GREAT post,
AIW!:thumbup:
I only snipped for brevity, not because I didn't like what you said. To me, you are spot on.
I completely agree. I'm maybe a bit odd, but when a knife costs three figures it really should be pretty well made and finished well. Heck, once it starts going over $25 there should at least be an expectation of proper fitting and at least some semblance of a decent blade grind on it and not have the blades landing on top of each other as you close it. (My Case 2013 Canoe)
I have seen your posts over in the traditional forum, so I know you read it and know
exactly what I am talking about. I agree wholeheartedly with the above comment.
I've gone in with low expectations and be quite surprised at how well my RR blades have held up shaving and notching wood then cutting some cordage after. As long as you keep your edge bevels at angles appropriate to the steel and intended tasks you're good. I've been well served over the years by Case Tru-Sharp though some like to rag on it. I've found these RRs in stainless to be equal to or even a little superior to Tru-Sharp (I'm talking 2000s era TS). The Colt trapper I have in carbon steel acts like a proper carbon steel. The Colt CT591 modern in D2 acts like D2 and is a really nice slicer that holds an edge well. Considering it costs me all these knives cost me under $20 each shipped. It's hard to complain other than to wish they were made here.
With you all the way on that, too, except the CASE Trusharp. I had a bad experience or two with it in the mid 70s, and never really got over it. Maybe 40 years later I should re-think that. Anyway, I got this Colt:
And was stunned at the fit and finish. Everything about the knife was nearly perfect, and if the knife wasn't branded, I would have thought I had a nice specimen from GEC in my hand. It is CASE from 40 years ago. The steel? Very, very good for a pocket knife. I carry that one a lot as it is simply a nice knife.
As to the only buy U.S. thing. I've been changing a bit on that. When the quality of the American product is no better, and getting to be worse than the import, especially when it's an product that has a deep rooted history of production in the U.S. then maybe it's time the American's making the product did lose their job. Putting out substandard and higher priced product and trying to wave the flag to make up for it doesn't say much for our quality of workmanship or real pride in our work these days.
I agree. And as a craft guy myself (working lead carpenter with a remodeling company) I am really tired of people excusing bad workmanship, poor quality control, and lack of pride in workmanship as the fault of being "hand made". Bull$hit. People can still do great work with their hands. People actually DO great work with their hands. Today's white collar office crowd isn't exposed much to craftsmen, and that old saw of "the reason it doesn't fit well" (or any other deficiency) is because human hands touched it doesn't fly with ANY of the craft people I know.
The RR's, Colt, even the Taylor Brand stuff probably costs a buck or less to produce, double that or a little more for costs to the U.S. marketing side. That means the rest of the markup in the $8-15 range is money going to the U.S. companies that are importing and selling them. Maybe the materials aren't coming from the U.S., but most of the money being made from the knife is being made in and by U.S. interests.
Had a friend of mine that was an "affiliate" of the big knife store located in the Smokey Mountain area. He told me they use the classic retail "keystone" method of retailing these products. They simply double their cost to get it to their door on these products, with a bottom line of no less than a certain figure per unit. According to him, they raise and lower that formula on each knife after it gets to a certain price (like their Colt Bowies, etc. that have a higher sale value) based on what they think the market will bear. And again, according to him, the traditional patterns are price based on the law of large numbers, meaning they sell a few million knives a year.
The RR's and Colt traditionals are hitting that point where you don't make excuses. You hand someone the knife and they say, "Nice knife!" And it is.
I have been saying that for sometime myself. This is the knife that changed it for me.
I have posted this knife here before. I got it as a gift. About 5 years ago I wouldn't have owned or carried a knife like this since I knew its country of origin. It has turned out to be as good a work knife as I have ever owned. The includes all the traditional patterns of CASE, Buck, Boker and EYE brands I have and use now. It is simply a good knife. I carry that one more than any other traditional I own now, and it hasn't skipped a beat. When "on the job" it spends its days trimming moldings, opening packages, sharpening my carpentry pencils, and a hundred other cutting chores.
I liked it enough that about a year later the sporting goods store had them on closeout pricing, and I bought two more for the princely sum of about $10 each. I gave one to a guy that really loved it, and haven't had any need to touch the other one yet.
Robert
