Pocket knives - Chinese?

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A local hardware store carries the Chinese made Schrade/Old timer stuff and the knives appear to be of very good quality and well made.
 
I have been using rough riders for a couple of years now no problem except might have to sharpen more often but would much rather use and abuse one of them than I had one of my USA made and german made knifes
 
I recently bought both a Rough Rider mini-trapper and a Kissing Crane mini-trapper. Total cost for both of them was about $24.00.

Honestly? I like them both. Both have good fit and finish, with the Kissing Crane just being a touch better overall. In fact, the Kissing Crane is in my pocket right now, and is one of my more frequently carried slip-joints.

I do, in fact, prefer US made knives but it is a fallacy that every knife that comes out of China is junk. Obviously, some of them are, but not all.
 
I added Rough Riders to my site a long time ago - I haven't had one up-happy customer yet - great knife - great value - I have been in the knife business over 30 years - RR & Marbles are very nice knives - At one time I stocked nothing but Case - No Longer!
Tom Hudson
Engraver
www.twhudsonengraver.com
 
I recently purchased an Old Timer Sharp Finger which was made in China. IMO the stainless steel in the Chinese made Sharp Finger doesn't come close to holding an edge compared to my USA made Sharp Finger with plain old carbon steel. I also have a Bear & Son Upswept Skinner (very similar to the Sharp Finger) and have been very impressed with the quality and how well it holds an edge. For my money I am sold on the USA made Bear and Son knives.

A few years back I bought a Steel Warrior trapper off a guy in a pub for $20. The craftsmanship of the knife seems to be high quality. It is interesting when compared to a Case trapper the dimensions are exactly identical. I haven't used the knife enough to say anything about the quality of steel in the Steel Warrior.

While I am sure the quality of some knives made in China are OK, I would rather buy knives which were made in the USA. Maybe I am just being old fashioned.
 
I too would rather buy or have US made knives. However, for the price I am finding the Rough Rider knives do everydthing I need to do.
I don't cut wire, but just string, rope, and open packages.

I guess we buy some knives just for the pride of ownership, and then do not use them. How many times do we see posts that the individual says he uses his Chinese knife for things for which he would not use his USA made knives?

So I am probably not going to buy many USA made knives since I find $8-$12 work for me.

Regards,
Jerry
 
The only name brand knife I own that was made in China is a Gerber. I bought it because I couldn't find Made In China on it anywhere. After I got home I found Made In China on the box in tiny little letters. I had to use a magnifying glass to make sure what it spelled. It does not compare in edge holding ability to a coupe of US made Gerbers that I have had for several years. I later bough a Buck of the same general shape and size that was made in the US. It is a much better quality knife.
 
I ordered a pair of Boker Magnums last week because of this thread. They showed up today. I like them a lot.

Fit and finish is very nice, the red "bone" plastic is not cheesy/tacky looking at all, and the blades came nice and sharp.
I'm really quite impressed.
 
A knife company producing knives in China is strictly concerned with price not quality. What would you say if your next Smith & Wesson was made in China? Not to say there are not some very skilled craftsmen in China because there are and the same can be said about any country. Maybe because I have worked in manufacturing my whole life as a machinist but I take it personal. I know you can not get away from "made in china" but I refuse to buy tools, knives, guns, any anything else that requires a skilled tradesman to make.
 
A knife company producing knives in China is strictly concerned with price not quality. What would you say if your next Smith & Wesson was made in China? Not to say there are not some very skilled craftsmen in China because there are and the same can be said about any country. Maybe because I have worked in manufacturing my whole life as a machinist but I take it personal. I know you can not get away from "made in china" but I refuse to buy tools, knives, guns, any anything else that requires a skilled tradesman to make.
Click to expand...

This is an extremely racist statement (even with the small disclaimer), to say the Chinese are incapable or unwilling to produce quality goods. If my next Smith and Wesson were made in China and was of the same level of quality as my AG Russell knives made there I would be thrilled be cause it would be of a higher quality than what I can buy now made here in the US.

Yes there is junk coming out of China...and there is just as much junk being made in the US. US factory workers today seem more interested in padding their retirement benefits than making a quality product and US companies are putting profit before quality.
 
There is a company named: ROUGH RIDER that I think have excellent knives. Super quality steel, sharp, holds edge and reasonable price wise. I recommend them. Have several of their knives.
 
Apparently you did not understand my comment. To say it's racist is just silly I work with several Chinese and Vietnamese machinists. To say American companies are putting profit before quality like you said is exactly right because it's not Chinese companies marketing their goods here it's American companies sending American jobs over seas. Just because some people are fine with buying their products don't mean they are on par with American made. I understand a lot of people can't afford $150.00 knives but to say you can make the same thing for $15.00 is CRAZY!
 
But if your looking for a good deal on an import check out the Wolfgang Puck line.
 
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I was going to post the same thing as MP7

apparently Sanrenmu contracts with Buck and Spyderco to produce their chinese made knives. they also have their own line that's only marketed in China, but you can buy them online if you know where to look. The quality is the same as the byrd line, but the price is even lower.
 
That said there are some great american made knives that are also very affordable. The Kershaw Skyline and the Buck vantage for example.

I love my skyline, and it was only about $25.
 
A knife company producing knives in China is strictly concerned with price not quality.
Click to expand...

That used to be an accurate statement, but not any more. There are still plenty of companies importing knives from China that are strictly concerned with price an that's reflected in the bargain basement prices, but European companies have been having blades and other components made in China for well over a decade and now we have American companies like Spyderco who are making sure that the quality that customers have come to expect from knives with their label on them is there in their Chinese produced knives. Inside the knife community we've been saying that the Germans taught the Chinese production heat treating and the Americans have taught them quality. Heck, they're even running ISO compliant production facilities these days to compete more effectively on the global market.

It used to be that Japan was synonymous with "cheap junk", but their production evolved to the point where that label became synonymous with "high quality" in America. Taiwan went from producing cheap junk to quality. Korea, the same. Now China. The Chinese factories can produce very high quality products (and do for Japanese and, now, American companies), but they will also happily produce junk that looks much like the high quality product.

Know what you're buying and understand when you're buying quality products or "cheap junk", but it isn't as simple as it used to be.

Can a Chinese factory turn out a knife for an American company as good as a $150 American made knife? Sure they can. Can they do it so that the street retail price is $15? Of course they can't. Can they do it so the retail gets to $100 for the same quality. Yep. That's the scary thing if you're trying to produce knives in the US using US workers.
 
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I have been carrying a Gerber folder now, for quite a while. I HATE chinese products and was upset when i found out my Gerber model was made in china! BUT, it's been a lot better knife than i thought it would be, as it holds an edge pretty good!

DM
 
USA, German, Swiss, Japanese knives are in the drawer. Yellow handled Rough Rider 3-blade Stockman from China is in my pocket. I like the locking large blade.

Its serving me well thus far and when I lose it a new one is $12 shipped to my mailbox. :scrutiny:
 
The topic of "Made in China" knives came up between one of my buddies and myself. So I pulled out my Steel Warrior knife and the shield fell off while he was looking it over. While the shield doesn't effect the overall functionally of what the knife was designed to do, it is indicative of poor craftsmanship.

Another "Made in China" knife I had was a Sabre. I don't even recall how I came about the knife, but I was not impressed with the quality. The steel was junk and wouldn't hold an edge. And in a short period of time the handle fell off one side of the knife.

Needless to say I am not impressed of what I have seen in regards to the quality of knives with made in china stamped on them.
 
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