I Was Wrong About WE Knives

[allenC]

So carrying a tool that's made in a certain foreign country has the ability to make you feel like a "sell out". Do you hear yourself lol. And you carry tools for "pride". Views of the narrow minded and undereducated...

I would understand if you dont want to carry a chinese made knife if from your experience they were bad.

But saying that when you see the words made in china it makes you feel like a sell out... I haven't laughed so hard in a while XD

Calling a fellow forum member "narrow minded and undereducated" is a sure sign that you have already lost this argument.
Losers always resort to personal attacks.
"You a loser!", "you're ignorant!", "you're a fascist!", etc....blah, blah, blah...personal attacks just tells everyone that you have no argument and have an undefendable position.

Some men have no pride at all...no pride in themselves, in their family, in their friends, in their beliefs, in the causes they support, in the manufacturers they patronize...
And they don't understand pride of ownership...it is an alien concept to them and they will never understand it.

I suspect that you are one of these people.

Or you're just a shill for WE and/or other Chinese knife makers.

 

[King of the Cheese]

If I had the choice between 2 identical knives, only differing in either made in the USA or made in China and the price (USA $400 and China $200), and I really loved the knife....YES! I would spend the extra $200 dollars and buy the USA made knife.
And every time I used that knife, or showed it to friends and family, I would have great pride in doing so.
I would be a bit ashamed to show my family and friends that I was carrying a Chinese made knife.

Buy as I stated before...some folks are buying purely on price.

Another way to put it...

2 identical knives, but one is made in China by WE and one is made in the USA by CR Knives...and they are the same price.
Would you still buy the Chinese made WE over the USA made Chris Reeve?

You’re still making this a “country of origin” issue without presenting facts about quality issues or fit and finish concerns. This thread isn’t a political argument or discussion about moral conundrums... it’s a discussion about WE knives.

 

[Lance Leon]

Losers always resort to personal attacks.

 

[Lee D]

And every time I used that knife, or showed it to friends and family, I would have great pride in doing so.
I would be a bit ashamed to show my family and friends that I was carrying a Chinese made knife.

I don’t give two shots what people think about the junk I carry around in my pockets.

 

[BloodyDonnie]

Calling a fellow forum member "narrow minded and undereducated" is a sure sign that you have already lost this argument.
Losers always resort to personal attacks.
"You a loser!", "you're ignorant!", "you're a fascist!", etc....blah, blah, blah...personal attacks just tells everyone that you have no argument and have an undefendable position.

Some men have no pride at all...no pride in themselves, in their family, in their friends, in their beliefs, in the causes they support, in the manufacturers they patronize...
And they don't understand pride of ownership...it is an alien concept to them and they will never understand it.

I suspect that you are one of these people.

Or you're just a shill for WE and/or other Chinese knife makers.

I do understand pride... Pride like buying an expensive car you earned, or a trophy in a competition.

What I dont understand is how seeing made in china makes you feel like a sell out. Please do explain.

Yes I do understand the pride in ownership. Owning something extremely valuable or rare. Owning something others do not have or hard to obtain.

What is so prideful in owning a tool made in one country versus another? Are you the type of person proud of sticker collections or something?

And no, I'm not a shill for we or chinese made knives. If you see my posts, the majority of my knives are Benchmades and ZT's. All made in USA. But I dont feel pride for carrying something that hundreds of thousands of other people have in their pocket.

Do you feel like you're better than someone who is carrying a chinese knife because you're carrying an American knife?

 

[KingMC]

Discuss the knives, please, not the forum members.

 

[Mistman68]

I kind of get the pride comment. I had heard anecdotally that the Quiet Carry Waypoint was a Sebanza killer. I have both and while the QC is nice the thought that a foreign made knife could be compared to a replacement for the Sabenza is all kinds of wrong. Even if it were 'nicer' (and I'm sure there are some Chinese knives that are comparable), for me personally, I wouldn't take much pride in carrying it, I might carry it just as a knife, not as something to show off or brag about.

It's all about choices. I don't look at foreign made (ok, Chinese) knives as grails, I wouldn't spend as much on one as I would on a domestic knife. In fact in the last couple years I've actively been buying only domestics because I do want to feel some pride in what I'm carrying, I don't even look at the Chinese market anymore. My choice. I do have a few Reates and a We or 2 from my early days and I do like them but now I'd rather put my $$ toward US craftsmen and materials to help them grow and improve.

For the US designers using China to produce their knives, I get it. We don't have the infrastructure in the US to accommodate all the business and that leads to a cost incentive and more predictable time-line overseas. My problem is the only one making $$ off that model is the designer and the Chinese co. that's making the knives. No local craftsman and fewer domestic materials. A lot of the $$ going into Chinese knives, knifemakers, materials and infrastructure goes right to a communist regime. There's no way the Chinese gov isn't skimming off these guys, business practices in China are pretty unregulated and near the top in any of these 'private' companies is a Gov official who tells them how it's going to be.

I like America and just feel a lot better leaving my $$ at home. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. Even when I hear a bunch of hype about a new, awesome, 'gotta have it' knife, if it's Chinese it's not for me.

 

[BloodyDonnie]

If I had the choice between 2 identical knives, only differing in either made in the USA or made in China and the price (USA $400 and China $200), and I really loved the knife....YES! I would spend the extra $200 dollars and buy the USA made knife.
And every time I used that knife, or showed it to friends and family, I would have great pride in doing so.
I would be a bit ashamed to show my family and friends that I was carrying a Chinese made knife.

Buy as I stated before...some folks are buying purely on price.

Another way to put it...

2 identical knives, but one is made in China by WE and one is made in the USA by CR Knives...and they are the same price.
Would you still buy the Chinese made WE over the USA made Chris Reeve?

That is another pointless argument.

If they are identical knives and the same price it wouldn't matter where they are made.

But then you mention manufacturers. I would pick CRK but not because they're made in the USA. If CRK was a Chinese manufacturer and WE was an American manufacturer, I would still choose CRK. It doesnt matter where they are made because who gives a crap about where your knives are made.

You say you feel pride when you show your friends and family your knife and it is made in USA. If you feel so much pride in something so irrelevant and meaningless it means you probably dont have anything else to be proud of lol

 

[Mistman68]

I stand by my observation of narrow minded and undereducated.

Wow, that' pretty rude. Sorry you felt that was necessary.

 

[BloodyDonnie]

Wow, that' pretty rude. Sorry you felt that was necessary.

Yea I removed that, you're right, it is rude and unnecessary.

But seriously, that guys talks as if he's been living under a rock the whole time

 

[Monofletch]

I guess that’s what makes ‘Merica Great- we can buy whatever we want.

We had been using thinner blade stock and hollow grinds to produce some great slicers.

I want to see more from Hydra Designs!!

 

[soc_monki]

You say you feel pride when you show your friends and family your knife and it is made in USA. If you feel so much pride in something so irrelevant and meaningless it means you probably dont have anything else to be proud of lol

I get what he's saying when he feels pride for carrying an American made knife. Pride in knowing where your dollars went. Pride in knowing you're supporting our economy and keeping Americans in jobs. Pride in a tool that, if you have a problem you can call the company and get warranty support.

What's wrong about that? It matters to some, obviously doesn't to you, but that doesn't make it irrelevant. So you don't care. You do you. Spend your money where you want.

I own Chinese knives as well, but I probably won't be buying any more for the foreseeable future. I just don't like most of the designs, and Kershaw is starting to ask too much money for Chinese knives, D2 or not. That and other reasons.

So just let people enjoy what they like and let them have pride in it. If you don't that's fine. If you want to buy Chinese knives that's fine.

 

[King of the Cheese]

I am carrying a Liong Mah Lanny’s flipper and it is probably the most well made knife I’ve ever owned.

The proof is in the pudding. CoO doesn’t have any impact on quality. Price might... but not country. Maybe we can stop pretending it does.

 

[BillZee]

WE is very good knife maker.....I bought one and like it....... I recently made the decision to buy from USA first. Then any country in the world but China. I will buy Tiawan. Is it political.....yes.

 

[OrangeBlueOrangeBlue]

I dispute this claim.

If an American knife maker made a knife identical to a WE knife, but the American one costs 400.00 dollars, while the WE costs 200.00 dollars, which one would you buy?
Remember, they are both identical other than the price...would you pay double for the American made knife?

If you still choose the WE knife, then YES, you are buying because of price.

A defense of domestic manufacturing premised on an American company cloning a Chinese knife has got to be a BladeForums first.

These WE's cost more than most ZT's, but fit/finish and actions, are absolutely spectacular. I can no longer afford to splurge on such niceties, so they will most likely stay in my possession as long as possible.

Even the private label WE made knives on my shelf have been pretty perfect.

And my only (so far) Civivi is pretty darn sweet too.

Now will admit that the baby kukri is more toy than knife to me. But makes a very cool letter opener.

And even though it was my cheapest WE Knife, presentation from the factory was just as spectacular.

Who did the scales on the Gent?

Are either of those from Massdrop colabs?

The Keen is a Massdrop knife. EZC is from Monterrey Bay Knives.


I’ve got 4 WE knives, 3 of which are American designs (Laconico Keen, FF Gent and Mini Archbishop). Most of their in-house design isn’t my thing, but their quality is on par with the top tier of American production companies.

 

[marchone]

The Keen is a Massdrop knife. EZC is from Monterrey Bay Knives.

No, you’re wrong. The bottom knife is a custom Laconico EZC with Ray’s hollow grind. I also have an MBK EZC clone. It has a full flat grind. There’s no comparison between those two knives. But the Keen compares favorably to the custom EZC in many ways. The Keen is made by WE, the subject of this thread. The MBK EZC is made by Kizer.

 

[Quapukulu]

A defense of domestic manufacturing premised on an American company cloning a Chinese knife has got to be a BladeForums first.

HAHAHAHAHHHHAAHHAAH!

It is worthy of establishing a forum holiday.

Whatever people want to buy is cool. As long as the companies give good customer service, honor right to repair/warranty, and are honest about location/materials/intellectual property, then they're fine in my book. With transparent information, we are all adults that can make our own decisions.

The best we can do is stay informed and contribute to GBU as much as possible. If one of us runs into a bad seller/manufacturer, then just let everyone know. I'm sure if country of origin is important to some folks, we can use the massive amounts of forum info to make something like a "Most Insert Country Here Knife" system or chart. Kind of like for cars:

As far as I'm concerned, WE ( $150-300 ) and Civivi ( $50-100) are very high quality and competitive for their price range. Some early designs from Chinese companies ( not specifically WE ) seems to have come from designers watching 80's action flicks and going, " Oh, so that's what Americans like!". Just pick a design you like and go for it. You can never have enough knives.

 

[grybsh7]

marchone Has MBK used Kizer for all of their knives?

 

[bflying]

Who did the scales on the Gent?



.

I did the Gent scales. Tried my hand at some different G10 options. Also, recently I've been on a bit of a kick trying to learn a little silversmithing, jewelry making. Mostly using copper, and some investment bullion silver that I purchased at the very top of the market some years back. Because the value since purchase had been sitting nearly half what I paid, I just decided to play with it instead of storing. Some of it I've tried melting and pouring into different ingot shapes. But for the scales, I needed to hammer out my own sheet metal from the ingot pours. On my little 15 pound anvil, that took for-evvv-errrr. But I managed to get it pretty thin, and finished it off with the texture from a checkered faced roofing hammer.

Looking back, I obviously should have just started with some coinage for the sheet. But nooooo. For some reason I got it in my head that I needed to make it out of my own 1/4" thick bar pours.

Did similar for the copper sheet, only I started out with a piece of copper pipe that I opened up. So not nearly as many hours required to hammer out the copper.

I ended up making one scale in silver, then the other out of copper, in an attempt to decided which I liked better. But since they took so long, I still haven't gotten around to finishing mates. So that knife continues to be used in it's bi-polar state.

My monster crucible.

I even tried my hand at making some US Quarter Mokume. But never really got any tight enough to be able to work from billet. Maybe some day. But currently only using a little propane torch, baby crucible whip, and tiny little anvil. Maybe someday I'll improve a bit.

 

[cchu518]

I'm quite happy to buy a Colorado made Spyderco or indeed a Maniago /Taiwan/Seki Spyderco. I'd avoid the Chinese ones, however; partly because they always have the most generic steel and partly because knives (once you've acquired one or two) are luxury items and I don't really associate China or Chinese goods with luxury. Clearly there is nothing inferior about their skills and manufacturing ability - but the sheer amount of garbage shipping out of China (stuff we asked them to make as cheaply as possible!) makes it really hard for their products to ever be as sexy as say the best Italian products. It's a prejudice, yes, and not one I'm too proud of, but it's there.

This kinda makes me chuckle having been a Ducati 750SS owner. The motorcycle was pure junk as compared to my Japanese made rice rockets. At the end of the day CNC machines are color blind. So are robotic assembly plants which might arguably make for more reliable cars. While I'm happy that my Toyota Highlander was assembled in Indiana it's not why I bought that car. It also didn't stop my wife from buying an AMG as her daily commuter car.

Having variety is great. I've been to some countries where there's like no joking around maybe 10 models of cars max wherever you go. A car is just transportation. The good ole US of A is a land of plenty and maybe even excess that its netizens can argue all day about what knives are best. I personally really enjoy the one WE knife that I have, it's designer is American, paid for his design and the blade steel was purchased from an American company as well. Not very different from the US made knives that I own as well. I could argue that Italians have very sexy designs but I wish they would have their manufacturing handled elsewhere. Case in point, the Ducati that I owned had brass brake bleeders that would sheer off after a few uses, brass...who does that?