Chinese knives redux

[dewman]

Not to whip a dead horse here....but are there ANY knives coming out of China that are condidered worth their salt?

[MITCH RAPP]

None that I am aware of, as far as traditional folders.

Spyderco's, "Byrd" line of knives have decent quality and are bargain

priced. I guess you could call them good Beaters!

[jonet143]

what are you looking for ? economy? quality? if you want to aquire chinese knives go for it. lots of beginning knife collectors are very proud of their chinese knives. why buy one "collectible" knife when for the same money, you can have a dozen chinese bone handled knives. you are ultimately the one to decide if any knife is worth it's salt. we have put this horse away wet many times in past posts. some make passable inexpensive, disposable users. none will have collector($) value in the slip joint venue. have you compared them with any other knives? find a large knife store and hold and open a few and make comparisons. i have a few i use to practice filework, etc. and if i don't like my work, so what? $7 down the tubes.

then there are the labor conditions in which these chinese knives are manufactured to consider. the companys that have them made and imported to the u.s. can make profit while selling the knives for under a $1 in quantity. not thousands at a time but as few as a hundred. go back and research "chinese" in our search feature and you can find every argument for and mostly against chinese knives.

[dewman]

EDIT: For content by Hukk.

[jonet143]

hey dewman, sorry i offended you, none intended. you asked the question, i gave an answer. i'm only saying that instead of relying on other peoples opinions, do a little research and form your own educated opinion. i certainly don't "know it all" but i'm only speaking from my own experience on this worn out subject. i'll refrain from responding to your questions. i don't think your opinion of me matters enough to warrant you being kicked off this site. the written word sometimes is taken too literally. no vocal inflection, etc. to sooth battered egos.

[needbucks]

Well, I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. I have had only a couple of the Chinese made knives, a Steel Warrior and a Rough Rider. For what I wanted them for, they fit the job very nicely. I wanted something that was sharp and would cut and that, if lost, I wouldn't have any sentimental feelings about. The SW is of higher quality than the RR in my opinion. Repeat, in my opinion. Both the SW and the RR came shaving sharp. THAT is something that I can't say about ANY American made production knife that I have bought except a Kershaw and an SOG.

Now, are the a collectable knife that will go up in value? Not in my opinion.

Are the pretty to look at, fun to use, and fun to give away? Yep.

Are they for "hard" use? Not in my opinion.

If I had a job where I depended on a knife to get me out of a jam, I would spend the extra money on something more suitable. If all you want is a knife for light use, my SW and RR are fine for that. Besides, I don't want to put a $200 collectible in my knife with my keys and change to get all boogered up.

This is just my opinion.

[dewman]

....I think you would do well to keep in mind that not all of us out here in the general public can afford to spend thousands of dollars on the "Top Of The Line" knives. Some of us live somewhat meager lives and can't afford "the best" all the time.

Here's a good example....I'm an avid shooter and own many of what I would consider mighty fine rifles, pistols, revolvers and shotguns....but there's not a Holland & Holland or a Purdy in the safe. And nor can I afford the Swarofski (sp?) scopes at two grand each. Lord help me, I've had to settle for Leupolds and Bushnells.

Same goes for knives. I certainly can't afford to buy 7 or 8 GEC knives at a time. Does that mean I'm beneath your dignity by asking a simple question that could be answered as was by Mitch Rapp? I would hope not.

I don't mean to belabor this matter, but I'd like it to be know that when I found this site, I was quite excited....thinking it was a place where I could ask questions, even though they might seem somewhat "dumb" to most of you old time, pro collectors....and have them taken as being from a true, dyed in the wool "Newbie" with a avid thirst to learn. I hope I wasn't wrong.

[MITCH RAPP]

Dewman; I can tell from your participation on this Forum, that you are

a Good Guy! I also have to tell you that Jonet is also one of the "Original

Good Guys" on this Forum! Sometime it is impossible to determine

someone's tone in their Posts. I don't think Johnnie meant any Offense in

his reply! As far as Knife Pro's, there are only a handful of, what I would

consider real Knife Pros on this Forum. The rest of Us are just here to

Learn and talk about knives. So don't worry about asking Questions, we

are all here to learn and have FUN ! ! !

[needbucks]

Dewman, I am sorry you seemed to take it the wrong way. I Have bought exactly one GEC knife and sent it back. My experience with them has been much worse than with the Rough Rider or the Steel Warrior. I was trying not to offend anyone, just stated my opinion because I was asked. I like my Chinese knives just fine. I can't afford those high dollar knives either. If I could, I sure couldn't afford to carry them around and use or lose them.

This hobby is all about fun. Buy what you like. Enjoy them. Use them. It's all good. I am pretty new to the hobby myself and believe me, I got lots of stuff to learn.

Hope I didn't make you angry. This is a fantastic place to discuss and learn.

[dewman]

....knives, but I do also have a fair amount of Remingtons, Cases, a couple of Queens, one Schatt & Morgan, a few Schrades, two older bone handled Gerbers, some Old Timers, Uncle Henry's, one older Marbles, several Parker-Edwards (Jacksonville, Alabama made) trappers and some other odds and ends of various makes and styles.

I didn't thing my question was too difficult. I realized it could have been answered my doing a search and such....and I suppose it was offered up as mostly "for conversation". Perhaps "conversation" is not what this is all about, eh? If not, my most humble apologies.

[redferd]

I looked at the China made Schrade knives at the local hardware store a day ago. They are the same price that the USA made Schrade knives were at the same store but they looked an felt different. If I hadn't read the posts here and at other forums, and owned some USA made Schrades, I'd probably bought one and been happy enough with it? Maybe someday I'll get one just to see how it holds up and how good the steel in the blades are? My buddy collects a lot of China made knives. He really likes them. They are large and kind of odd looking but I guess his taste in knives are different than mine. We enjoy looking at each others knives no matter where they are made.

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

Check out the new traditionals from NRA Outdoors, contracted through Benchmade.

I have one and it's quality is just about perfect.

[nmikash]

The already mentioned Byrd line is probably the best knife for the dollar coming out of China. I have a couple and they are very nice knives. I also have some Rough Riders & they are okay quality, but I will probably will not buy any more.

Dewman- I would like to say that you may be taking some members opinions the wrong way. I do not believe that anyone intended to offend you. We have seen here before that Chinese made knives can bring out some strong opinions, which everyone is entitled to. An opinion is just that, not necessarily a fact. Just remember that collecting is a personal thing. If you like it collect it.

Nick

[fire guy]

Dewman, this is my first post on this site. I have been following it for a while now and decided to join in hopes of learning more about the knife trade. I am impressed with the knowledge of the people that post on here and they seem to be a good crowd.
I opened a shop at a strip flea market recently and began selling various items (all new, nothing used). I got hooked up with a wholesaler and selected the steel warrior and rough rider lines to sell. The people that come through are not looking to pay top dollar for knives, only bargin shoppers.
I have sold a lot of the above mentioned brands and even some to coworkers here at the firehouse. For what they are paying for them I have recieived good feedback. I only carry the traditional patterns and all bone handles.
So my imput to your question is either one is cheap and decent quality for a carry knife you wouldnt have a fit over it if you lost it.

[Hukk]

I think anytime Chinese and knife are brought up in the same sentence you will get responses as if you were talking politics or religion.
It's a sore spot for a lot of people or a lot of different reasons, I can find validity in most that I read.
Lost jobs to China, cost of buildings, even cost of power and gas can be attributed to the growth of the Chinese manufacturing, manufacturing for the American market were most do not care where it came from as long as it's cheap.

As for knives, I've handled a lot of Rough Riders to practice on and Steel Warriors as well.

It's my opinion that Rough Riders have quality issues, some are OK, others are pure junk. Steel Warriors, the ones I have worked on are getting to be quality knives, hate to say that, but that's what I see.

For the most part mainland China produces poor quality knives, but if they get state of the art cutlery manufacturing equipment watch out, from what I have read, that's the main thing that holds them back.

Taiwan, is another story and they do have quality knives and use quality steels. Taiwan and mainland China are completely different as far as their cutlery manufactuing goes.

Cutlery has a lot of room for growth in China. They are not there, for now.

[CCBill]

The main thing I see with buying chinese knives is, it makes me wonder which American cutler will go out of business, next, because of them. Would we still have Schrade and Camillus, if we had refused to buy them? I don't know. Just me, stating my opinion. Not trying to start an argument or disrespect anybody. I, personally, would rather spend what little hard earned money I have on 1 knife that I might be able to get my money back on, some day, than to own a bunch of chinese knives, that from what I have seen, will never be considered an investment. Everybody should collect what appeals to them.
...CCBill...

[Hukk]

I also do not want to support a communist regime, but will use Rough Riders (Gee, wonder what Roosevelt would think?) to practice new filework and such. I don't feel bad about throwing these in the trash. Steel Warrior has increased in quality and a little bit (couple bucks in last 2 years) in price. So, I don't buy them.

I would rather have 1 or 2 Schtts, Queen, or GEC knives than a room full of Chinese made knives.

BTW, just got a Queen Montain Man in 1095, quality wise, I found that GEC knives beat the Queen hands down (any of the 40 that I have). Need to get another Queen to verify, very surprised and pleased.

[Hukk]

EDIT: For content by Hukk.

Please keep the personality conflicts off the boards and use the pm system/moderators to resolve diffrences. Personal attacks

I think that this is a great site on which to learn. You can't get the good honest and heartfelt answers that are found here from any other site I've seen.

Thanks

[justin hosier]

Chinese knives do not and will not have any growing collector value until they figure out that any item that is procuced by the million is going to be worth diddly squat!

If I sound a little bitter and angry about Chinese products in general, know and understand that last year I lost a good job in a machine shop due to blatantly unfair trade practices by China. Government collusion and slave labor are 2 very valid points that Hukk brings out. If you want a cheap knife, go to a flea market and spend a few hours. US made Old Timers are going for a minor song (I just bought 5 this weekend). I buy my kids junk Chinese knives, so that I don't have to yell when they lose them

Just my grumpy opinion.