Out of Curiosity, What's the Big Deal?

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Deebo

Deebo

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Let me preface this by saying that I mean no offense in the question nor do I have any sort of intent in discrediting those who deserve it but...

What's the big deal about knives being made in the U.S.A?

Here's the main point that seems to be readily apparent:

1. In comparison to many knives made in Asia, knives made in the U.S.A do, often times, seem to be of a higher quality though there are quite a few exceptions to this that I've witnessed.

Beyond that though, I've seen people recommend a knife and literally throw on "Plus it's made in the U.S.A." as a selling point.

I'm just curious why it's considered such a big deal?
 
Mostly b/c its their country of origin...

If a high value product is produced here people like to buy that over one from another country.

I have a few knives from other countries that are great and some from the USA that seem to have about the same f&f.
 
For me it is helping to keep people in this country employed. I would rather that my money earned in America stays in the American economy as much as possible. Unfortunately it is getting increasingly difficult to determine what actually is made in America. If I can feed my hobby with American made quality knives it is a plus for all Americans.
 
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I never really understood either. Must be 'cause I don't live in the states. Only reason I'd want to buy something from my native country would be because I would like to actually meet the people who run the buisiness.

Other than that....no reason.
 
I've heard three different reasons (with slight variations):
1) the quality is generally higher in US built knives when it comes to fit and finish.
2) grounds of concience, due to the possibility that china and other asia made knives are produced by workers who are given poor working conditions ect
3) patriotism. either by supporting the US economy rather than someone elses, or just blind "anything made in the good ol'US of A must be better than that rubbish made by foreiners"
 
phaserrifle said:
I've heard three different reasons (with slight variations):
1) the quality is generally higher in US built knives when it comes to fit and finish.
2) grounds of concience, due to the possibility that china and other asia made knives are produced by workers who are given poor working conditions ect
3) patriotism. either by supporting the US economy rather than someone elses, or just blind "anything made in the good ol'US of A must be better than that rubbish made by foreiners"
Click to expand...

Bingo. I personally don't have much of an "American-made" bias, having seen some excellent Chinese and Japanese production knives, but these are the most commonly used reasons. I can kinda see the validity of them, but at the same time, if I can find a knife that I like and will fill my needs, why should I care that it was made somewhere else? So is pretty much everything else.

Even USA-made knives are produced using parts from other countries. Japanese, Chinese, and Swedish steels, handle materials from pretty much anywhere, machined parts mass-produced in China or Taiwan. Does it really make a knife automatically better to be assembled in the US? Not really, IMO.
 
phaserrifle said:
I've heard three different reasons (with slight variations):
1) the quality is generally higher in US built knives when it comes to fit and finish.
2) grounds of concience, due to the possibility that china and other asia made knives are produced by workers who are given poor working conditions ect
3) patriotism. either by supporting the US economy rather than someone elses, or just blind "anything made in the good ol'US of A must be better than that rubbish made by foreiners"
Click to expand...

Seems to be that though. However whenever I hear those arguments I always think the following things:


1) That's a GROSS generalisation.....the US produces as much crap as anyone percentage wise. In fact, when it comes to certain products, I'd rather have something from Asia than from the states.


2) Innocent untill proven guilty. Unless someone comes forward with actual grounds for an accusation....I'm gonna take the point that the company does at least the decent thing.


3) That's the dumbest crap I heard.......see also point 1.
 
If I lived in USA the main reason I'd have for buying american made is access to the company with regards to warranties and additional servicing. Shipping would be more reliable and less costly.
 
aside from all the other reasons,

who roots for the visiting team when home is playing? :confused:...

:D
 
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Remember the old die-hard biker crowd back in the late 70s and early 80s that swore by their Harleys? They spent most of their time (and money) working on them. Folks that owned Japanese bikes spent their time riding. The only time you ever seen someone working on a Japanese bike was when they were spraying grease on the chain. (Either that or trying to get a Harley accessory to fit the thing (as bolt-on accessories for Jap bikes were rare back then). The "buy American" crowd usually had their transmission laying on a beach blanket in a hundred pieces. That's why Harley riders wore leather chaps.... Working on a motorcycle on hard asphalt was heck on the kneecaps. :foot:
 
To the OP's question: Country of origin for me. I have some Japanese & Taiwanese produced knives, but I prefer to buy a US made product if it does what I need it to do.
 
I don't live in the states so for me it's not a big deal, but even for me it's a nice plus if the blade is stamped U.S.A, among all the Japan's and Taiwan's and China's it's just somehow refreshing. But it's never a deal breaker for me.
We don't make many knives in Finland but when it comes to scandi ground puukkos, I'd rather buy one made in my own native country, production or custom alike. Mainly because I think we know how to make them right and it's nice to support the local makers and manufacturers.
 
I have knives from a variety of countries, but I do prefer "Made In U.S.A.".

My reason, good old fashioned patriotism. From reading this thread I can see that there are many people who have lost this concept. Politically I think many today have been taught that patriotism is an archaic idea, but when I look around the globe it seems that the only people dumb enough to buy into this are Europeans and the liberals in North America. In reality I think most of the world operates as it always has, and America will one day find out that all of the political correctness hasn't "paid off".

All of that said, my Seki City Sypdercos and my SAKs are my favorite carry knives, and both brands seem to be a bit better in F&F than my Buck and Case knives. My Benchmades are comparable (not better) to the Sypderco and SAKs, but I prefer the designs of the former.
 
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Made in USA has always translated to High Quality to me.Made in (anywhere else,especially Asia)generally meant cheap.Im 1954 born and most of us were just raised that way and it was to some large extent true.But that has changed.I guess what im saying is,if you're not American,you wouldn't understand.
 
I don't guess you served in the US military? I would imagine it would make more sense if you had.
 
It all comes down to patriotism. Frankly even products made in America probably include items from other nations. I believe that the money and value generated from R&D etc. is more important to me than country of origin. If an American company has headquarters in America, does it's R&D in America and has many employees in other aspects of the business (Finance, Marketing, Supply Chain etc.) then refusal to support them just due to manufacturing in another country hurts American business.

Simply put if the product is good and is made well that's reason enough to buy it. I'm Canadian, but if a Canadian alternative is inferior to the foreign manufactured good then I'll buy the foreign manufactured good.
 
When it comes to production knives I prefer one made in the U.S. canada, EU or Japan, mostly for labor rights reasons and I do research each company for information pertaining to those issues before purchasing. All other things being equal, if it came to a custom that was not a standard model I would want one from as close as possible so I could at least have a bit of input into the process. That said some countries/regions have cultural histories with certain knife styles and I would take that into account.
 
LX_Emergency said:
2) Innocent untill proven guilty. Unless someone comes forward with actual grounds for an accusation....I'm gonna take the point that the company does at least the decent thing.
Click to expand...
Unless you have been living under the rock for last decade or two... Don't take my word for it though. Just try searching on the net. Foxconn worker suicides and their will be a good start.
 
For me I look for quality 1st off. :thumbup:

If the knife is made in the USA then that's great. :D

IF what I am looking at isn't made in the USA and the quality is high then that's also good. There are a lot of knives that are excellent quality that are made outside of the USA.

Some knives just aren't made here like real Japanese kitchen knives. ;)

I do however try to buy things made in the USA, but with some things the quality just isn't there.
 
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