made in usa important 2 u?

N

notos&w

Joined
Jul 17, 2002
Messages
650
how important is a knife's country of origin to you? personally i always try to buy american before anything else. probably why i own several benchmades but no spydercos. i do make an exception for automobiles though: i only buy japanese (we have a honda and nissan).

to simply answer my own question: very important.
 
I also prefer American made. You should know that some of the high end Spyderco knives such as the Military, Gunting, and Lil Temperance are made in Golden, Colorado and are every bit as good as a Benchmade.

I usually buy Benchmade, Buck, Camillus, Microtech, MOD, and the Spyderco's made in the USA. I do have a Made in Japan Spyderco Calypso Jr. that is such a good EDC I've made an exception.
 
The only importance I would place is if by buying the knife I support anti amercan interests. Taiwan for example I've got no problem with. China, yeah, probably some problem.
 
notos&w

As you can probably guess from my location, made in the USA isn't as important to me as it is to you. I live on the Canada/USA border and actually do a fair amount of shopping in the US. Even shopping there, it's hard to find "Made in the USA" merchandise. "Made in China" seems to be predominating.

Why no Spydercos? There are many Spyderco models made in Golden, Colorado, USA. I personally have a Military, a FRN Native and a Blue BladeForums G10 Native which were manufactured there.
 
Yes, but two of my best, and most favorite knives are made in Seki-Japan; My SOG Trident, and my SOG Tomcat. As far as Spyderco goes, it appears that my Chinook is made in the USA.:).
 
If the quality is there and the price is good I buy it regardless of where it was made. I am no longer against China as I have seen it from the inside now and see the only way to change it is through education of how to do business here. I am living that everyday now with my new ventures with BOSS and LILE.

5 years ago my view would have been very different.
 
dont think im anti-spyderco. its just that most of the models ive looked into buying are made in japan. the american made models are great and i would not pause to buy them.

mike, im afraid im where you were 5 yrs ago. im currently vehemently anti-chinese b/c of their jailing and/or execution of christian missionaires, keeping our plane, human rights violations, stealing our missle technology, pointing nukes at us, and a few other things. not to mention most products from china are crap. i do however share your belief that we should try to change china and isolating them wont do it.
i like my chinese friends from the university a lot though.

still, id buy american over any country if the prices and quality are competitive. thats just me.
 
I prefer to buy American first. I'm proud that we make top of the line products here, and hope to support companies that still make things here.

That being said, I love CRKT knives, own a Chinese-made Kershaw Vapor, and several Japanese Brownings. As long as the quality is excellent, I don't count too many countries products out of the running. Everyone needs to make a living! I just prefer to buy American, and support my fellow American workers when possible.

On a similar, slightly off topic note: If I could, I would choose not to use Saudi or Iraqi petroleum products, since they like us far less than China does. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing who's petroleum we use.
 
Fairly important.

If I can, I'll buy American made, but quality is always my top priority no matter where it comes from.
 
As just someone working for a living I think buying American is good business after all thats where the most of us make our money.More and more things are being made over seas taking the higher paying jobs with them.I have to agree with notos&w he brought up some very important reasons of why not to buy Chinese.Some people or companies don't mind useing slavelabor,child labor just to make a buck for them selves without thinking of who they are hurting.
 
Bridgeport, the famous American milling machine company, just went out of business. If we don't start manufacturing in this country again then where are all of our people supposed to work? We can't all work at Walmart. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible not to buy cheap goods manufactured overseas because that's all that are in our stores.
 
First and foremost I look for what I need, then if choices are available I try to go USA. It is important to me, but like others have said, its not always an option.
 
Bein a Candian, Made in america isn't #1 for me. But neither is Made in Canada. I think it is great when the product is made in Canada or the US, but I consider that icing on the cake.

If the quality of the product is tops on my list (often is), then I don't really care where it is made. The thing that would trump that, though, is whether I liek the country of origin enough (read business practices, etc.) For example, I haven't bought a pair of Nike runners in several years. But if my New Balance shoes were made in a plant next to the Nike plant and their workers were treated fairly, I'd say good job for Vietnam.

Economically, it doesn't make much sense to have EVERYTHING made in your own country. America and Canada have strategic advantages that China and Taiwan can't exploit: lots of money, educational facilities, and technology to support R&D, intellectual property development, etc. If North American manufacturing can't make a product that is cheaper/highher quality than foreign materials, then local industry must compete or get into making something else. This forces local industries to make the best stuff, and then they can export the good stuff and your country reaps the economic benefit. The trouble with buying locally made stuff that is overpriced or of crappy quality is that no one else is buying it. Buying top quality for lowest price stuff forces your own country to compete better (and reap the economic reward), or local industry has to shift to something they have a strategic advantage in.

If anyone is interested in these "issues", I'd recommend going to your local library and thumbing through an introductory text on economics. Lots of the real workings of economies are counter-intuitive.
 
For the most part where a knife is made doesn't mean much to me at all. What is important is that the knife is a quality product and I find that U.S. made knives have that quality. So do many knives from many other countries, but I have never been disappointed in a knife that I purchased that was made in the U.S..
 
Didn't matter before, Don't matter now, and Won't matter later.
As long as the knife does have the quality in it, I don't really care where they're made.
 
Not very, ya got to remember, China, Japan, and the rest of the far east have been making knives and swords to do each other in for centuries. In Japan, if the blade didn't do its job, it was destroyed and the steel from it wasn't even reused.
 
I like anything homegrown! Particularly knives.... I think it's important we show our solidarity now that we're closing on 9-11. Let's keep 'em sharp! :D
 
I always thought that if a knife was made anywhere other than USA or Europe that it was cheap crap. Then I bought my first CKRT and have altered that opinion. Now I look forward to stocking several Boss knives as well as an increase my of Colombia Rivers in my collection. Quality is Quality, No matter where its made.
 
Originally posted by Peter Atwood
Bridgeport, the famous American milling machine company, just went out of business.
Click to expand...

According to a news release on their website, http://www.bpt.com they are alive and well, but operating under Chapter 11 protection.

They are also debuting some new CNC machines at IMTS 2002, In Chicago, later this month.

If you know something I don't, I'd sure like to know. As a machinist, I try to keep up on the industry, and if indeed Bridgeport machines disappeared, that would leave only a few U. S. Machine tool manufacturers.

It would be sad to see such an old company disappear because of foreign competition.

As for the knifes made in the U. S., yes, it is very important to me.

At this time, I only buy U. S. made knives.

I like some of the CRKT offerings, and while the quality may be there, CRKT's owners have decided to have their knives made overseas, foregoing an American factory, which provides jobs to American workers and their families, and I decline to support such individuals, or their companies.

Look at Benchmade, MicroTech, Camillus, and see the wonderful job they do, while not only providing American's & their families with manufacturing jobs, but they also provide a good product, with a fair price for the most part.

Some of those CRKT knives; I'd gladly pay double for some, if they were made in the U.S.

Sadly, that's not the case.

(Edited for spelling)
 
Many of us seem to respect and prefer American made stuff,

Yet we, manufacture and run it all, on Arab oil.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top