Does Knife Origin Matter to You?

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'Merica first, but in no particular order..... Taiwan, Japan, Europe, Central America countries and South American countries are acceptable. if price points match quality, etc. last is chyna for me.

also in before the lockdown....
 
Origin matters to me , but more for practical aspects like : function , performance and price , rather than political concerns .

But I am always happiest if I can buy USA, without sacrificing my main criteria of value .
 
In theory origin is not super critical to me, but if you looked at my collection, it is 90% USA, almost 10% Canada, one Russian, and one knife who origin is "undisclosed Asia". So I don't make purchasing decisions driven by origin, but I seem to have some consistent habits.
 
Not critical to me as long as the quality is there, Most of my folders are us made but i own some from, Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, France, South Africa, Italy, El Salvador, Finland, Sweden and Canada.
The vast majority of my kitchen knives are from Japan
 
There are certain counties of origin, I don't (and would not) buy from. My go to is US. Just seems easier to deal with if I ever had a problem, and I want to support US craftsmen. Everything I own is from the US or South Africa- like front flippers from there. Money may determine if I buy a knife, but not where it comes from.
 
I prefer to buy made in the USA and I’d be a hypocrite to say don’t buy made in China since I’ve bought a kizer and made in China Gerber for myself as well as a civivi for my girlfriend because they had the perfect knife I had in mind for her, I absolutely try to avoid made in China, and as of last year, no made in Russia either, even though I do own a (possibly) Russian made knife, though that was gifted to me before the war started.
 
All of my knives came from: USA. Japan. Germany. Switzerland.

Outside of that. Case by case basis. I do not own Chinese or Taiwan.

Taiwan, is a maybe. China. No.

Yes. It matters a lot to me.
 
Bastler said:
Since knives are a discretionary expenditure, I'm particular about the country of origin. Other things that I buy, I can't be that selective.
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Exactly.

USA first.

Russia: pass
China: I *might* grab a Chinese Kirshaw if I was traveling and didn’t hve an alternative. Otherwise hard NO.
Pakistan; nope.

Everywhere else: yes.
 
Actually, the country of manufacture is not so decisive, but the place of purchase is. For example, aliexpress and dhageta are places I NEVER buy from, because for example ALL ESEE and Extrema Ratio knives are fake products and probably 99.9% of other western brands as well.
 
My preferences are for knives made in the Americas, Europe, Japan, or Taiwan. It's going to be a case by case basis though. There are those fantastic looking knives made in Pakistan that aren't overly expensive and people buying them have some horror stories. Sometimes when you're looking for knives by specific designers, you end up finding their stuff being made in China. There are some native Chinese brands that make high quality products, but many US brands who get stuff done in China have serious issues with the oversight of quality control. There are some American brands I steer clear of because almost everything they sell are gas station knives or they've taken a big dip in quality control in recent years.
 
For me, not at all, I've had a bowies made from Tibet, USA, and India. Folders usually are China and USA. Look I like Civivi folding button locks and Midgards Messer's folding knives so I'm not going to apologize for that. I like their knives and I like their brands, they work great for me. End of the day, if a company makes quality product that I like and I would like to add their stuff to my EDC I'm picking it up, because getting the job done is more important to me than whatever political thing everyone else wants to get on about.
 
My theoretical ranking of ideal knife origin places would have to be:

1.) USA
2.) El Salvador (due to familial heritage)
3.) Nordic countries
4.) Western Europe
5.) Eastern Europe
6.) Japan
7.) Taiwan

China is not on that list for me. I would take Pakistani knives before I took Chinese.


In reality, that ranking doesn’t mean a whole lot. I pretty much just get everything from here in the USA. All my favorite custom makers are here, as well as most of my favorite knife companies.
 
If I buy a knife, I also buy the company/manufacturer. If I buy a Spyderco for example, I know that QC and diligence will be good, if not great. Then the coo does not factor into my decision.

I started to become interested in Cold Steel, but when GSM bought CS, my interest just vanished. Even if GSM would manufacture all their stuff in the US, they are not a company I trust.

When KABAR made the long anticipated Becker folder in China, I was very disappointed as it looked like a money grab and not like the folder they could/should have made with the name Becker attached to it.

So the coo is always a part of the equation, but not the main factor.
 
I pay attention to the country of origin of my knives but not that much

Chinese knives are fun but I get bored by there designs
As time goes I have accepted that I connect with some brands and I have come to a point my collection is limited to some brands only

At the moment it is mainly USA and Europe made knives

For folders (90% of my collection) I focus on CRK, Koenig, Hinderer and Emerson,
I also have some TRM, Spartan, Protech, a couple of Spyderco and pile of victorinox :)

I like these brands for their products, their history and their customer support

As always there are exception and I have a couple of WE Banter. I like this little knife a lot :)
 
Sean Yaw said:
In theory origin is not super critical to me, but if you looked at my collection, it is 90% USA, almost 10% Canada, one Russian, and one knife who origin is "undisclosed Asia". So I don't make purchasing decisions driven by origin, but I seem to have some consistent habits.
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For curiosity's sake, what in the world is "undisclosed Asia"? If it's undisclosed it could be anywhere, no?And Asia isn't even a country.
 
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