Many thanks! I will take a look when I can devote some proper time, later this week. It sounds like a great read!Here's a link to a hosted copy of a document that I cut out from a bigger volume to make it more manageable. The source on Google books should pop up if you search the title. It was fun to read actual dialog from some of the biggest names in the cutlery industry. I also learned that "polished mark side" was abbreviated as "PMS"
Cheap knives
- Thread starter JTB_5
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The whole thing gets even more awkward when put in context ... Those sweatshop jobs were(in the US), and are(in China) better than the alternatives available at that time and place.
True and a very good point you make here. However, as my dad used to say to me often "if we learn anything from our human experience, it is that just because something is true doesn't make it right". In the greatest context, there is always something worse. As you rightly point out, some of the alternatives available in this life (such as starvation, disease and death) can be very awkward indeed, regardless of time and place.
Sorry to get away from topic, keep in mind my dad always was a one cheap knife kind of guy....
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Good one.
Yeah, we're a bit off. It's a problem with no easy answers. I always find myself torn. I want to buy American, but I have nothing against the poor Chinese slob slaving away in his sweatshop. One solution is to buy both.
I mostly buy American, but I do have two Chinese knives from the mainland that blow me away when it comes to bang for the buck. If I was pinching pennies, I'd have little choice but to buy Chinese. Happily, I have choices, as do most Americans. We're all so rich that it's crazy. We can buy water! fricken water! imported from Italy or France for a buck or two a bottle. Amazing. Mind boggling.I think this is what most people end up doing, one way or another.
Gee, it sounds like you are also channeling my dad's spirit!
You sound JUST like me...BUT since i have joined i get the impression people are looking down their nose at me because i enjoy so much finding a knife that is 25 dollars and it is as well made as the knife i paid 100 dollars for.NOW yes these are China made knives,BUT Chinese knives have come a long long way..I read reviews,i watch You Tube and i separate the wheat from the chaff ..And i have very cool knives because of me being able to ' get over ' them being made in China.
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With only 2 posts in the traditional forum (including this one) and 20 posts total on Bladeforums, it's a good chance that folks haven't gotten a chance to know you.
Price is not always indicative of how well something is made. Sometimes it is how it is made. Sometimes it is cost of more expensive materials. Sometimes it is cost of more expensive labor. Sometimes the same things are cheaper from different dealers. Sometimes demand will even drive price above retail. Etc.
I don't think a Rough Rider is worth $100. Lots of folks have different opinions on quality. And there are lots of misconceptions. I saw a review in which a mill relieved liner on a custom knife was mistaken as a fault. The reviewer didn't know the purpose. He just saw a space and didn't like it. As another example some folks don't distinguish between different types of manufacturing. Flush springs on knives with ground backs is not the same thing as flush springs on knives made from parts that are finished before assembly. And centering blades by bending them to center is not the same thing as blades that are centered because of precision during cutting and assembly. Etc.
There's a difference between traditional Chinese knives and traditional knives made in China to forgo the cost of US labor. I'd love to own one of traditional Chinese Shilin Cutter knives. There's a tradition of this knife in China.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-magnificent-shilin-cutter.1535399/
The knives from Opinel, Mora, and Victorinox are examples of cheap knives and they are highly regarded. It's not a matter of price.
I care about "traditional knives", not just knives. So to me preserving the tradition of US knife manufacturing is important. I used to think that if you were on a "traditional knife" forum, you'd care about "tradition". But it's becoming clear to me that not everyone cares about US manufacturing and tradition. Some might not care if the few remaining US knife manufacturers stay in business. The hobby Rough Rider dealers that promote cheap knives are making money from peddling them. They don't make money from USA made knives they don't sell.
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S stlbob , like you and Frank, I often buy inexpensive knives. In fact, I've deliberately chosen a knife budget that has me buying inexpensive knives almost exclusively (or waiting unbearably long times saving up between "knife fixes"). But I certainly haven't gotten the impression that people look down their noses at me here because I take a low-budget approach to the hobby. (Of course, my wife tells me my "social antennae" are severely underdeveloped, so maybe I just don't notice that many Forumites hold me in low regard.
)- GT
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My grandfather had a cheap knife. The only thing I ever saw him do with it was cut off a chew of tobacco and scrape grass from under his lawn mower. If served his purposes and he seemed happy with it.
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Hey Gt I gotta add that I noticed right away when I joined there wasn't any knife snobs on the porch. I've been very blessed in my collecting that I've attained some what some might consider expensive and hard to come by knives for a fraction of their "market value". But folks here give just as many likes and praise to my Rough Rider's and old Imperials as they do to the Klaas's and Bulldog's and such. To me cheap and inexpensive are two different things.S stlbob , like you and Frank, I often buy inexpensive knives. In fact, I've deliberately chosen a knife budget that has me buying inexpensive knives almost exclusively (or waiting unbearably long times saving up between "knife fixes"). But I certainly haven't gotten the impression that people look down their noses at me here because I take a low-budget approach to the hobby. (Of course, my wife tells me my "social antennae" are severely underdeveloped, so maybe I just don't notice that many Forumites hold me in low regard.
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Send me your address, I have a rough rider sunfish someone gave me so I could do the same and try out rough rider knives for myself.
They’re certainly great knives for the $. They’re not GEC or Buck, not even Case but they are similar in quality to the old colonial knives of the 60s & 70s. BTW Colonial still makes knives in the USA and if I’m not mistaken they are or are one of the oldest continuously operating US knife companies out there.
Send me your address, I’ll pass on the knife and you could see for yourself.
My email is (tederdelyi at gmail dot com)
ETA all I ask is that if you decide you don’t want it or you don’t like it, pass it on to someone else in the manner befitting the porch.
Your idea of trying a previously unowned pattern by buying RR is a great approach. One of the great things about RR and I’ll include the new Taylor made Schrades in that list too is that they make a wide variety of no longer available patterns.
Knives you’d never be able to handle unless they were expensive mint vintage examples. Who has that kinda money?
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Thanks, that's very generous, but I already bought one. I like it a lot, but decided that the weight was too much, and I like bigger knives. If I still wore jeans every day it would work, but I mostly wear loose lightweight shorts and having a half pound of steel sloshing around in my pocket is just a bit much. I was impressed with the fit and finish. At that price point it is flat out amazing. My only complaint is that it's ground a bit thick. That makes sense for the main, if it's meant to be beaten through a hawser with a marlin spike, but not the secondary. I have a belt grinder in transit and will be trying a regrind on that knife, among others, before risking any of my more expensive knives.
