All About Pocket Knives

Always have some China in my pocket. I have 3 American made knives, Ralph Wilson auto stiletto which I won't carry and two Case knives from my dad and grandfather and a Barlo of my grandpas. Guess the Barlo makes four, my bad.

Demand the best from EVERY manufacturer. Country of origin is irrelevant. The world is too small for tribalism.

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote:Demand the best from EVERY manufacturer. Country of origin is irrelevant. The world is too small for tribalism.

Hear, hear!

Old picture of one of my favorite RR Lockbacks.
These are really well made. They are centered, no gaps, lock up securely and no play whatsoever.
Dare I say they remind me of my Schrade 5OT's.

For strictly utilitarian purposes, this little lock back keychain knife I picked up out of the $1.00 bin at the hardware store check-out counter is perfectly functional. Already used it to slice open the hard-plastic clam-shell packaging of some of the other items I bought and it still works; locks up tight and razor sharp. I wonder how much it actually costs to manufacture and transport a knife like this? At a retail cost of only $1.00, that certainly doesn't leave much room for profit.
~Q~

I've a Buck 379 Solo that finds it way into my pocket every now and then - to be honest I made the rookie mistake of thinking it was US made but even though I then picked up a 309 I still like to carry the Solo

Lot of times!

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote: Country of origin is irrelevant.

Your opinion not fact. If you look at my post, obviously relevant to me. I stick with US made CASE.

zp4ja wrote:

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote: Country of origin is irrelevant.

Your opinion not fact. If you look at my post, obviously relevant to me. I stick with US made CASE.

Are you saying that you do not demand the best from Case because they are made in the US? I did not say that you could not use country of origin as a criteria, what I said is that we must demand the best quality from ALL manufacturers, regardless of country of origin. I will not cut a US manufacturer slack just because they are a US manufacturer.

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote:

zp4ja wrote:

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote: Country of origin is irrelevant.

Your opinion not fact. If you look at my post, obviously relevant to me. I stick with US made CASE.

Are you saying that you do not demand the best from Case because they are made in the US? I did not say that you could not use country of origin as a criteria, what I said is that we must demand the best quality from ALL manufacturers, regardless of country of origin. I will not cut a US manufacturer slack just because they are a US manufacturer.

Of course I demand quality. Another reason I collect pre 80’ CASE. US made or CASE for that matter I will not tolerate a sloppy tool. As I stated, country of origin is relevant to me. It is not just rim knives. I am half German and Italian. Do not have any from those countries in my collection either or any other country for that matter. Just how I do it. I respect others do it different. And to clarify, you might have meant that but not what you said...

Your statement seems to say if country of origin is important in addition to quality, you are being a tribalist. Whatever that means as far as relevance to my initial post. By the way I am very familiar with the definition.

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote:Demand the best from EVERY manufacturer. Country of origin is irrelevant. The world is too small for tribalism.

Edit to add definitions...

trib·al·ism
ˈtrībəˌlizəm/Submit
noun
noun: tribalism
the state or fact of being organized in a tribe or tribes.
derogatory
the behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one's own tribe or social group.
"a society motivated by cultural tribalism"
synonyms: sectarianism, chauvinism; esprit de corps
"the latest waves of violence were blamed on tribalism"

I fully support your right to set any criteria for your purchases that you wish. Supporting that right does not prevent me from disagreeing with a specific criteria you may use, or from using different criteria for my own purchases. You selected a piece of my statement, took it out of context and commented on it.

Do you disagree that using a criteria of country of origin is tribalism? If you had grown-up in Italy, would you now be buying only Italian knives?

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote:I fully support your right to set any criteria for your purchases that you wish. Supporting that right does not prevent me from disagreeing with a specific criteria you may use, or from using different criteria for my own purchases. You selected a piece of my statement, took it out of context and commented on it.

Do you disagree that using a criteria of country of origin is tribalism? If you had grown-up in Italy, would you now be buying only Italian knives?

First off, all I knew was CASE growing up. That what DAd and I used and collected. And yes, I do disagree with characterizing pride in country as tribalism. Please spare me the Chinese keyboards, lamps, microchips, etc comment that will likely follow. Yea I have those. BTW, my company has an office in China so I have many Chinese colleagues which I like very much, highly respect and they are great people.
With all due respect, I could give a rats behind if you like my criteria. Disagree all you want, not changing how I do it. Additionally, as I said, everyone does it differently and I respect that. Please point out where exactly I EVER said anything about someone else’s choice or criteria? A qoute would be great but unfortunately there is not one to reference.
I don’t have a crystal ball and did not grow up in Italy so can’t tell you.