do you care origin of your knives

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dakota1820

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Hey guys im always skeptical to buy a knife from Taiwan or china even a well known brand . How do they compare currently to American made? Does it effect your decision or sway you one way or the other? Alot of knives for edc ive held were taiwian and china and i i always decided against them even though my first impression was decent. Just curious what everyone thinks. Thanks all.
 
It sways me.

I like to support products that are made in USA. Of course, it's damn near impossible to stock your whole household every day with them, but I try.

Not a "USA = Quality" thing, I just know that American manufacturing jobs are in short supply, and I like to support companies that offer them. I wear New Balance shoes that are made here, I drive a truck that was made here, and I try to buy knives that are made here. I'd like to think that if every one of us made a conscious choice to purchase an item once in a while based on supporting domestic jobs instead of the rock bottom price, maybe we could keep a neighborhood company or two in business.

Some might call me a dreamer, or deluded, or uneducated in global economics. Oh well, my knife buying habits are swayed sometimes.
 
I wish they were all made in Canada.
Since we only have one knife manufacturer here though---Grohmann---that would be rather limiting.
So I have to buy stuff made by evil foreigners...like Americans. :D
 
Some of my favorite Spyderco folders are made in their Taichung, Taiwan factory. Beautiful fit and finish.
I still consider these to be "American-made" for all practical purposes.
Of course, I love ZDP-189 steel from Japan also.
I have not yet purchased any of the Chinese folders that have splashed onto the market. They do seem to be well made, the reviews are good, and are cheap compared to "our" American-made counterparts.
 
I try to buy products made here, always. However, it doesn't make or break a purchase for me. There are plenty of quality knives made overseas. You just have to do your research before you buy.
 
Makes a difference to me. If only country as a basis, I go Japan, Taiwan and lastly China for overall quality. Most Japanese stuff is very high quality and priced about the same as US made.
 
I like to buy american when it makes sense, and i'll gladly pay a little extra for the made in USA tag, and even a lot more if the quality is there to back it up, as shown by my $200+ pair of Redwing work boots I beat up daily, but for me;
Quality + Value > Origin.
(And personally, i've bought plenty of Chinese knives cheap in comparison that have held up just fine on the quality side of things)

I won't pay a lot more for a made in USA product if I can get arguably equal quality in a foreign made product for half the price... I like to support USA manufacturing jobs when it makes sense, but the simple truth is that those worker's paychecks don't pay my bills or feed my family so I support my family first, and while I'll gladly pay the price for redwings because they're the best work boot I ever owned; (when I used to buy cheaper $50-75 pairs I'd go through 1 a year easy, and my feet hurt, my current pair are going on their 2nd year and got plenty of life left in 'em), and bought a $10 made in usa can opener over a $6 chinese version, but a perfect example if I can get a 154cm benchmade with an axis lock for over $100 but can get a Taiwan made cold steel with a tri-ad lock in cts-xhp for $80, I'm buying the cold steel and ordering pizza on Friday night...
 
Sonnydaze said:
Some of my favorite Spyderco folders are made in their Taichung, Taiwan factory. Beautiful fit and finish.
I still consider these to be "American-made" for all practical purposes.
Of course, I love ZDP-189 steel from Japan also.
I have not yet purchased any of the Chinese folders that have splashed onto the market. They do seem to be well made, the reviews are good, and are cheap compared to "our" American-made counterparts.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with this. I used to skeptical of Taiwan stuff until I handled a few spydercos from their Taichung plant. Now they're my near favorite. I wouldn't hesitate about Taichung made spydercos at all. If they were produced in Golden, they would be twice the price. That's the price of business.

In rank of quality of my own knives I'd put USA and Taiwan first followed close by Japan and then lastly China.

Just about every knife I've had from China has been less than satisfactory for my own personal point of view.
 
Quality is what counts. I just bought a knife (a "Quick Flick" assisted opening Model 7001 by Colonial Knife Company) whose parts were manufactured in the US of A, but assembled in China. It sports a 440C blade, tempered to 58-60 Rc. It was a bargain at the retail price drectly from Colonial Knife Company at Warwick RI, just outside of Providence.

Works for me.

Captain O
 
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As often as I can I buy American made products. This is hard to do in all areas but I can certainly buy all American made pocket knives.
 
ZERO China for me.. I have purchased knives on line that turned out to be made in China, despite the fact I asked and I simply gift them to someone local. Several well known and upper end knives being sold almost daily on this forum are being produced in China. One such company made a big splash about a year ago here by convincing several members to do a pass around. Another well know, clearly gets most if not all their parts from china and claims to produce the knives of "secret special" steel in Texas. A forum review from some of the "CSI" crowd proved invoices and shipping documents supported the FACT that the parts were imported from China, yet the knives are marked USA. It is becoming a slippery slope, harder and harder to know the exact origin of many knives. I DO NOT know the numbers, but China certainly makes a lot of knock offs of USA knives and certain Makers are targeted heavily on the Bay. So, i suggest if you support USA makers, it is always best to buy only what is stamped USA, and only from certain sites. Many here, including me, no longer trust the "bay" as a source for knives.
 
Not really. They are all foreign. But if it's a traditional design it becomes a bit more important.
 
Leftytwogunz said:
As often as I can I buy American made products. This is hard to do in all areas but I can certainly buy all American made pocket knives.
Click to expand...

treeshaker said:
ZERO China for me.. I have purchased knives on line that turned out to be made in China, despite the fact I asked and I simply gift them to someone local. Several well known and upper end knives being sold almost daily on this forum are being produced in China. One such company made a big splash about a year ago here by convincing several members to do a pass around. Another well know, clearly gets most if not all their parts from china and claims to produce the knives of "secret special" steel in Texas. A forum review from some of the "CSI" crowd proved invoices and shipping documents supported the FACT that the parts were imported from China, yet the knives are marked USA. It is becoming a slippery slope, harder and harder to know the exact origin of many knives. I DO NOT know the numbers, but China certainly makes a lot of knock offs of USA knives and certain Makers are targeted heavily on the Bay. So, i suggest if you support USA makers, it is always best to buy only what is stamped USA, and only from certain sites. Many here, including me, no longer trust the "bay" as a source for knives.
Click to expand...

^This, and I will not buy anything that is not made in America.

Without getting into the 'politics' of the issue too much, as this is not the area of the forum for that, I will just say, that there is nothing that hurts the American economy more than not buying American made.

There are so few area's of the market where we still have this choice......

This is not a quality issue, but that's irrelevant, as American's make the best knives on the planet unless they are trying to compete with a ridiculous price point.
 
I remember the first time I read about the Spyderco Gayle Bradley and immediately being turned off by the made in Taiwan designation. Like seriously turned off. I've since changed my mind now that I have a Gayle Bradley and like a few others in this post, consider Spydero's products that come from Taichung to be of excellent quality. Their fit and finish really is talked of highly, and for good reason. The Bradley I have locks up super tight and the quality has been superb so far.

However, I'm still not a fan of Chinese produced products, be they knives or otherwise. While I totally understand that it's unavoidable in this day and age, I'll steer clear when I can and personally avoid Chinese made knives. Japanese, on the other hand? I'd purchase with little hesitation. The few Japanese produced Spydercos I have are excellent.
 
Doesn't matter to me. One of the better built knives I have owned is Chinese, two of the worst were U.S. made. Currently my collection includes very good knives from China, Canada, Italy, Spain, Japan, Taiwan, The U.S., Germany, France and Switzerland. I look for quality and value, not point of origin.
 
I rather care about the people who make the knives, not the Country, since today almost any factory has foreign workers.
this said, the most important factor is always quality/price ratio, and my three favorite companies are swiss, swedish and chinese.
 
I find Taiwan products are of decent quality, try to dodge China as much as possible (( not appropriate in this forum )). My Buck 110 is American and my Victorinox Tinker is Swiss. They are all I need.
 
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