Joe Demko
Member
A coworker stuck a copy of Smoky Mountain Knifeworks' latest catalog in my mailbox yesterday. I don't bother with SMKW under normal circumstances as they deal largely in junk, but I did page through it this time.
When I was an active knife collector in the 70's and 80's, I remember Puma as being a pretty expensive line of cutlery. Guttmann (sp.?) was the importer. The Puma equivalent of the Buck 110, in particular, I remember used to cost 2x or more what a Buck 110 would.
This SMKW catalog shows prices more in line with American equivalents. What happened? German currency weak? Puma outsourcing to China or Pakistan? Puma not making the knives up to their old standards? All of these? None of these?
When I was an active knife collector in the 70's and 80's, I remember Puma as being a pretty expensive line of cutlery. Guttmann (sp.?) was the importer. The Puma equivalent of the Buck 110, in particular, I remember used to cost 2x or more what a Buck 110 would.
This SMKW catalog shows prices more in line with American equivalents. What happened? German currency weak? Puma outsourcing to China or Pakistan? Puma not making the knives up to their old standards? All of these? None of these?
