Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Buck Brings Knife Production Back to the U.S.

I was using my trusty Rapala fillet knife to breast out a few geese the other day and looked down on the blade,...you guessed it...CHINA.

Depressing.

Imagine what it takes to train a young Chinese worker to scribble the Finnish inscription on the blade.

I looked at Rapala knives yesterday. The wooden handle knives are still made in Finland. All the plastic handle knives I saw were made in China as was every other fillet knives I saw to two stores.

BTW Buck bringing manufacturing back to the US is the wrong move. Only China makes quality products today and manufacturing is beneath US workers who have no skills anyway. I read it here so it has to be right.

Good for Buck. I've been wanting a new pocket knife....

I have bought thre 110`s in the past several years, all marked U.S.A.
They keep a very good edge....and the blades are only 2 5/8 inches long.
I had a "Gasp" out of an enployee at Fed. Ex. a few weeks ago, when I took the knife out of it`s sheath to cut something on a package I was sending....she said "I need you to leave now, if that knife is longer than 3 inches". I assured her it wasn`t.
And _ ell, this is the U.P.! Everybody has a knife..

Now I have to correct that statement...the blade IS over three inches long. I could have been kicked out!! (3 5/8 inches) Open mouth, insert foot!

US manufacturing would not be in trouble if manufacturing management would get off their asses and do their jobs. It seems most managers think their job is to just attend meetings and gossip with other so-called managers. Young, inexperienced kids are not qualified to manage anything, let alone important things like manufacturing, design, and quality control. These important jobs belong to the older, experienced craftsmen who know what they are doing, and actually care about it. Let the kids sweep the floor, clean the toilets, and sort the mail. Then IF they do a decent job at these beginner tasks, then MAYBE they deserve a try at making something. We also need to recognize the real importance of the people on the manufacturing floor. They do not deserve to be called "unskilled" by anyone. They make the products, for cryin' out loud. Don't belittle them. Train them! Equip them! Empower them to make quality products. Give them the specifications, tools, and materials to do the job right. Encourage them to tell you how to do things better. They also deserve better than the lowest pay grade in the plant. Production people where I used to work made about $10 per hour. What a pittance! How the hell can any responsible adult live a decent life on that?

The other thing that needs to happen is for government to quit spending and get out of the way. Government cannot "fix" the economy. It is impossible. Only business and businesses can "fix" the economy, and then only if they pull their head out.

I have lots of Buck knives, all American made. I would buy more if I needed them and could afford them.

Apparently the Chinese regulate business a bit differently. Remember the melamine in milk thing. The government turned a blind eye to it until a few Chinese babies died. Then they executed the farm owners. The ultimate 'regulation'.

Yep, mine has the dreaded plastic handle.

I've had a few wooden handled ones over the years but the tips broke off.

I about puked when I looked at a new Gerber and it was stamped "made in china"

Glad to hear Buck is moving back into US production, I avoid Chinese made stuff as much as possible. The old mantra about China being the manufacturing holy grail is about as good as India being the holy grail of IT outsourcing .

MBA's are like sheep, one leads and the 10,000 will blindly follow.

I don't think I qualify as a redneck, but I do prefer American made stuff, especially traditonal American products.

For those that have one of the classic fixed blade models like a Special, Pathfinder or Woodsman � do you find the smooth handles get slippery when bloody or wet? How about the cocobolo handles, are they as smooth textured as the phenolic handles?

Had one of those in high school until someone stole it. Still have the first Buck Fisherman my Dad gave me when I was 14.

I didn't know it had a name, just a number (#105 on the tang) - I lost the box and paperwork decades ago. I just went to Buck's website and looked - the #105 is indeed also known as the "Pathfinder".

I haven't skinned a deer with this once since my wife gave me a new Marble's skinning knife eight years ago. But I did skin quite a few deer with it in the past and I don't remember any problems with it becoming slippery. Think I will put it back in my pack and skin one with it soon to revive my memory.

Ps Jim, this Buck really caught my eye when I was knife shopping for the gift I bought a few weeks back; it's a new design per the website, American made, and functional looking and feeling (it was 69.00 at the sport shop I was at). A #113 "Ranger Skinner", handle looks like the folder, but it is a fixed blade. I don't need another knife, but this one is sure appealing.

http://www.buckknives.com/index.cfm?event=product.detail&productid=3960

Me too. I probably have 10-15 buck knives and would not part with a single one. I did notice the last 2 sheaths included were made in Mexico, however. Still no complaints. Not one.

I think the part where they had a problem with keeping proprietary equipment in house over in China. I personally think that may have been their biggest issue. I know some people in other industries (that we never had in the US) who have tried to set up shop in that part of the world and they design something and contract a factory to produce it...before they get the prototype it's for sale all over the internet under various other names.

jim62;
As I mentioned in my initial offering on this subject, we came away from the factory with a couple Vantage Select knives, one for me and one that our eldest decided she wanted badly enough to buy with her own money.

It works fine for her.


After using mine for a season, our youngest inherited it as I wanted to try some of Buck's flavor of S30V. Through a bit of ineptness on my part, I ended up with two Vantage Pro knives - which has turned out to be about the most pleasant mistake I've made in some time.

One afternoon I decided the "hunting edc" one needed orange scales, so I made some up from G10.


Anyway, after the using the Paul Bos heat treated knives into the second season now, I would opine that indeed his method of heat treating does make a longer lasting edge than some other makers blades with the same steel.

The final obligatory "knife in use" shot, to provide evidence that I really have used them for any skeptics out there.


Anyway, this BC hunter has peeled a few animals with the Vantage Pros and carried one a lot at work too. I'm very happy with their performance.

All the best to you jim62 and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Regards,
Dwayne

BC30Cal..

I remember your posts about the Vantage knives. I figured you must think pretty highly of them if you went to the trouble to build Custom Orange G10 scales for one.

Well that is a problem since the "Cocobolo" Buck uses is NOT actually the real thing but Laminated impregnated "Dymondwood" colored to look sort of like Cocobolo. And yes, if you get it wet and bloody it is slick.

Here is a Buck knife that is a jewel when it is slick. It's a Boone and Crockett Model Bucklite with a Hunter Orange Kraton handle. I used it all last fall and it worked wonderfully. It is my go to- field dressing knife.




The first 10 minutes of this YouTube Video is a great comparison of a Cocobolo Handled 102 Woodman vs the Bucklite above in use dressing out a Sitka Stag in Japan..