US production vs. Japanese

B

Bladeboy

Joined
Jul 29, 2000
Messages
7
As the proud owner of an exponentially growing collection of Spydercos (ok,ok, so I only have two. That's still exponential compaired to the 0 I had at the beginning of the week) I have found myself asking a few questions.

My collection now includes a black (zytel?) Delica, in addition to a zytel Native ( both plain edge, of course. ) In compairing the two, I noticed that while the Native is 440V, the Delica is made of ATS-55. What are the different properties of these steels? Why does the Delica use ATS-55 instead of 440V?

The other thing I was wondering is why some knives made in Japan, while others, like the Native, are around the same price, but made in the US with superior craftsmanship and (at least from what I've read) better steel?

Thanks for a great product! ( Must stop buying knives, must pay college tuition...)
 
This may not answer your question, but IMO the Japanese manufacturer for Spyderco makes knives with at least equal craftsmanship as that of the U.S. The Wegner, Viele, Lum, etc., have very high quality. It all depends on the specs given for a particular model as to what steel the blade is made from.
Jim
 
Bladeboy - Craftsmanship in general would have to give our Seki makers the edge. They've been doing it for generations and the town has been the Sword capital of Japan for a thousand years.

Our Golden facility has a slight edge on technology.

The Golden facility is at capacity. Actually above capacity and that's why the USA made pieces are behind demand in production.

Regarding steels, we're always testing and using new and different steels. It's just one of the things I like to do. This envelope can and is being pushed hard these days. I can guarantee that every steel we use is a good steel. 6A or better. Most are super steels ATS/VG10/CPM, etc.

Though my sales dept and accounting dept might not appreciate this comment; regarding knives and tuition? Tuition is a better investment.

sal
 
Thanks, Sal, for the reply. I wrote my post shortly after receiving my Delica, and initial compairisons between that and the Native seemed to give the Native the edge in terms of quality. I am now coming to realize that it is just a different feel for the Delica: less solid feel (Due to smaller size) and a tighter lockup have a lot to do with my initial impressions, I think. Didn't mean to disrespect a factory full of sword makers! I was just curious as to why you would choose to have factories in such widely divergent places.

*************
The main difference between knives and women is that knife wounds heal.
 
Seki City is now to knives what Sheffield used to be. It's a place you go when you want it done right. Firms like Moki, Hattori, Sakai, et al., do excellent work under a lot of US brand names, and a couple of Swedish and Italian brand names too. It's a global economy.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
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