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Several questions: AlMar and country of origin

R

ravenQ8

Joined
Jan 2, 2002
Messages
208
First, I got my AlMar SERE 2000 today and I'm very impressed with it. Are all Al Mar knives of this quality? If so I'm buying more as its the only knife that has made me cheat on my BM.
I notice the AMK is stamped "Japan" while the CRKT M18 is stamped "Taiwan" and my BM is "USA". I haven't checked the others. Is that where the steel or the knife was made? Is there any coorelation between the country and the quality?
 
Al Mar knives are made for them in Japan, while CRKT has theirs made in Taiwan. Both companies produce great knives, but the country of origin stamp does not denote where the steel comes from, only where the knife is manufactured. For instance, Benchmade has several knives made from Gin-1 steel. The knives are made in Oregon, but Gin-1 is a Japanese steel.
 
The country or origin alone does not always denote quality. However, Japan produces some of the finest knives in the world. Many U.S.-based knife companies import all or a part of their lines from Seki-City, Japan, such as Spyderco, SOG, Kershaw, Al Mar, etc.

Taiwan, once known mostly for producing lower-grade knives, is coming into its own as a place that has quality manufacturers. CRKT, Outdoor Edge, Gerber, and now even Spyderco has one model produced there as well.

The U.S.,Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, etc., also have excellent manufacturers.

Jim
 
As I understand it, in order to use the fancy VG-10 steel, the knife must be made in Japan.

I don't think there's a loss of quality by having them made there... the SERE 2000 is one of the highest quality production knives I've handled.

It's a reasonable tradeoff, considering the manufacturing standards in Japan are indeed high, and given that the QC is per AMK's standards, so I don't mind.

The new SERE Operator, for example, is made in the States and can't use VG-10, instead "substituting" 154CM.

-Jon
 
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