non Communist China) is already sitting duck for Russian made Chinese SunBurn battle group killers... Chinese sub pops up undetected in few meters from US carrier during military exercise... Chinese hackers shoot down Pentagon servers...

Well, I am from USSR and can smell this much better then you.

I am not buying anything from Commies if I can, unfortunately, there are less and less things around which not made in China.

Again, I have noting against Chinese, I have no problem with Taiwan etc...

Thanks, Vassili.
 
There really are two Chinas, communist China and Shenzhen. The basic problem American manufacturers face in China is that, in some ways, the place is to darn capitalist
Click to expand...
.
Gollnick-can you ellaborate on this?Also do you think capitalism will be the eventual downfall of communism?
 
sometimes the 'secrecy' is fun, like when people would say Beckers had better steel/HT than CS Carbon V. good times, good times.
 
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