Made in China???

J

Jared Clinger

Joined
Sep 10, 2019
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28
I went to pick up a few knives to give out as Christmas gifts and noticed many Buck pocket knives are now made in China. When did this happen? Needless to say, I bought Case knives to give as gifts. I have been a huge Buck knife fan my whole life and have nearly 20 of them. I was rather disappointed.
 
Glad to have you show up here to post. You can use the search function on this sub-forum and read to your hearts content about USA made vs. off-shore made Buck Knives. Suffice it to say, any Buck Knife in the same price range as a Case Knife will be made in the USA and are fine quality gifts just like the Case Knives. Only the cheap, big box store Buck Knives are made off-shore. Personally, I wish Buck would come up with a subsidiary company with another name to brand the knives made to service that segment of the market, instead of using their time-honored Buck Knives name. By the way, just look at the front of the package - all USA made Bucks have an American flag across the face of the package, the off-shore knives lack the USA flag. OH
 
Jared Clinger said:
...noticed many Buck pocket knives are now made in China. When did this happen?
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Not sure how accurate this is, but Wikipedia says: In 2000, due to a demand from major retailers to reduce prices, Buck opened a plant in China. Imports from this plant had reached a high of 30 percent at one time, but have dropped to 13 percent with the majority of these knives going to large retailers as opposed to sporting goods stores or knife shops.

Welcome to the forum!
 
What TAH and Old Hunter said ....
You need to find a better class of places to shop.
You can't judge the entire product line by the offerings of price point retailers.
If you take anti China sentiment out of the equation, they are a very good value for the price point.
 
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Jared Clinger said:
I went to pick up a few knives to give out as Christmas gifts and noticed many Buck pocket knives are now made in China. When did this happen? Needless to say, I bought Case knives to give as gifts. I have been a huge Buck knife fan my whole life and have nearly 20 of them. I was rather disappointed.
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yeah i get that disappointment. it's already been well said above. Buck tends to call the foreign made stuff under the "origin" tag as "imported," on their website.

they have seemed to add more this last year.....wouldn't say the bulk of them more of a handful. good part of the foreign made is they get a warranty like any Buck. I own a few of the models and they arent bad for what they are and cost. prefer the American made models though as well like yourself.
 
Jared Clinger said:
many Buck pocket knives are now made in China.
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Regardless of made in Idaho or elsewhere, they have the same forever warranty.

Idaho or not, when you buy one, you are supporting Buck.

I have a couple 371's and a 389. I also have two 301's. The pull on the 371 is a little stiffer than the 301, still a little bit under the "5" pull of a 92/93m SAK, though.
The offshore 371's don't have the bolsters ground/polished to paper thin at the covers and liners ... Or into the liners like on the 301.

I tried a 373 (same size as the 303) to see if I liked that size, before spending the big dollars on a 303. Glad I did. The 303/373 isn't for me. I gave the 373 to a then coworker who likes a small knife.

I don't know which of the "modern" one hand opening Bucks are made offshore.

I do know Buck doesn't put their name on junk/garbage.
 
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I still do everything I can to avoid supporting China. I’m proud of my old Buck knives, but I will avoid the newer Chinese ones. I don’t care how well made they are. I don’t mind if others do—to each his own!
 
Jared Clinger said:
I still do everything I can to avoid supporting China.
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I don't understand how buying something made in China is "supporting China" ... except maybe a surplus Chinese military rifle, or handgun made by a government owned armory.
As far as the knives, TV's, Radios, Cellphones, boats/yachts, etc. the factory responsible for manufacturing it isn't owned by the Government, any more than the US government owns Buck, Case, or any other consumer goods manufacturing company.
 
just try selling prc made
to the red mainland locals
and its likely they would
rather spend on a US import lol!
but big bussiness is about profit
margins;
when it comes to board decisions
bias or sentiment goes out the window
for ultimately the mighty dollar wins over the peoples's renminbi
even if others think they're short changed in the process...
in any way, the majority
has a way of deciding
how things should be.
and so far,
the lower cost of products
is what most folks want anyways and imports from across the globe
have been an accepted norm
for the longest time.
inevitably the board will always see
to the interest and the survival of the world reknown brand.
 
afishhunter said:
I don't understand how buying something made in China is "supporting China" ... except maybe a surplus Chinese military rifle, or handgun made by a government owned armory.
As far as the knives, TV's, Radios, Cellphones, boats/yachts, etc. the factory responsible for manufacturing it isn't owned by the Government, any more than the US government owns Buck, Case, or any other consumer goods manufacturing company.
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Well... the raw material suppliers, the people manufacturing the products, the Maritime shipping lines that brings the products to us, they are all making money that goes to supporting the China economy, and by default, the Chinese government. Not any different than what happens here, so by buying China made goods, we are supporting them.

And we don't know for sure what is behind the scenes at the factories, as far as the true extent of involvement by the Chinese government, but I expect that they have a much larger hidden presence than what anyone knows.

Having said that, I will continue to buy Buck, whose product line it still mostly made in Post Falls. I'm not going to shy away from an occasional China made Buck (like the Selkirk as an example), because of the fact that it is made in China.

Buck benefits from the sales of the China made knives, that money goes towards Buck's bottom line, which goes to pay the salaries and benefits of their USA employees, that make the majority of Buck products that we enjoy.
 
we can't solve the worldwide market and consumers preferred spend less purchasing and spending issues that created the made in China issue here.....

easiest solution to the problem mentioned is to read which are made foreign listed as imported and which aren't, since it isn't hidden by Buck.......and buy accordingly to your preferences.

if Buck sees more volume from American made and less from Chinese made theyll adjust to match consumer preferences......in the end the consumers control management decisions......always have.
 
jbmonkey said:
we can't solve the worldwide market and consumers preferred spend less purchasing and spending issues that created the made in China issue here.....

easiest solution to the problem mentioned is to read which are made foreign listed as imported and which aren't, since it isn't hidden by Buck.......and buy accordingly to your preferences.

if Buck sees more volume from American made and less from Chinese made theyll adjust to match consumer preferences......in the end the consumers control management decisions......always have.
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Good points. I really liked the looks of the Selkirk, for instance, but a quick look at Buck's web site shows it to be made in China. Lol - that's a hard no for me but they have plenty of good American stuff for me to spend my money on.
 
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