Numbers
The good/bad numbers ratio isn't real good.
I have three left. I gave the rest away.
I have a strange mini sodbuster with thick green wood scales. No indication of origin anywhere on the knife itself, only on the container. For whatever reason, it actually seems to hold an edge. I kept that one.
I have an "Old Smoky" (yes, that's how they spelled it) skinner that was advertised as having been made from an old file. When it arrived, there were a number of red flags: the sheath was not only *not* leather, it was a really smelly synthetic leather substitute, the handle was that uber-fancy layered-and-dyed wood that you see on so many cheap knock-offs, and the blade . . . was stamped "stainless."
Yeah. Made from a "stainless" file, evidently. Oh, it had all the "file grooves" and had the "look" of a file, but no, that's a big negatory. Not a file.. I couldn't bear to keep it with the real knives, so I chucked it in the kitchen junk drawer and proclaimed it to be the package opening knife, to be used instead of the kitchen knives. However, the darned thing actually held an edge. It's convex ground, and once I got it sharp, it pretty much stayed sharp. The heat treat is pretty marginal, but it is usable, and it does respectable junk drawer duty.
And, finally, there's a large Bowie knife that I picked up early on in the "what-is-it-that-will-work-for-me-?" phase. I actually got three of them. The handles were terrible, ranging from too fat, to bad material, to badly fitted. A friend of mine at work was into wood working and when I told him about the handles, he offered to give it a shot. I told him that as long as I got to keep the one with the ugly blade, he could keep the other two. He put some exotic wood on all of them, did a fine job, and I went home with a knife whose handle actually fit.
I kept the one with the ugly blade because, of the three, it was the only one I'd been able to get and keep reasonably sharp. I keep it only because a friend made the handle, not because the knife itself is any good.
I can tell you that, following this, I determined that I would not be taking a heavy Bowie into the wild. Heavy blades and I, we just don't have that chemistry (or is it physics) that you need in a dependable and usable tool. But we're still friends.
Oh -- there was one other Made-in-Pakistan story. I bought a case of "razor knives" (one blade is a straight razor) that were advertised as being made of "Solingen Steel." Photo of blade, showing "Solingen" stamp. The price was really good (assuming actual Solingen made), so I bought them.
When they arrived, It was immediately evident that I had been had. Laser engraved on the blade -- well away from the tang stamp -- was the word PAKISTAN. They would not do a return/refund. Shocker there. Caveat Emptor.
That box of Paki "Solingen" knives is still on a shelf, as I contemplate how to dispose of them.
Consequently, I have determined that I won't be (willingly) buying anything further from the Indian sub-continent until I see some proven performance.
There are plenty of other sources in this world. The Sub-continent will one day catch up, but probably not soon enough to be of any use to me.
Your mileage, of course, may vary.
