Who likes Chinese???

I think the Chinese companies are really raising the bar for what to expect at what price. I think before long the only reasons to buy an American knife will be design or made in usa status.

Some Chinese companies there isn’t much value compared to their US and international counterparts such as Reate and Rike. Others like WE somewhat but especially Kizer really offer a great value. Thing is there are always more companies like Bestech that come in to try and lower the price bar on high end material knives. As these companies grow in reputation they seem to wise up and raise prices as they can.

One thing for sure is these chinese companies have learned that people are willing to pay for high quality stuff.

When I first saw Kizers first knives hit the market I was actually offended if not abit intrigued. No way these knives could be what they were purporting to be. Since then if anything they have gotten even better in quality.

ZT with the KAI megacorrp behind it seems to be the only stateside market that can keep prices competitive. The Chinese companies are even learning they need representation stateside for warranty work.

But I agree many Chinese companies overdesign their knives and for a long time everything from Kizer was a grey contoured lump.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I don't know why and it's not a hit against chinese knives, but I just don't have a pride of ownership with them.
I can own a rough rider that may be just as good or potentially nicer than a comparable Case, but I'll feel better about the Case in my pocket.
It's a feeling I cannot help and probably won't ever change.
Click to expand...

This. I love my Recon 1, but I cringe every time I see Taiwan on the blade. Sure CS is an American company, but I wish their best sellers like the Recon 1 were made here.
 
Some of my favorite knives are designed by Russians, sold by Russians, and made by the Chinese (Reate) - CKF. Deal with it.
 
Almost every American knife company has outsourced to China. Kewshaw, Case, SOG, Buck, Spyderco, Schrade, Gerber.

Companies that haven't as far as I'm aware of Blade runner systems, benchmade, Swiss army.

Lynn Thompson of cold steel even stated in a interview that a lot of his made in Seki Japan products have been outsourced to China because a lot of blacksmiths are not getting into the industry in Japan due to the hard work and low wages. Very similar to the American manufacturing industry.
 
needler420 said:
Almost every American knife company has outsourced to China. Kewshaw, Case, SOG, Buck, Spyderco, Schrade, Gerber.

Companies that haven't as far as I'm aware of Blade runner systems, benchmade, Swiss army.

Lynn Thompson of cold steel even stated in a interview that a lot of his made in Seki Japan products have been outsourced to China because a lot of blacksmiths are not getting into the industry in Japan due to the hard work and low wages. Very similar to the American manufacturing industry.
Click to expand...

Benchmade did outsource to China for a while when they offered the Redbox line, which of course was their budget line. They were decent knives, but they discontinued it several years ago.
 
I'd like to address this from a far more philosophic perspective...
take everything to the n'th degree to see if you really think that works out best:

assume $ is re-based to crypto or something, and suddenly it's feasible to switch over to US population only buying USA made goods:
assume the USA can even immediately(magically meet this demand) - for arguments sake
...
Overnight, great for jobs, everyone has factory/refinery/mining jobs & work - 100% local only production cycles from start to finish to fuel a huge existing demand.
People are then forced to LIVE near said industry - everywhere, intertwined across the country, ideally near all the big population centers to minimize transport costs
...
if you actually care, go look up what said industry did to the lives of people forced to live near it. Following a complete simplistic Laissez-faire approach to everything is surely disaster, but so too is draconian communism, the path of balance (wisdom (imho)) is somewhere between. The devil is in the details, and nothing in life can be black and white but you still need to deal with reality.
...
I do not have Chinese heritage - but I immensely respect their culture and history, and work ethic - it's deep, and they were making steel far before the rest of the world: and they had this guy
...
ancient Chinese wisdom:
“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.”
― Lao Tzu (about 2500 years ago...)

Historically, (my belief anyway), is that early US leaders saw the negative impacts of heavy industry, and were okay with having it go off shore (even encouraged it). (I personally think they showed foresight with this, even tho it did hurt jobs for some time/in some ways, etc)

I prefer to treat each Chinese company individually for quality, as I would any other factory from other countries. Each country seems to have some nice premier quality manufacturers these days, I think that is awesome, and I try to support it. : -)~
...
(also, don't let this constant demagoguery succeed - they get you riled up intentionally to force black and white, dem's vs rep's, us vs them mentality and shut down intelligent thought & discussion - just don't let yourselves be trolled like this constantly, I think it's the #1 modern social ill to fear these days, ... but what the h&ll do I know)
 
If only those high end mainland sinic cutlery companies become bold enough someday
to set up shop in the US... As in a US based manufacturing subsidiary or something.
That might perhaps bring in more likes for sinic brands states side?
 
Just like knives everywhere else in the world. Some are good, some are bad.
 
HappyDaddy said:
Some of my favorite knives are designed by Russians, sold by Russians, and made by the Chinese (Reate) - CKF. Deal with it.
Click to expand...

I had always heard that Kevin John was doing alot of the work for CKF. That is why he isn’t making clones anymore.
 
Lapedog said:
I had always heard that Kevin John was doing alot of the work for CKF. That is why he isn’t making clones anymore.
Click to expand...
If he goes legit, that's awesome. He makes good knives, they just use stolen designs which aren't cool. Reate apparently got their start in counterfeits too, but they went legit and are now almost universally beloved. Well, except by me BECAUSE THEY WON'T MAKE ANYTHING WITH A LEFTY CLIP!!!
 
It’s impossible not to buy something “made in China” these days. One might boycott Chinese made knives while at the same time they are buying other goods manufactured in China and never even stop to think about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top