My quick 2 cents.I think if we All quit buying these made in China crap tool's they would have to go back to making quality made in usa tool's again.I've been worng before but that's what I think and what Try to do.
I think people are quick to blame bad quality on the country rather than the brand.We need to stop excusing the brands, with blanket statements placing the blame on their subcontractors who are just delivering the product they were asked to deliver.
Quote from: dks on November 15, 2012, 08:05:09 AMI think people are quick to blame bad quality on the country rather than the brand.We need to stop excusing the brands, with blanket statements placing the blame on their subcontractors who are just delivering the product they were asked to deliver.I've expressed similar statements in other threads. If you buy an item, the brand owning the rights to that item have the responsibility ... full responsibility ... for ensuring it is safe and suitable for it's intended purpose. As for China - the Octane, Balance, Dime, Li'l Guppie and several others are tools I trust and enjoy using, and in many ways are better for me than Western manufactured equivalents.As eluded to earlier, this is not a new thing. Sheffield, England was synonymous with quality cutlery years ago, even though a lot of what they produced at some of the factories was very poor. Some of it still leaves a lot to be desired, though the worst culprits have mostly disappeared. There was and still is some excellent manufacturers in the area though, and I have new and old from both ends of the quality spectrum. My Samuel Staniforth knives are excellent, my Jack Adams knives leave much to be desired. You can still buy hand made saws from here, where every tooth is set and sharpened by hand - the factory made lesser quality (?) production has now moved overseas - still cuts wood but now much cheaperMade in UK, Made in China, Made in USA ..... it all means absolutely nothing these days in and of itself. What standard was it made to, from what materials and via what method? One Portland USA company makes all their own tools right there, while the other contracts overseas. You've more chance of finding me with one of the outsourced tools in my pocket, as personally I've found a lot of them to not just be better value, but better tools too in many casesMultitools haven't peaked - what has peaked is what people generally are prepared to pay for an item, and if manufacturers globally have to cut costs in order to sell goods and stay alive, this will reflect in the quality of the tools.
I have to say ive had a few good knives from china where is the Gerber mp800 made as well made ive had a few sogs and most have been fine other than the scissors not engaging in the lock but after i took them off and fitted them back on they have been fine, some times i think its luck