Mandatory weekly Taylor bashing

Iceman, sentiment runs very deep in this particular forum. I would invite you to re read the title of this forum. This is the Schrade Knife Collector's forum, and you could and should rightly expect that commenting on the quality of a non Schrade knife of Chinese origin would not be taken kindly by the rank and file and regular contributors of this forum.

Many people come to this forum daily looking for information on Schrade USA knives and there is represented here a collective source for Schrade information that is more complete and shared more freely than any other place I've been able to locate.

If this is what you came here to find then you are welcome to take, share, and contribute. If, on the other hand that is not what you want I respectfully suggest you may have drifted into the wrong forum for your purposes.

Most of us here have had occasion to sample and/or use the Chinese "schrade" versions and in our collective and individual opinions they have not met the standard we are used to and expect, and having made that decision, we generally and collectively find it a waste of time to consider, listen to, or read epistles on the attributes of Chinese knives of any brand, but especially Schrade.

Once again I welcome you if your aim is to learn about Schrade USA, and contribute to the forum on that basis. If that is not your aim, then I feel sure you will be much happier in some other venue, because after the intial flames stop you will be totally ignored....the author of invisible posts.

Paul
 
Well said Paul! :thumbup:

icemancometh:
Two years ago this month Schrade was bankrupted from a variety of reasons, not the least of which was competition from cheap chinese imports. Even as we watch, the same thing is happening to Camillus. Most of us grew up in the 1940's. 1950's, 1960's & 1970's carrying one or both of those brands in our pockets. We are a bit sensitive to this issue right now.

To come on to the Schrade Forum and praise cheap chinese copies :barf: of the knives we love and spend thousands of dollars to collect is insensitive to say the least, IMHO.

Dale
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I suppose...

I don't know where you live, Ice, but here in the USA the influx of cheaply manufactured imported goods is driving the US companies into the ground. I'm not initially speaking about quality, either. The cheap cost of "labor" in these countries is a major factor. If you live in the USA and enable this kind of practice, shame on you.

Now to the quality. I would agree with you that the quality has improved decently with alot of these products. However, that being said, buying 3 imported "beaters" instead of 1 quality American product is where the harm is done. Why do you think that these off-shore companies have had to improve the quality of the product? That's because once they drove the good American companies into the ground, the consumers actually still demanded a quality product. They had no choice but to improve or lose their market share.

If you care about the USA, you will do your best to support American companies.

Glenn
 
Did anyone notice, they used the sharpfinger name on a deerrslayer pic. Can't make up thier mind what they're making can they?
 
Not really trying to get into the fray...but wanting to tell why I love the "old" Schrade knives so much.

When I was a kid, my dad had a Schrade Uncle Henry Pro Hunter...it was an awesome knife...especially in the eyes of a little kid. My dad loved Schrade knives, and this one was his favorite...I can remember watching him sharpening it on the whetstone almost every night it seemed. He would show it to me, and tell me that it was a quality American made knife, and that I should appreciate a good knife like that.

Well...Dad passed on about 15 years ago..and I wasn't into knives...not really. Mom wanted to get rid of his stuff, and we sold a bunch of knives and guns at a garage sale...I watched the old Schrade get sold for 40 bucks that my mom really did need at the time. I hated to see it go...but that is how it went.

About a year ago, a friend of mine got me back into knives...I got totally and absolutely hooked on them...lol. But you know what? I don't have that old Schrade of my dad's anymore...and I never will. So, I do buy a few Schrades here and there to remind myself of how much my father liked them...and to be honest...they are a fine fine knife.

I don't want the new made in china ones...no matter how well they might be made. It might sound corny or trite...but they just don't have the history, the care, and the pride that the old ones did. I doubt fathers and grandfathers pass these down in pride to there children...and I know there isn't any story of a child watching them while growing up in utter fascination.

Well I have rambled on enough....just wanted to tell folks why I do enjoy Schrade knives so well. Take care all.
 
Just to jump on the pro USA Schrade Bandwagon here, about three months ago I bought a large stockman knife from a quality American maker who shall remain nameless for about $90. It was a big sturdy knife that I intended to use, not put away in the collection. In any case, I found that this knife didn't compare with my Schrade 8OT that I bought used for $15, so I sold it at a loss. I just couldn't see carrying it at all, when I had the Scrade senior stockman.

My little Scrade USA anecdote...
 
Welcome to the forum iceman, however you being a new poster we want to help you know the correct rules, which some rules may be a little confusing.

First- you may post on Chinese knives that were made by Schrade of the period 2004 and before. These knives are 100% okay to collect and talk about. Yes, I know that some of these patterns are still probably being made in the exact factories that they were in 2004, however, the later ones are not okay and cannot be collectable.
You may want to know how to tell the difference laying the knives side by side without the box.
Some of the more experience Schrade guys could probably answer this better but I think the most sure way would be that the Chinese have improved on quality so if you see a Badger SX4B or SX23 or any other China pattern with better quality then you will know this is not a 2004 or earlier knife, so it is definitely incorrect to buy and collect. (It is really maybe a sin :D )

:rolleyes: This is where it gets very, very complicated. There a new Schrades made in the USA after 2004. As you know some of the current Schrades are made by Camillus, which from reading past posts you can see many on this forum like Camillus and want to support Camillus and Camillus has had a long relation with the prior-2004 Schrade company. Now Camillus is making new Schrade products. This is where you will find there is some disagreement on the matter; any Camillus made Schrade products before 2004are 100% okay to collect.
Now, depending on what day of the week some feel the current Camillus USA Schrade knives are okay and some do not. This really had a lot to do with factors such as the weather or day of the week. So be very careful stating anything about any of the above USA made knives.
I hope this information does make everything much more clear to you. I think you clearly now see the reasons that you had your head chopped off, you need to be careful because your sack could be next. :D
 
There is a big blank spot between post #68 and post #70. You think that could be one of the invisible posts?

Paul
 
There was a post between 68 and 70?

Must be one of those imported invisible trolls...:rolleyes: (see, I can use the roll eyes smilie too)
 
thanks guys now I understand much clearer ! sorry I offend you i am a new enthusiast and stuck my foot in my mouth. I was unaware of all our factories closing and outsourcing to the extent it is. Thank you for the education and please I dont want my sack chopped off lol..
 
icemancometh said:
thanks guys now I understand much clearer ! sorry I offend you i am a new enthusiast and stuck my foot in my mouth. I was unaware of all our factories closing and outsourcing to the extent it is. Thank you for the education and please I dont want my sack chopped off lol..
Click to expand...

It's normally much more pleasant in here than this. Ill will is usually saved for the jerks that grab up previously respectable brand names and stick them on junk, not the people who just like to buy cheap knives.

No hard feelings to you from me, but here's my rant...

I admit that some of the newest Chinese stuff is much improved (see my comments on Rough Rider in other threads), but real Schrades were actually pretty cheap considering how good they were. You could get a good size knife with 3 carbon steel blades for about $20. The handle slabs were fit to the bolsters better than even some more expensive brands. In addition to just good general work, they used a fancy bolster and pivot pin construction so the pin never showed through the bolster. The factory was open to the public and anyone could go to NY and see that all of the workers were of legal age (some many times over, since they were lifelong knifemakers) and not trying to escape. Now all of that is thrown out the window and you can buy a similar-looking knife for $5 less from some schmuck.

Um, you know what a spey blade is, right? :)
 
Well here goes I just walked in the door and started to read this thread and I must say for once I got lucky and missed the battle ah hell you have heard the way I feel before anyway. However it being brought up again gives me an opportunity. Now today considering myself an honest man I have to add a new wrinkle to this whole subject so please bear with me and read it all before drawing a conclusion on what I am about to say.

As I mentioned I just came in the door I have been away 3 days. I and a friend took a little sojourn to north eastern TENN. 680 miles. In fact I went to the TAYLOR brands knife headquarters. Yup Stuart Taylor and me face up. Are you curious yet? Last year as you may recall I did an exhibit on Schrade at the Resnick museum in Ellenville. It seems Mr Taylor read about my efforts and contacted the museum who gave the message to contact him. Which I did. Since then we have had several conversations. He clarified some of what happened at the auction. Some of which I was right about and some of which I was wrong. I will tell you that I like Stuart Taylor the people who work for him and his son who I met. He is a gentleman a compliment I do not easily give. He is a business man and I understand that as well. I understand that if he had not bought Schrade Gerber ( who by the way was supposed to get the rights to the company did not bid high enough since the underestimated Taylor finances ( which were soley his and so substanciated as such ) someone else would be doing the same thing.. Now also while I understand what and why Mr Taylor did and does and business is business I still do not condone buying products from our sworn enemys and you can believe i told him so. I truly wish Mr Taylor would sell a line of american knives I would promote them as much as I could but the fact is I will not support these products I simply cannot. As far as quality as I and many have said as time goes on the quality of the product will improve just as it would have if it was and american product. That is what continuing to produce a product should do with time and practice ( but does not admittidly always happen especially without competition. ).

Now back to what happened Mr Taylor explained when I contacted him that when he bought Schrade part of what he received in the IP intellectual property trademarkes ect was a lot of paper work that he was not interested and that he would liked to see it saved. I had a pretty good idea of what he was talking about since I had seen those filing cabinets ect locked up by the bank at the closing. I could not get to them. He said that from what he had heard I might be the one who would have an interest in conserving this history. He informed me that if I had enough interest and was willing to pick up the tab for the trip I could have the stuff. He explained that he could store it for a while but he did not want to see it destroyed. I really could not have it shipped since I was not sure what was there so my friend who has a large commercial type truck and I picked when we could go. I spent Tues knee deep in old Schrade stuff. It would have be tough to find a happier guy. 2600 lbs later we left.

We were treated so nice I was afraid that it was a setup ( after some of my past comments ) and they were being nice only to drop a box on my head or something. No they were just good people the offer was sincere and this thoughtfulness has saved a part of our american heritage which if it was someone who did not care would now be sitting in a garbage dump rotting.

Mr Taylor does not make knives he tells these people what he wants and imports them. I do not use or buy these products even though they are quite servicable. I do not buy them because I am against the government of this country which is our sworn enemy and I feel cannot be trusted. I buy american whenever I have a choice because I feel that everytime you buy a foreign knife you a taking a job from an american and supporting the regime of that nations doctrine. That is my opinion, choice, and right that I and every other american enjoy.

Mr Taylor did not have to afford me or anyone else access to the property he legally owned. It was his right to do as he wished, the action he took was that of a person who was man enough to turn the other cheek and do something simply because he thought it was the right thing to do. He had nothing to gain from this action except the knowledge that in his heart he had done the right thing.

Heck the guy really went above and beyond, he is a true southerner and saved a bunch of yankee history. When we left we shook hands and my parting words were hey if you ever decide to sell some American knives instead of those commy BAS---- imports look me up. Which shows that I still have no class . Thanks again Mr Taylor on behalf of all those people who made that history.

Camillous I fear is to all intents a dead issue and will soon only be part of that history.

By the way I really am not sure of all that I got it does appear as though there might be a couple of useful items . I opened one drawer of a cabinet the kind that holds large design ( like for patent ) drawings. The top sheet was the original design specific drawing for the specs for the US army bayonette dated 1943 to the US army war dept for approval. Yup I only got 300 lbs of those original drawings. OH BOY am I going to have fun going through this stuff. LT
 
Wow Lt, that's amazing. I'm glad to hear Taylor had some concern over those documents, and was willing to talk about things, but at the same time I still don't know if some things are supposed to be "made up for" by other things.

I have to retract one thing I recently said. I said anyone would have been better than Taylor to buy out the Schrade name. Taylor says the name "gerber" and now I have to admit, well, maybe not anyone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top