US Army brand knives, by Taylor Cutlery, made in China

[shecky]

Nothing more than trinkets to sell to patriotic rubes. Too many take this sort of thing personally. Remember, we're talking about the US government brand here. China (and Taiwan... how did they enter the equation?) isn't the issue here.

I wonder if the Army gets a cut? If so, how much? The highest funded military on the planet, and they're using bake sale tactics to promote their throw-away swag?

I'm not upset about this at all. Sure, it's tacky, imo, but not as bad as the Nazi or Confederate branded junk sold by otherwise reputable American companies and dealers. The real indictment is the rubes who buys this stuff at all. In this case, I can't get too upset with business people and manufacturers willing to separate fools from their money.

 

[Mountain Mike]

Are there any US army knives? Those which are issue and have the National Stock Number? I am in fact curious.

As for the "knives specially made for US Army and Special Forces": soon it will be difficult to find the one which is not. Since that small lie brigs such a good publicity and boost sales... And it is not even a lie - so what if it has nothing to do with the army procurement! Anybody could design and produce a knife hoping that US Army will like it so much that it will change its policy and make its personnel to use exclusively that particular model. You may fail, but you can develop and produce the knife for US Army - even if it did not ask you to, and did not buy a single one. US Army does not care much about knives anyway.

Yes any company can state made for the US Army or whatever, that was not my point. These marketing tactics already confuse enough people that are new to knives, that we see the questions time and time again on this and many other forums. If we are here to share, learn, and educate it's IMO best not to further confuse people by stating that they are US Army Knives. You are also correct that technically no knife is a US Army knife as the military doesn't manufacture them. Maybe I should have said that saying "US Army knives" makes it sound as if they are issued or even available for procurement, which they are not and I believe can not be legally.

 

[Poez]

.... Maybe I should have said that saying "US Army knives" makes it sound as if they are issued or even available for procurement, which they are not and I believe can not be legally.

Thanks, that is what I thought myself.

I do not think that US Army gets any cut or whatever. First of all, I am not sure you could call US Army a brand, or kind of registered trade mark. So I suspect anybody can claim whatever they want about designing and producing for (but not supplying or selling) US Army or whatever Special Forces, put their names on any crap they like without any fear... That makes these claims just meaningless - and US Army or Special Forces can not and will not say anything... There is no issue... That is child's play!

 

[tallcharlie]

Obviously, I came upon this thread over five years after the last post. However, I need to point out a couple of things, facts?, that may only be my opinions. First, the Kabar "fighting" knife is okay at best. It has serious shortcomings that are not found in later, more modern knives. For example, the knife is made of carbon steel, and does not stand up to moist conditions well. I've had my knife literally rust in the scabbard in a single night on OP duty. Also, the sobriquet "fighting knife" is misplaced; the Kabar is clunky and too large, and the leather handles get slippery as hell when you get blood on them. I mean, I've literally dropped mine because the bloody handles were too slippery to hold securely. Luckily, I was field dressing a deer, not another fighter. Smile.
IMHO the Kabar makes a great camp knife, but not a fighter.
Now my old Gerber MkII is about the perfect fighting knife: good handles, good blade, just right size, but its nylon scabbard is moldy as hell, and I can't seem to get it to stay clean. Small defect.
My go-to folder is an elderly Al Mar with steel so hard it takes half a day to put a good edge on it, and half a year to wear it down.
Okay, those are my bona fides. Now let's talk about the Taylor Army brand knives.
This is my take: for the price, they are great.
The folders are strong enough to pry with, and the fixed blade Army11 takes a keen edge, holds it well enough, and wouldn't be a bad fighter with its hard rubber (?) handles and surprisingly good balance. It comes with a pretty good scabbard, too: Has an extra pocket for a folder or hobo knife. IMO, a hobo knife comes in third behind sliced bread and canned beer as the handiest invention ever. Much better than carrying around that clunky flatware that comes with the old mess kit.
Yeah, it is kind of sad that the U S Army logo has been so commercialized, but hey, that's free trade and democracy!

 

[anders098]

like our premier leader said, "bring job back to US and MAGA!"

 

[knarfeng]

no trolling.

 

[NJBillK]

Charlie:
Two things.
Since this is your first post, I would suggest reading the stickies up top. They suggest that instead of necromancing threads, create a new one and link this thread for reading purposes. In fact, your views on your knife would have made a good thread on their own.

Secondly, regarding this following quote, I feel that a few things could need addressing:
- your sharpening equipment needs updating
- your skill at sharpening (if freehand) need some tweaking or practice
- the knife is too thick behind the edge to be quick to touch up and causes slower wearing and also having a more obtuse edge angle which leads to an edge that is substandard in terms of slicing performance, but higher in terms of edge stability (when compared to stock).

My go-to folder is an elderly Al Mar with steel so hard it takes half a day to put a good edge on it, and half a year to wear it down.

There is a company called Rockstead that runs their knives over 67hrc, and the new Spyderco Mule was ran to 68hrc iirc. The three knives stated there would all be ran harder than your Al Mar, since they didn't run their alloys that high.
Each one of those three knives could be ran dull in an afternoon, and touched up in under an hour given the right equipment.

Welcome aboard and I look forward to having you join in!

 

[tallcharlie]

Okay, NJBillK. I wanted to build on the old thread, so I did. In particular, I wanted to question the unqualified worship of the Kabar which I think is misplaced, and point out its obvious shortcomings.

If I spend any more on my sharpening equipment, I'll have to get an insurance rider. I sharpen knives in my little knife shop: three bucks and up, so I've got way more sharpeners than the law allows.

I also have a small collection of Stanley planes, which I do indeed use, so I do a lot of sharpening for my own purposes. I bought a couple of guide wheels to sharpen plane irons of a flat stone by hand. They work pretty well if you take your time.

I don't know from Rc hardness, but I do know that when I first got the Al Mar, I worked on it with a stone for several hours and it still wouldn't shave. The tormek sharpener will put a razor edge on it in about five minutes. As far as the sentence you quoted, that falls under the heading of poetic license.

Personally, I don't believe anyone can get as uniform and keen an edge by hand as a good mechanical sharpener with a jig will produce. Just my opinion.