Ontario Knife Company Sold?

How terrible for the employees and community.

Blue Ridge is a wholesale distributor, not a manufacturer. As far as I've been able to find out, they have no manufacturing facilities. Given the closure of the existing plant, I'd say its a good guess that production will now be in China, ala Schrade/Queen/imperial, etc.

R.I.P.
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It's sad, but not surprising. There was a guy that would pop up in youtube comments that claimed he worked for Ontario in the grinding room for a few years, and he mentioned that employee retention was getting to be a problem. The people were great, but few new guys wanted to do rough work for cutlers' pay anymore.

Blue Ridge might be decent or it might be bad. They're far more knife oriented people than GSM, but they're also big business men. If Ontario stays in the US, I could see Bear and Son doing some subcontracting. They really are the only mid priced US cutler left :(.
 
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That is sad news indeed. I just hit the button on an SP2, as this knife lurked in my shopping cart for a while now...

I have a question though: Doesn't OKC hold the military contract for the issued bayonet? How is that going to continue with that requirements that are in place for these?
 
Wasty said:
That is sad news indeed. I just hit the button on an SP2, as this knife lurked in my shopping cart for a while now...

I have a question though: Doesn't OKC hold the military contract for the issued bayonet? How is that going to continue with that requirements that are in place for these?
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That's an interesting question, Ontario has/had a few military contracts, the last big government order for OKC-3s was in 2011. Perhaps there's enough parts and finished knives to handle any small orders while they sort that out. There are also a lot of M-7's (another big Ontario contract) and M-9's still in Military stocks to be issued if worse came to worst. My gut says the military looks for another company to take it over, much like the did when Buck and Lan-Cay dropped the M-9.
 
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Usually I don't get too upset over company sales but this is depressing and it doesn't look good. I've owned and used an Ontario SP53 for 11 years and it's been the best blade I've ever owned. I also have a SP8 and an Ontario Kukri. The common Ontario machetes have been a staple tool of the military ever since WW2.
 
Reallybigmonkey1 said:
Usually I don't get too upset over company sales but this is depressing and it doesn't look good. I've owned and used an Ontario SP53 for 11 years and it's been the best blade I've ever owned. I also have a SP8 and an Ontario Kukri. The common Ontario machetes have been a staple tool of the military ever since WW2.
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It's a good tool, I enjoy mine quite a bit.

Side note: not sure if you're the same guy on YouTube, but if you are, I sure enjoy your videos.

Keep up the good work!
 
Reallybigmonkey1 said:
Yep, I'm the guy on YouTube and thanks! I LOVE how clean your SP53 looks with the black coating gone!
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It does look pretty good. The coating was pretty much gone in the middle, as you are well aware this thing is a great chopping and batoning knife.

As far as your content, I always enjoy your relaxed demeanor and interesting ways you use your gear.

Good stuff.
 
Well, may as well get my Last OKC knife, what I started with... SP-10 while they still are around.

Edicus: Yep, ordered the SP-10 and a machete been meaning to get. Sure glad I got the good knives when they were available. Many an OKC knife I gave away got friends and relatives out of situations that were just noted as "Minor Inconveniences" instead of bigger "Adventures" that they could of turned in to.
 
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jbmonkey said:
good info, thank you Sir. without factory as we already knew means they may make the American made fixed blade models line in China and keep names and such. well have to watch as current stock starts to go down at dealers.....
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In case you missed it, Blue Ridge Knives is a large wholesale distribution company that either owns or sells a bunch of outdoor type product lines. They don't seem to actually make anything, rather they seem to be a middle man who buys in bulk from manufacturers and sells to retailers.
From their website -
Blue Ridge Knives is your one-stop distributor for imported Chinese, Japanese, and German knives wholesale. We have a gigantic selection of pocket, hunting, novelty, and collectible knives that come directly from countries like China, Pakistan, Germany, and Japan
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mbkr said:
How terrible for the employees and community.

Blue Ridge is a wholesale distributor, not a manufacturer. As far as I've been able to find out, they have no manufacturing facilities. Given the closure of the existing plant, I'd say its a good guess that production will now be in China, ala Schrade/Queen/imperial, etc.

R.I.P.
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Funny you should mention those brands as Blue Ridge lists them on their product page. They seem to have their fingers into just about every knife maker. The list has near 800 brands from Al Mar and Anza to Ferrum Forge, Spyderco and Shun to Uzi, Victorinox, Winkler, and Zero Tolerance....
 
Arathol said:
In case you missed it, Blue Ridge Knives is a large wholesale distribution company that either owns or sells a bunch of outdoor type product lines. They don't seem to actually make anything, rather they seem to be a middle man who buys in bulk from manufacturers and sells to retailers.
From their website -
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yeah I didn't miss it. we knew that already in this thread before I posted the post ya quoted. I was commenting on what they might do on the fixed blades going forward with the brand.

we knew already they didn't buy the factory so ontario the brand is not making American made knives anymore. least in that factory. they could be contracting out to some other american factory though to make blades, if they wanted....or have them made in Taiwan or China etc. we'll have to wait and see what they're plans are with the fixed blade models......if they do anything at all.......
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Bang for the buck...... Nothing is better than the SP53.
Nothing.
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I put up my 22" ontario ct5 machete up against your sp53 for bang4buck category...

paid ~ $25 for a 27" oal beast of a machete, I vote ct5
(also, I hope they reconsider... they have an incredibly valuable asset here, not many USA mfg knife makers around, esp with the history & value proposition okc has)
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Given this news, I went ahead and ordered another SP10, given how the cards are looking. Looks like they'll be made in China soon, and I wanted to grab a proper one before they were all gone. I had one years ago and ended up giving it to a friend when I moved ahead into more expensive fixed blades. Man, all these old school companies you always expect will be around forever...
 
Quiet said:
Given this news, I went ahead and ordered another SP10, given how the cards are looking. Looks like they'll be made in China soon, and I wanted to grab a proper one before they were all gone. I had one years ago and ended up giving it to a friend when I moved ahead into more expensive fixed blades. Man, all these old school companies you always expect will be around forever...
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that's a good point...always around no rush to ever get. I've felt this way on many of their items. my money went to limited editions of other brands cause I thought ontario would always be around. this couldnt have helped their sales numbers.
 
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