Knife Makers Moving to China??

T

texasfineknives

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Can anyone direct me to a list of knife makers that have moved to China for example Kissing Crane. What other companies have moved?
 
gerber has 90% of their knives made in china.
buck also has alot of china mades. (which are pretty good knives for the $$$$$)
there are probably alot more wich i cant think of right now but im sure another member can help.
 
I don't think they moved to China but my last Buck knife was made in China.
 
Yeah, there's a much shorter list of those who havent. Even spyderco, benchmade, and buck make a signifigant number overseas now. Or do you mean the ones that have moved all their production overseas?
 
udtjim said:
I don't think they moved to China but my last Buck knife was made in China.
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Nope... Still in Idaho :D

I don't know of any companies that have physically relocated their factories to China....
A lot are outsourcing for some products though..
 
I think most major US knife companies have at least a few of the knives in their line-up manufactured in China.

I think Case and Queen might be 100% US made.
 
Many haven't gone all the way to having their knives made in "China" (where the blood runs too deep for my goloshes). Benchmade stops just short at Taiwan with their Red Class, if I'm not mistaken. Buck still makes the vast majority of their knives in USA, especially the higher-end models.
 
It's not just the US makers who are out-sourcing to China. Marttiini of Finland also
has some of its line made in China.

Rich
 
StretchNM,

The Vex is made in China for Benchmade, but, yes, most of their overseas stuff is made in the Republic of China (Taiwan), not the People's Republic.
 
Buy American even if it costs a bit more . Here in NY we have lost two old names , Schrade and Camillus in the last few years in great part because of China. Remember that China is NOT our friend even though we do business with them.
 
mete said:
Buy American even if it costs a bit more . Here in NY we have lost two old names , Schrade and Camillus in the last few years in great part because of China. Remember that China is NOT our friend even though we do business with them.
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Everything is wrong with this post.

Buying American, for the sake of buying American only encourages the failing business models that did Schrade and Camillus in. It's like advocating welfare for people who are capable but unwilling to work. Supported (subsidized) American factories are discouraged from improving while foreign companies are given more incentive to improve. Guess who wins in the end?

Schrade and Camillus were dinosaurs who became extinct because the could not offer products at good value. I can personally say neither company, in the years before their demise, offered anything I wanted to buy. It seems I was not an isolated experience.

China is not our friend. Nor is China our enemy. China is a trading partner. Warm fuzzy feelings about that country, or lack therof, are irrelevant. Free trade is the key to prosperity and freedom. The sooner we all get that through our heads, the better.
 
Most companies have had knives made overseas for years, Gerber had its Silver Knights made in Japan in the 70s when the Yen was cheap and Spydeco has lots of its models made in Japan and now China.
 
udtjim said:
I don't think they moved to China but my last Buck knife was made in China.
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Buck augments their US production with Chinese production. Their Chinese knives are decent quality working knives- at decent prices. They still make a lot of knives in the US. The models that were always made here are still made here. The 30x line, which used to be contracted out to other makers (camillus for one) is now made in house IIRC). Buck recently built an expanded production facility in Post Falls, ID. They have no plans of moving production oversees. Having a value, quality, import line helps improve their customer base- many more people buying traditional little Bucks to put in their pocket. It definetely helps improve the number of traditionals in sporting goods store counters as well. This isn't Bucks first imported line. They have had SAK's rebranded by Wenger in the 90's and also imported models from Japan before.

example Kissing Crane.
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As I recall, many of their knives are still made in Europe as well. Some models are still German, others were moved to Italy, and yet others China.
 
Rich S said:
It's not just the US makers who are out-sourcing to China. Marttiini of Finland also
has some of its line made in China.

Rich
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And their Rappalla fillet knife sheaths have been made in Estonia ( a former Soviet state) for the last 4 or 5 years at least. Most of their line is still Finnish.
 
Also, Ontario makes the Ontario Spec line in China (at least my 101 is). Very decent quality. The Chinese are capable of making whatever qualtiy the contracting company wants.
 
There is no free trade here. Chine exchange rate is set by communist government the way that dollar cost more yuans then it suppose to, based on real free trade economy. This is why Chinese goods cost in dollars much less then American goods - simple free market rule. I bet that with fair "free trade" rate for yuan made in America products will be cheaper then Chinese.

US have to raise inflation to lower dollar and make American products cheaper for outside World, while in China this is matter of Central Commity of Communist Party ruling.

Lower then real rate does not affect China too much because they does not buy too much from outside World - only oil and sophisticated weapons. Their economy was build by Russian with same "surrounded camp" mentality to produce everything inside. With this kind of economy exchange rate may be set to anything.

At some point Stalin sad - "Let Rouble cost three Dollard, Soviet money should be better then American!" I guess it was huge mistake - he should say let it be ten Roubles for one Dollar! And then all production from United States moves to Soviet Union...

So I am buying made in China things only if I can not find in reasonable time same made in US (or not China).

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Buying Chinese supports not only a Communist Gov't but an economy where worker health and safety ,the environment and the health of buyers [lead coated toys] is ignored.
 
shecky said:
Everything is wrong with this post.

Buying American, for the sake of buying American only encourages the failing business models that did Schrade and Camillus in. It's like advocating welfare for people who are capable but unwilling to work. Supported (subsidized) American factories are discouraged from improving while foreign companies are given more incentive to improve. Guess who wins in the end?

Schrade and Camillus were dinosaurs who became extinct because the could not offer products at good value. I can personally say neither company, in the years before their demise, offered anything I wanted to buy. It seems I was not an isolated experience.

China is not our friend. Nor is China our enemy. China is a trading partner. Warm fuzzy feelings about that country, or lack therof, are irrelevant. Free trade is the key to prosperity and freedom. The sooner we all get that through our heads, the better.[/QUOTE

Shecky I believe in free trade as long as the playing field is level and its not. To say schrade and camillus went out of business because they didnt offer products anyone wanted is being very naive. I buy american, japanese and some of the time tiawanese because of the quality. You get what you pay for fellas.
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Actually, since china has some 2 trillion in US bonds, we should be thanking them for keeping our entire economy from collapsing.
 
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