Spyderco Sharpmaker USA or China

S

Slimman

Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Messages
198
Hello, I have noticed that some of the sharpmakers say "made in China" and some of them "USA made". Can someone elaborate on this for me. Where are these being made? Is the China made version a cheap nock-off? Were they once produced in the US and now being produced in China? Not real familiar with Spyderco, so dont really know the company history. Thanks
 
The one I bought in December 2007 says USA made. It is possible that they have outsourced the making of the plastic parts (the base). I don't think anyone in China can make the stones to Sal's standards yet, so I believe they are still made here. I could be wrong, though. You might try asking in the Spyderco sub-forum, someone official might be more likely to see it there than here.
 
I haven't seen one marked made in China. I think that if there are some marked this way, Yablanowitz has it right. The plastic parts may be imported but, I'm 100% sure that the stones are made in USA.

Bruceter
 
I care.

Yablanowitz, I know you don;t speak for Spyderco, but it's ironic how one word in your post upsets me so about U.S. knifemakers subbing out their stuff foreign. That word is: "yet". *"I don't think anyone in China can make the stones to Sal's standards yet,...."*
 
StretchNM said:
I care.

Yablanowitz, I know you don;t speak for Spyderco, but it's ironic how one word in your post upsets me so about U.S. knifemakers subbing out their stuff foreign. That word is: "yet". *"I don't think anyone in China can make the stones to Sal's standards yet,...."*
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My point is simply that IF the Sharpmaker were being made in China, it would still be made to Sal's standards. For the end user, it would make no functional difference in the effectiveness or longevity of the device. If the problem is the politics of financial reality, well...this isn't the Political sub-forum.
 
Yablanowitz, I didn;t mean to critisize your use of the word "yet", but rather, to use it myself to point at manufacturers subbing out overseas. Your sentence just presented an oppurtunity to me, that's all.

All politics aside, then integrity and character take over. If Spyderco were to opt to have the Sharpmaker rods made in China, if and when the Chinese manufacturers could make the rods to Sal's standards, then I would think there would be more than a few persons, if not a great many, that would not buy the product. I would be among them.

My Sharpmaker says "USA"
 
yablanowitz said:
The one I bought in December 2007 says USA made. It is possible that they have outsourced the making of the plastic parts (the base). I don't think anyone in China can make the stones to Sal's standards yet, so I believe they are still made here. I could be wrong, though. You might try asking in the Spyderco sub-forum, someone official might be more likely to see it there than here.
Click to expand...

we can, we just dont because we dont get paid enough to do that ;)
 
I don't understand people's what-have-you of products made in China. Why does it matter, if it lives up to the quality you need, at the price you like?

If some genie were to take the Spyderco factory from Golden, CO, and plop it down in rural China, staff it with local workers as skilled and trained as the current ones, working under identical conditions to the current workers... would you still object?


My objection, for the record, to most "Made in _____" (Pakistan, Taiwan, China, what-have-you) is that it was off-shored to save money, and thus saving money is probably the key goal of the maker. While Chinese factories often churn out shitty products under worse conditions, that's merely because they are exploiting a niche which others won't. As Spyderco's own Tenacious and Byrd lines prove in the positive direction, Chinese factories are capable of making what you pay for, be it shitty CCCs for shitty money or Tenaciouses for better money.



If this is too political, feel free to delete it, mods.
 
For me, it isn;t so much that a product is made in China, but more the origin of the maker. For example, I've said this many times, if a Chinese company were to design its own "widget", make the widget there, and sell it proudly under the name (for example) Jun Szhou, then I have noe problem buying the widget here if it is better or more affordable, or both, than the widgets produced here. I look at it as a competitive product. Japanese cars are a good example (whether they're made in the deep south or in Japan). They designed them, made them very well, and sell them competitively. I have zero problems with them (for example).

HOWEVER, when a U.S. company designs a widget, and subs out its manufacturing to another country solely for profit, at the risk of the American economy, I (personally) have a problem. Benchmade's Red Class is an example. The counter arguements are always 1) why does it matter?, 2) Americans still have to ship, handle, etc, so they still make money, or 3) Chinese have to make a living too, you know, all I can say is make up your own mind. If your conscience doesn;t bother you, or it's not a conscientuous matter for you, then......good on you.

It is important to remember, though, that in our great capitalist country, free trade is a necessity. Uh...I mean free fair trade. Chinese products are generally of poor quality because they're just getting started in making some of the things we're seeing here in the U.S. Now, this is a general statement, of course. Their quality will increase as will the price of their products, in time. If an American company wants to MOVE itself, in its entirety, to say China, good on them. But to stay here and USE Chinese labor, to the detriment of U.S. labor, is not only greedy but shamefully so. Those in other industrious nations are facing the same problems with their businesses and China's labor force.... the U.S. isn;t alone here.

One last thing. China is an exception because of their shamefully atrocious handling of their people. Whether anyone admits it or not (belief is irrelevant to the fact), China is near the top of the list of U.S. enemies. Because we trade with them and talk while sipping green tea, doesn't mean we're not very militarily aware of them, and they of us. All the trading, handshaking and tea slurping is no more than diplomacy. When we sub-out to friendlier nations (i.e. Guatemala, Taiwan, India, etc), it's still a heartache for me and surely many others....but less so than with China.
 
Let me preface this by saying that I spend a lot of time in Chinese factories and I know first-hand how it works over there. Been building stuff over there for nearly 10 yrs. Before that it was Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Mexico.

I constantly read about how deplorable it is for the greedy American corporations to move production over there just for 'greater profits'. Most often, they are forced to move production there due to 'greedy' stockholders (Americans like you and I that want a return on our investments, 401Ks, etc...) or in many instances, just to stay in business. The 'quality' is as good as the company that is contacting the manufacture wants it to be. If they want cheap stuff, that's what they get. If they want quality, they can get quality anywhere, just at a little higher price.

Material costs are the same across the globe. This IS a global economy. It's the labor cost that gives companies with a labor intensive product the motivation to move to lower cost regions. Plain and simple, we want to be paid more for our time than they do.

Had electronics manufacturing never moved over there, 85% of the people reading this would never buy a computer due to US labor costs. Cell phones would still be a novelty for the wealthy.

Designing products that are not labor intensive to build is one way to keep production here. The US will never again be a world manufacturing power (unless our economy totally collapses and we are willing to work for $100 per month) so rather than sit around belly-aching about it, we had better start learning new value that we can provide to the world.
 
I, for one, hear you Kelbro. Your comments aren;t falling on deaf ears. But as I've said before, why doesn;t the U.S. company move itself, in its entirety overseas? For example, Benchmade makes the majority of its line (Gold, Blue, and Black class knives) here in the U.S., but they make a Red Class foreign (mostly Taiwan). Now, if their goal is to compete with lower-class, less expensive knife makers (foreign made), why don;t they make their entire line overseas? I mean if profit without some form of integrity is the goal, why have any made here?

I don;t belly-ache. I just don;t buy Chinese products (whenever possible, that is).
 
yablanowitz said:
My point is simply that IF the Sharpmaker were being made in China, it would still be made to Sal's standards. For the end user, it would make no functional difference in the effectiveness or longevity of the device. If the problem is the politics of financial reality, well...this isn't the Political sub-forum.
Click to expand...

My point exactly! That kind of political krap belongs in the political forum. :grumpy:
 
StretchNM said:
I mean if profit without some form of integrity is the goal, why have any made here?

I don;t belly-ache. I just don;t buy Chinese products (whenever possible, that is).
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It sounds like you don't have a lot of integrity. When you say you don't "buy Chinese products (whenever possible, that is)", you are saying that you will buy Chinese products. You have a price, and could be bought off.

So why do you denigrate Benchmade or Spyderco, or any other American company for doing the exact same thing?
 
Boys, in case you've not noticed, this is not the political forum. It's not even the General Discussion forum.

If ya ain't talking about fixin or sharpenin a knife, don't talk here.

It's not as if we've not had a gazillion threads about Chinese made knives. In this forum if you don't want something made in China, don't buy it. IF you don't mind, do buy it.
Don't defend your choice to us in this forum.
Don't try to make us make the same choice you made in this forum.

That is what the political and general discussion forums are for.
 
Shecky, I'll not be lectured about integrity by the likes of those that have none.

Knarfeng, where something is made and by which companies and for what reasons is only "political" if it's determined that someone doesn;t want to discuss it. It's a way of saying, "I'm tired of this, I don;t agree with it, and I know how to stop it. I'll use a "hot button" word that seems to work well." I mean, isn;t that about right?

When I open the forum, I look down the list of topic headers. Sometimes you can pretty much tell what the thread will be about. Other times you might hold your mouse over the header long enough to get a glimpse of the OP's first post. Sometimes.......you pass the thread by..... IF you enter the thread, you did so because you chose to.

This thread is about where the Sharpmaker is made. Nobody had to peek inside the thread to see, it was clearly evident in the thread header. It begs for opinions just as were stated. If this thread is "political", then every thread is. It may belong elsewhere, I won;t argue that, but it'll surely be out of place in a political forum.
 
Yeah but Stretch, The question was not "should I buy a Chinese Sharpmaker." The question was, "Is the Sharpmaker made in China." The first calls for opinion. The second calls for a 'Yes", "No", or "we don't know."

In this case, the answer is, "We do not know where the Sharpmaker is currently made. Why don't you contact Spyderco and ask."

no opinion needed or asked for.

(However, I do value your opinions when you talk about the knives you own.)

regards,
Frank R.
 
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