Welcome Home...THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY

iKnife Collector

The online community of knife collectors, A Knife Family Forged in Steel

Made in China vs ?

On July 3rd, in the "Made in China!" thread, I mentioned that I was doing a little experiment with an "odd" knife.

Well I finished my “non-scientific” experiment with that knife. I took a China made knife, which happened to be a Coast in this test, and used it in tandem with a no-name brand knife. The no-name knife had no markings on it and came in a box labeled “Old Fashion Knife”.

The no-name knives (actually there were three no-names) had white bone or buffalo horn handles, brass pins, liners and bolsters and blades of stainless steel. I don’t know about the term “stainless steel”. They seem more like polished carbon steel. I used the smaller one every day and the bone handled larger one occasionally. They are traditionally handmade by Pakistani craftsmen as they have been for the last few centuries!!! (Geez! Sounds like a Case ad)

In my test the little Pakistani held up and it’s still razor sharp. I haven’t sharpened it. The Coast is starting to get dull. The Coast was only used for opening envelopes and cutting cardboard, as was the Pakistani knife. The little Pakistani was also used for everything else I use a knife for. I used the 4.5 in. white bone Pakistani to clean the overgrown grass at my folks’ grave. That means cutting the grass and plunging it into the dirt to get a clean edge. Still slit an envelope open like butta’ and snapped the plastic wraps on copier paper boxes.

The open/close snap on the little Pakistani is impressive and much better than the larger knives. The blades are ground evenly to the tang, the fit & finish is fair and above all the knives feel good in the hand. They’re solid, no wobble. The small one has bumps on the horn handle. One of the knives came with a warning that it MIGHT contain lead. That wasn’t a problem for me unless I was going to lick it clean after each use.

The Pakistanis are sold as “early Americana” style knives for use in reenacting the Rev War to the Civil War period-especially the CW era. Overall the knife pattern is as old as ancient history. The Romans were using this type of folder! Sutlers and outfits like Dixie Gun Works and Atlanta Cutlery sell them.

The Coast was a five-incher, well made, good feel, solid. There was something odd about it. The knife was a linerlock and it worked perfectly but there was a redundant feature on it and that was a switch to lock the linerlock in place. I never used it. I have nothing against Chinese knives. I've used them, some until they fell apart, but I firmly believe I got my money's worth out of them. It's just lately they don't hold an edge.

Oh, by the way, the Pakistanis went for six bucks a pop! I think I’ll keep’em.

4 members like this

< Previous Post

Add a Comment

You need to be a member of iKnife Collector to add comments!

Join iKnife Collector

KnifeMaker Comment by Waqas Yousaf Farooq on August 26, 2014 at 2:25: totally agreed !

Comment by Alexander Noot on August 25, 2014 at 3:18: If a knife is made well then it will cut well even if it's not shaving sharp.

That said however...making something so shapr that it'll cut hair is not difficult for me. So before I send out a knife I made I always make sure it's sharp enough that I could shave arm hair with it.

KnifeMaker Comment by Waqas Yousaf Farooq on August 25, 2014 at 3:13: Ok, Mr.Steve but I think that an edge can be described as very sharp with respect to cutting and retention even its not shave hair.

Comment by Michael D. on August 24, 2014 at 18:20: Steve, thanks for clarifying that point.

KnifeMaker Comment by Waqas Yousaf Farooq on August 24, 2014 at 6:14: I am feeling so good as Pakistani maker, by going through this discussion, I also want to know this from you experts, that the basic use of a knife is to cut not to shave, so why it is demanded that it should be razor sharped. while razor sharp edge and cutting edge making are different techniques of edge making on different sharpeners.

Experts opinion awaiting !

Comment by Michael D. on August 23, 2014 at 22:13: Holding an edge. That sez it all. Otherwise why is it called a knife? Spoons, potato masher and orange squeezers don't have an edge that has staying power. That's why they ain't called knives!

Comment by Jan Carter on August 23, 2014 at 21:29: LOL, I was doing real good with this until the sentence

One of the knives came with a warning that it MIGHT contain lead.

I am impressed with the ability to hold the edge and the fair fit and finish. On a less than $10.00 knife that is going to be a user fair fit and finish is acceptable to me. I dont understand why some makers dont get that regardless of the cost, if a knife does not hold an edge it is not really a knife