buck knife says china???

L

lk3331

Joined
Dec 6, 2008
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i bought a buck trio slipjoint and the blade said china:mad:, are all buck knives made in china now? when did this happen? it was only $18 but i was suprised
it said china. it said made in china on the box
 
That's old news, and has been discussed dozens (hundreds?) of times here at BladeForums over the last five or so years.

Many Buck knives are imported, and many still made in the USA in their new Idaho factory. And they're clearly labeled at the Buck website.

Perhaps a bit more research before spending your money...
 
Not all are made in China. Some are.
If you go to the Buck website you can look at an individual knife. Select the detail information for that knife. If you see an American flag in the corner of the detail closeup, the knife is made in the USA. IF you don't, it is made in China.

The 30x series, 301, 303, 309 are slipjoints made in USA. They have the standard black scales. The Chinese ones have woodgrained scales.

Buck still makes the majority of their knives in the US.
 
There is a way to avoid this if you care about the country of origin (I look only at product quality/price):
When you browse www.buckknives.com, the made in USA ones feature a flag icon below the knife picture. Indeed many cheaper ones are made in far away.
I have the Buck Nobleman, which has an amusing rubberized handle with carbon fiber-look print, and while made in China it is pretty nice and well put together.
 
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Any models that were made in the USA still are. Buck has merely expanded their lineup to include Chinese production pieces, which has allowed them to vastly increase the variety of their product.

Buck sources to China. They never outsource. ;)
 
I got my son a 3 blade Stockman (Chinese) Buck. I hate to say it, but the fit is better than my Case knives. That's not to say that I like the fact that it's made in China. In fact, I just ordered a Buck 301, 3 blade Stockman, made in U.S.A. Hoping it's as nice as the Chinese one, though.:o
 
A lot of the Bucks that are made in China like to hide that fact. I work in a knife store out here with a fairly large selection of Buck knives, and the USA ones have it stamped on the front blade when it's open, while the China stamp is hidden behind on the backside.

The knives are fairly similar, like one of the lines (I don't remember the series) has wood scales, while the USA ones are a black synthetic. Both the same knives, just different scales and country of origin.
 
i just do not get why they stamp china on the blade, the knife is fine i just think they should not stamp china on the blade
 
I'm gonna take a wild guess and say they stamp China on the blade because that's where it is made. Not everyone is embarrassed or ashamed to own a product made in China. That's most likely where your TV or computer is made as well.
 
They have to and should put the China stamp on.Bucks China knives are very good knives,and great knives for the money.They still make plenty of good usa knives too and hopefully will weather this economic storm.
 
I bought a 373 (smallish-medium stockman) from Sports Authority shortly after Buck introduced them. I recall looking over the packeging before buying it- I did not see any indication of Chinese manufacture. After I had it home, I eventually noticed the "China" stamp on the sheepsfoot blade. Had I not noticed the stamp, I would have went on thinking that it was an American made knife. The quality was very good, especially for the price- though I've noticed that even off brand Chinese slipjoints tend to be better buys than the no name tactical clones. I still have and use that knife. Of course, even the imported tactical Bucks are good quality. I have a Mayo. A relative has a (IIRC) Sandman. Buck has sourced models to Japan before (back in the El Cajon era)- so its not a new thing.

The thing is- Buck does imports right. They mark the knives. Now, they mark the packaging a lot better too. Their website differentiates between US and foreign manufacture. The import line is good quality, and the US Company not only puts their name behind it, but also their warranty. The import models have always been sourcd. The US models were and are made here. The import line helps sustain the US line- by selling knives (making revenue) from folks who wouldn't spend more on higher end knives, and it also introduces folks to the brand.

The import line was also a godsend to traditional pocket knives too. They came in and filled a void that was left when Schrade fell by the wayside. They helped keep affordable, quality traditional knives on big box store shelves. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if there is more patterns on wal-mart shelves know than back when they sold schrades.
 
Personally, I don't buy a knife if it says China on it. It's just not the same to me even if the quality seems to be there. My facination with knives comes from growing up in the country, fishing and hunting and having some nice knives passed down for a few generations. I'd rather have something made in USA that had an imperfection then something from China that seemed to be perfect.
 
I've bought three Buck slipjoints in the past few months, a US made Lancer and China made Canoe and Toothpick. I'd love to say that the knife made in the US was a much higher quality knife than its China made counterparts, but unfortunately the opposite is true. I knew ahead of time where each knife I bought was made, as I do with most of my knife purchases.
 
mp510 said:
The import line was also a godsend to traditional pocket knives too. They came in and filled a void that was left when Schrade fell by the wayside. They helped keep affordable, quality traditional knives on big box store shelves.
Click to expand...

Good point, and one that hadn't occurred to me before. I still won't be buying any traditional knife made it China (the other 99% of the things I own can be made in China, but not my knife), but I am glad that slipjoint pocketknives will remain a common site in store that are - I'm afraid - where most Americans shop.
 
I swore I'd never by a chinese made knife again. Then today I got a Spyderco Tenacious. It's a very well built knife. Extremely sharp, has great ergos and blade shape, and it was $30. I really like it.
 
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