Wow! I'm in the Knife Holy Land!

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OregonJohnny

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So I've been more or less into knives most of my life, but I've never been too concerned about who made my knives or where they came from. I'm slowly getting more serious about fine EDC folders, so recently I've begun paying attention to knife manufacturers. Holy cow! I never realized that I live in the modern Mecca of knife manufacturing. Al Mar, Benchmade, CRKT, Gerber, and Leatherman are all headquartered within 10 minutes of where I live, and as I write this at work, I can can see the Kershaw/Zero Tolerance factory from my desk.

This is my first post in the "Non-Firearms" forum, so I just wanted to share my giddiness regarding my surroundings.

I have a nice blade collection going, and plan on adding to it slowly, piece by piece. I've been carrying a Kershaw Leek black combo edge every single day for about a year. I wanted a larger, plain blade assisted knife with a classy look, so I recently ordered a CRKT M4-03. In the meantime, to quench my newly aqcuired thirst until the M4 gets here, I stopped by a local sporting goods store and picked up a plain CRKT M16-01Z. This is fun and addictive! But it's a heck of a lot cheaper than having a firearms addiction (which I'm also struggling with).

Anyway, it feels good to be starting a new hobby, especially since everywhere I look, there's a major knife factory!
 
This is fun and addictive! But it's a heck of a lot cheaper than having a firearms addiction (which I'm also struggling with).
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Just wait. Right now $40 or $50 seems pretty cheap. Later, $175 or $200 becomes reasonable. Then $400. $600. $1000.

Sooner or later you'll find yourself looking at a production knife that costs the same as a nice new handgun and not getting "sticker shock". You'll see high bids on ebay reaching four figures for an antique and think to yourself "Man. If I only had the cash".

Lucky for me I'm too broke to play the knife collector game :p.

Welcome to the world of sharp pointy things but be warned. Its a slipery slope. ;)

Chris
 
The nice thing about Oregon is that there are a large number of custom makers up there and the Blade Show West is put on in Oregon.
 
There are also a lot of custom knifemakers in the area up that way too , Tim Galyean , Bill Tuch , Todd Begg etc...
 
ooo...ooo...ooo!!! Mommy? Can I have one of each of those sick little knife/gun combo's for Christmas next year??!! PPPLLLEEEAAAASSSEEEE!!!!! I'll be a really good boy this year...I'll even clean the catbox 3x's a week!! Especially the first one?? Please Mommy??!! Huh, huh...can I, can I??!!
 
ooo...ooo...ooo!!! Mommy? Can I have one of each of those sick little knife/gun combo's for Christmas next year??!! PPPLLLEEEAAAASSSEEEE!!!!! I'll be a really good boy this year...I'll even clean the catbox 3x's a week!! Especially the first one?? Please Mommy??!! Huh, huh...can I, can I??!!
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No, you will shoot one eye out, and poke out the other. Now go to your room.
 
I think we all need to be in a 12 step program.
On second thought, screw it, he who dies with the most toys wins!!

The only problem I see is how they are going to hook the U-HAUL to the hearse so I can take it all with me!!!
 
Al Mar, Benchmade, CRKT, Gerber, and Leatherman are all headquartered within 10 minutes of where I live
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i agree, we oregonians got it good. i just wanted to point out that CRKT, while headquartered here, outsources their manufacturing. just wanted to point out that not all of your money stay in american pockets when you buy one.
 
Except for Leatherman, everyone on that list outsources some of their manufacturing and has some done in the US, not just CRKT.

Benchmade does the most in-house production of the knife manufacturers there, but has models made in China. Al Mar has the majority (if not all) of their knives manufactured in Japan. Almost all of Gerber is made in Japan, China and Italy. CRKT actually has some work done here.
 
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Well, it's the same reason I buy Warn winches, Leupold optics, Crimson Trace grips, Columbia Sportswear clothing, Nosler bullets, Nike shoes, eat Tillamook cheese and drink Full Sail, BridgePort, and Widmer Bros. beer. Even though some of the labor and/or materials may be outsourced, the companies are headquartered in my great state of Oregon. Being a part of my family-owned and operated Oregon company, I'll take every chance I can get to support local corporations. It just helps that we have so many cool knife manufacturers here!:D
 
In september of 2000, I took a cross country trip on my motorcycle, from the Maryland coast to the oregon coast. I stopped in Portland for a few days to look around, and I put in a remume at Gerber just for the heck of it. I was bored with my machinist job, near retirement, and I thought it would be a lark to work for a knife company for the last few years of my carreer.

Because of some articles I had done for Knife World and an article for the first issue of Tactical Knives magazine where I had some very nice things about the Gerber products I tested, they gave me a nice tour of the plant. I'd long been a big fan of the whole LST line of knives and the gator's. It was a very nice plant with some of the latest in heat/cryo treatment of the blades. It was nice seeing them made.

I believe to this day, the LST's and Gator's are made there in Portland. Only a month or so back I bought a new LST to replace the one it took 20 years to wear out, and it had Portland Or. on the blade.

Buy an LST and support an American company.
 
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Thanks for the tip, Carl. I'll have to look into those lines from Gerber. Although "Made In The USA" takes a backseat to "Headquartered in Oregon" for me, "Made in Oregon" tops them all!
 
I can dig what your saying about Oregon. One of the reasons that I like Spyderco is that they are a Colorado company. I know that many of the knives are from Japan and the Byrd line is Chinese, but they are a Colorado company, and that is important to me.
 
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