I think it would make an interesting thread ( also shed light on the hypocrisy in the knife world ) to talk about why it is okay for one company to make knives in Taiwan/China and not another company.
Hope that makes sense I just woke up and waiting for coffee.
Ok , got my coffee.
Let's go further , there are a lot of folks on here who will not buy a knife if it is made in Taiwan or China and I can sympathize with them but , let's face it nearly everything you use (yes you, sitting there reading this) is made in a foriegn country , most likely somewhere in Asia.
I posted a few weeks back this theory.
When I was a kid I remember hearing from many elders (including my Dad) to never buy anything made in Japan "Buy American son !" :thumbup:
Well how long did that last ? Soon a lot of products we used around the house were made in Japan , names like Sony , Hitachi , Honda , etc were as common place as G.E. and the quality of the products was top notch.
So , it went from "never buy a rice burner" to... "Japanese cars are so much better on gas and cheaper in the long run blah blah".
It went from what was thought of as a cheap POS TV , to the premier TV manufacturer in the world. (what happened RCA ???)
This is only going to deepen over time , if your a skeptic and think all your stuff is made in the good 'ol US of A , look at the tag.
I'm looking around my room , what do I see...... A TV , hmm it is an RCA , let's see.. Wha !!? assembled in Thailand ! why , my Grandad used RCA , this is blasphemy ! my PC , my 5.1 speakers , my clock radio , my DVD players , the shelf my books rest on (made in Mexico) my cell phone , my MP3 player , this battery charger I'm looking at is a Radio Shack , on the back it says "custom manufactured in China for Radio Shack corporation" wanna know something ? it has worked like a charm for going on 6 years.
Look at the T shirt and underwear ,even your socks , I'm willing to bet they are not made in America , or your jeans or your coat you'll put on before you go outside.
Things are not like they were during our Grandparents age, for sure.
I bought a Marbles slipjoint not too long ago , paid $20 for it and you know what ? the quality is top fricking notch. Handle one for yourself if you dont believe me. Yeap , it is made in China. Seems sorta wierd that something so traditionally "American" could be made so well in China but they have gotten the hint that they will make it nowhere in the American market unless they offer top quality merchandise to us , too many of us will not buy thier cheap crap and they know this. So instead of the featherwieght knife made from Lord knows what steel of 4 years ago , they are putting out knives made from finer materials and better QC. This Marbles would have been right at home in my Grandpa's pocket , the jigged bone looks very nice , the three blade all have excellent W&T and snap with authority, all are sharp and take a nice edge , the heft of the knife alone is enough to tell you , you are holding something of substance.
Here's another thing , if we yearn so bad to harken back to the old times , why is it for what is considered a really good knife , one has to pay 4-500$ for it ? My Grandpa and his generation never would paid $400 for a knife ! Oh there were probably execpetions of course , those who could or would afford it but nowhere near like there is nowadays , face it that the internet has exploded our hobby to never before seen levels. A custom maker can make more $ now than he could 15 years ago , easily ! and that is 1000% in thanks to the internet and ease of communication.
I think I lost my point , hehehe. ah well.
My rule on buying a knife is if I am in doubt as to it's quality I will wait till someone else buys it then listen to what they say about it and go from there, I have not regretted buying a single one of my CRKT knives.
CRKT will do fine as long as they do not use junk materials , hopefully they know this from market research.
