Kershaw Lockbacks Made in China!!

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James0723 said:
And what percentage of the Chinese population has cars Esav? Furthermore what percentage of the car owners work in factories? It's only the small richer class that has the cars, like the factory owners, not the factory workers.

You call me ignorant but I'm telling it like it is, while you falsely try to paint Chinese factories as good places to work that pay living wages.
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While I’m unsure what this has to do with Kershaw knives from China they have overtaken the US as the largest market. 872,900 cars where sold there in June alone and are expected to sell around 6,000,000 this year. This is due to an emerging middle class in China (here’s where I tie knives back in). I wouldn’t be surprised if this emergence of a middle class was do at least in part to the shift to higher quality manufacturing, like the good stuff coming from Spyderco, Kershaw and the like.

Its difficult to avoid the fact that its unlikely high quality knives like we’re seeing from Kershaw and Spyderco are the product of abused slave labor.
 
J.Mattson said:
While I’m unsure what this has to do with Kershaw knives from China they have overtaken the US as the largest market. 872,900 cars where sold there in June alone and are expected to sell around 6,000,000 this year. This is due to an emerging middle class in China (here’s where I tie knives back in). I wouldn’t be surprised if this emergence of a middle class was do at least in part to the shift to higher quality manufacturing, like the good stuff coming from Spyderco, Kershaw and the like.

Its difficult to avoid the fact that its unlikely high quality knives like we’re seeing from Kershaw and Spyderco are the product of abused slave labor.
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But that will likely go away in the future as the US economy gets worse as we are China's biggest Importer of goods. ;)
 
First of all, America didn't invent the sweatshop. The Industrial Revolution began in England, where they had sweatshops before America had factories. Harsh working conditions existed even before that, but this discussion seems to be shaping up as a study of the development of capital. I probably need a way to split this off from the original topic.

Manufacturers have many ways to increase production, productivity, AND employee satisfaction. Improved technology is a classic winner. The ultimate example of this is the emergence of whole white collar industries.

But if your college education leaned heavily on parlor pink Marxist professors, you probably don't have the tools to go much further with this.
 
tirod3 said:
I worked for two years minimum 5 - 10 hour days and alternating Saturdays in a plant with no heat or a/c, earning wages at 72% of the American average, in a community with a cost of living at 87%. I am supporting a family of four children, my wife doesn't work.

Don't cry me the blues about Chinese sweatshop labor, it's alive and well right here in America, and run by all those caring people living in McMansions, driving Escalades, and generally bullying their way through life by demanding service from everyone. That's why the average American could care less if the product comes from a foreign country - PRICE is the only guideline.

The American knife industry is actually at a high point of actually dominating their own market historically. Even in the heyday of the Bowie, Sheffield England owned this market. And those workers were grateful for a wage.

You do what you have to when you're part of the masses who were not born spoiled with a silver spoon in your mouth.
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That's why the average American could care less if the product comes from a foreign country - PRICE is the only guideline

This is one long winded thread. :D

I really like what Tirod3 had to say here , ain't it the truth !!

That said , the Kershaw Chill looks quite nice , cannot wait to get my paws on one !
 
Esav Benyamin said:
First of all, America didn't invent the sweatshop. The Industrial Revolution began in England, where they had sweatshops before America had factories. Harsh working conditions existed even before that, but this discussion seems to be shaping up as a study of the development of capital. I probably need a way to split this off from the original topic.

Manufacturers have many ways to increase production, productivity, AND employee satisfaction. Improved technology is a classic winner. The ultimate example of this is the emergence of whole white collar industries.

But if your college education leaned heavily on parlor pink Marxist professors, you probably don't have the tools to go much further with this.
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That's funny, it was the opposite really, I was pointing out the difference in how things really are to how they should be ideally spinning off of Seps posts.

That's the reason I won't ever be in Corp Management because I don't buy into the Logic of the Corps I worked for in the past. Don't want anything to do with it because they ride off of making their workers suffer.

Now if I could ever get into a good Company maybe it would be different, only time will tell.

I was always like this:

Show me a better way and give me the tools to do it and I will take it from there no problem.

Cut my help back and demand more out of what's left and we are going to have a problem and they can fire me if they want I don't care, I will work some place else. ;) I have been fired for just that a number of times, I refuse to work people like slaves because I care about the people under me.
 
tirod3 said:
I worked for two years minimum 5 - 10 hour days and alternating Saturdays in a plant with no heat or a/c, earning wages at 72% of the American average, in a community with a cost of living at 87%. I am supporting a family of four children, my wife doesn't work.

Don't cry me the blues about Chinese sweatshop labor, it's alive and well right here in America, and run by all those caring people living in McMansions, driving Escalades, and generally bullying their way through life by demanding service from everyone. That's why the average American could care less if the product comes from a foreign country - PRICE is the only guideline.

The American knife industry is actually at a high point of actually dominating their own market historically. Even in the heyday of the Bowie, Sheffield England owned this market. And those workers were grateful for a wage.

You do what you have to when you're part of the masses who were not born spoiled with a silver spoon in your mouth.
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I have been there and done that when I was young, worked in a factory making crap wages while the owner got fat off of our sweat, built him and both of his kids new homes and cars all the while taking about how they weren't making and money. Working conditions were horrid there.

Another one, owner of a Corp drained it dry buying a Ranch, a $150,000 tractor to mow his grass with, expensive cars and spent a total over $100,000 on his daughters weddings, bought both of them houses etc. The company failed because he drained it dry putting over 1000 people out of work.

And the list goes on with Big Corps I worked for.
 
Cold Steel had some knives made in China, but moved production to Taiwan. Not sure why though.

They also have knives made in Japan, the higher end ones are all made in Japan.

They offer very high quality knives.

They don't have knives made in the US anymore.
 
it's my opinion that given the same material and enough funds the chinese will not only equal American quality,they surpass our products.i remember what the japanese did to our auto industry.they made better cars.it's all about labor,in china they say;want to eat do this& do it better.given identical raw materials & enough profit they will surpass our best efforts.remember they invented black powder,silk,& porcelain.this is,nt a desirable situation,it's the future.
 
The phrase he's looking for IS "could care less" as ungrammatical as it may seem.
It's slang for "(ask me if I) could care less".
 
Esav Benyamin said:
The phrase he's looking for IS "could care less" as ungrammatical as it may seem.
It's slang for "(ask me if I) could care less".
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So he actually meant to say:
"That's why the average American ask me if I could care less if the product comes from a foreign country - PRICE is the only guideline" ?

I think not. This phrase has been used incorrectly by so many, for so long, that many people believe it to be correct.

Even if "ask me if I could care less" was a popular phrase (it isn't, a Google search returned a whopping 3 results), it doesn't change the fact that the statement when read means the exact opposite of what the writer intended.

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No, he actually meant to say exactly what he did say, using the casual construction of colloquial speech. "Correct" is an interesting term, but in the linguistic sense it can only apply to formal discourse.

Notice too that Tostig is a Californian, not a Canadian. Some solecisms are taken more seriously in certain areas than in others.
 
Perhaps a stupid question but which steel is the edge made of on the new Volt? Is the Bohler or the CPM D2 the edge of the blade?
 
I'll add this, three decades ago one of my favorite knives was from a company called Kershaw. It was tortise shelled, had rounded edges, was thin, and it had a 3" spear pointed lock blade made of something called Kai steel. It was made in Japan and it was a very nice pocket knife that I could bring out of my suit pocket in an office environment and not raise any eyebrows because it was so pretty and inoffensive looking, it just couldn't be a weapon. :) At the same time I had no problem using it to gut a rabbit or perform similar duties. Sometime back in the 80s a girlfriend borrowed it and I still miss that knife.
 
I'd like to see more of the Blitz. CNC machined G10 can't be wrong.

As for Chinese knives, I really like my Vex. I think the TiN blade does a better job than the Tenacious.

There are companies who take a great regard to establishing quality and ensuring a better product. Lot's of us don't buy on price alone, if the product is going to be continually used and needed, we don't grab the cheapest piece of junk we can. We like some reliability in cars, appliances, and for a lot here, knives. Most of us don't rely on the $1.50 bucket knives at the hardware store checkout counter.

In the day, we bought Gerbers - and weren't really aware some came from that much disparaged source of really cheap junk. (JUNK - look it up - an oriental ship used in international trade even back in the 1800's when they frequented San Francisco.) Now Fiskars runs the show, the American made stuff doesn't seem to get as much publicity as the inexpensive 'Mart offerings. More than a few former Gerber owners became disillusioned along the way. For those needing an example of cost reduction and value engineering, Gerber/Fiskars appears it.

Moot point, imports have always been a significant portion of the American knife scene. I suspect even the original Bowie was made from imported British steel, a common trade item in the day. Even Lewis and Clark were largely supplied by Sheffield.

When American draws a line in the sand, we rely only on makers with a factory on American soil. It seems to reduce our dependence, and protects the logistical and transportation stream without stressing the military as much to do it. Nonetheless, the average American could care less - he only wants enough quality to get by.

Drive around our better suburbs during a city wide rummage sale, and you'll see the lawns filled with mowers, weed eaters, etc all needing a simple repair the owner can't even attempt. Taking it in for repair will cost as much as buying a new one, so they don't bother. It's quicker to go to Sears and grab another one. If quality was Job #1 at those factories, the engineers would be given veto power over the accountants, but I know for a fact that no longer happens. An acceptable failure rate and warranty costs can be cheaper. The bottom line is what counts.

While we're typing on our Chimerican computers, take a long think at what a truly US based labor rate would do to the price, and whether you could afford one then. Then imagine a Chinese built Jeep Cherokee 2500 4WD at less than $10,000. You could buy two for less than a new American pickup. Did we do the UAW a favor giving them GM?

Kershaws are nice, and following the American Tradition of bringing in imported products. After all, how many of us wear an American watch?
 
Yeap Esav is a smart dude , as we would say here in the Republik of California :D

After second and third looks at the Volt.... oh man... outta my price range for a while but man is that one impressive looking knife !!
 
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