A little while back, I mentioned that Ontario Knife Co. was no longer a going concern. It appears that it was sold, without its manufacturing equipment, to another knife distributor. Not maker, but distributor. I suspect that soon we will see the marketplace full of Made In China knives sporting the OKC brand on it. This is pretty much what happened to Schrade. Sad, but thats how things go in the real world.
Although my personal prefs run towards the KaBar and BKT products, I did order a couple knives while they were still available. They arrived today:
And. fortuitously, I still have a bunch of the very recommended SpecOps Brand knife sheaths that were on closeout a while back. Fit like a glove.
Really can’t have too many well-made, quality knives on hand.
Well, if the Far East contractor can build a great knife that is comprable to the original Ontairo 1095 products, I guess that isn’t the worse news.
I remember after Taylor took over Schrade USA, some of the products weren’t made with as much care as USA factory. But they apparently learned from their mistake and began cranking out some decent knives.
Schrade SCHF9 Extreme Survival is such a beast. About a foot long w/ 6 1/2″ of 1095 steel, it was reviewed and received some good reviews. I bought one atter reading them and agree – good knife ! A bit too heavy for walking about town, but in the woods, a work horse. The slightly smaller SCHF36 Frontier (5″ 1095 blade) was also purchased and is very similar performance to the above – its good to go too.
Point is – wait to worry. The new replacement may or may not be worth it. What cannot be replaced are the original Ontario factory workers. I hope they land on their feet.
Oh, my concern isnt just about the quality. I mean, sure, I do care about that sort of thing….I just dislike an American brand name being applied to something that wasnt made in America, regardless of how well its made. Take the Browning rifles, for example. The Japs built really well made guns…but it still stings a bit to see ‘Made in Japan’ on something like a Winchester 92 clone.
I’ll take “made in Japan” everyday over just about anything made in America. The Japanese take pride in their work, especially their knives and automobiles.
This is true. But like everything else, it’s not black-n-white. There’s some Japanese crap out there, and there’s some great American stuff out there. But, by and large, you’re probably pretty close to being on the spot.
I have a couple of the RAT knives. They are workhorses.
Even if the far Easterners can and will make quality stuff, why should we give them work and let our own starve?
Because too many American executives will happily stab Americans in the back to save three cents a widget.
May they burn in H*ll…
Ceejay
How many of those “American” execs have names like Ramaswamy or Goldstein or Lopez? A whole lot of those decisions have been made by people taking care of their own nations, at the expense of Americans.
Well chosen, Sr. Zero!
Well, durn you folks, you got me to thinking about any other Ontarios I might want to have before prices get stupid (if they do). Saw a RAT 3 that appears to be suitable, so I ordered it and it should be on its way by next week.
Was just on big A and I felt the Ontario Rat line was very expensive considering its a knock off of the ESEE product line (still made in US).
$90 for a knock off of a $115 US owned/manufactured brand, I’ll save those 4-bucks coffees and just get the US one.
By the by, when looking for Spiderco knives, check their origin. The model names you know are generally still made in Seki, Japan, while the cheaper ones are Chinese. The chinese ones I purchased as stocking stuffers feel cheap, and the edge was very poor. Going to wind up putting a whole new edge on it when it needs resharpening.
CZ, I would love to see a discussion on blades if you have the interest. Some of the comments on the knife topics surprise me about the size of blades folks prefer. I see the knife as a tool, and a weapon of last resort, and focus on blades in the 3-4 range for fixed, and a little smaller for folders, but my opinion is just one of many.
They say that you can get a large blade to do the work of a smaller blade, but not vice versa. As a result we tend to skew towards large blades. But, perhaps it is worth a post….itd be just my opinion, though, for whatever thats worth.