PURE American Made Knives

barrabas74 said:
Busse, Swamp Rat, Scrapyard......All American Made and all tough as nails. If you want more info or want to see a vid go to www.bussecombat.com, www.knifetests.com and check out the Busse FFBM.

Ranger knives made by Justin is all American made www.rangerknives.com .I think Bark River Knife and Tool is also all American Made. Tops is made in Idaho and I believe is 100 percent USA! Check out Ferhman knives as well, cant forget about them. There's a few out there.

What are you looking for and what is your price range?
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I'm looking more towards a fixed blade fighting/utility knife... something that can withstand abuse and is very low maintance. Price range no more than $150. Are KA-BAR knifes purely USA? Any more information would be greatly appreciated.
 
Gollnick said:
It depends on just how American you want to go. A lot of good steel is made in Japan and Korea. It is very hard anymore to find small hardware (common screws and such) that aren't exotic aerospace or military grade stuff that are made in America.
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When I was growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, my hometown industry supplied half of all fasteners used in US manufacture. It has been decades since that was the case, and AFAIK, there are none but highly specialized companies making them at all in the US. If a knife of any origin has rivets or screws, they were made offshore. Somehow, that makes me a little uneasy. :(
 
Its OK to say something is made in America but thats just scratching at the surface. What about where the metal comes from, a lot of iron ore to make steel comes from Sweden and Austrailia, the coal to smelt the iron comes from China, the machines that grinds the knives comes from Germany, the finance that the knife company needs comes from Saudia Arabia, home of Osama Bin Ladin and any plastic parts and lubricant would be made of oil from Venuzuela.

If you want a real American made knife, all the above needs to come from America and all the work done by Americans, no foreigners in the knife factory, not even legal immigrants. Anything else is inpure.
 
One used to be able to buy a decent production blade from the Sceptered Isle. Those were the days I guess.

That's why I buy American whenever possible except for the obvious exceptions for knives like puukkos and santokus. I like that there are world class manufacturing industries around here.

With the recent shuttering of Camillus and the Chinese Zombie Juju that is currently Imperial Schrade, there are fewer American knife makers than just a few short years ago.

No one has to "miss out" on knives from overseas. Personally, I have knives from France, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand, and Brazil.

None of them are crappy knock-offs or Chinese puzzle crap though, whether from Taylor Brands, Cold Steel, or our domestic concerns like Benchmade and Spyderco busy racing to the bottom in a "me too 'cuz my competitors all do it" fashion.

I have seen Chinese knives up close, even the Spyderco Tenacious, which has drawn raves from folks without consciences.

The only thing I am missing out on is holding a commie knife to American manufacturing's throat and plunging it on in to save some scratch.:thumbdn:
 
RAT Cutlery or Ontario RAT fits the bill. Also Ranger Knives. Kabar as well. Kabar states that its Leather Sheath is made in Mexico. The Cordura sheath is made by Eagle, an American Company. Benchmade also has several fixed fighting/utility blades that are USA Made. Look to the Nimravus, Presidio fixed, Fixed Grip, CSK, and CSK II.
 
kevinhh89 said:
I'm looking more towards a fixed blade fighting/utility knife... something that can withstand abuse and is very low maintance. Price range no more than $150. Are KA-BAR knifes purely USA? Any more information would be greatly appreciated.
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Ka-Bar makes some knives in Taiwan, like the TDI knives and the Heavy Bowies - both of which are good knives, by the way.

I'm not sure I get the whole "pure American made" thing, but then, I don't get "pure Finnish made" either. If you want quality, buy quality. A whole lot of countries produce high quality knives, although they tend to be of different styles. On the other hand, if you just want to support your national economy by buying stuff made in your country, then I can sort of see the point.

In the latter case, I would most highly recommend Ranger Knives. I'm not sure how much more "pure" American you can get than Justin Gingrich at Ranger Knives. Justin is not only a great guy to deal with, but he's also a former US Army Ranger. :thumbup: His knives are great users, tough as nails, and worth a lot more than he asks for them in my opinion. Knives like the RD9, for example, fit right in your price range. I own an RD9, and it certainly makes a fine fixed blade "combat utility" type of knife, or heavy field knife. It does not appear to be designed as a fighting knife per se, but it can certainly be used to do a great deal of damage if the situation requires it. Buying from Justin, not only are you supporting an honest American entrepreneur, but also supporting a former Ranger that has put his life on the line for his country. Sounds good to me. :thumbup:
 
Elen said:
Ka-Bar makes some knives in Taiwan, like the TDI knives and the Heavy Bowies - both of which are good knives, by the way.

I'm not sure I get the whole "pure American made" thing, but then, I don't get "pure Finnish made" either. If you want quality, buy quality. A whole lot of countries produce high quality knives, although they tend to be of different styles. On the other hand, if you just want to support your national economy by buying stuff made in your country, then I can sort of see the point.
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I'm going to chime in again and support this statement. ALOT of people are going to jump on here and bash Benchmade, Spyderco and others for even thinking of going overseas for their product. Think of it this way. If Sal goes overseas with the Byrd and Tenacious and gets a factory set up that meets certain standars for its workers, that factory can serve as an ambassador of democracy. It may seem kitchy and corny to some, but if American standards of quality and care are brought overseas we are spreading ideas, we are spreading our culture and our way of thinking. Buy from a company a good product and the companies ideals. Ranger knives is an excellent example, as is Spyderco and many others. Mora's being from Sweden hasn't stopped me from recognizing that they are excellent knives. Fallkniven's knives being from Japan hasn't affected me recognizing their worth. If you buy good products from good companies it will demand more high quality from the market, high quality means better conditions for workers over seas. If companies have to pay the same wage overseas as here some day, then we will have a global economy that is based on genuine product characteristics and not a race to the wage bottom.
 
Smash05 said:
I'm going to chime in again and support this statement. ALOT of people are going to jump on here and bash Benchmade, Spyderco and others for even thinking of going overseas for their product. Think of it this way. If Sal goes overseas with the Byrd and Tenacious and gets a factory set up that meets certain standars for its workers, that factory can serve as an ambassador of democracy. It may seem kitchy and corny to some, but if American standards of quality and care are brought overseas we are spreading ideas, we are spreading our culture and our way of thinking. Buy from a company a good product and the companies ideals. Ranger knives is an excellent example, as is Spyderco and many others. Mora's being from Sweden hasn't stopped me from recognizing that they are excellent knives. Fallkniven's knives being from Japan hasn't affected me recognizing their worth. If you buy good products from good companies it will demand more high quality from the market, high quality means better conditions for workers over seas. If companies have to pay the same wage overseas as here some day, then we will have a global economy that is based on genuine product characteristics and not a race to the wage bottom.
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Spreading democracy through a People's Liberation Army controlled factory? Surely you must smell what you are shoveling. Conflating Japan, Sweden and China is stacking it pretty high.

Having some folks in China go from slave labor conditions, to near slave labor conditions doesn't improve anyone's lot to the degree you fancy it. Well maybe it enhances Wal-Mart's profit line to have everyone race to China and do deals in the push to serve domestic bottom feeders.

There are 1.3 billion folks in China. About a full billion of them are not in on the economic revolution in any way shape or form, as most of that activity centers on the portions of China just outside of Hong Kong and a belt around Shanghai. Internal migration is discouraged, and so too is anyone who wishes to rock the boat for a better anything. It's an illusion of progress there, not the actual thing.

You bite the hand that feeds in modern day China as a factory worker and there are a thousand, or even ten thousand peasant hopefuls just itching to take your shitty job at the same or worse conditions that the agitator would no longer tolerate. I guess getting fired beats getting run over by a T-99.

So go ahead and buy a Chicom knife. Do the rest of us a favor and keep the fairy tales about the greater good in it to yourself.
 
Ask any PA resident. Probably the steel in that "american Knife" was foreign. Since unions and politicians ran over our Steel industry, most comes from china, germany etc. The military has ran into that problem, mainly armor for M-114's and armored vehicles. We just don't make it like in the 40's.
 
Bet all of those knives were shipped on trucks, planes, or trains running on fuels pumped out of foreign ground. Of course, we all could walk to the knife factories.
 
Threads like this seem to be a recurring theme on this site. The thing that makes me chuckle, is that this seems to be everyone's daily opportunity to feel patriotic. I have seen products made in North America that were crap, just as I have seen products produced all over the world that were just as poor. The reason that so many knives/steels/parts get done in China, Taiwan and Europe is quite simple. North Americans want lower prices, taxes AND the unions continue to fill worker's minds with the same old bull. (The bull being that they are under paid and DESERVE more, which generally means they do not feel like they have to earn it.) This attitude of entitlement translates into a poor work ethic and alot less efficiency when compared to other parts of the world. This simply drives up prices. So, why wouldn't any company outsource? It is good business. Labour and materials cost less, which means the price to the consumer is also less, which means they can sell more, which means they can make more money. If things worked the way some would like it to, a knife that is done in Taiwan and costs $60.00 would end up being way more if it was done in the U.S. Then we would have a thread in which everyone could whine about how high the cost is, and that the knife companies are making too much money at the expense of the working man and that those "hard done by" workers should go on strike until they get their due. You can't have it both ways! I would suggest that some posters need to join this century and understand that we live in a global economy. Besides, it seems a little hypocritical to slam these companies and nations for what they do, when a very large portion of what is in you own home isn't U.S. built.
PS -If any of you drive a Dodge truck you need to check where it was built, chance are it was done in Saltillio, Mexico. Buy American! Yeah right.:jerkit:
 
Bark River Knife and Tool.

Excellent, "semi-custom" quality knives at very affordable prices. Very high fit and finish.
 
znapschatz said:
When I was growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, my hometown industry supplied half of all fasteners used in US manufacture. It has been decades since that was the case, and AFAIK, there are none but highly specialized companies making them at all in the US. If a knife of any origin has rivets or screws, they were made offshore. Somehow, that makes me a little uneasy. :(
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Benchmade actually owns a machine that makes screws from rod stock. I think Spyderco does too. I'm sure others do also.

Benchmade actually makes some -- not all, but some -- of the exotic screws used in their knives. But, it's not cost-effective to make standard sizes and styles even if you own the machine.
 
What should matter is not where a product is made, but that the business be US owned.
I say again, whilst US made products maybe important to some, what's entirely more important is that the company which owns the business rights and product patents should be entirely with a US registered company.
So that it doesn't matter if a product is manufactured off-shore, out-sourced in distant lands or procured in a made to-specs fashion; because such a company understands what is expected from a US market.
 
If a business is US owned, most of the money goes abroad anyway. Most of the companies that have been outsourcing production for many years now are feeling the sting of Chinese companies catching up and realizing that essentially the US concerns are just design shops. Heard about Lenovo? The Chinese realized they could do the designing just as well as IBM, since they learned how to make the products from IBM. China's been on a hiring binge the last few years pulling the engineers that fled the country back with huge salary bonuses to compensate for the complete lack of representative government.

Barley, none of the knives mentioned so far have been crap. There is crap everywhere, and there is good stuff everywhere. What matters to me is that I'm not supporting a dictatorship, not trading small savings for peoples' lives, and I'm spending money where that money may in turn be spent on me. It's a losing battle, but a battle worth fighting. There's PLENTY of US, Canadian, European, etc. stuff that is very competitive in price/quality.

But on the note of quality, a funny thing happens when you go to Home Depot, Sears, or even Target, and find US made products. They are typically of a noticeably higher quality than their especially Asian competitors. That's due in large part thanks to a little thing called "Tort Law." In a nutshell, it's a legal system that allows you to sue somebody who has screwed you. It's also thing that big money people have been trying to "reform" for years now because it costs them money when they cut corners on safety, quality, etc. Blame the unions, the evil democrats, or the little green monster under your bed as much as you want, the main reason why production and jobs have been outsourced is greed. Find an industry, I'll show you easy ways that industry can be competitive with prevailing wage labor.

I could go on and on, but I guess noone's interested. Enjoy the outsourcing, it's brought you 10% savings on a product that lasts half as long and increases your childrens' tax burden tenfold.
 
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