Imperial Schrade Closed?

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This is a real shame -
since Schrade are supposed to be celebrating their 100th Anniversary -

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http://www.schradeknives.com/anniversary/index.php

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
Knife Outlet said:
Drew, that scenario would make American companies more profitable so they could do R&D etc. It would also increase the number of American jobs and raise wages and salaries. It would motivate companies to bring manufacturing back home in order to be price competitive. All of those things would be positive for our economy.

And, finally, pricing is always a function of supply and demand. American companies might raise prices but they wouldn't raise them past the point that would allow them to sell the products. Products aren't priced beyond the consumer's ability to pay. If they are, they disappear from the marketplace.

If we don't have something to sell in the international marketplace that equals the amount we buy from it, eventually, we'll lose the ability to buy from it. That's just common sense.
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Exactly. Positive impact on our economy in everything from labor, to shipping, manufacturing, construction, raw materials. That's not a possible side effect. It's already become a reality.
Yes, some costs will trickle down to consumers eventually, and that is true in every market, not just the steel industry, but to dwell on either the positive or negative while ignoring the other is painting a shallow picture with a broad brush.
The fact that the money is staying in this country rather than being funneled out of it is hardly negative to our economy.
Unfortunately, many people's window to the "big picture" is no bigger than their mirror (on many levels, not just this issue).
 
While passing through Spartanburg, SC yesterday I stopped off at Odom's Ace Hardware on the Asheville Highway (incredible knife selection, BTW) and saw their Schrade display. I felt a little nostalgic and bought these Old Timer and Uncle Henry stockman patterns. this entire situation is a real shame.
 
The loss of Schrade is sobering because it indicates that an American company that caters to everyday knife users cannot make it. We cannot overlook the impact of 9/11 and the general demonization of pocket knives. I recently read about President Bush attending a stockcar race and 400 pocket knives were confiscated. The local police did not know what to do wiith the knives because no one claimed them after the rally. How many of those people will never carry a knife again? They were probably afraid to claim them after the show, or else they have been acculturated into thinking they had no right to their property once the police take it. More and more people don't think a pocket knife is worth the trouble since there are more and more metal detectors and restricted areas. I know this being done in the name of security, but who really thinks that restrictions will disappear once they are established?

On another subject, politicians of both parties have been pushing opening of markets and globlization but it appears that all over the world, millions of people are being left behind. Even in India, which has seen a sudded rise in service jobs aimed at the West, the new economy only touches a few people. In the USA, we are supposed to be moving to service economy, but we loose that advantage if a computer engineer or x-ray technician can service us over the internet at a third or fifth of the going rate expected for such work in the USA. Even in education, long distance learning is threatening many campuses. I am not an isolationist, but the rhetoric of free trade often does not live up to the reality experienced by many people.
 
Knife Outlet said:
Yoohoo, Ilovetoolsteel. We aren't talking about price controls and we aren't talking about a period of time when manufacturing was growing in this country.
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Pay close attention here, I shouldn't have to explain this but here goes Tariffs on foreign products ARE PRICE CONTROLS! Government is artificially setting a minimum price for foreign product. The end result is twofold. 1, American producers will raise their prices and 2, American consumers will pay more, Regardless of whose product they buy.

I can't seem to get through. Unrelated conomic theory trumps common sense.
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There is nothing common sense about taking money from one consumer to benefit another. There is a name for this activity, PLUNDER!

Ah well, content yourselves with buying Chinese products until you run out money to buy them any more because our economy has been thrown on the international landfill. Live for today. Who cares about tomorrow.
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Your option is to tax ourselves into prosperity?
That is what you are suggesting with your tariff scheme. You are suggesting that if we tax ourselves more it will cause manufacturing to stay, create jobs and improve our standard of living. Of course the flip side of your coin is trade wars and runaway inflation, so after I decrease my income trough taxation, the money I have left is worthless.

If Tariffs are such a good idea, institute them on your website. Add 25% to your current price for all the foreign made product you sell and send that money to American companies like Schrade. Or better yet put your money where your mouth is, stop selling all foreign made product on your website.

I understand that liberty is a frightening concept for some people but ask yourself this question; Does one persons plight, misfortune or lack of judgement give them the right to lay claim to another's life to support them?
 
I don't think the knife market is shrinking because of 911. I think it is saturated. We are innundated with new knife designs. There are tons of online and brick and mortar knife retailers. Tons of knives are sold on HSN. If anything there are too many knives.

Schrade survived in the past because there was a lack of competition. Schrade did not innovate and they did not effectively market their knives. Even against the American competition, they could not compete. They got complacent. This is a dog eat dog world and you have to compete to survive. Old knife companies like Buck and Camillius are listening to their customers and are constantly innovating.

I always read about asian forum members buying American knives so if you have a good knife design, people from all of the world will buy it.

Schrade was rarely talked about on knife forums untill their demise.

Schrade should have done some soul searching instead of just pointing the finger at foreign knife companies.
 
Well, you never know what's gonna sell till you put it out there. Maybe they can rise from the ashes like some other American companies have. Some of the best scars on my hands are from Schrades. I hate to see 'em go under.
 
OK, toolsteel. We'll agree to disagree. You are now putting words in my mouth which never makes for an interesting debate. The course you prefer is the course we are taking at the moment. Perhaps I won't live long enough to see it bring down our economy.
 
Sal Glesser said:
It saddens my heart to hear of the end of Imperal Schrade.

Wally Gardiner, (president of Schrade) is a friend of mine. I know that he always did his best to keep the company going and the employees working. It was very important to him to be an American manufacturer and employ American workers. I don't think it's fair to say management or the town is to blame.

When the competition is making and selling product at 1/10th the price and the public is ignorant to long term effects, it's tough to be a manufacturer in America today.

I feel for all of the workers. :(


sal
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Sal,

I believe that Spyderco is proof that Scrade cannot blame their demise on Cheap Imports alone. The fact is that in a highly competitive environment Schrade was not able to adapt to the market as well as the more successful American Cutlery Companies.

I agree that it is sad and I feel bad for the workers but let's not ignore the company's weaknesses that contributed to the situation.
 
SDouglas said:
Sal,

I believe that Spyderco is proof that Scrade cannot blame their demise on Cheap Imports alone. The fact is that in a highly competitive environment Schrade was not able to adapt to the market as well as the more successful American Cutlery Companies.

I agree that it is sad and I feel bad for the workers but let's not ignore the company's weaknesses that contributed to the situation.
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SDouglas

I do not see how Spyderco a company selling moderate and high priced imported knives shows us anythng about Schrade. I think that companies usually fail for more than one reason, the silly reaction of the administration to 9/11 has played hell with the entire knife industry, not just Schrade.

Schrade will be back! some of the players may change but the company will come back!

A. G.
 
Hi AG. SDouglas is probably referring to our USA made models:

Native
Military
Chinook II
Paramilitary
Gunting
World Trade Center project
Lil Temperance
ATR
Dodo
Yojimbo
Spyderfly

I do agree that companies fail for a variety of reasons and 9/11 has certainly made it tough on most of us in the knife industry.

sal
 
In some ways this debate is very pertinent to us in Australia at the moment because our government has just entered a "free-trade" agreement with the US. It may mean cheaper knives for us but I doubt it. If you listent to our so called economic "experts" it will be good for the Australian economy. Personally I don't see how it can work in our favour - our manufacturing industry is certainly not going to have an impact on the american market - we might sell a bit more beef but we lose out in the sugar industry. So from our angle the boot is on the other foot US products will be cheaper here and we will probably lose jobs.

It appears to me that for the US knife industry to survive it must learn to compete with Asia. I don't see how any country can escape economic globalisation its just that some are going to come out better then the rest.
 
Big Bummer, Schrade was just getting around to producing things I liked. I bought a few of their folders back about 4 years and was unimpressed. But I really liked the X - Timer fixed blades they just came out with and was looking to buy another one. This sucks.
Lagarto
 
Who knows maybe this is a time of evolution in the industry, just like Case in the early days several smaller companies will rise from the ashes of Schrade to put the talent of the employees and designers to use and continue in the tradition of small guy getting his chance to shine.

Think of how many companies came from the family tree of Case, this might be a boost to the industry, by allowing the equipment and talent to reform and into a new nucleus that will bring new blood into the knife community. Everybody had to start somewhere, just like Sal and Blackie, and AG, they all had their start somewhere else.
 
In 1977 in Dallas, Texas at the World Knife Expo, at that time the largest
knife show in the world, as a somewhat cocky 23-year-old knife magazine editor, I was invited to dinner by Uncle Henry Baer, one of the owners of Schrade Cutlery. Throughout the evening I was transfixed by story after story he told of the early days of the cutlery business--and his constant referal to the knife industry as, "our family," as "our little business."
So we learn we have had a death in our little family.
At this point in my mind it doesn't matter why--maybe the analysis of why will be clearer later. If a family member passes it is tragic, whether they stupidly stepped into the path of an oncoming train or are taken from us in a manner totally out of their control.
No matter whether you ever carried a Schrade knife, liked them, didn't like them, competed with them, they are gone just the same, and for that alone it is a sad, sad day.

Bruce Voyles, Editor
Knives Illustrated
 
wow...this is so sad. My first scharde knife was a two bladed muskrat I received in 1975 from my dad.

Wow a company that truly made some beautiful knves (in their early years) is gone. This is really sad.

The comments about wal-mart true. pooeple want wan they want and they want it cheap (me inlcluded). We pretty much support this stuff when we shop at these places.
 
I hate to see folks lose their job, and I hate to see an American legend like Schrade pass away, but honestly this was Schrade's own doing.

I grew up owning Uncle Henry and Old Timer knives, but as I really started "getting into knives" I could not help but notice their shortcomings.

On most of their slipjoints the fit-and-finish could'nt compare with makers like Victorinox, Wenger, Buck, and even Case.
You had to look at about six knives to find one without gaps, burrs, uncentered blades.
The quality just could'nt compare to alot of other makers (Asian, European, and American).

They were slow to adopt new ideas like the pocket-clip and thumb-studs and better locks.

They did'nt offer much in blade-steel choices either.

Actually I cannot remember the last time I have recommended a Schrade to a friend looking for a really good knife.

I hate speaking ill of the dead, but it's the truth and other companies (Boker and Camillus especially) had best learn from Schrade's mistakes.

Allen.
 
Never had a problem with Schrade's quality; I always considered it a "honest" knife, in that you got a good knife for the price you paid for it. That is what I tell my customers; and, it you take care of it, it won't let you down.

The Sharpfinger was as basic as it gets, and is still a great knife for the money; and the price gets absolutely ridiculous, depending on where you buy/bought ity.

The "Golden Spike" is a classic hunting knife, with a quality sheath: I always have one in my showcase - Gonna' miss that one when it is gone.

My 2 cents worth..........
 
Yes, I agree the closing of Schrade was much more than competition from imports. Come on.....do you think all of us Old Timer owners are really going to buy some blister packed crap from China just because it says Old Timer?
Hell no. How sad that the legacy of this company is Happy 100TH Birthday....
You're Fired!
 
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