Kershaw knives sold in big box stores...

[shecky]

It's pretty common for people to make this assertion without any backing at all, with various brands. But it's clear that Kershaw has done this at least in the case of the Shuffle. The change in the model number and clearly marking the steel type is a nice offering of honesty. Regardless, it is the same knife otherwise.

I have been curious about a run of clam packed Thistles that have turned up on some online vendors with an unusually low price, model KS3812WMX vs KS3812. Blade material is described simply as "stainless steel" rather than the usual 8cr13mov. Anyone got info on that one?

 

[shecky]

It would be disastrous to a company that wanted to stay in business to market lesser quality knives at a store more people shop in. They soon would have the same reputation as Gerber (even though Gerber does have a few good things). However, a lot of these Big Box stores get in the cheap Chinese made Kershaws, mainly, along with the good American made models. So, buyer beware.

It might be disastrous. Or it might be a sane business plan. Buck has done this, but has been careful to walk a very fine line. Many of their core customers took a dim view of Buck knives with "China" written on the blade, despite the knives being quite good quality. It caused enough ruckus that Buck announced it would "onshore" several of the imports, and hinted at phasing out China made knives.

But I'm guessing the imports are profitable enough that they're really not that interested in really following through, as they continue to release new models made in China, and have downgraded their import slipjoints to lower quality steel to differentiate from their US made versions. Which was a pity, since the imports were quite well made, and come in varieties that simply are not offered in US made models.