It is to laugh. Kershaw is owned by a Japanese company, and has plenty of models made in Japan and China -- more than does Buck as far as I can tell, which has made a commitment to bring all manufacture back to US.
- OS
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Knives Made in China thoughts?
- Thread starter adotc
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It is to laugh. Kershaw is owned by a Japanese company, and has plenty of models made in Japan and China -- more than does Buck as far as I can tell, which has made a commitment to bring all manufacture back to US.
- OS
Something I was working up to saying earlier, but wasn't sure how to put it:
Knives that are made in their home countries appeal to me as being more "authentic." If I buy a Seki knife, for example, it should be made in Japan. Case and Buck, from the USA. And I'd sure be irritated to find out my Helle was actually made somewhere other than Norway.
Of course even that isn't a hard rule either.
This one is nice... Bee L03
That is nice. I recently bought a Sanrenmu 710 and love it. Fit and finish are very good. I'll be buying more of the Sanrenmu/Enlan/Bee line.
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I would prefer to buy USA made knives, because I like the materials and quality and the company. I know chinese knives can be made with good quality, but I would prefer to keep my money in the US. Yes i could buy more chinese knives with my limited income, but once again quantity has nothing to do with my enjoyment of my collection.
A great Chinese knife to look at is the Blackjack Grunt. After watching the destrction test of it, it is made with what could be vaguely called a Chinese super steel. Many people have posted about getting better performance with their Grunt over some decent custom knives and production 440C knives.
The Grunt can be bought for around $25, and has about a 6in. blade with a convex grind.
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The Chinese product is definitely improving. I've got a CRKT Stubby Razel that is damn good for the price and a Buck Deuce that is a great little knife for under 15 bucks. Also, check out the amount of Chinese made
knives AG Russell is selling these days. They all have his stellar guarantee; I doubt he would do that if the quality wasn't there. All these products are either collaborations or designed and produced by the maker; I won't
have anything to do with knockoffs.
knives AG Russell is selling these days. They all have his stellar guarantee; I doubt he would do that if the quality wasn't there. All these products are either collaborations or designed and produced by the maker; I won't
have anything to do with knockoffs.
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I'm a fan of Rough Riders - They make some great old school patterns with excellent quality -
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For me it depends on the knife, not so much the country. I won't lie, many times country of origin may determine how much I'd feel comfortable paying for a knife. But I've seen chinese made knives that I have been very impressed with. There aren't a lot of Canadian manufacturers so all nations knives are fair game for me.
Thomas W
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I personally don't like Chinese made knives they just don't seem to be up to par with even my Taiwanese made knives, also I MUCH prefer to buy American (I However will make a few exceptions).
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Spyderco trusted Chinese manufacturers right up until Sal was burned by the 440C knives he ordered that bore no resemblance to 440B let alone C. ALL manufacturers are hit and miss nowadays, so I wouldn't dismiss the Chinese out of hand but DO look very closely before shelling out the smackeroonies. Several businesses in these parts have quite a few knives in stock, and I've been presently surprised by some of the Asian offerings, but as of this date haven't been made aware of their exact compositions. Important in Florida, particularly when the summer months are upon us and many a blade turns to rust right before your eyes if its nothing more than shiny potmetal masquerading as something it ain't.
If anything for certain, they ARE good to practice sharpening upon.
If anything for certain, they ARE good to practice sharpening upon.
A lot of knives made in China are really bad, a lot of them are all right... I haven't seen any that are really great. I do think though that if you let the origin of a tool determine what you think of it, the criteria you're using to judge it probably doesn't have much do with, "Can it do the job?" Appreciation of good craftsmanship, well made products and materials is one thing, but if a dollar-store Chinese hammer drives a nail just as well I can't really say that the $20 premium American-made tool is miles above in performance--craftsmanship, durability, etc. might have some disparity still, but if it gets the job done it gets the job done. If it comes to ideas of, "Oh, well, the dollar-store hammer might fall apart or come back and hit you in the face," I just think that's a bunch of FUD.
Chances are if there was a forum for butter knife enthusiasts, there would people there to claim the Chinese counter-parts didn't spread as well.
Chances are if there was a forum for butter knife enthusiasts, there would people there to claim the Chinese counter-parts didn't spread as well.
I just purchased a Boker Vox Bob. It is designed by a Danish knife maker, distributed by a German company and manufactured in China.
It is "really great." The fit and finish are exceptional. It came razor sharp out of the box. It is 7mm thick! It has canvas micarta handles. It came with a very nice kydex sheath and a Tek Lok adapter. I should also note that it has a very wide blade with a full flat grind.
I looked very hard for something similar to this made in the USA. I posted here asking for suggestions of something similar that was made in the USA. Several said I could get something similar by a custom maker, but every example given was more expensive, and/or quite frankly much less of a knife.
I'm an American, I buy American when I can, but I'm not going to stop buying foreign made products if they are well made and have a high value. There are a lot of ways our economy can be fixed without forcing the middle class to stop buying overseas. I'd like to go on a political rant here, but I will refrain.
There is quite clearly excellent knife craftsmanship coming out of China. I believe my Boker Vox Bob proves it. It certainly proved it to me.
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As others have said, it is the quality control exercised that matters with regards to the quality of the final product. I don't want to subsidize poorly made items, regardless of country of origin. If my next door neighbor made completely crap knives I wouldn't buy them.
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I'm a old school pocket knife guy - I been in some pretty good pissen matches after I started selling Rough Rider knives - Rough Riders are made in China & i have to tell you they are one hell of a bang for the buck - I scratch all of mine up but next time your at a knife store or at a gun show - check out a 20 dollar Rough Rider & a 80 dollar Case! Here's a few China made RR's
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Just prefer to buy from the States, started to buy both the Gayle Bradly and Sage and just couldn't for the fact that they were produced in Taiwan. Sadly the Buck Vantage pro was a POS straight out of the box with no quality control. The Sage simply looks gorgeous .
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I own two Chinese made knives, a bryd cara cara 2 G10 and a boker plus titan. Both knives are built well and offer high value. There are alot of low quality cheap Chinese made knives on the market and also some well built knives, what it comes down to is the company's quality control. Buy from reputable companies and chances are you'll get a good product.