Where do the best made Spydies come from?

[araneae]

Another thread has given me the idea of making this poll. I want to know where you think the best Spydies are coming from right now. I mean manufacturing/quality/fit and finish. This could be an interesting report card for Spyderco.

Golden, CO
Seki Japan
Taichung Taiwan
China
Italy

[DeathBySnooSnoo]

Not having owned any made in italy I will just leave it out.

1. Taichung
2. Seki
2. (tie) Golden
3. China

[Waco]

I doubt that the quality varies much. So far, I've only tried ones from Japan and the US. I try to avoid stuff from China when I can, but it's mainly because I don't wish to support their economy.

[SQSAR]

Not having owned any made in italy I will just leave it out.

1. Taichung
2. Seki
2. (tie) Golden
3. China

My thoughts exactly. Nice idea for a thread by the way.

[I_like_sharp_things]

There's no Earth option... I like my Seki knives followed by Golden followed by China.

[bh49]

I think nobody can make perfect product, at least not yet.
From my experience I would put Italy on the first place. I had five knives made in Italy, all of the flawless. But five pieces probably is not sufficient sample to make a judgement. I had five knives made in Taichung. Fit and Finish is excellent, but my Navaja has such a thick grind, that cutting is not fun at all, I would rather had cosmetic flaw. My C95 is a better slicer today. Hopefully Tom Krein will improve it. I owned about 20 knives from Golden, only one of them had minor blemish on scale. Over 80 of my :spyder: were made in Japan: Superhawk was missing some steel on the spine, two of Kopas had some cosmetic issues. Everything was resolve by Spyderco CS. I would say that today I satisfied with Golden and Italian made :spyder: the best.
I beleive that all plants have some room for improvement. Also I still didn't find the brand, which fits my taste and needs better than Spyderco.

[RIOT]

my opinion

1. seki
2. golden/US
3. taiwan
4. china

it might be a tie between US & seki on quality but i personaly like the seki ones better

[Fred Sanford]

My opinion...

1. Taiwan
2. Seki
3. Golden
4. China


As much as it sucks, that's how it is. Taichung has everyone else beat for the time being.

[Slash]

I'm hoping Italy because I plan to purchase a lionspy.
I also would like to believe that retail price would be a factor in the quality of the knife.
I also try to avoid stuff that's made in China whenever possible.

[Diesel55]

1. Taiwan
2. Golden
3. Seki

[Spyderbro]

[CENTER]

I still didn't find the brand, which fits my taste and needs better than Spyderco.

And what a privilage they are to own. Will be going to SFO next week for my first time and can't wait !! :D [/CENTER]

[JCP1969]

I voted Golden. the military and para's are my favorite spydies.

[AKWolf]

I think it is a tossup between US and TW. Although TW might produce a more consistent product from time to time. :spyder: :spyder: :spyder: I voted US

[jabba359]

I voted Taiwan. They are putting out some excellent work, even considering the grit problems they've had with the Chaparral. Second is Japan, and while I've had the most problems with them, this may be colored by the fact that I have more Japan models than all the rest put together, so I've had more opportunity to run into problems. My Caly3 came a bit gritty (cleaned out easily) and I have cosmetic blemishes on my Khukuri and Superhawk, but I just threw them in my pocket, put them to work, and don't even notice the flaws now that they have usage marks on them now anyway. These small things aside, the Japan knives seem to be well finished and the imperfections I've gotten are minor. I would put Golden third, but don't have a large sampling of their models so I may not have the best insight into them. But what I have noticed is that they tend to have the least polish and, while functionally are fine, are a little bit rougher. Last would be China, but only because they use lower quality steels and such. For the price, they are fantastic! I can't really rank Italy has I only have one from there (it's excellent). So, in summation:

1) Taiwan
2) Japan
3) Golden
4) China

[The Deacon]

Hard one to vote on. For one thing, by specifying Seki it effectively left out Japan's best maker, Moki. More importantly for me, the truth is that, with the exception of China, I've owned extremely well finished Spydercos from all those places, plus Switzerland. I've also owned, or seen firsthand, mediocre ones from all of them, plus Germany.

As it is, I'd put China at the bottom of the list. I imagine that, as with every other country Spyderco knives have been produced in plus at least a couple more, there are shops there capable of consistently turning out knives with "world class" fit and finish if the company they are making them for is willing to pay for that level of workmanship. But the knife buying public is not ready to accept that yet, so having decent, if unspectacular, knives that can be sold at "low end" prices made there makes more sense.

Italy, along with Switzerland and Germany, suffer from too few examples to allow a really well informed opinion. The Volpe I had was very good, but the Hossoms I've seen were inconsistent, at best and I've yet to see a Squeak.

Currently, the maker in Taichung seems to be doing the best in terms of consistently excellent fit and finish. On the other hand, Spyderco's other maker in Taiwan has turned out some less than stellar work over the years.

Japan has both the advantage and disadvantage of quantity. Over the 30 years that makers there have been producing knives for Spyderco, they've turn out some truly spectacular ones, and some truly unspectacular ones as well. Even Moki, arguably the best maker there, has been inconsistent over time. But, after a period of truly lackluster production, they've been doing some really good work for the past couple years. G Sakai is more inconsistent, but can definitely do some great work. The CF Balance is exquisite, but some of their other CF work has been much less so. They also occasionally suffer from Golden's biggest F&F shortcoming on full liner knives, A roughness I'd describe as chatter on the exposed perimeter.

Which brings us to Golden. IMHO, their forte is hard use knives and, perhaps because of that and Sal's "tractors don't need to look like Ferraris" , they often place less emphasis on the esthetic than I'd like. That said, the F&F of the one ti Military I've seen close up was as good as that on any Spyderco I own.

[dalefuller]

I've never had a Spyderco from China or Italy, but all the other countries do a fine job on the models that I've had from their factories. I don't have a favorite "country of origin" for my Spydercos. I've been satisfied with the quality of the models that I buy from whichever country makes them.

I have a fondness for VG10 lockbacks and Japan does them very well. I really like my Paras (I have 5 of them) and the USA (at least the Golden part of it) is as good as anyone at making quality knives. The sages I used to have were perfect in every way as far as their manufacturing quality.

Really... I feel strongly each way.

[jackknifeh]

I voted Taiwan and am writing this before reading any posts to keep my initial opinion to this question from being influenced. The quality of the GB and Sage1, my two most recent gets is perfect. That's not saying any others are flawed, just the Taiwan knives are more recent. Now I'll read other's posts.

Jack

[Evil D]

Most of my favorites came out of Golden so i had to vote for Golden. Taiwan and Japan definitely don't screw around though.

[phillipsted]

As long as it has a spyder and a hole, I'm good to go. No worries about quality or performance. :-)

TedP

[Gerard Breuker]

I don't have enough recent models to vote. I never had any serious F&F issues that I am aware neither am I specifically looking for any on receiving a knife.
I must be either very lucky or very ignorant.