Size of US knife makers

JTR357 said:
I knew about Taiwan but thought all their China stuff was labelled Byrd
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You are correct in that their Byrd line is made in China but several Spyderco branded knives are also made in China. The Tenacious and Resilience come to mind along with some small EDC/neck knives they released a year ago, but there are probably a few others. By all accounts, they are good knives.
 
oldmanwilly said:
You are correct in that their Byrd line is made in China but several Spyderco branded knives are also made in China. The Tenacious and Resilience come to mind along with some small EDC/neck knives they released a year ago, but there are probably a few others. By all accounts, they are good knives.
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Oh yeah I have no doubt the China ones are of good quality. Their Taiwan models are some of the best. Buck & Kershaw not so much from my experience.
 
This is a very good question that I would be interested in knowing as well, unfortunately since all of the companies that have been discussed are privately owned there is very little public information available about sales numbers, etc.
Publicly traded companies are required to report financial statements, etc. but looking at private companies is like looking at a black box, there is no telling what is in there.
 
Does anyone have any data or even a ¨feeling¨ about which of Chris Reeve Knives or Hinderer is a larger company/builds more knives per year? I am a big fan of both and have owned many examples from each. they both seem to sell out nearly as soon as knives are released.

from the youtube videos I have seen, it appears that CRK may be a bigger operation, just by looking at the facilities. I do not know that factually though. I have also read online that CRK employs around 40 people. I do not know if that is accurate. I have no idea how many Hinderer may employ.
 
knarfeng said:
OKC went under. so that's a no-go
I don't believe there are enough direct military issued knives to matter.
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Did OKC close? They have a current website and 2024-205 catalog here.

The fun thing about US government funded purchases is that most are public information. https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=332215&v=2017. This link tells me that Kai has a 150 employees and "sales volume" around $100M. Gerber has 260 employees and a sales volume roughly the same.

Another example: our (US) federal tax dollars have paid Benchmade about $39M over the years...https://www.highergov.com/awardee/benchmade-knife-co-inc-10018349/
 
daveyc said:
Out of general curiosity, is there a way to determine the relative size/capacity of knife makers?
Say, for instance, which company produces more knives per year: Spyderco or Benchmade? Chris Reeve or Hinderer? Buck or Case?
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Super interesting topic.
 
"Reports of Spyderco annual revenue is about $10m. KAI annual revenue is over $100m/year, buck is about $80m, Gerber is around $100m and both Benchmade and Boker have over $30m in annual revenue."


--Post from a well-respected Spyderco forum member circa. 2021
 
Size of U.S. knifemakers? Man sized, it varies a bit though. Lynn from Cold Steel was a little heavy.
I can't recall any giant type guys making knives or any little folks. There are a few women sized.
 
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