Benchmade Goes to Taiwan

[Zrexxer]

I see that (perhaps desperately trying to stay competitive with Spyderco) Benchmade has announced a new line of products that will be made by "predominately offshore manufacturers..." Other sources say that at least for now, that means Taiwan.



Granted, I like my Salsa fine, and Taiwanese factories are capable of producing pretty much whatever quality level the client requires... but I hope this isn't a trend for the whole American knife market to migrate production to Taiwan in order to stay alive.



"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H. L. Mencken

[antichristina]

you will for sure see a rapid desend into tia pia made knives not just bitchmade and spyderco, kershaw, sog ect... are already bidding against each other.

[dynaryder]

Got a pair of Gerber SL's(CF & G-10) as well as a A-F Mini Covert I just picked up at the BX,all Taiwan. They're nice little knives. I'm sure BM's just doing a line and not their whole catalog.

I'll take Taiwan over China any day. Got a China S&W and handled a couple Blackie Collins's and a Kershaw Vapor. The Vapor was passible,but the others were definitely low end.

[rico]

Guy's don't forget that the Salsa was made in Taiwan. Also Sal Previewed a line he is going to put out for the people looking for a lower priced knife. My understanding is that it will be producded in the Peoples Republic of China.
Also, FYI - Benchmade is using a 3 tier product and marketing process to breach across all economic backgrounds.
Ultimately it will benefit us when quality companies are controlling lower end products. Rico

[J Smith]

IMO top line knive companies should stay out of Tiwain.I would not pay over 25.00 for a knife with Tiwain on the blade.

<img src="http://smilies.crowd9.com/contrib/legionxs/ninja1.gif"> Jeff

[Alan2112]

From my experience with Taiwan made knives, the quality is fine, but the heat treat is a little off. One of the steels that will be used in the new red line besides 8A, is N690. This N690 is I have heard similar to VG-10. RKBA!

Edited by - Alan2112 on 11/5/2003 10:15:38 PM

Edited by - Alan2112 on 11/6/2003 3:06:27 AM

[SilverDragon]

I think Taiwanese-made knives are fine and I own several of them. I have two Salsa's, both Grey Aluminum handles, one PE and the other is CE. I also own a couple of SOG's that were made in Taiwan.

Truth of the matter is, it's a cost saving matter to the various knife companies.

I'm glad they don't go with China, though. China, with it's rampant piracy of everything and cheap knock-offs, doesn't need to have easier access to rip off honest-to-good knife companies' designs.

I'm a American-born Chinese and I sometimes wonder about what factors attribute to the quality of knives produced from the various Asian countries. Does it have to do with their economy? Work-ethic? Environment established by the Government? It maybe all these factors that attribute to the quality of the knife.

-my two cents
~Silver Dragon

[spyderwa]

After talking to people that have been involved in cutlery operations in China, the general feeling is that when there is tight oversight of the factory by Western interests, the quality can be quite high. Once the oversight goes away, corners tend to get cut. It is difficult to manage a Chinese factory from Oregon or Colorado. The quality can be fairly good, but management appears to be the deciding factor. A company like Benchmade or Spyderco has a need to maintain high standards. I hope it works for them. Some of the Gerber products coming out of China are not up to the standard of the US or Taiwan versions in my opinion. It is easy to bemoan the idea of manufacturing jobs going away in the US, but at the same time manufacturing jobs in China are also being cut by thousands due to automation. We are operating in a global environment, and the situation for workers is the same all over. Just my two cents.

Spyderwa

Rare Spydercos
www.angelfire.com/trek/spyderwa

[sc_rebel1957]

No matter how you pretty it up with words it's STILL taking American jobs away from American workers.
Seki Japan has a long history of making the finest swords on earth is the only reason I buy Spyderco products from there.
I realize labor costs in Taiwan are much cheaper, but where do we draw the line?
Someone has to take into account what country we live in and learn to take care of our own work force 1st.
This may be a very unpopular post for some, but I for 1 am tired of seeing our jobs go to Mexico/Taiwan/China/Pakistan just to save a few bucks on production.
We all ***** and complain when we hear the news of another factory shutting down and 100s of workers loosing their jobs, yet we support the same thing when we buy these products.
I'm sure the quality issue isn't that big of a deal because I own a Salsa and it functions fine, but we're missing the big picture here.
My wife worked for a company for 14 yrs before her present job then 1 day out of the blue they announced they were moving their plant to Mexico where workers will gladly do the same job for 5.00 bucks an hour.
Take care of your own back yard 1st, just my opinion and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. Ron Cochran

[J Smith]

Ron,I would bet you that its more like .50 a hour.I have heard people say oh those poor Mexicans working here are getting slave wages.They are not.I know of places that they are 10 to 20 people liveing in 2 rooms shareing the rent and save every dime they make.They do this for a few years and take it all back to Mexico and live VERY well for several years.<img src="http://smilies.crowd9.com/contrib/legionxs/ninja1.gif"> Jeff

Edited by - J Smith on 11/8/2003 10:47:42 PM

Edited by - J Smith on 11/8/2003 10:49:25 PM

[macarthu]

Although I agree that there are plenty of examples of work being farmed out to cheap foreign labor throughout the economy, from tech to manufacturing, it's not taking jobs away from American workers if there are no American workers currently creating products that fill that niche in the market. The fact is, these new knives from BM are inexpensive and they compete with other inexpensive knives. If anything, the preponderance of Taiwanese knives affiliated with respected brand names will steal some of China's knife manufacturing market share. Good for the freedom-loving Taiwanese people. Those of us who are willing to pay extra for higher quality knives will still fork out extra for the American made versions. Others of us who can't afford to spend more than $50 on a knife will have the opportunity to select from a wider variety of blades with better design and quality. But, sticking to the case at hand, let's keep straight that American production at BM is continuing. I haven't heard any word of mass layoffs at Benchmade over this move. Maybe there have been, in which case I will stand corrected, but otherwise any of these fine American companies working to create low price knives that they couldn't otherwise produce here has my support.