Quality/Value Canadian knives

Q

Quiet Priest

Joined
Jul 27, 2001
Messages
182
Hello everybody. As a budding knife collector I've spent quite a few bucks on knives this past year, I even sold off about 20 production knives in good condition to have money for more customs. Now I have some customs by Crawford, Pollowski, Lum, Simmonich, Tighe, Martizelli, and someone else I cant think of right now.

I'm regularly criuising the forums and the dealer website looking for affordable, high quality and attactive (to me ) tactical folders. It seems that when I find the combination of looks, materials, style and price, it's more often a Canadian maker.

I should be getting a Martizelli today. I was wondering is it because of the exchange rates, or that the Canadian makers egos demand less $$ for their names? Comparable knives to my Tighe and Martizelli by an American maker would probably cost me 200-300 more per knife, given same materials and quality. I'm also seeing good knives from South African makers in the just around 400 range.

Theres a couple of American makers whose knives I crave but are in the 600 range and with a touch of damascus go to 700 -800. Not to mention the values of Brazilian makers knives (gonna get some of those too)!

I'm thinking that maybe the premier makers should make a few more models in the lower ranges as well, or we might be headed in the direction of auto sales, where imports are more affordable and sell more than domestic. Any thoughts?
 
I agree with you about Canadian makers. They make some good knives for the price although I would not really consider Tighe or Lightfoot inexpensive. Another country turning out quality knives for a very low price is South Africa. Having been there a couple of times, I know first hand that RSA is a very knife friendly society and there knife makers are world class. I personally own a De Villiers Exectac Spearpoint which is my absolute favorite custom EDC. My other South African knife is a Brian Geyer flipper which only cost me $150 plus shipping from www.knifeart.com.
 
Nice Anthony!

I guess I was a little conflicted, thinking I want to buy American. But a good knife is a good knife . Yes I have been looking at things by the South African makers. They are impressive and at their prices I can go for more exotic materials like bone, woods, and Damascus.

There's always the future. Some young talented makers who will make knives at cost of materials with slight markup and reasonable charge for their time and skill. I bet that would compete with the imports and keep some of us buying more American...meantime I'll continue to buy good custom knives from where I can afford too.
 
PS: Anthony, I remember reading a post about you making a trip to Africa wondering what to carry. Did you go already? See any goodies there or plan on looking to buy any?
 
Priest, I won't be going to Africa gain until this summer and I will be in Nigeria this time. I doubt if I will see much in the way of fancy customs there. Hopefully, I will be able to catch a cheap flight to South Africa while I'm over in that part of the world.
 
Anthony, Hope you do get the side trip and come back with stories of treasures and knives from king Solomons mines or whatever mines they got, or at least with a couple of show off pieces you got at bargain prices. Good luck dude.
 
Oh, oh, looks like our secret is getting out, eh?
Canada has got some amazing makers and many of them offer some of their knives at rather low prices compared to equivalent US makers.
Obviously, some of our makers are very well established and their work commands top dollar by any standard. Wally Hayes, Wolfgang Loerchner, Brian Tighe, Greg Lightfoot, Peter Wile, Christoph Deringer and Brian Lyttle are only some of them. But even they have great stuff available at good prices. But you really should look at the CKG website and you'll be surprised at what's available. There are so many to choose from, but you have to look at George Tichbourne, Thomas Haslinger, John Freeman, Kirby Lambert, Jeff Diotte, and even Bud Weston [he's still ours, dammit :)], and there are many more.
 
Very high quality knives at excellent prices are also available from Matt Harildstad, Robert Dockrell and Jim Downie. I am sure there are many other fine Canadian makers as well.

One of my favorite makers is in South Africa. His name is Des Horn, but his knives are anything but inexpensive. Great folders though.
 
I agree there are very good prices.Maybe the favorable U.S.A. exchange rate has something to do with it?
 
Lets not forget the Brazilians. Makers like Dobruski, The brothers from Korth, and our very own Ivan Campos come to mind.

There are a lot of bargains to be had with knifemakers from other countries.
 
You'll find that many Canucks price their knives in $US now.
 
Actually, most of the Canadian makers price their knives in U.S.$. They can still work out to be a pretty good bargain though. Their price in U.S.$ quite often seems to be lower than an equivalent knife from most U.S. makers (but certainly not all).
 
Most of the time it depends on whether or to what extent the maker sells to Americans and others out of Canada, like Germans, Japanese etc. I've seen the change happen, which coincided with the [precipitous drop in the value of our Peso - oops - "dollar".
I still think it's great value, although some makers are really up there by any standard [ see the thread on Brian Lyttle, for example].
 
I have to agree with shootist16.I've got a Dobruski Alantis model 2 with MOP scales.Its one of the best buys I made.I heard good things about his butterfly knives and took a chance on his intergal lock folder.Thanks Dennis.
 
I price my knives in US$ because the vast majority of my business is US, and I buy virtually all my supplies from the US. Exchange rate does help, but it's sure a pain dealing with the border. Pricing always seems to come down to what each maker thinks his time is worth. (IMHO)
 
There's one of our very best makers! :) I gotta get one of Matt's incredible chef's knives, but all the Americans are buying up his work leaving nothing for us poor Canajuns :(
 
Naw. The problem is I'm just slow. I want to do the CKG spring show, but I don't know how I'll get any stock finished.
 
Quiet Priest, I understand and share your patriotic spirit in desiring to "Buy American", but it's getting harder and harder to determine source anymore. I find it interesting Matt Harildstad buys most of his supplies in the U.S. I figure the knife I bought from him is "North American". The BG42 blade and micarta handle materials were definitely purchased by him in the U.S. (no micarta mines in Canada!) so it is basically only Canadian labor in my knife.

An older lady approached my son at his Brazillian Hammock booth at a local crafts show. He buys his hammocks from Brazil because he cannot find any with comparable quality in the U.S. This lady scolded him for not "selling American". I wanted to ask her where the diamond in her engagement ring, the gas in her car (I hope she wasn't driving a Honda -- which would probably have been made in the U.S.), etc. came from.

Quiet Priest and others, don't hesitate to buy from a Canadian maker, and I would recommend Matt Harildstad all day long. Having worked with the Canadian military in Germany during the Cold War, I can tell you they deserve our respect and friendship.

Besides, where else are you going to go for a good "ooutine"?

oops, I mean "Poutine"

Bruce Woodbury
 
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