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Showing 1 of 213 conversations about:
Chinese Knives
By
reswright
DavidV
50
Jun 14, 2019
When China behaves more like a friend than a foe, I may return. I’ve sold my entire China collection - just have a few Cold Steels left and have concentrated on Chris Reeve, Spyderco US and Hinderer. Benchmade is a no go due to their funding of anti gun politicians (and selling a $24 bugout for over $100).
reswright
3850
Jun 14, 2019
DavidVI can mostly dig that. I don't really share the same view but I at least understand this approach.
My one question, and it's a genuine one more than it's a 'gotcha': how do you dismiss Benchmade over the Bugout's price, but not CRK over the cost of their knives? They're verra nice, but by the time you're done configuring your large Sebenza, you're quite often over $500 in price - 5 times the cost of the Bugout. The Sebenza has titanium and some admittedly nifty bushing, but that shit doesn't cost $400 more, you know? And it's a production knife, it's not the custom work of a guy who lavishes his time and attention on every single piece he makes.
I don't think I would have brought this up if you hadn't mentioned CRK in the same post you talk about the Bugout. For me, they're the poster boys for extortionate pricing, even if their knives are amazing quality (and they are.) It surprised me.
Anyway****
I'm hoping that by the time the trade war dies back down, the increased competition between US knifemakers and Chinese knifemakers has caused three things to happen in the US. The first thing I hope happens is that you see American knife manufacturers moving production back to the US. It'll never be the same as it was there'll be a lot more automation and robotics, but that's as good as we'll be able to do these days, and I hope it happens. The second thing I hope happens is that you stop seeing the top tier of American production knife companies resting on their laurels and we start seeing them delivering real value for the money again -- something they don't always do these days. And the third thing I hope happens is that the American businesses who moved all their production overseas, like Taylor Brands with Schrade and Oldtimer and whatnot, get their ass whipped by the very Chinese OEMs they built up just so they could make a great profit margin instead of a merely good one. I really hope that by the time we're all done, the only firms that are still banking on that true blue American identity, have substantial American production, because I'm crazy sick of their hypocrisy. I hope everyone else is out of business. Whatever that makes me, I'm proud to own it.
Most of the great knifemaking done in the US is done by individual custom knifemakers if you ask me, and not so much the large production companies -- their work is good, even very good, but not as great as the work done by master craftsmen. And I'd much rather pay the craftsmen than I'd rather pay for an executive's third vacation house, which is what you're talking about when you talk about the big American companies. So I'm pretty relieved and glad that I don't think the trade war will hit our custom knifemakers so hard, unless they're used to working with Chinese vendors for their material.
DavidV
50
Jun 14, 2019
reswrightThat is a great question! I give CRK a pass because they are over charging for some level of hand fitting, perfection and beautiful materials - always perfect where Benchmade is over charging for mass produced plastic (I am not a fan of plastic).
Make it out of Carbon Fiber at that price and the combination of engineering and quality would be worth it to me.
I think I am trying to say that I feel I got a deal at $450 on my CRK where I feel I’m being fleeced by Benchmade (for me and imo).
reswright
3850
Jun 14, 2019
DavidVI didn't think I was going to like your answer as much as I do.
Don't get me wrong -- I absolutely love a smooth, 'natural' i.e. undyed G-10 handle, even though it's the color of a lime margarita. It just feels good to my hand and I can get a hella firm grip on it. I don't even think of it as plastic. But I'm not at all a fan of the trend between Spyderco and Benchmade in making more and more molded hard plastic handles, even if they do use a good, strong polymer. Especially the ones that are made to look like they have a fancy backspacer or other details that in reality they don't have. So I can get with that.
But what I like about the answer is that how well it aligns with the Arts and Crafts ethos, to which I subscribe.
For those who wonder, I mean the historical movement -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_movement -- that arose in response to industrialism and favored a return to deliberate, simple, but good craftmanship and materials. Artisanship, to use a word that's been horribly overused in recent times. A&C is probably an ethos that a majority of Drop's denizens would embrace if it were common today, given what this place is supposed to be about. Alas, it is no longer common. There's only a few preserved Arts and Crafts communities sprinkled around America where everyone's got elaborate woodwork on their house. Ask someone today if they're into it, they'll give you a worried look, like they think you might be about to invite them to accompany you to JoAnn Fabrics with a stop in Michaels along the way. That's how thoroughly American industrialism crushed the movement.
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