Kershaw.....quality by manufacturer?

Many of us may emphasize on buying american products such as flashlights and knives as compared to china made goods. Personally as an Asian not supporting a bit of china made goods makes me feel somewhat inconsistent but after reading several miscellaneous threads on products trim and fit, quality control issues etc...I begin to worry

I was never a knife person....mostly carrying multitools and SAKs for their versality....as far as I know Kershaw is an American company that manufacturers quality knives, from most websites I've visited have Kershaws with "Made in USA" on them

After the buy from Carrot on a Kershaw Blackout I begin to have the feeling I should get another and so on....[see how detrimental this is to my wallet now?]

I saw Lighthound's special clearance sale and decided to pick up a Kershaw Vapor...when I unraveled the packaging I gazed at the blade, looking at the details when I saw

KAI 1640 Vapor
Design by Ken Onion
[down at the end of the blade:] China
oo:

I didnt find anything peticular other than the blade was pretty tight [I.E. one hand operation not too easily] Is there a quality difference here or is it simply part of a assembly with different manufacturers and im just paranoid?

quality difference as in parts rusting or premature dulling of blade

numerous people including relatives and coworkers have bought kitchen knife sets made in china marked "stainless steel" and actually rusts after a relately short period of time....and this bothers me

Kershaw has many of their knives made over seas...infact you would eb surprised how mnay knife companies have knives or parts made elsewhere and imported here for assembly...not a big deal to me though, most of these companies like Benchmade, Kershaw, Spyderco, Cold Steel, etc all have great knives with great quality...In the end it comes down to you get what you pay for, 9 out of 10 times a more expensive knife will perform better than a cheaper one...So if you spedn $25 ona knife you should expect it to perform like a $25 knife, not a $200 knife...I think too mnay people get into specifics to often, there are pleanty of great knives out there and some of them are made outside the US, half the time the users dont even know it, but still love their knives...

As far as the vapr is concerned the thumbstud I always thoguth was an odd shape makign it uncomfortabel to open easily due to the pyramid shape and pointy tip...but it is a decent knife for the money...As far as materials used youc an read alot about blade steels online...I would suggest reading a knife forum regularly if your going to get into knives... Knifeforums.com or bladeforums are both great sites for info...

If you have some basic knowledge about blade steels and other materials used to make knives you can figure out if a knife is worth the money...Plus you can always ask any questions here and some of the knife guys will help you out the best they can!

Overall nothgin to worry about, just remember cheap knives are cheap for a reson...just like anything else...

Illum_the_nation said:

KAI 1640 Vapor
Design by Ken Onion
[down at the end of the blade:] China

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As with most other products out these days, I tend to say to my friends that if it says, as an example: German designed, German engineered, German inspired—doesn't necessarily mean that the product is Made In Germany. Like my buddy's VW.

Don't know much about them Kershaw's, but I did see one last week in a Wal*Mart in a red handle with black streaks that had 1 of 500 on the blade and it did state USA.

Enjoy!

CHC said:

As with most other products out these days, I tend to say to my friends that if it says, as an example: German designed, German engineered, German inspired—doesn't necessarily mean that the product is Made In Germany.
Enjoy!

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Country of origin or brand name does not always have anything to do with quality. Mercedes, Jaguar and Land Rover are the top 3 most unreliable car brands manufactured. Consumers Union.

cutlerylover, I agree with you on the awkward thumbstud and that type of sorts

SoundMix, thanks for reminding me about the qualities of Fenix and Amilite

Thanks for the response
I feel sorta idiotic bringing somrething this obvious as a point up

Illum_the_nation said:

I feel sorta idiotic bringing somrething this obvious as a point up

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Oh no, dont feel like that how can people learn anythgin if they dont ask questions, not a problem at all, thats what the forums are for, sharing knowledge and helping people out...:twothumbs

well...the exposed parts of the blade [exposed as in not hidden when it is in closed orientation] has rusted

and upon closer inspection the blades bent into an wide elliptical shape but doesn't affect the opening or closing...I guess it had been that way for awhile:shrug:

yep....when you buy a $20 knife, expect the imperfections a $20 knife would have:green:

Illum_the_nation said:

well...the exposed parts of the blade [exposed as in not hidden when it is in closed orientation] has rusted

and upon closer inspection the blades bent into an wide elliptical shape but doesn't affect the opening or closing...I guess it had been that way for awhile:shrug:

yep....when you buy a $20 knife, expect the imperfections a $20 knife would have:green:

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Hey Illum, just so you know, the word stainless was originally coined because the steel would "stain less" than the older types or steel, not because it would never stain at all. Pretty much all types of steel will stain or rust when exposed to the proper conditions (maybe not the Spyderco Salt though).

Thats a good point, nto many people really know that...Stainless steel will not rust easily if cared for, but it will eventually rust in certain conditions...I didn't know that myself until about 5 years ago or so...but when I 1st collected knives I thought stainless blades just dont rust at all...

lumiphile...mmm, I bet few knows that unless their into knives
looks like the term "stainproof" should to coined

Let's see this rust. Where did you keep it? Higher grade cutlery will rust even faster.

:shrug:my cameras somewhere between california and Beijing at the moment, my brother took it for a study abroad trip

As far as rust*proof* steels go, Spyderco uses "H-1" steel in their Salt series of knives, it uses Nitrogen instead of Carbon, making it completely nonreactive with water (fresh, brackish and salt) and chlorine, it is truly rust*PROOF*

I've extensively tested the Salt series under many different torture-test conditions; ocean water submersion, salt spray, fog, and *salt fog* (saltwater created by hypersaturating rock salt into tapwater until no more salt would dissolve, then drop an ultrasonic fogger into the test chamber to create highly corrosive salt fog.....

the salt fog test caused rust on a conventional "stainless" knife within a half-hour (spotting in a half hour, actual rust in an hour)

the Salts were unscathed, they withstood two *weeks* of this torture before i gave up....

I've had a Kershaw Leek start to rust spot on me with normal usage, then again, i've also had S30V Natives and Dodos get surface rust from normal use as well....