Ka-bar going strong

[PA Knives]

With the recent disheartening news about the demise of Camillus, I wanted to repeat something that I said in a post a while ago. When I visited the Ka-Bar facility last year, one of my questions was "how is Ka-Bar doing in the big picture of knife companies" the answer was clearly "strong and we will be around for a long time" Now I understand that Ka-Bar obviously isn't the same old knife maker that it once was and that it doesn't make its own pocketknives anymore, but it was refreshing to know that they are still viable in today's marketplace. I am also happy to report that Ka-Bar made a financial contribution to the completion of my book which further exemplifies their stronghold in the marketplace.

Again, we have narrowed down the few remaining American based companies. What will the future bring? Right or wrong, they must learn to work with what they have and carved out “no pun intended” their niche in the marketplace and be able to change with the tides. The days of the traditional knife manufacturer are nearly gone. I hope that people like Bill Howard of Great Eastern can stand the test. We can support them but we are few and there many more out there that do not care about quality and just about price and quantities.

I for one do not buy new knives. I haven’t for MANY years as I thoroughly enjoy the older ones. That means that I am not supporting these companies and that makes me concerned as I don’t want to see any of them pass. So I guess my contribution will limited to things like this post and my book that sings the praises of those that continue to produce those little tools that seem to fascinate me each and every day. I literally open up my knife rolls every single day and look, admire, question and think “ man I have a lot of knives, but you know there just one more that I need for my collection” (rinse and repeat)

[stockman]

PA I also don't buy new knives for my self, but I do buy new knives for gifts, and each year my club has a knife made by Queen that I get so I help a little in that way. If we all would try to by USA it would help. Somethings are not possible to buy USA, but we need to buy as much as possible from home.

Stockman