What Chinese stuff is okay?

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I am a fan of Artisan Cutlery and their sub-brand CJRB. So far have five knives from them and each is well built and just fine. Of course, Civivi needs no further discussion. Kizer has been hit or miss for me, but this is from a small sample. Ruike is really nice for the price, quality is good.
 
We and Civivi are such good brands, its insane. Tons of variety, in style, materials, opening mechanisms, etc. And the pricing almost always beats its closest USA competitors, mainly stuff like ZT. Civivi is always my recommendation to people looking for budget knives, even more so than the better kershaws out there. Love the brands.
 
My only chinese made knives are a CRKT Helical and Civivi Baby Banter. Both are perfectly made, centered, no blade play, and decent edges. I'd be happy if all of my American made knives had the same quality control. Design-wise, I don't feel myself bonding with them all that much. But can't really complain about them for the price.
 
Some really amazing designers using Bestech. I was pleasantly surprised at the fit and finish on a sub 100 dollar knife, the Irida.
Offering 14c28n with unique carbon fibre/g10 scales. Thick liners could pass as frame lock and the action, fidget factor is extreme.
I have a 350 dollar Benchmade that the screws fall out every now and again from normal use.
I think with all the cheaper of the brands mentioned, going with a knife that has a specific designer attached can mean the difference in fit and finish.
 
While I have several knives that are superior, it’s worth noting that my Civivi Baklash is the one that gets the most oohs and aahs from non-knife nerds. It really is a great looking knife, and I’ve been very, very happy with it. Easy to maintain steel, great lockup, and excellent ergos for less that 50 bucks. Ridiculous.
 
Blade Lab said:
Twosun: A real mixed bag here. Some of their models are amazing and great values. Others are trash, and there's a whole range in between.
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Twosun's quality is good, designs - original, and they don't lie about the steel used. But Twosun is kind of "ghost" company - if you have a problem there is no address.
 
Spyderco Byrd also has a good reputation.

You can also try Rough Ryder, Boker plus, some Buck models too, if you want to go more traditional.
 
Hackenslash said:
Real Steel and Ruike, probably made by SanRenMu, are respected (mostly) brands. SanRenMu, to a certain extent, built its success on clones of a small Sebenza sold under under SRM and Land.
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I get into this a little in my longer post on the first page. It might be worth the read. For instance, on Sanrenmu also making knives for Boker and Spyderco.

Spyderco actually invested in Sanrenmu back in the day and helped to train their guys in preparation for the outsourcing.

Meanwhile, Sanrenmu is still making those CRK-esque Land knives. They aren't counterfeits and there are significant differences. Whatever those differences actually are, it still causes a fair amount of controversy for some people, and some of those people might feel dissonance given their relationship with Spyderco.

Hackenslash said:
Most makers are secretive about where their knives are actually made...
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Lots of American and other companies involved in outsourcing keep their manufacturers secret but sometimes, we get clues. For instance, I mentioned Harnds. They do a decent budget knife (and better now than the example you'll see below). Really, Harnds is YangJiang Flyer Industrial Company. They make a bunch of other stuff including cheaper budget knives under the "Tonife" brand, kitchen knives, peelers, etc.; including ceramic stuff with colorful handles. They also do OEM work but don't say for whom.

Well, around the time Kershaw discontinued their Volt II, Harnds released a knife using the same handle. Sure, the blades were a little different. One uses thumb studs and the other is a flipper. One is assisted and one is not. One has coated hardware and the other doesn't. I took them both knives apart for comparison. It was an exact match. Even though the Harnds Knight was not assisted, it still had the extra machining for the Speedsafe pocket. The simplest explanation is that they already had the machines set up and ready to go... (Forgive the picture quality.)

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I kind of hate that I love my high end chinese knives so much. Reate is the king and their fit and finish is extremely good, just one very small step from CRK in the visible fit and finish department in my personal opinion. In order to find that one little critique you have to be a crazed lunatic of a serious knife guy and look extremely closely at their knives. The only thing that is a little below is they leave very light machining marks on some chamfers, whereas CRK does not. These aren't big noticeable machining marks, they're tiny little micro machining marks that you have to be very close to see and I feel kind of silly mentioning. Like so close that you'd be better off using a magnifying glass. Now I don't know how close their tolerances are inside the knife, which CRK is famous for, but you can't really see those unless it's really off. And every Reate made knife I've handled has good action.

My other favorite is Kizer. I've bought a handfull of them now and they are exceptionally well made for the price, just a small step under Reate. I like more of their designs than a lot of other chinese brands too.

The higher end Twosuns also have exceptional fit and finish and I have a handfull of those as well. You can get a really nice integral Ti framelock for a couple hundred or so machined out of a single piece of titanium.

Lastly, I just got my first WE and it's a fantastic knife with awesome fit and finish too, but it's the only one I've handled.

My biggest critique with chinese knives as far as the actual knives go is nobody's really focusing on heat treatment. The good ones have good heat treatments, but their just regular good heat treatments. Nobody's really putting specific energy into making blades that out compete their competitors. So, they're not bad on that, just not fantastic. I've heard a few things about Maxace heat treating to higher hardness's, but that's a recent thing I've heard and know if it's really proven yet. Oh and I suppose Civivi does 9cr well, oh and Petrified Fish does D2 well.

The other thing is almost all chinese brands make designs that have a certain look to them. The chinese have a certain look that they find attractive, a lot of long opening holes (the biggest thing I noticed when I got back into knives after a break), that tends to be a little different than what Americans have tended to find attractive throughout our time. Maybe this is just me who thinks this, however I've heard a lot of people mention "the chinese knife look", but nobodies really put their finger on it. I also know there are a lot of people here from outside of the US and don't want to sound callous. And I feel like American knife enthusiasts are starting to come around to their unique styles and like them. Anyway, I'm rambling, I'm out. 🤙
 
LimpCroissant said:
My biggest critique with chinese knives as far as the actual knives go is nobody's really focusing on heat treatment. The good ones have good heat treatments, but their just regular good heat treatments. Nobody's really putting specific energy into making blades that out compete their competitors. So, they're not bad on that, just not fantastic. I've heard a few things about Maxace heat treating to higher hardness's, but that's a recent thing I've heard and know if it's really proven yet. Oh and I suppose Civivi does 9cr well, oh and Petrified Fish does D2 well.
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This is where some of the rubber hits the road. There has been a lot of discussion on Chinese D2 being all over the map. I generally avoid it though Petrified Fish does seem to be the best choice for it.

The 9Cr18Mov from WE really is exceptional and often makes it the "best bang for the buck" on a budget steel. At least from any of the recommended companies off my list, other steels that seem to perform well relative to price have been 14C28N, N690, 10Cr15CoMov, and 154CM. On the budget level, companies like Spyderco who are still running 8Cr13Mov in $50 knives are just way behind the curve versus the above. The performance gap can be huge, wherein the WE 9Cr18Mov on a $40 Sencut not only smokes Spyderco's 8Cr13Mov but can actually outperform their VG-10!

Things turn around once we get to super steels but that's not just a Chinese problem. Lots of production knives in M390 fall short of expectation. However, it's a pretty safe bet that the M390 or 20CV you get from Spyderco will outperform what you get from WE.
 
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Speaking of heat treat, I forgot to mention Kunwu, which makes some excellent knives at very reasonable prices. They're steel nerds and they do a good job with their heat treats. I believe they even consult with KKnives Switzerland, who is more or less a god of heat treating.
 
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I would add the Chinese made A.G. Russell knives to this list. For me, one of the biggest problems with many (dare I say most) Chinese knives is not being able to know for certain, the quality of materials being used in these knives. Most, if not all, are utilizing Chinese made steel, Chinese plastics and laminates and Chinese miscellaneous metals, all of which are of questionable quality.
 
The higher end Chinese knives are using Bohler M390, Carpenter CPM-20cv, etc., just like their American counterparts. In fact, Kunwu just released a knife in Vanax Superclean.
 
Blade Lab said:
The higher end Chinese knives are using Bohler M390, Carpenter CPM-20cv, etc., just like their American counterparts. In fact, Kunwu just released a knife in Vanax Superclean.
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The exceptions that pretty much prove my point.
 
And about Kubey. 2 knives arrived. One wiht a rust and the second:
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Reate is hands down the best Chinese manufacturer. In my opinion, it’s in the top 5. Their OEM work is top notch and the fit and finish is better than a lot of high end US made knives.


Bestech is my second favorite Chinese manufacturer. They manufacture Vero designs and a few other top notch knives.


RikeKnife makes Microtechs Socom Bravo and that’s a stellar knife. Haven’t had anything else from them, though.


WE is also fantastic. They don’t do a ton of OEM work, but their in house stuff is great.


Kizer can make good, high end knives, but the majority of their stuff is mid tier/budget ($100-$200) and it’s awesome, but it’s just not as great as Reate and Bestech.


Then you have companies like Ganzo, Sanrenmu, Y-Start, etc. who make 8Cr budget knives. You get what you pay for with those cats.
 
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