China Knives and AG Russell

Had an interesting event at the April meeting of the WRCA knife club.

Call to order and a reading of the minutes

One of the officers stood up and showed off two very nice AG Russell knives he just purchased. 

No clip, no stud, no lock, but it felt very good in my hand.

He claims each knife was under $50 online.  The interesting thing was both were made in China.  I took a close look at the knives.  The finish was first rate, the handles and bolsters met nicely and I couldn’t feel any separation or mis-alignment.  They were very well made knives!

 

I really like the wharncliffe blade. And its nail nick is on the other side so you don't have to fight with the drop point blade to open it.  I see a lot of American knives without that feature. 

I really like the knives and that’s odd for me.  Very odd.  Neither knife locked open nor did they have a pocket clip.  And they both used nail nicks to open the blades.  This makes these knives totally un-natural for me.  But you know, if the blade locked open, I’d carry them.  I’d give up the clip and one-handed opening.  That’s how nice they were.

Many people at the meeting felt that any product made in China was junk.  I see that perception at my knife table at the shows.  But it’s not so.  AG Russell doesn’t sell junk.  Spyderco doesn’t make junk, here or elsewhere, nor does Ka-Bar, to name a few. 

True, some companies are bringing some of their lines back to the USA. I suspect this has two causes.  One, they didn’t have enough oversight watching production and quality slipped.  The second reason and perhaps the hardest to remedy, too much of their customer based is rooted in the equation:

China = Junk

I don’t think that equation is unconditionally valid.  I think quality companies can produce a quality knife in China if they choose to.  Of course, one should expect a relationship between cost and quality. 

 

A $2 dollar knife made in China or the US will be junk.  

A $30 knife made in China by a quality company will not be equal to the quality of a $150 knife made by the same company in the US, Germany or Japan.  It will match and perhaps exceed a $30 knife made anywhere else.  

I advise my customers to buy quality in relation to their needs.  Your 11-year old son in Scouts doesn’t need an $80 Benchmade, but a $27 CRKT might just be the perfect starting place. 

A three-month trapping expedition to Alaska merits a TOPS fixed blade knife and maybe several SOG or Cold Steel folders.  Scrimping on price and quality here could be disastrous!

So, who are the people opposed to quality Chinese knives?  I don’t know.  I suspect they had problems with a counterfeit product, or bought cheap and found out they only bought trouble.  Perhaps they see the Chinese worker as a direct threat to their employment. 

 

China is far from perfect.  I don’t like their government; I don’t like their economic system and some of their labor practices sound like indentured slavery to me.  But the Chinese want a standard of living approaching ours.  And they know that quality is the way to get there.

These subjects are far above my pay grade, but I suggest to keep an open mind about products and their country of origin.

Dover Knife Show: Part Two

The show?

It was fun.

The hard part is the set up.  The tables are in place when you arrive.  You start setting up, knowing you have a 6 foot table to fit 8 feet of stuff.  You haven’t met your neighbors yet; the customers haven’t arrived yet and soon the vendors will be trading among themselves.  Everyone is excited!

Is this my table?  No!  Well, where the-shut-the-front-door is it?

 Every kind of knife can be found here.  From the used and abused collectibles…

...to the ultra high-end knives made by Master Bladesmiths. 

Interested?  Email Harleypaularocks@yahoo.com

The WRCA club staffs the administrative duties and they go out of their way to help both the vendors and customers.

You say the missing dog has 3 legs, blind in one eye, missing an ear and answers to "Lucky"?

I found a great new knife made by Larry Withrow from Charleston, WV.  Both his leather work and forged blades are incredible.

lwithrow@cebridge.net

The steel is a high carbon 1095 San Mai with a Desert Ironwood handle.  It just caught my eye and I was quick enough to beat out several other buyers. Lady luck smiled on me.

The blade is so slightly hollow ground it takes a straight edge to see it.  Larry tells me the knives are in demand with hunters in the Texarkana region.

Author, new knife and his table.  I've got two folders, one clipped in each pocket.  

How can anyone have enough knives?

One of my favorite people is Joe Kinches, who is the only Ohio Flint Whisperer in existence.  He must be.  What he coaxes out of the flint, which is a flawed, brittle rock, is amazing.

Contact Joe at designsbyjoseph@yahoo.com or go to his website http://www.collectorcabz.com/

His display won Best Display 2012.   I like his work and I think it was well deserved.

Here’s a few pictures of the show.

Sunday mid-morning: plenty of room to shop

What can I say?  The vendors had plenty of time to talk with the customers.

No matter what your taste, collectible knives were available.  Mankind's oldest and perhaps first tool, how you have changed and still stayed the same.

My Favorite Table.   I'd never be embarrassed to be found with these in my pockets.

Two custom knife makers checking out the other vendors

 I’m sorry you missed the show.  The vendors are friendly, helpful and love talking about knives.  You would have enjoyed it.

The Dover Knife Show - 2012 Edition

So, how was the Dover Knife Show?
 

It depends on your definition of success.  My answer is colored by the poor sales most of the vendors (and I) had.  One insider told me the head count for Saturday was 160.  That means the ratio of potential buyers to people behind the tables was anywhere from 2 to 4.  Potential sales depend a lot of foot traffic and a high ratio like 20-50.

It also means on Saturday the most the club could make in gate receipts was $800.  Not so hot considering the work that goes into organizing.

Sunday was worse.  The majority of sales were between vendors.  It’s nice to sell, but it’s kind of like kissing your sister.  It’s a kiss but you’re not getting anywhere.

I didn’t hear of any of the Warther family showing up either and that was a disappointment.  Especially considering it’s the Dale Warther Memorial Knife Show.  It begs the question, is Warther Knife a spent force in the knife community?

Classic Warther Folders No Longer Made

One insider told me that not only has production of Mooney Warther’s fighting knife stopped (Mooney stopped at the end of WWII, but nobody picked it up after he died), but so has production of folders.  There doesn’t seem to be any interest in new steels or increasing the number of knife lines.

“Maybe when the kids graduate from college…” was the most optimistic statement I could find in regard to production or changes.  Maybe.  And just maybe the company will just be treated as a cash cow, you know, leave it alone and milk it.

It’s easy to bitch but difficult to come up with solutions but I’ll try.

It seem that increased foot traffic comes from advertising.  This could be expensive, but there are some things to try:

Put a sign in front of the armory a week before the show.  If that’s prohibited I’d stick a sign in the front lawn the day of the show and plead ignorance if confronted. 

Create a Facebook presence for both WRCA and the show.  I’m old, but social media seems to be the drug of choice of the younger set. 

Get on community calendars on the different medias.  I’d stress the collector and art aspects of knife collecting and pitch it as a public service.

Ask the vendors to advertise their presence at our show on their websites, blogs, tweets and Facebook.  After all, it’s to their advantage to get their fans out to see them.  And what about e-clubs?  All those forums and clubs that have no physical reality other than people on their end of the internet.  Surely we can generate some interest.

I’d collect e-mail addresses from everyone by having free door prizes drawn at the next WRCA meeting, winners to be notified by e-mail.  I’d get the door prizes from the vendors and use the e-mail addresses to blast out updates and reminders about the next show.

The thing to remember is no one person has to be in charge of everything.  Just ask someone to do one small thing like create a Facebook page for the show and help the officers update it.

I bet there are a lot of ideas I haven’t thought of.  I also bet some will work better than we suspect.

Enough of that, what was the show like?

To be continued!!!!