Knives Made in China thoughts?

OhShoot said:
China can tool up for anything made in the world.
Quality, or lack of it, is all in the specs supplied by the contractor.

- OS
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I think you are right. They seem to be capable of copying a lot of different products. If you give them a design to work from and specs, it saves them half of the work.
 
Some of the knives from China are very good, and they are rapidly learning how to manufacture better quality goods, similar to Japan in the 1960's and '70's.
 
DougB2 said:
OK, those that I may freely express due to the First Amendment to the US Constitution,
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This is a private forum and we abide by the limits set by that forum and its moderators.
 
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GallantEdge said:
I think you are right. They seem to be capable of copying a lot of different products. If you give them a design to work from and specs, it saves them half of the work.
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Like in the US too it depends who you order from too, I'm a machinist and a lot of castings are made in China now because local companies just cannot produce the volume they can at the price they can. But some regions are producing better castings than others so like we do with our knives, it comes to research and knowing who is producing the best quality.

But look at Paul Chen swords, they went from pretty average to producing VERY high quality martial arts pieces...Bugei for instance sells a custom line that no domestic custom smith could compete with ($1500 for a live blade compared to $5000 for a locally crafted traditional katana).

knarfeng said:
This is a private forum and we abide by the limits set by that forum and its moderators.
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Esav already addressed that in post #37.
 
I buy almost exclusively U.S. made knives. I buy knives because I like them, not so much because I need them. And I like them more if I know they were made by someone in the U.S. Generally speaking, I have a lot more in common with someone in Oregon or Idaho than with someone in China.
 
I own a few china knives, and as far as I can tell it's who made it, not where. I have seen very bad American knives, and very good Chinese knives. The real deal breaker is the quality control of the company. Blackjack has a few foreign knives, all of which I have handled our own, and their Grunt is a nearly indestructible Chinese knife, made with an amazing steel (many people have said out is better than 440C). The quality is the killer, not the country of origin. In many cases, foreign knives are just as good, and far cheaper than American ones.
 
adotc said:
Hey guys,

I was wondering what opinions or thoughts you guys may have on knives that are made in China? The reason why I ask this, I am curious what knife enthusisast think about this issue.
I know there are great knife companies out that make a usa line, then there is a overseas line. For example kershaw has a new usa line for 2011, which I must say looks outstanding and they have a overseas line that looks great as well. Materials for the overseas line is obviously a lower end steel, not to say the steel is poor either or quality.
I just feel kind of weird buying a knife that is made in China when you can buy a great usa made knife for 10 dollars more, plus the quality is going to be right on and the money stays in country. Now, I'm not saying that is the case for every usa made knife company, there are good and bad ones I'm just saying in general. Another example of a great knife company that has good quality and design is CRKT but almost all of there knives are made overseas. So let me know your guys' thoughts on this issue. If a knife is just a knife to you and you don't care were it comes from then post that. I would live to here some opinions. Take it easy
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"Buy American" makes sense only to those who don't understand economics. Follow the "Cafe Hayek" blog for a few days and learn why. You should always reward the producer who makes the best product for the price. If that's an American producer, great. If it's a Chinese producer, great. Competition is what produces better products at better prices. Favoring American producers who charge you more for the same quality of product that you could get elsewhere for less is to reward and encourage American uncompetitiveness. Making the American economy less competitive is not a winning strategy, because the rest of the world will spend its money elsewhere.
 
I wouldn't buy a Chineses knife for a long time. Recently I purchased two from A.G. Russell believing that anything with his name on it would be of good quality. I was not disappointed- the pair of knives are probably my favorites and I have one in my pocket now-a Medium Gunstock. The F&F quality is outstanding.

I'm old enough to remember when anything made in Japan and later Taiwan was generally regarded as junk. I believe that we could all agree that is not true nowadays.
 
I wanted to incorporate a few high quality slip joints into my system for work and for traveling to countries with strict knife laws(Bermuda) that were under 3 inches. I had a budget of under 100 dollars for 2 and AG Russell had some wicked good quality ones in my price rage.
Item: RUS-CX13YD - A.G. RussellT Rancher Yellow - - 1 - $24.95 http://www.agrussell.com/ag-russell-rancher-pocket-knives/p/RUS-CX13YD/
Item: RUS-CJ23SWB - A.G. RussellT Curved Regular Jack Zulu SpearT Blade Smooth White Bone - - 1 - $54.95 http://www.agrussell.com/ag-russell-curved-regular-jack/p/RUS-CJ13AJB/

As AG Russell says on his website about the curved regular Jack Zulu "As with all our slip joint folders, before putting this knife into production, the prototypes were mechanically opened and closed over 300,000 times. I do not want you to ever have to experience a broken spring." It also uses a high quality swedish steel. Blade Steel 12C27 Rockwell 57-58

The Rancher was tested over 200,000 cycles of opening and closing. Blade Steel is a high quality chinese steel 8Cr13MoV Rockwell 57-58

IMHO AG Russell does not put his name on anything unless it's made well considering the fact he has been in this business longer than I have been alive. What it comes down to is the quality control of the company and how they audit and quality check their products. I had some American made knives I had to sharpen new! I also had some German knives that were made like crap and my new Cadillac CTS Coupe that kicks my old BMW's ass.
 
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as stated china can produce great stuff or crap, not just in the knife world. I choose to not buy anything from china and even taiwan if i can help it, my own personal choice
 
I use to buy Buck Knives, until I realized they made a lot of their stuff in china. I now choose to support Kershaw with my money. I started buying Kershaw knives b/c it says "Made in U.S.A" and I am ok spending more money for it to be made in the U.S. I look for American made products, and I have a sense of pride carrying an American made knife. If the manufacturer is making a good, quality product they can make it right here. I would not carry a chinese made knife or buy a chinese made gun. Consumers have the money and that money makes a vote every time its spent.
 
It's hard not to buy certain things that are china made. Thankfully there are way to many options out there that will keep me from ever owning a knife made in china.
 
There are some extremely high quality products that are made in China and Taiwan. :)

Now there is also junk that is made there too....

BUT....

The quality standards aren't set by the Manufactures, they are set by the Companies that contract them to manufacture the products.....

So don't blame the People in China or Taiwan, blame the Companies that hired them to make the products. They are told what materials to use and what the final cost per unit will be and what the quality standard will be, that can be high or total crap.

They can make the highest quality stuff you could ever want or complete junk depending on what the QC standards are.
 
In my experience the Spyderco knives from Taichung, Taiwan are some of the highest quality to ever be seen from them. What's nice is that the high level of quality and F&F is consistent across the board. I have no problems with Taiwanese made Spydercos.
 
sharpenit said:
"Buy American" makes sense only to those who don't understand economics. Follow the "Cafe Hayek" blog for a few days and learn why. You should always reward the producer who makes the best product for the price. If that's an American producer, great. If it's a Chinese producer, great. Competition is what produces better products at better prices. Favoring American producers who charge you more for the same quality of product that you could get elsewhere for less is to reward and encourage American uncompetitiveness. Making the American economy less competitive is not a winning strategy, because the rest of the world will spend its money elsewhere.
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The cost of living in America is higher than it is in China. We have minimum wage laws, OSHA and EPA regulations to follow in this country. Obviously it's going to cost more to produce something here if the maker expects to turn a profit. Labor is cheaper in China so obviously products can be made much more cheaply there. There's basically no way for American manufacturers to compete with bargain basement products and pricing.

I don't see it as an issue of an equal playing field where competition between the countries produces better products at better prices. I think that view is too simplistic. An American company has a higher cost of doing business, so naturally any product is going to cost more to produce here. I buy American knives to support American workers. I believe that people should be paid a wage they can live on and that companies should follow regulations with regard to pollution and compensating workers who are injured on the job. China has a bad history of abusing workers and polluting. That's not a business model I want to support with my money.

That being said, not all Chinese made knives are garbage. I've had a few $20-30 Kershaws that were quite good for the price point, but they weren't as good as the higher quality American made Kershaws I've owned. If they produced $100 knives perhaps they'd be at the same level of quality, but even then I'd still prefer to buy American. I'd rather support my fellow Americans who have a higher cost of doing business and higher cost of living. I don't want to see this country follow the "bargain basement" mentality. I'd rather workers here get paid more than what Chinese workers make, so I'm fine with paying more for American made products.
 
RevDevil said:
In my experience the Spyderco knives from Taichung, Taiwan are some of the highest quality to ever be seen from them. What's nice is that the high level of quality and F&F is consistent across the board. I have no problems with Taiwanese made Spydercos.
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Very true. :)

There is no good reason why we can't make the same high quality products here in the USA as they can over there.

It's all about the standards that are set, that is what is real.

The problem with MOST American Companies these days is they don't care about quality anymore, all they care about is MAX Profits, make it as fast as they can, as cheap as they can to get it out the door and on the shelf so the Corp types can have their huge bonuses and extremely high salaries. Quality has nothing to do with it these days.

Like I said, no GOOD reason, pure GREED is not a good reason......
 
Fanglekai said:
The cost of living in America is higher than it is in China. We have minimum wage laws, OSHA and EPA regulations to follow in this country. Obviously it's going to cost more to produce something here if the maker expects to turn a profit. Labor is cheaper in China so obviously products can be made much more cheaply there. There's basically no way for American manufacturers to compete with bargain basement products and pricing.

I don't see it as an issue of an equal playing field where competition between the countries produces better products at better prices. I think that view is too simplistic. An American company has a higher cost of doing business, so naturally any product is going to cost more to produce here. I buy American knives to support American workers. I believe that people should be paid a wage they can live on and that companies should follow regulations with regard to pollution and compensating workers who are injured on the job. China has a bad history of abusing workers and polluting. That's not a business model I want to support with my money.

That being said, not all Chinese made knives are garbage. I've had a few $20-30 Kershaws that were quite good for the price point, but they weren't as good as the higher quality American made Kershaws I've owned. If they produced $100 knives perhaps they'd be at the same level of quality, but even then I'd still prefer to buy American. I'd rather support my fellow Americans who have a higher cost of doing business and higher cost of living. I don't want to see this country follow the "bargain basement" mentality. I'd rather workers here get paid more than what Chinese workers make, so I'm fine with paying more for American made products.
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The standard of living over in Taiwan is comparable to here in the US, so are the Wages so it's really not cheaper to have products made over there.

But yeah the Wal-Mart mentality combined with Corp GREED has killed the US economy in general.
 
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It's all in the specs as mentioned above. If they are given the proper specs on the get go those guys make some of the best stuff around.

That said, I do like the US stuff better. Home team bias, I suppose.
 
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