Best USA made knives?

Plumberdv

Plumberdv

Joined
Sep 26, 2008
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I'm new to this collecting thing and I've been asking alot of questions. I've got another one now.

I know that a few of the American brands are now having their products made offshore, but I was wondering about a ranking of their products when they were all still made here.

How were they ranked from best:thumbup: to worst:thumbdn: for their "production line" knives? No custom shop or special stuff, just their average over the counter products.
 
You will need to define WHEN--the answers depend on the year(s) in question.
 
For traditional, American made knives, I'll list my preferences from best to not quite so great:

1) Great Eastern Cutlery
2) Schatt & Morgan/ Queen/ Northwoods/ Moore Maker etc.
3) Canal Street
4) Case
5) Bear and Sons

You'd most likely be happy with most anything made by the top 4 companies. Case makes some really great knives, but they also put out a few duds, though nothing really terrible that I've seen. Bear and Sons seem to be trying harder lately, but they still need to improve their quality, IMO.

Edit: I forgot about Buck. Buck is still making a few traditional knives here in the US. I would put their quality in between Case and Bear and Sons.
 
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My list of knives is short, quality wise my list goes...

1. Rat Cutlery
2. Benchmade
3. Buck
4. Kershaw

My most used knife is my Benchmade Auto Stryker that is in my pocket everwhere I go, followed very closely by my Rat Cutlery RC-4. I have a Scallion in my tool box out side and have a couple of buck folders laying around the house.
 
Of the Brands that I have owned Case and Queen have been the best. I don't know anythin about GEC or CS.
 
Rating like this can be real subjective and personal..

When Camillus and Schrade were still producin here in the U.S, I think the quality of those two was usually on par with Case knives at that time.
 
I bought a Canal Street and like it a lot. Very nice fit and finish.

The two Case knives that I bought have good fit and finish.

I have a new Buck 301 that feels a bit rougher than the Case in that the edges are not as rounded, but it is well made and it holds an edge better than the Case.

The Canal street holds an edge way good. But it has 14-4CrMoV for blade steel. This steel is made by Latrobe Steel here in the US and is the equivalent of 154CM.
 
I'm a big Buck fan myself. One does have to use a little caution though since part of their line is currently made overseas now.
 
knarfeng said:
...
It has 14-4CrMoV for blade steel. This steel is made by Latrobe Steel here in the US and is the equivalent of 154CM.
Click to expand...

Knarfeng,
I would be very interested in more information.
I searched Latrobe, but came up with a set of stats and non-standardized graphs (marketing)
thanks
 
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All great information. There are a quite a few brands that I had never even heard of before I started cruising Ebay, the web and this forum.

I remember back in the sixties going to buy my Dad a pocket knife for Fathers Day. I wanted to get him a Case or a Buck, but I just couldn't afford one so I settled for an Old Timer (I still have it somewhere). The names that seemed to be household words where Case, Buck, Schrade and Camilllus. I was never in a real knife store (did they even have them?), so it was mostly hardware stores and department stores like J. C. Penny's or Sears.

I know that there was a big difference in price for those most familiar brands, and I 'm wondering if there was a big difference in quality. Or were they just more expensive because of the name?
 
Case, Buck, Schrade and Camilllus all made good knives. Case has always been just a little bit nicer, and a little bit more expensive than the other main American brands. The higher-end market niche is probably what has allowed them to survive where others have either been forced out of business, or to move parts of their production offshore. Old Timer was a secondary brand of Schrade's, as was Uncle Henry.

Queen has been around for a long time- they just don't get much publicity for some reason.

I'm not mentioning the other American knife companies like Spyderco, Benchmade and Kershaw, because this is the traditional forum. Benchmade and Kershaw offer a few traditional models from time to time, but I'm thinking those may be outsourced.
 
Uncle Henry Schrade and Old Timer. Just make sure you get the older ones made in the USA, and not the ones from china.
 
"because this is the traditional forum."

I'm a traditional kind of guy I guess. I have a few of the newer styles, but I'm really not fond of them. I love guns too, but 99% of my shooting is done with muzzleloaders (traditional types, no inlines), single shot rolling blocks or drop blocks and lever actions. Most of my "fun" handguns are single action revolvers so I guess I was born in the wrong century or somethng.
 
Best I have seen in the last 30 years of all the brands mentioned in no specific order.

Case/Bose annual collaborations.
Amherst.
Queen collabs with Dan Burke.
 
neeman said:
Knarfeng,
I would be very interested in more information.
I searched Latrobe, but came up with a set of stats and non-standardized graphs (marketing)
thanks
Click to expand...

email sent.

Frank R
 
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