Taiwan Spyderco's and American manufacturing.

@KennyLiu@ said:
I should thank everyone here for the civilized and friendly comments. I'm now actually glad you have brought up this subject and led some really open minded people into this discussion. The cutlery world has certainly went through a lot of evolutions, and learning from other cultures is what helps us progress, like tanto grinds and karambit styles so on and so forth.
Globalization is a great way for us to improve and innovate, as long as you don't do anything shady with it, and to show that I don't just favor Taiwan made knives, here is a part of my humble collection.

P.S. When are you coming to Taiwan? JK!


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Taiwan is a wonderful country that has a history of quality manufacturing and skilled workers that are treated well. I'd buy from Taiwan without hesitation. China I have very mixed feelings about. Not the people, just the government.
 
Any sale for Spyderco is good. It's an American company. If you buy one of their knives, you're supporting an American brand.
 
I got this Spyderco Squarehead (made in Taiwan) which I loved and in turn got me interested in the designer, Darriel Caston. Now I have one of his Kadimas on they way (please Spyderco make a factory version of the Kadima) so think of it as a cheaper way to be introduced to some awesome designers with a top quality Spyderco product
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bluemetalchurch said:
Thank you to everyone for your comments. As I said, I have an open mind and I'm open to changing it; but since I was a kid buying US was built into my head. With that being said it's not that I have anything against Taiwan; I have similar hang ups with Japan or Italy. It's the American jobs shipped overseas that worry me. But as I was thinking already; Spyderco isn't a company that started making products in the US and moved production overseas cutting quality and costing jobs while padding their on accounts. They're using the global economy to further their existence in the American economy and provide jobs in Golden while ensuring that quality doesn't go down.

So they are really the exact opposite of what I was worried about.
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You're a reasonable guy so your decision will be reasonable even if it differed from mine..
 
If you buy a Taiwanese Spyderco, you are supporting Spyderco. Spyderco is an American company. I don't see the conflict.
 
I look at it this way: "half a loaf is better than none".

If it wasn't for Americans purchasing the Worker, and the rest of the original dozen or so models Spyderco had produced in Japan, there would be no Spyderco factory in Golden. The profits from overseas production are what has allowed that plant to grow over the years. I also suspect Golden's most recent expansion was financed to a sizable extent, by profit from models made in Taiwan.

Armadew said:
If you buy a Taiwanese Spyderco, you are supporting Spyderco. Spyderco is an American company. I don't see the conflict.
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Not just Spyderco, either. You're also supporting the American companies that supply the blade steel, and occasionally other components, for the models made in Taiwan.
 
just stay away from Ganzo and other replica's and everything should be perfectly fine.
 
Although I have yet to buy a Taiwan-made Spyderco, it may happen one day! My reason for not owning any yet is NOT due to where they're manufactured, but due to personal tastes; none of the Taiwan models happen to have been on my radar.

I lived in Taiwan on my own for an 8-year period, from the mid-1980s to the early '90s. I have great memories of that period of my life and miss it sometimes. BTW, I'm US-born Japanese.

I think Spyderco utilizes the best manufacturers that it can find around the world. That is a very good thing.

Jim
 
I'm glad I started this thread. It has contributed positive dialogue that has helped me understand Spyderco and their processes a bit better.

While I do like the Spydiechef I'm actually leaning towards a more traditional Spyderco for EDC. :)
 
The Taichung Spyderco's are top notch. Even though they're not made in the USA they're made by craftsmen and women living a country that's our strategic ally of the USA. Plus, the profits go to a USA company that does a lot of manufacturing domestically. Spyderco does what it needs to to stay in business using offshores manufacturing. By the models you want and be happy, either way you're doing just fine!
 
If you look closely at Spyderco's Taiwanese-made knives, in addition to the outstanding fit and finish, you'll notice that they're made with US blade steels. Our maker in Taiwan is so good we make the extra investment to ship US-made blade steels to them for use in the knives they make for us. As such, even by buying Taiwanese-made Spydercos, you are very much supporting US industries.

In a previous job I had the opportunity to work with Taiwanese makers and visited a number of production facilities there. They are VERY impressive and, in some specialized areas, the best in the world at what they do.

Thanks for a cool discussion...

Stay safe,

Mike
 
Michael Janich said:
If you look closely at Spyderco's Taiwanese-made knives, in addition to the outstanding fit and finish, you'll notice that they're made with US blade steels. Our maker in Taiwan is so good we make the extra investment to ship US-made blade steels to them for use in the knives they make for us. As such, even by buying Taiwanese-made Spydercos, you are very much supporting US industries.

In a previous job I had the opportunity to work with Taiwanese makers and visited a number of production facilities there. They are VERY impressive and, in some specialized areas, the best in the world at what they do.

Thanks for a cool discussion...

Stay safe,

Mike
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Mike,

Thanks for your comment. I decided not to go with the Spydiechef not because of made in Taiwan but because I wanted to go with a more traditional Spyderco. I placed an order this morning for a PM2. I'm just seeing the Sage 5 though and I'm considering it or the Chapparel for office carry.
 
Mo2 said:
just stay away from Ganzo and other replica's and everything should be perfectly fine.
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I'm surprised by the reaction to Ganzo in the knife community, versus how designs and styles are handled in the wristwatch community. Long ago Rolex invented the Submariner "dive watch" with the large rotating bezel. In due course it evolved into 10,000 variants and became a universal design standard. Odds are half of the knife collecting community owns a Submariner-style watch, versus fewer who own a true Rolex.

In the watch community everyone knows that a $100 Invicta or $200 Seiko isn't a $7,500 Rolex, but with authentic factory markings no one cares. These companies run in totally different circles, and collectors may own at several price points for different purposes. Watch collectors use the term "homage" as a positive reference to "in the style of" rather than "fake," "copy," "clone," or "replica."

Of course, anyone with half a brain condemns true counterfeits (i.e., false factory markings) as counterproductive all around. Such as the legion of Spyderco fakes on Ebay that I keep reporting and keep getting ignored about...
 
Hi John,

The concept of "Intellectual Property" is vast and deep on many levels from morality and ethics to commerce and legality. An interesting concept worthy of discussion on a global philosophical level. I've tried to begin such a thread in a few areas. I think few think about it as much as those being "followed".

sal
 
The easiest way to understand the right and wrong of IP is to have something you've created stolen.

At that point the fog dissipates and the issue is crystal clear.
 
If you buy a Taiwan made spyderco, you are supporting an American company. If you buy a China made spyderso, you are supporting an American company. Need further explanation?
 
May be supporting an American company, but the foreign workers get paid and benefit from it too, which is what I think this thread is about. I don't have a problem buying products from most countries, China is one I try to avoid though, for a multitude of reasons, spotty quality control being a big one, but far from the only reason.
 
`br4dz- said:
May be supporting an American company, but the foreign workers get paid and benefit from it too, which is what I think this thread is about. I don't have a problem buying products from most countries, China is one I try to avoid though, for a multitude of reasons, spotty quality control being a big one, but far from the only reason.
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I buy Chinese knives. I do business with Chinese people every year. I have Chinese friends. I bought four reate knives and four we knives and still have six of them. I bought 8 zts and have one left. Their (Chinese) quality control is better than zts in my experience. I have dozens of spyderco from all their makers and have little issue with any of their QC.
My opinion...


Russ
 
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