Where are knives made?

22-rimfire

22-rimfire

Joined
Nov 20, 2005
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There is forum chatter about various knives and where they are manufactured. Thought it might be informative to have a single thread that deals with the topic.

So, where are these knives made and in the case of brands like S&W, Colt, Winchester... who makes them? In no particular order, feel free to add more. If particular models are made in one country and others elsewhere, make a note. I obviously know where some are made, but others are a mystery

Buck
Bear & Sons
Case
Canal Street Cutlery
Cold Steel
Kershaw
SOG
S&W
Colt
Winchester
Zero Tolerance
Gerber
Rough Rider
Frost Cutlery (Chattanooga TN)
Great Eastern Cutlery
Schrade
Camillus
Boker
Puma
Fallniven
Mora
Frost
Opinel
Chris Reeves
CRKT
Emerson
United Cutlery
Queen-USA
Schatt & Morgan-USA
Knives of Alaska
Bark River
Black Jack
ESEE
Kabar
Ontario
Condor-El Salvador
 
Buck: USA, China, and Taiwan. Varies from model to model.
Case: USA from my understandng
Cold Steel: Japan, USA, Taiwan, or China. Depends on models.
Kershaw: USA, Japan, and China. Depends on models.
SOG: USA, Japan, China, Taiwan.
S&W: China from my understanding
Schrade does theirs overseas, I don't think they make usa anymore
 
You could use google and get most of your answers. If it doesn't say where they're made, it's likely China.
 
Luis G. said:
Buck: USA, China, and Taiwan. Varies from model to model.
Case: USA from my understandng
Cold Steel: Japan, USA, Taiwan, or China. Depends on models.
Kershaw: USA, Japan, and China. Depends on models.
SOG: USA, Japan, China, Taiwan.
S&W: China from my understanding
Schrade does theirs overseas, I don't think they make usa anymore
Click to expand...

Case also has some of their knives made by Frost cutlery, the scales, in China. Before everyone has a heart attack, Case makes everything else, and these knives are carried by some of my buddies. I have wondered how they hold up, and they aren't bad.

Some of the new Schrades have been made by Great Eastern Cutlery. Trappers I believe, similar to the 73 two blade trapper model. They were in SMKW's catalog last year.
 
22-rimfire said:
There is forum chatter about various knives and where they are manufactured. Thought it might be informative to have a single thread that deals with the topic.

So, where are these knives made and in the case of brands like S&W, Colt, Winchester... who makes them? In no particular order, feel free to add more. If particular models are made in one country and others elsewhere, make a note. I obviously know where some are made, but others are a mystery

Buck____________________Primarily USA. Some in China
Bear & Sons______________USA
Case____________________AFAIK all USA
Canal Street Cutlery_______USA
Cold Steel_______________Japan, Taiwan, China
Kershaw_________________Primarily USA. Some in China. Some in Japan
SOG____________________Taiwan, I think
S&W____________________China
Colt____________________China
Winchester______________
Zero Tolerance___________USA
Gerber__________________Primarily China. Some in USA
Rough Rider_______________China
Frost Cutlery (TN)_________China
Great Eastern Cutlery______USA
Schrade_________________China
Camillus_________________Current production in Japan and China
Boker___________________Germany, Brazil, Taiwan, China
Puma___________________
Fallniven________________Japan
Mora___________________Scandinavia
Frost___________________Scandinavia
Opinel__________________France
Chris Reeves_____________USA
CRKT___________________China and Taiwan
Emerson_________________USA
United Cutlery____________China
Queen-__________________USA
Schatt & Morgan-__________USA
Knives of Alaska___________I think USA
Bark River________________USA
Black Jack________________
ESEE_____________________USA
Kabar____________________USA, Taiwan, China
Ontario___________________Primarily USA, also in Italy
Condor-El Salvador
Click to expand...

That's as much as I remember.
 
Buck- USA, China, Taiwan
Bear & Sons-USA
Case-USA
Canal Street Cutlery-USA
Cold Steel-Japan, China, Taiwan, South Africa
Kershaw-USA, China, Japan
SOG-China, Japan, Taiwan
S&W-China
Colt-China, and some USA
Winchester-China and some USA
Zero Tolerance-USA
Gerber-China and a few USA
Rough Rider-China
Frost Cutlery (Chattanooga TN)
Great Eastern Cutlery-USA
Schrade-China
Camillus-China and Taiwan
Boker-China, Germany, Argentina
Puma-Germany, China
Fallniven-Sweden
Mora-Sweden
Opinel-France
Chris Reeves-USA
CRKT-China and Taiwan
Emerson-USA
United Cutlery-China and Taiwan
Queen-USA
Schatt & Morgan-USA
Knives of Alaska-USA (?)
Bark River-USA
Black Jack-USA, either China or Taiwan
ESEE-USA and El Salvador (Lite Machete)
Kabar-USA,China, Taiwan
Ontario-USA, Taiwan
Condor-El Salvado
 
Also, Spyderco is made in USA, Japan, China, Taiwan, Italy
Leatherman is made in USA
Utica is made in USA
 
Don't confuse Frosts with Frost. Frosts was Swedish, but merged with Eriksson to form Mora. Frost is Chinese.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Case also has some of their knives made by Frost cutlery, the scales, in China. Before everyone has a heart attack, Case makes everything else, and these knives are carried by some of my buddies. I have wondered how they hold up, and they aren't bad.

Some of the new Schrades have been made by Great Eastern Cutlery. Trappers I believe, similar to the 73 two blade trapper model. They were in SMKW's catalog last year.
Click to expand...

This is news to me about Frost cutlery as I wasn't aware they ever made any knives at all. So, where are these Frost made Case knives produced? Sounds like a very sad day indeed for Case if they had to stoop so low.

I also think the GEC made Taylor schrade trappers were a very short term deal a few years ago. It would be odd for them to be offering $10 and $60 trappers at the same time.
 
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elkins45 said:
Don't confuse Frosts with Frost. Frosts was Swedish, but merged with Eriksson to form Mora. Frost is Chinese.
Click to expand...

Well, Frost is US (Chattanooga), but most of their brands are Chinese. :)

They do distribute a few US and European made brands also, though.

- OS
 
I added "chattanooga" to distinguish Frost Cutlery it from the Scandanvian Frost. But they are made in China; packaged in Chattanooga. :)

Didn't United Cutlery buy the Schrade name? I belive they also make some of the gun company branded blades. Who bought Camillus or was that United too?
 
22-rimfire said:
I added "chattanooga" to distinguish Frost Cutlery it from the Scandanvian Frost. But they are made in China; packaged in Chattanooga. :)...
Click to expand...

I understood that, but the company in Sweden is Frosts. Or was. It no longer exists as such, it and Eriksson merged to create Mora of Sweden.

Frost in 'Nooga also has oodles more Chinese made labels that usually don't even have "Frost" on them. Whitetail, Chipaway (a particularly ironic one), ad nauseam...

- OS
 
22-rimfire said:
Didn't United Cutlery buy the Schrade name? I belive they also make some of the gun company branded blades. Who bought Camillus or was that United too?
Click to expand...

Taylor Brand bought the Schrade names - not the company, only the brand names - at the bankrupcy auction. They mostly import Schrade knives from China, but some models have been contract-made in the USA. Taylor also owns the Smith and Wesson knife brand, and most of those are also made in China. To my knowledge Taylor makes zero knives themselves.

Before going bankrupt in 2004, the Imperial Schrade Corp made many knives in the USA, but they were also a worldwide knife company and over the years imported knives from Mexico, Germany, Ireland, China, and others.
 
Knives of Alaska--USA, Made in Texas, they also started another line of manufacture in the last few years. Sorry I am unable to recall the name but I do remember the prices ran from $300-500 per knife.
 
All Mora knives are made in Mora, Sweden. From scratch!
Leather sheats are not made in Mora today, but made in Sweden.
Former knife brands KJ Eriksson, Carl Andersson, FM Mattsson, Frosts (all from Mora) are today branded MORAKNIV ( = Swedish for Mora Knife).
As we are celebrating 120 years anniversary this year, please visit our web page http://www.moraofsweden.se/index.php?id=414 for more information
 
I would predict that any such list of knives and country of origin will fail the test of time. Over time, many companies will add and delete models that are produced in various countries...or they will move production.

I am not saying that this is good or bad. It just "is".
 
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