German made knives

timsclips

timsclips

Joined
Nov 27, 2007
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I wasn't sure where to post this so I thought I would try under traditional. Was there ever a time that "made in Germany" meant a superior product then made in the USA? Seems like around 1950 to mid 70's a German made hunting knife was held up as superior to a knife made in the USA, but I am going by what others have indicated not anything tangible. Was the steel used by the Solingen manufacturers in any way better than what was used by Case, Queen, Walden-Schrade or Camillus?
Puma from this period is considered very collectable, was the quality of fit and finish and materials really that much better than Case from the same time period?
Any comments would be appreciated.
 
This is better suited for "General" knife discussion where you will get a variety of perspectives.
 
Germany used to be famous for it's steel (Kruppstahl) and was up there with England at one time as producers of the best steel products in the world. I think their ores mostly came from the Scandinavian countries and were of the highest quality for that time. After WWII, the USA pretty much kicked their butts -at least until China, Japan and Korea took over.

Earlier German products were famous for their quality as well as the expertise of their craftsman. I think they also introduced some of the first stainless steel sports knives. As these people died off or retired, there are fewer examples to gain fame. Germany now concentrates on other major export items, but Solingen still has that reputation for quality steel cutlery. Kitchen cutlery seems to be the biggest sellers over sporting knives though.
 
Back in the old days Swedish knives were made from steel milled in Sweden, German knives from German steel, US knives made from US steel, Japanese knives from Japanese steel etc.
Nowadays knives are produced in country A, with steel steel from country B, for a company in country C and sold in country D.

Fallkniven knives were initially made in Germany as well.
 
The Germans need to, and finally are, producing better quality knives. My Case Sodbuster has it all-over the German made Soddies. And I ain't picken on the Germans! Mom was from Regensburg! :)
 
German made Chef knives and kitchen cutlery in general are better than the U.S made counterparts. Any tool made by Solingen is suberb.
 
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