Do you care where your 150$+ knife is made ?? I do...

[marcinek]

Sorry I don’t follow your statement ? Nor do I believe the majority want to be forced ina survival situation.

Do you or don’t you care where your knife is made ? If you don’t have a preference great ! If you do what is it ?

If not on topic please refrain from attempting to be a troll , no one is forcing a response here.

You may have missed it but the topic itself almost immediately became a topic.

As for my statement, the argument that buying a Chinese phone is OK but buying a Chinese knife isn't, because you need a cell phone doesn't really hold water...you don't need a cell phone.

 

[marcinek]

I also think that a lot of times some people play the racism card in an attempt to shut down opinions that they simply do not like.

Very true indeed. The same is true in these threads with "patriotism"...as in "Well I don't buy Chinese knives because I'm patriotic."

 

[MittenStateMashers]

It is okay to discuss knives here in GKD. I see you have been here a month. You may have not noticed that.

If you want to discuss politics or what you think of China or the Chinese take it else where.

Political Forum might be good for you. May have not noticed that either.

Yes I have been posting on B.F. for a month now.
At what point in any of my posts was I political?
As far as posting the American flag in my post, it directly pertains to the O.P.’s question. This is an opinion thread. If you don’t have an opinion don’t post.

 

[Lapedog]

Without going down the rabbit hole too much, but it's because of a lot of reasons. One of those is that American workers want to be paid livable wages. It's a craft that requires skill (learned) and ability (natural talents). That costs money. China has a much larger labor pool to tap into and has an artificially devalued currency to make it even more inviting for offshore investments in manufacturing. Compound this with investment in high technology that does not require the laborious handfitting of generations past, and you end up with a very nice knife at a substantial savings.

Taking the big bad communist boogeyman out of the equation, it works out well for a lot of people from a purely capitalist point of view. The US manufacturer can produce high quality product at an affordable price. The Chinese worker finds themselves in good, steady work. The knife buyer spends less money for comparable quality. Manufacturer= Worker= Buyer= Happy. Divorced from politics, that's successful capitalism.

Wait, that doesn't seem full on fair, right? Capitalism shouldn't be so black and white. What about the American worker? What about the manufacturer who either produces stateside or is now competing with a reputable Chinese competitor or worse a Chinese competitor who uses gray market tactics to counter compete with the US manufacturers designs? Well, now we have stumbled upon on one of the reasons for those "evil" MAP policies everyone likes to growl "Let the market decide!" through frothy gritted teeth.

It's a global economy. History has proven that isolation to globalism works against economic growth. China is top dog in manufacturing because they have lots of capital in the forms of LOTS of workers and a government that will stack the deck to retain what they can. The thing is that its not sustainable forever. Chinese wages are going up. Chinese standards of living are increasing. Devaluing the currency isn't working and the country has shown the worst growth period in over a decade. At some point, the market WILL decide.

That said, I'm about quality. I buy a lot of ZT knives. That's not so much because of their county of origin but because they cost a lot of money and I can handle them locally first before I buy. I have NO problem with a Chinese Spyderco. I will also say that much of Boker's Chinese line is comparable if not superior to their German stuff. So for me, it's not about price. If a particular item is made better in China than in Connecticut, I'm going to by the Chinese version. A price savings is just gravy. I'm not in this hobby to save money.

That last sentence is so true.....

I have also heard that China is actually looking for places to manufacture things for even cheaper than the cost of doing so in China, including knives.

Also WE knives has the largest knife factory in the world at their disposal. The information didn’t specify how much larger it is than say the second largest knife factory; but I image it makes a large difference in the ability to lower prices.

 

[marcinek]

Yes I have been posting on B.F. for a month now.
At what point in any of my posts was I political?
As far as posting the American flag in my post, it directly pertains to the O.P.’s question. This is an opinion thread. If you don’t have an opinion don’t post.

Who said you made a political post?

You asked

It’s not okay to ask opinions on a forum? Isn’t that the point of a forum to ask opinions and have a collective base of information?

Why does it matter what people post on the internet?

Lmao

It's not ok to discuss political opinions here. Its what the Politics Subforum is for.

As for my opinion about the source of the knives I buy, you may have missed this

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...ife-is-made-i-do.1638475/page-3#post-18732622

 

[MittenStateMashers]

Very true indeed. The same is true in these threads with "patriotism"...as in "Well I don't buy Chinese knives because I'm patriotic."

Supporting a specific economy over any other economies is not being patriotic or political it is a stance that directly answers the O.P.’s question. In no way is it racist or patriotic. It is only a personal choice. Stop being so offended because others don’t agree with you’re personal choice.

 

[bubbaskyjacker]

You may have missed it but the topic itself almost immediately became a topic.

As for my statement, the argument that buying a Chinese phone is OK but buying a Chinese knife isn't, because you need a cell phone doesn't really hold water...you don't need a cell phone.

I actually do need a cell phone - wish I didn’t.

Do you need a car, Do you need a house, do you need a job, do you need anything really ??? Nope. A little bit of food some water , hopefully covered shelter. No one really needs any modern items. Stop trying to be an intellectual troll it’s not working. Thanks for your input keep the comments toward what you do, not what I do.

I don’t really need a knife - so then I can be more picky with how I spend my money. Hence employing folks that live in America and pay taxes to a state or county my cousin may live In.

I also like the idea of following the local makers and creating relationships.

 

[jill jackson]

There's a couple of reasons, my first choice is to buy American made knives. Being able to trace the history of the maker/company is interesting to me. I grew up with Kershaw, still but them even though they're not an American owned company anymore. And then there's the unsettling thought in my mind that when I buy a foreign made product, am I also condoning that countries regard to the way people are treated?

The early Kershaws mostly were made in Japan.

 

[MittenStateMashers]

It is okay to discuss knives here in GKD. I see you have been here a month. You may have not noticed that.

If you want to discuss politics or what you think of China or the Chinese take it else where.

Political Forum might be good for you. May have not noticed that either.

You said if I want to talk politics take it elsewhere, that a political forum would be good for me.

You imply that I made a political post.

 

[jceckrosh]

There are $150 dollar knives? I've been soooooo overpaying....

 

[marcinek]

Do you need a car, Do you need a house, do you need a job, do you need anything really ??? Nope.

There is no iPhone made in America, thus it is the only choice.

 

[bubbaskyjacker]

I see there are some folks who are stirring the pot trying to be kewl an retorical. So this thread may no be long for the world.

I just wanted to know if people make knife buying choices $150-200+ based on country of origin - China specifically.

Because at $200 you have many options of what and where you can buy.

 

[marcinek]

Supporting a specific economy over any other economies is not being patriotic or political it is a stance that directly answers the O.P.’s question. In no way is it racist or patriotic. It is only a personal choice. Stop being so offended because others don’t agree with you’re personal choice.

Again, you are missing the point. Arguing that that not buying Chinese is patriotic is merely a "...card in an attempt to shut down opinions that they simply do not like" as danbot mentioned.

You will start to see that used over and over as you have been here a while. Probably happens in every thread like this, and they happen a couple times a month.

 

[bubbaskyjacker]

deleted

 

[marcinek]

I see there are some folks who are stirring the pot trying to be kewl an retorical. So this thread may no be long for the world.

I just wanted to know if people make knife buying choices $150-200+ based on country of origin - China specifically.

Because at $200 you have many options of what and where you can buy.

Then why point out

....Buuuuuuut they are made in China, profits go to China. From state sponsored corporate espionage to pollution to human rights violations and the biggest reason - ITS NOT AMERICA!!

 

[marcinek]

Kick rocks and upgrade to a paying membership.

I was unaware that was a requirement of participating in a discussion in GKD. Could you link to that rule for me?

 

[danbot]

Very true indeed. The same is true in these threads with "patriotism"...as in "Well I don't buy Chinese knives because I'm patriotic."

Far be it from me to imply that someone else is unpatriotic based solely on the products they choose to buy.

 

[marcinek]

Far be it from me to imply that someone else is unpatriotic based solely on the products they choose to buy.

Oh I am not trying to imply you had. I'm just saying that both

"Well you're racist." and
"Well you're not patriotic."

are both cards typically played in these threads.

In fact, in essence, these threads are typically merely those two claims made over and over. We could come up with a Chinese Knife Tread Bot Generator to take care of these and them we could all just move on.

 

[ourgon]

It's hard to swallow but China is better and better from year to year. I know that you guys have sentiment to "made in USA" stamp on knife but rest of the world just done their math. You want to win that race? Stop selling more and more expensive knives without increasing quality.

Personally most of my production folders are USA made, but I think it may change in future because what I wrote - knives are getting more and more expensive without better QC.

 

[danbot]

Oh I am not trying to imply you had. I'm just saying that both

"Well you're racist." and
"Well you're not patriotic."

are both cards typically played in these threads.

In fact, in essence, these threads are typically merely those two claims made over and over. We could come up with a Chinese Knife Tread Bot Generator to take care of these and them we could all just move on.

Some people also start these threads with the implication that American companies are greedy and ripping off consumers because, "hey, look what I can get from this Chinese company ( or a clone ) for half the price of (insert American company)'s knife".