High End China Made Knives?

[Blerv]

It doesn't matter what people "perceive" because they need to pull their heads out of their orfices. The Sage and GB have the semi-customs shaking in their boots.

However, as I have a personal motto of only supporting communist nations I will have to avoid buying Taiwan knives in the future. I really wish someone had brought this to light earlier. Thank goodness for political oriented tool forums.

[Spider bite]

Isn't there enough China-made crap in our lives? It's nice to look down and see "Golden Colorado, Earth" on something instead of "Made in China" like everything else. Remember, a few cents of every dollar goes to the Chinese military industrial complex and Communist party.

Just what I was thinking.

[yowzer]

One thing to keep in mind is that they tried releasing a higher end Catbird with Ti scales for about $100. It didn't sell very well despite being a very small (300 pieces?) sprint run...

[angusW]

Not in our lifetime I'm afraid, with Taiwan it's only the prejudice of "low quality", with China there's the addition of "OMG commies".

Oh and for Taiwan democracy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfaNHtKkffA :D

I have a machete in my work van with "Maid in Taiwan" on it. A colleague saw it and thought it must be crap because it's "Made in Taiwan".

Love that video. That's how real freedom is suppose to be. Wonder if any of those fellas had a Spyderco in their pocket :D

[MCM]

"High End China Made Knives"

Stick with Taiwan if you must.
China is making more than enough knifes already.........

Plus, how many would really pay over $100.00 for a knife that says "China" on it?
No matter what the materials were.........

The end.

[2cha]

I'm not going to argue politics here in a knife forum. BTW go turn off you computer and throw it in the trash. You are supporting communism with that chip made in china.

For some, including me, where a knife is made is a quality just like the type of steel or scale material. If you push that quality into a forbidden zone, then you are imposing a value system which says that what I care about doesn't matter.

Your point about the computer chip IS the point I'm trying to make. There are few enough places where I still get to make a choice about where my money goes--and many fewer every day because for some buyers, price-tag is all that matters. I just add a bunch of other "costs" onto the price tag, and once done, chinese goods don't look inexpensive, they look even more expensive. For example, who is going to pay for my (hypothetical) neighbor's sick kid to go to the hospital now that someone 7-10 thousand miles away has his job (so that some wall street slickster can get his bonus check)? It'll be me and the rest of the people who actually pay taxes.

[Sequimite]

The real issues are, what benefit would Spyderco get in return for their time and trouble of ramping up something brand new and why would they take business away from a trusted maker to transfer it to mainland China. China has awful supply and quality control problems and you'd have to ship in all the materials. In the upper end factory knives I don't think the amount you'd save on price would translate into a huge advantage.

Now if, for instance, the Yen goes out of sight and the Japanese knife industry goes down the tubes because they're priced out of the market, then you'd look at other countries to replace their production. I think Spyderco has a footprint in China partly for strategic reasons; one doesn't know what the comparative advantages of producing in different parts of the world will be ten years from now.

[dgulbra]

I have a SRM 710 and yea maybe it has good fit and finish for a $7.50 knife but compared to my para 2 or manix or gayle bradley, its is a giant complete piece of junk. And btw, my 710 had blade play out of the box and wont go away if i tighten the screw.

[kawr]

For some, including me, where a knife is made is a quality just like the type of steel or scale material. If you push that quality into a forbidden zone, then you are imposing a value system which says that what I care about doesn't matter.

Your point about the computer chip IS the point I'm trying to make. There are few enough places where I still get to make a choice about where my money goes--and many fewer every day because for some buyers, price-tag is all that matters. I just add a bunch of other "costs" onto the price tag, and once done, chinese goods don't look inexpensive, they look even more expensive. For example, who is going to pay for my (hypothetical) neighbor's sick kid to go to the hospital now that someone 7-10 thousand miles away has his job (so that some wall street slickster can get his bonus check)? It'll be me and the rest of the people who actually pay taxes.

I agree with what you say but what does it have anything to do with what I'm saying? Spyderco already builds knives in China. I'm just proposing to try a high end project with their Sanrenmu factory and see how that turns out. No jobs lost or companies moving to other countries... It was there to begin with and if anything it provides more jobs as you would have to ship USA made materials to China to build the knife.

Anyway thanks to yowzer about the info on the catbird. I'm guessing the reason it didnt sell well was because of the not so premium steel to go along with the ti scales. I just think its a shame because Sanrenmu seems to be a very talented company thats capable of building premium knives and not just value knives.

[Blerv]

The steel was on par with vg10

[kawr]

The steel was on par with vg10

Well that blows my mind then. VG10 with titanium for $100 msrp and it didnt sell well?? Thats disappointing but I guess understandable. Still think an American premium steel+premium scales would sell well if it was under the Spyderco brand name and not the Byrd.

[MCM]

Maybe one day down the road, but today not many folks want to spend $100.00 on a knife that is stamped made in China.
Thats just how it is. Right or wrong.

[yowzer]

Well that blows my mind then. VG10 with titanium for $100 msrp and it didnt sell well?? Thats disappointing but I guess understandable. Still think an American premium steel+premium scales would sell well if it was under the Spyderco brand name and not the Byrd.

I don't know if I'd call 9Cr18Mo comparable to VG-10, but from my limited experience with it, it's a good steel with improved edge holding over 8Cr13MoV (Which, for the record, I'm quite fond of). I think part of why the Ti Catbyrd didn't sell like hotcakes (It's still available from the SFO despite coming out a year ago; the catalog says it was around a 200 piece run.), besides the cost for a Chinese-made knife, was that people were expecting a RIL lock like the steel Catbyrd, and it had a liner lock instead. The Ti Lum Chinese, which didn't make much waves, might have suffered from the same issue. People have a Ti handle == frame lock mentality.

Other companies are starting to sell Chinese made knives in the $60-70 dollar range that are being well received -- I'm thinking mostly of A.G. Russell's new traditional pocket tanks, er, knives, so that might be the sweet spot price-wise.

[bada61265]

Maybe one day down the road, but today not many folks want to spend $100.00 on a knife that is stamped made in China.
Thats just how it is. Right or wrong.

that pretty much sums it up for me too, i guess taiwan is getting a good rep as far as there spyderco`s made there with american steels. certainly have no gripe about the tenacious line either, its all in there quality control. i dont have any srm knives but id guess there not going to be competing in the high end market though they do try to make comparison to sebenza, benchmade and others. not under the SRM name any time soon. certainly there welcome to attempt it but i think as in the spyderco taiwan knives i think there price point will go way above the $12-$15 range that there selling at now. and i agree with those who state that nobody will buy a knife for $100 that says china on it any time soon. but ill temper that by saying id pay double for a vg10 or s30v tenacious than what there selling for in there present configuration. especially if the g10 scales see a upgrade too. they are a dam nice knife for the money.

[btb27823]

Hello all. I am a new member to the forum with a first post.

I recently received my GB and am impressed with the quality, fit and finish of this knife. It sharpens up nicely and will pop hair with no problem.

My only concern is a disappointment in the edge holding of this knife. I expected M4 to hold an edge very well, yet I find the edge is rapidly dulled cutting corrugated boxes. It does not even compare favorably to 1095, 5160, 440C, D2, S30V, VG10, all of which it 'should' out perform. Anyone else experience anything similar? BTW, I have reprofiled the edge to 35 deg. included.

Thoughts or suggestions? Thanks

[DiKa]

Hi guys. I'm new at the forum, although has been loyal to Spyderco for over 10 years. I was using Police and Endura as an EDC's for many years and for past couple years started to collect them. After buying quite a few spydies, I got stuck with the temptation on buying a GB, which I did today. I love the way the knife is made, the way it looks and the way it feels. One thing I don't get is why is it made in Taiwan, and how reliable is CPM-M4? All the knives that I have are VG-10 (except Tenacious), so any info would help.
Thanks.

[Jackson]

I agree that it would be interesting to see what the Spyderco factory in China could do with a bigger budget. But if I was really evaluating the quality of Chinese knives would almost want to see it coming from an indigenous chinese knife company... to see what Chinese knifemaking is really all about from the ground up.

Kind of like how Seki Japan has that proud knifemaking culture... does China have one? (I'm sure they do and I would love to learn about it.)

[Jackson]

Hello all. I am a new member to the forum with a first post.

I recently received my GB and am impressed with the quality, fit and finish of this knife. It sharpens up nicely and will pop hair with no problem.

My only concern is a disappointment in the edge holding of this knife. I expected M4 to hold an edge very well, yet I find the edge is rapidly dulled cutting corrugated boxes. It does not even compare favorably to 1095, 5160, 440C, D2, S30V, VG10, all of which it 'should' out perform. Anyone else experience anything similar? BTW, I have reprofiled the edge to 35 deg. included.

Thoughts or suggestions? Thanks

uhh... I had to double check to make sure I was still in the right thread. I think you meant to hit 'new thread' rather than 'post reply'

Btw, welcome to the forums. :)

[Tsujigiri]

What's with all these people registering just to post about the Gayle Bradley in the wrong thread?

In any case, I don't think anyone else is going to want to go out of their way to buy $100 Chinese knives. I don't think SRM would even be very good at making knives like that, since their production philosophy is very different, and it might be a challenge for them to adjust. You may have gotten a good 710, but not all SRM knives are perfectly fit. They're used to making a lot of knives cheaply, not a few of them with perfect build.

[amar]

The SRM 710 has a good fit till you take it apart, and re-assemble. None of my SRM knives are the same once I have opened them once. This is not the case with any of my Spydercos' - when put together, the are exactly the same as they were.

You get what you pay for.

-Amarendra