These knives won't be confused with William Henry or Chris Reeve, but they're a long way from chopped liver.
And they're a long way from your grandfather's Italian stiletto too. Factory knives are made by companies, of course, and not countries, and there's a wide range of quality in "Made in USA" among other places. Comparing imports, they're better finished that a lot of what I've seen from Scandinavia, at least as good as what I've seen lately from Solingen, maybe in the same league (though completely different design philosophies) as what I've seen from CRKT's and OE's Taiwan sources, and not quite up to Moki of Seki City. Priced lower than Moki too, feature for feature.
The steel is 440A, which is at least as good as anybody's Mitteleuropa Mystery Stainless.
The liner locks I've met have good ball bearing detents and work smoothly. They're for light to medium duty utility, and not for combat conditions or martial bladecraft. If you find one where the liner is right on the near edge of the blade you'll be tempting fate with a spine whack, but it will, in my tiny sample, hold against steady bare-handed back-pressure. I mentioned one other issue in my liner lock post which doesn't affect performance, IMHO, but is in line to be taken up with the manufacturer. I've met more expensive and uglier liner locks that didn't work as well.
The lockbacks seem plenty solid, and the overall fit and finish are first-class-factory, but not quite "custom," and again neither are the prices. The Damascus passes my eyeball tests nicely, and I haven't tried anything more scientific.
I can't find any nits to pick on the one fixed blade I've had my hands on.
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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 06-22-2000).]