- Joined
- Aug 7, 2003
- Messages
- 3,330
Today I had an idle moment, so I went to the local Sportsman's Warehouse and perused the knife displays. There I beheld a knife I had never seen before that turned out to be a Ka-Bar 1277, their 14+inch Bowie. I asked the clerk if I might see it. He handed it to me and I knew immediately something was not right. The price was less than the smaller Ka-Bar fighting knives that remained in the case.
So I flipped it around, yep Made in Taiwan.
Too bad. I gave it right back.
Now, before anyone gets their knickers knotted up over that, I'd like to explain something--I have no problem buying foreign knives. In my humble collection I have Victorinoxes from Switzerland, Opinels from France, puukkos from Finland, and some Spydercos from Japan.
But I draw a line.
I am not buying a Bowie inspired anything from Taiwan. I wouldn't buy a puukko made in Spain. I don't want a Khukuri from Arkansas or a parang from Brazil. Only rarely does anything at all from Cold Steel even draw my momentary interest.
I am not a hardcase about this. If I ever want a custom wazikashi, I'll give an American bladesmith with the ability the first crack over learning Japanese to talk with a genuine mokume gane mastersmith and overpaying in yen. The maker's mark will be on it no matter where that person is from. In Ka-Bar's case, that mark became a trademark. I don't consider the 1277 to be a real Ka-Bar because then it would have been stamped "Olean NY."
So, am I alone in not having any interest in, say, American rebadging efforts? Disdain for the alien factory manufacture of culturally distinct designs? Or is it just me? If I want a distinctly American knife, I want it to be American, just like I wouldn't want a Portugese-made Winchester lever rifle. If I want a golok, I'll go for one made where the tool is understood, not just where it was conveniently cheap to do so. I'd rather buy from a foreign manufacturer than a domestic importer too.
On the one hand I feel petty, and on the other I know I am right.
So I flipped it around, yep Made in Taiwan.
Too bad. I gave it right back.
Now, before anyone gets their knickers knotted up over that, I'd like to explain something--I have no problem buying foreign knives. In my humble collection I have Victorinoxes from Switzerland, Opinels from France, puukkos from Finland, and some Spydercos from Japan.
But I draw a line.
I am not buying a Bowie inspired anything from Taiwan. I wouldn't buy a puukko made in Spain. I don't want a Khukuri from Arkansas or a parang from Brazil. Only rarely does anything at all from Cold Steel even draw my momentary interest.
I am not a hardcase about this. If I ever want a custom wazikashi, I'll give an American bladesmith with the ability the first crack over learning Japanese to talk with a genuine mokume gane mastersmith and overpaying in yen. The maker's mark will be on it no matter where that person is from. In Ka-Bar's case, that mark became a trademark. I don't consider the 1277 to be a real Ka-Bar because then it would have been stamped "Olean NY."
So, am I alone in not having any interest in, say, American rebadging efforts? Disdain for the alien factory manufacture of culturally distinct designs? Or is it just me? If I want a distinctly American knife, I want it to be American, just like I wouldn't want a Portugese-made Winchester lever rifle. If I want a golok, I'll go for one made where the tool is understood, not just where it was conveniently cheap to do so. I'd rather buy from a foreign manufacturer than a domestic importer too.
On the one hand I feel petty, and on the other I know I am right.