The old cutlery areas and their fading trend?...

PocketKnifeJimmy

PocketKnifeJimmy

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Aug 4, 2013
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You know, you had all sorts of areas in the world that were known for knife making. Places like Sheffield England, Toledo Spain, Solingen Germany, Seki Japan, and of course others. But, you hear how most of those locations are a shadow of what they once were in their knife manufacturing.
My open question, to anyone that may have some idea of the situation, how much have the major Japanese knife areas declined?
Is what happened to Solingen Germany pretty much happening to places like Seki Japan? Their high end Kitchen stuff seems pretty thriving still, but as for civi carry fixed and folding blades, doesn't seem as they do anywhere near as much as they used to.
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
You know, you had all sorts of areas in the world that were known for knife making. Places like Sheffield England, Toledo Spain, Solingen Germany, Seki Japan, and of course others. But, you hear how most of those locations are a shadow of what they once were in their knife manufacturing.
My open question, to anyone that may have some idea of the situation, how much have the major Japanese knife areas declined?
Is what happened to Solingen Germany pretty much happening to places like Seki Japan? Their high end Kitchen stuff seems pretty thriving still, but as for civi carry fixed and folding blades, doesn't seem as they do anywhere near as much as they used to.
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China.....................
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
You know, you had all sorts of areas in the world that were known for knife making. Places like Sheffield England, Toledo Spain, Solingen Germany, Seki Japan, and of course others. But, you hear how most of those locations are a shadow of what they once were in their knife manufacturing.
My open question, to anyone that may have some idea of the situation, how much have the major Japanese knife areas declined?
Is what happened to Solingen Germany pretty much happening to places like Seki Japan? Their high end Kitchen stuff seems pretty thriving still, but as for civi carry fixed and folding blades, doesn't seem as they do anywhere near as much as they used to.
Click to expand...

Places aren't making fixed/folding knives as much anymore because in some of those countries you list, its not socially acceptable to carry a knife and sometimes outright illegal. Even in the US where you can carry a knife almost everywhere, its not as common as it once was because its not as necessary as it once was.
 
A lot of the old locations were established where they were due to access to direct-drive water power to power their hammers and other machinery. In the modern era we're no longer tied to a particular geographic location thanks to technological advances, so as old companies died off, different sorts of businesses replaced them, and new knife companies were started in locations where it previously wouldn't have been commercially feasible. That's led to a diffusion of the industry from a geographic standpoint.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
A lot of the old locations were established where they were due to access to direct-drive water power to power their hammers and other machinery. In the modern era we're no longer tied to a particular geographic location thanks to technological advances, so as old companies died off, different sorts of businesses replaced them, and new knife companies were started in locations where it previously wouldn't have been commercially feasible. That's led to a diffusion of the industry from a geographic standpoint.
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Thank you, Sir... Very good, and all based on facts. They are undeniable in having been some of the causes for the trend in seeing old world knife areas diminished in their manufacturing numbers.
I also see a correlation with these old world centers, and their old world knives, (read as traditional), as another likely cause.
I mean, yeah, traditional knives have made a couple of comebacks in recent years, but they are ever more being replaced by more modern styled knives. And, often these more modern styles, (read as non traditional), are in no way tied to cater to the more traditional methods of making knives. Most of the areas in the world making "old school" traditional type knives, also tried their best to cater to those that also want those knives to be as traditionally made as possible, (the style and their method of manufacturing going kind'a hand in hand).
Anyhow, it was my latest purchase of a Parker Cut. Co. branded Bowie knife, (Japanese made), that got me to thinking about Seki, Japan. It seems they had a good blend of hand craftsmanship and some modern machinery in the 1980's, but such products from that region are much less found nowadays. I believe the cost of labor in Japan is yet another big reason for that decline. It seems that now much of what was sourced out to Seki by American firms, is now sourced out to places like Taiwan, where the labor cost are still way lower than they are in Japan. Seems a lot of good stuff can still come out of Seki, Japan, but usually now with pricier brands on them (since they simply now cost much more now to make them there). Anyhow, these areas that were known for their "traditional knives", do seem to have at least some of their coffin nails be placed in by much more modern designs and the much more modern manufacturing methods and materials that are so oftenly used on them.
 
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In addition to Asia competition, lot of it is also lack of interest from the young on both the workers and owners parts. The young don't want to go into cutlery work, a lot of those old line companies have trouble replacing workers. Also a lot of the older companies were family based, so when they run out of family members, etc.... willing to take over, they usually just close up shop.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
A lot of the old locations were established where they were due to access to direct-drive water power to power their hammers and other machinery. In the modern era we're no longer tied to a particular geographic location thanks to technological advances, so as old companies died off, different sorts of businesses replaced them, and new knife companies were started in locations where it previously wouldn't have been commercially feasible. That's led to a diffusion of the industry from a geographic standpoint.
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Same thing has and is happening in Detroit or New England. Why were steel companies in Pittsburgh PA? Proximity to coal, iron ore, and water.
 
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