Spyderco "made in Taiwan"

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I recently purchased the Spyderco Chaparral, made in Taiwan and the fit and finish appear to be OK. Hey, we would all rather see Made in USA" stamped on the blade. But the quality seems decent to me.
For a knife that very well made have been made boy a 15 year old boy, earning $1.50/hr, its totally fine. My preference certainly would be to buy a 100% USA MADE knife like Benchmade, Buck, Case, GEC, etc.
But these imported Spyderco model really dont appear to be cheaply made, at least to my eyes.
 
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There are those who say that Spyderco's best finished knives come out of Taiwan. I do not own one but I own Japan made and USA made Spyderco. The Spyderco Taiwan plant is very good. Anything not made in the USA will bother some people...and everyone should probably try to go USA made but it's a global economy and it's just not very feasible. Please also note that Taiwan is not China. Two different countries. China (and I am no China basher) is a land of much growth, rampant copyright infringement, sketchy QA, and a fair amount of corruption. Taiwan is none of the above, they're a free country allied with the US in every way, and essentially a democracy.
 
Taiwan knives are the best! I prefer them over USA made knives.
Now i may be a little biased since I am born in Taiwan... and live in Canada :D
 
jimmy1523 said:
Taiwan knives are the best! I prefer them over USA made knives.
Now i may be a little biased since I am born in Taiwan... and live in Canada :D
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I too have found that their best product is coming out of Taiwan.
 
My understanding is that the reason Spyderco is manufacturing in Taiwan has nothing to do with cost. In reality I think it costs more for them to build in Taiwan, since the have to ship most of the materials from the USA to Taiwan before they start. I seem to recall Sal saying that the Golden, CO facility was running at maximum capacity and if they tried to build everything in the USA we just wouldn't get the knives we want.
Regarding the quality of the Taiwan knives they are still Spyderco blades.
 
USA made knives... Ignore them and they will go away. It sure seems to be the case with every other product i can think of. I guess I'm just a little more passionate about this hobby than most. There is little room for passion when one also desires "too good to be true."

That's what I have to say to the original post's question. Spyderco fans... We'll have to agree to disagree.
 
I believe I have at least a couple Spyderco's made in Taiwan, including the Southard I just bought. I would say the fit and finish of the Southard is on par with anything I have seen from any high end manufacturer.

-Freq
 
My Valotton Sub-Hilt and my Southard flipper, put some of my U.S., Italian, Japanese knives to shame.
I think manufacturers in North America need to watch their backs when it comes to quality. I also think that countries like Taiwan could soon be the yardstick.
Cheers
 
The Taiwan made Spyderco's are of quite good quality.
I buy based on quality.

Of course, I could buy based on country of origin:
"I will only buy knives made in Canada by Canadians because I am Canadian...oh crap, there's no production knives here for me to buy. :("
 
I can't bite my tongue any longer, FYI Taiwan is "ROC".... china includes it as part of their governed land mass it is not its own country no matter how you choose to spin it.
 
Silly Rabbit said:
I can't bite my tongue any longer, FYI Taiwan is "ROC".... china includes it as part of their governed land mass it is not its own country no matter how you choose to spin it.
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Not this again...
"Round and round and round we go, where it stops...oh wait, it doesn't."

Blagh.
 
If Golden put out the same quality that the Taichung plant does then I might actually buy one until then I will continue to look for the Taiwan knives .
 
The Chokwe is pretty darn good -- I got one about a month ago. I will say, it is the only Spydie I've had with a pivot screw that kept backing out and needed to be loctited.

From everything I've learned though, the Taichung facility is pretty world-class, and this is a commonly held belief (as evidenced by this thread), so you can just point your knife buddies this direction.

That said, I can't help but prefer to see Golden or even Seki-City on my knives over Taiwan. Not a deal breaker, and probably not even logical, but it is what it is.
 
Silly Rabbit said:
I can't bite my tongue any longer, FYI Taiwan is "ROC".... china includes it as part of their governed land mass it is not its own country no matter how you choose to spin it.
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AFAIK, the Taiwanese call themselves the Republic of China because they maintain that they are the true Chinese (the ROC was formed in 1912, and relocated its headquarters to Taiwan after the Communists rose to power in 1949), and the PRC is being occupied by illegitimate rulers. Taiwan actually claims sovereignty over all of mainland China, although obviously they aren't in much of a position to enforce this.
 
Yeah, Taiwan and HongKong among others... they do not have much of a choice but to be "part" of the People's Republic do they? Ask any of their citizens and they'll tell you what's up, regardless of their official status...

You're right Stabman, this is never-ending. I just really get a kick imagining these guys who criticize Taiwan made knives typing from their China made laptop getting all worked up about it. Hope they dont run me over with their Isuzu.
 
They have extreme difference.
China : People Republic Of China (PRoC)
Taiwan: Republic Of China (ROC)

Of cause, China doesn't admit the existence of ROC.
 
galactorrhea said:
AFAIK, the Taiwanese call themselves the Republic of China because they maintain that they are the true Chinese (the ROC was formed in 1912, and relocated its headquarters to Taiwan after the Communists rose to power in 1949), and the PRC is being occupied by illegitimate rulers. Taiwan actually claims sovereignty over all of mainland China, although obviously they aren't in much of a position to enforce this.
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This pretty much hit the nail right on the head, the Chinese will be all over us if they knew about the piss poor state our military hardware is in lol.
 
just got this Spyderco Brad Southard flipper. Made in Taiwan. Simply a superb knife.
Southard_zpsd88df722.jpg
 
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