A Month Without Spyderco: Thoughts & Observations

[Fireman]

I’m looking forward to the expansion of Golden so we can see more of these knives made in the US. I see Spyderco taking a different approach to making knives with using various countries as well and it seems to be going well.

[ChrisinHove]

I dare not carry any blade flying or into monuments, so it’s been a bladeless SAK this week…

Bladeless SAK!?

SAK was my introduction to folding knives and I’ve lost many throughout the years and still have many.

The mighty Jetsetter! I bought a Cybertool & Picnicker in the hold luggage, though.

[Stuart Ackerman]

Apart from when I have had to enter restricted places, I have always had a knife of some sort on or near me in a backpack etc.
Obviously airplanes have had me place an edge or two in hold luggage.

If I am entering a restricted place, I normally leave the edge in my vehicle and so I never have to "surrender" to door staff or security, and possibly not get it back.

Sometimes my EDC is something small, like a Manbug that Sal sent me, or a Yojimbo 2 or ancient FRN Endura that looks like a Delica blade swapped place with the Endura blade when I was sleeping. :)

Steel type does not bother me, as I always have a simple sharpening system on me in my wallet or Go-Bag.

[RamZar]

I dare not carry any blade flying or into monuments, so it’s been a bladeless SAK this week…

Bladeless SAK!?

SAK was my introduction to folding knives and I’ve lost many throughout the years and still have many.

The mighty Jetsetter! I bought a Cybertool & Picnicker in the hold luggage, though.

Nice! The SAK Jetsetter is allowed through TSA even with scissors? Victorinox calls it “Your bladeless and flight-friendly companion”.

[ChrisinHove]

I dare not carry any blade flying or into monuments, so it’s been a bladeless SAK this week…

Bladeless SAK!?

SAK was my introduction to folding knives and I’ve lost many throughout the years and still have many.

The mighty Jetsetter! I bought a Cybertool & Picnicker in the hold luggage, though.

Nice! The SAK Jetsetter is allowed through TSA even with scissors? Victorinox calls it “Your bladeless and flight-friendly companion”.

So far so good on flights …. (touches wood).

Tbh it’s so tiny it may just be getting lost in the mix in the bottom of my bag. Also, monument security here in Venice is slack - putting visitors through airline scanners but not their bags.

[Paul Ardbeg]

I mostly find the whole discussion on chinese made knives driven mainly by bias and underbelly feelings iso objective testing. If we are talking about issues not delivering the steel type or hardness as advertised, just look back what happenned at Bark River knives. I own 2 Bark River knives and really love them, but their reputation got a bit tarnished. I own multiple chinese knives, including WE knives, Reate and Civivi. I love the fit and finish of my Chaves 229 kickstop. I also love my WE knife subjugator and Roxi 3. I even own a Shiro which is from a country of which i'm not particularly fond of, but that's got nothing to do with the greatness of Shirogorov knives.

[JD Spydo]

A month without my super reliable Spyderco blades!!!! Unthinkable!!! I would even go as far as to say that is Pure blasphemy!!

It's like I've said and believed for many years now>>> If It Ain't Broke Then By All Means Please Don't Try To Fix It!!!

Cutting Tools and sharpening tools made by the Great Spyder Factory have fulfilled all my needs in that arena for almost 3 decades now and I don't even want to think about changing now.

[aicolainen]

Great post with reflections I can relate to, zuludelta.

I have nothing against the Chinese. I do have some concerns about how responsibly they operate with regards to HSE, wages/work compensation, IP, sourcing, waste handling, product support, etc. I think it's fair to assume that Chinese mfg's comes out worse on average than most other countries. That's not to say any country is without their bad apples and every mfg within each country is different, so ideally no Mfg should be judged simply by which country they operate in.

China has their own problems to deal with and I don't want to see them fail. Not as a country and specifically not the responsible part of their knife industry. Nothing good will come from that.

My biggest reason to avoid chinese products whenever I can is to support the (knife) industry in other countries. The closer to home, the better. As much as I want Chinese industry to survive, I don't want to be dependent on them. Preserving manufacturing skills and culture wherever it exists is important on so many levels, not to mention the importance of a redundant and diverse supply chain.

And the biggest reason it has been quite easy for me to avoid the flood of, seemingly good quality and high value, Chinese knives is, as zuludelta touches on, their approach to product development - i.e. throwing an avalanche of totally random ideas on the wall to see what sticks. I'm oversimplifying o.c, but I just don't see the fine red thread in their products indicating that there's (a) passionate and experienced knife user(s) at the helm. Devoted to finding solutions for demanding end users in a wide variety of trades, hobbies and professional services. I have no doubt there could be a real passion for the production side of things as well as pride in craftsmanship, but with some lucky(?) exceptions this approach seem more geared to bring us the knife equivalents of high fashion stores. I never go there, I'm focused on function and get most of my stuff the sports and outdoor stores.

[Rival22]

Good thread so far.

While not outright boycotting Chinese knife companies, for the last couple years, I've moved from the "budget's knife world to "better" production knives. A benefit of that is supporting more American companies.

I have bought one Chinese-made knife recently, a CJRB Pyrite. It's a nicer micarta/titanium one, and while it's a nice enough knife in fit/finish and economically using premium materials, it's hard to explain, but I don't really feel any connection to it.

I enjoy my Spyderco and Buck knives a lot more, and, I just dipped my toes in the Chris Reeves world. Each of these knives I have "speak" to me in different ways. Whether is quality/function like a Native 5 or Sebenza, or a little nostalgia with the classic, tried and true shape of a Buck 112 or a Delica, I feel some sort of connection with those knives that I don't with the mass produced "flavor of the month" knives pushed out by a lot of Chinese companies.

Our brains are weird with what makes us make one choice over another.

-Edits for grammar

[HolySteel]

There is an Amazon advertisement currently airing on Canadian TV that really salts my apples. In it, a man mocks people who pay more for an item, saying that even a child would know that paying less for something is always the way to go. Funnily enough, I think that ad also unwittingly discredits its message. Indeed, only a child would strictly view economic transactions in such basic terms. I don’t want to conjure up the elephant in the room that is political discussion in this thread, so let me just say that I would gladly pay more (within reason, of course) to support a company that I know supports various medical research and support initiatives, values the contributions of first responders and active and retired service members, treats and compensates its employees fairly, and is headquartered in a country where consensus civil and political rights are recognized and compliance with health, safety, employment, and environmental regulations is the standard.

Well-said.

I don't see why this topic should get people all heated up.

I remember years ago when we used to argue about buying products from ANY country other than the U.S.. Things could get especially heated when discussing automobiles. The argument was that foreign vehicles were both better and less expensive. But a lot of people argued for buying American anyway. I was on the side arguing that we weren't giving U.S. car manufacturers any incentive to up their game. I personally had no bone to pick with Japan, so I bought Toyotas. If U.S. car manufacturers made similar quality vehicles I'd pay a little more for them, but that wasn't happening. Then Levis moved their jean manufacturing outside of the U.S., Carhartt stuck their tongue out at them, and I started buying Carhartt. Then Carhartt moved outside of the U.S. with a sheepish grin. By then Americans had realized that we couldn't enjoy our previous lifestyle nearly as easily if we bought only U.S.-manufactured items. For some of us it's evolved to just picking certain countries we will try to avoid. Our reasoning for making such choices shouldn't make others blow a gasket - we're all adults with adult brains, and some of us have personal policies that have evolved over many years of watching, listening and thinking.

As an aside, I find it deplorable the companies that 'fly the American flag' on their websites and in their advertising, and then a little digging shows that the only thing 'U.S.' about their product is that they have an office in Oregon run by American hipsters. That used to be considered deceptive advertising. Add a little section showing your Chinese factory workers and I have no problem with it.

[Monty]

Chinese knives have come a long way.

[apollo]

I had a longer period where i did not use spydies. And i can say they are brands out there that amaze me like for example zero tolerance. They only thing that i can say is simply the opening hole is the main reason why i can not have another type of collection.
Its just pure genius and the best way to open a knife now and even still in the far away future....
And ones you are hooked on it you can not live without it. Just had a loaner sebenza from my brother to sharpen and i got to use it allot and let us say its great its amazing but at the same time it sucks tht it has no opening hole.

[Murphy Slaw]

Buying a product is supporting a company / person. Financially.

I'm very careful about who I support, most products have many different manufacturers, giving me a choice.

Sal is a cool kat.

Eric too.

[kobold]

I have a small Steel Will CutJack somewhere + a Ruike Ti flipper and the Hornet fixie from China and they are good value.. Actually carried the Hornet a lot, but I misplaced it ATM. I stopped buying made in China mainly for political/ethical reasons and these days it's either a small Sebenza, a SAK or one of the smaller Bark Rivers that keep me away from Spydercos.

[Ngati Pom]

One of my main reasons, disregarding ethics,for not buying Chinese is more to do with the lack of choice in lock types.
They mostly seem to be titanium frame lock or linerlock knives.
Where are the mid and backlock options?
They also seem to be styled rather than designed, if that makes sense?

[elena86]

I only carried and used an Opinel nr.8 for awhile and I was a happy camper. Sometimes I missed the fast deployment offered by the spydie hole but that’s it.

[brj]

I've stopped carrying Spydercos some 2 years ago, after reigniting my passion for OTFs during the pandemic lockdown phase (and somewhat fed-up with Spyderco's penchant for choils).

However, for this year's vacation I've decided to go ultralight, so for the last 3 weeks I've only been carrying an ARK (and a Heretic Manticore-S where laws allowed it). The only thing I can say is: no knife so small and light has the right to make you feel able to accomplish any cutting task the way the ARK does .



Needles to say, I haven't tried to cut melons in half, I'm talking about 'regular' touristic knife usage. I also did not carry it when showering, quite the contrary, being on holiday I actually encouraged any mutually consented shower assault my significant other had in mind