The Nick Shabazz take on Chinese Knives

One of my viewers asked me what I thought about Chinese made knives. In light of all the high-end, high quality Chinese knives out there, it seemed worth a bigger discussion. Hope it's interesting!

[ENSS]

If American manufacturers don't want me to like Chinese made knives, they need to give me a reason to keep my business here, like ZT does. Love my country, but if I have, say, $300 for one knife, I'm not going to buy an inferior quality product just because it has USA stamped on it.

[slyphon]

"Quality should be divorced from nationality"

Amen.

[BirdShotIV]

Well done Nick, it's the quality that matters at the end of the day.

[mitchelldelmar]

The reality is we (as in USA) depend heavily on Chinese/Asian manufacturing for electronics, clothing and industrial fabrication. Why do people selectively target knives as a product deserving of protectionism? As a country, we've already shown our willingness to abrogate manufacturing to the Pacific Rim. Lots of people don't like that, but there it is.

[farouq]

You are a realistic person, Nick. You have my utmost respect.

[lesainte]

I carry my Kizer every day... Its Chinese and damn proud of itself (So proud they stuck a gold "Made in China" sticker on the blade that took 10mins to remove completely), great knife though.

[openplz]

I always go American when possible, and it's usually better, but every now and then there is an exception to the rule, Reate is just that. Reate uses excellent materials and machines thier product better than most of my other knives. They also inovate and seek constant improvement. you can tell David Deng loves what he does and has a passion for it, this is why Reate has become my favorite brand in my 40 year old collection.

[brycewalts]

Hey Nick, just disassembled the We 601 and it's amazing the scales are milled out its only just over 4 oz. It has multi row ceramic ball bearings/detent and has stainless steel washers. It also has a ramp for the detent ball on the blade tang and the back spacer has posts. Lastly the fit and finish is great but the 8.66 in knife might be a little big for your taste just wanted to let you know about it.

[JessHull]

some very good points made in this video. More quality knives in the market regardless of where they're made is just better for everyone involved. The customer, the various makers and the market in general.

[steedandersen]

Thank you Nick for being truly fair. We can always count on you for the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I'm not just saying that because I'm on pain pills and drinking wine. ;)

[tyroneshoelaces]

Can you see how you struck a nerve with this one, Nick? Love it! You need more vids like this to get lively discussion.

[SMH_WOW]

I know this is a three year old video but have you looked into Artisan Cutlery. Every knife they make has three different price points of the same knife using different materials. There cheaper knives are made with d2 steel and g10 handles where as there higher end is all made with titanium handles and either s35vn or m390 blades. The higher end ranges from around 170 to 230 ballparking where as the lower end is about 50 to 70 depending on if you get g10 or carbon fiber. Sorry for the long comment.

[bdcochran]

I know of only one internet retailer who inspects knives before shipping and only one who has a practice of inspecting flashlights before shipping. Currently, there is one Red Chinese knife maker who produces quality knives for six different US "name brand" knife distributors. This wasn't always the situation. I wanted to buy a vertical milling machine years ago. I called the manufacturer. Oh, well, it was now going to have them built in Red China but don't worry, it would be sending an inspector to RC once in a while. Well, I didn't buy because of the fact that the company was not going to have an experienced quality control inspector stationed in the RC until the locals got it right. A knife company in Oregon was bought by investors interested in trading on the "name brand name", gave quality control short shrift and contracted for manufacturing in Asia without doing quality control. I think everyone knows the name of that company - and I haven't bought another knife with the "name brand" for 30 years. The answers to quality control are: 1. read the amazon reviews by identified customers only; 2. wade through the youtube videos on a particular knife beyond the usual dumb unpacking videos, 3. read the blogs on knives and ignore the unpacking reviews; 4. read all negative reviews very carefully.

[proraptor]

I cant get into chinese made knives at all. There are plenty of nice knives made right here in the USA and at competitive prices

[jasonerickson]

Could you start leaving link's to the knives you review I love a lot of knives you review but don't no where to purchase them thanks for the great onfo

[jeffreymliss]

Heading out for some Kung Pao chicken now...

[mountman]

Great video & interesting to hear New Zealand mentioned there. I gather we even have a few knives made down here by a few of those hand-made quality nuts!

[brettforsythe]

Great take Nick, it's always refreshing to see this kind of global perspective in the knife community. It has always frustrated me when you see comments on forums or videos that bash knives simply based on country of origin. One need look no further than a company such as Buck knives for sub par production knives that have been banking on the "Made in America" label on the package for quite some time. The better the quality of knives coming in from overseas, the higher quality of knives we are going to receive as consumers from domestic producers. Those producers that don't adapt and improve to match their overseas competitors deserve to disappear. Keep up the good work Nick!

[LCO]

My biggest gripe with Chinese products in general is the lack of trust in Chinese goods because of counterfeits. I just bought two WE knives, but I bought them from a reputable American dealer. And WE knives are made with American steel, so I still can have the patriotic warm and fuzzy, but I'll still never eat Chinese imported food...they can keep their MSG and plastic rice.

[petergalione]

I've got the Reate Wave, and absolutely love it. The TLC put into making it really shows.