E-Mail 'Kershaw/Emerson CQC-8K Tactical Folder, by Pat Cascio' To A Friend

10 Comments

1. We mistakenly put the photos with this article that feature the Kershaw/Emerson CQC-9K instead of the CQC-8K – our sincere apologies for the wrong photos…you can see the full-line of Emerson folders on the Kershaw website…

   1. That’s it! I’m never reading your reviews again Pat! 🙂

      Thanks for another solid write-up, I may seriously look into this one. Seems like a solid knife for a reasonable price.

2. Your rationale for buying Chinese products is faulty and telling readers not to comment on this suggests you are trying to stem the truth. Everyone benefits when we support our own economy, period. That is the history of mankind and nations who don’t support their own are doomed quickly.

   1. He is not trying to stem any truth. Were he attempting to do so, he would neglect to mention the nation of origin in his review entirely. Truthfully, this would not be an unreasonable omission on his part, as he is a product reviewer, and the core of his message is how the product performs. It’s place of origin has precisely zero bearing on whether and how well the tool does the job it was designed for. He simply tells people to leave him alone about it, because he is tired of being harassed by people typing on devices almost assuredly manufactured in China about reviewing a separate product made in China. The fact of the matter is, unless you are willing to purchase absolutely everything used, with a decade or more of use on them, it is not possible to purchase items made exclusively in America. And besides all of that, as mentioned above, the topic of Global Trade and manufacturing is out of his purview, and he is sick of hearing about it from people. I don’t blame him.

      1. I wouldn’t trade my original, US Made, Emerson CQC-7 for five of the reviewed knives. I’m sure they are quite nice. Country of origin has nothing to do with it. Mine is an “Emerson” Emerson knife, from when he actually made knives, and not just put his stamp on someone elses knives.

         And to your point, yes, its 23 years old. Still surgical sharp.

   2. No one wants to pay $125 for an “AMerican made” knife, when an identical model from China, sells at $50.

3. Sounds like a smokin knife deal. On the buy only America deal don’t some of you naysayers realize that we like to sell stuff to other countries also? So we have to have a tit for tat. Now yes most of the trade with Asian countries is lopsided to them. But we have to play it smart and keep at it. Sounds like Trump is trying to make the Chinese play fair by threatening tariffs and such. And it would seem to be working. They are nervous.

4. I have to comment on the whole “made in China” thing. Many like to place the blame for the proliferation of Chinese made products squarely in the shoulders of company greed, and nothing more. That simple. Well, I can say from personal experience, that much of this ever-broadening phenomenon actually stems directly from consumer demand. Right out of high school, through community college, and for a couple years after, I worked at a farm and ranch type store, which had a large hardware and tool section. This was a few decades ago. A large percentage of our customer base was made up of rural and country residents, including many farmers and ranchers. Basically, good hard working Americans. We stocked tools made in China (marginal quality, cheap price,) Japan (good quality, mid-price,) and made in the U.S.A (great quality, high price,) providing the customers the choice. Quite regularly, I would have a customer ask me something like, “Where are your pliers?” I would escort them to the section where the Chinese and Japanese made tools were displayed. They would look at the $3.99 pair of pliers, and see the made in China stamp, then set them back down. Next they would pick up the $7.99 pair of made in Japan pliers, set them down, then ask, “Don’t you have any tools made in America?” I’d say, “Sure, right over here.” I’d hand them the $14.99 pair of made in America, lifetime warranty, heirloom quality Diamond Tool pliers. I have a pair of Diamond Tool pliers that must be over fifty years old. The quality is second to none. The first thing out of the costomer’s mouth was nearly always, “$14.99 for a pair of pliers!” They’d almost always, without fail, hand them back to me, walk back to the import section, and buy the cheap Chinese pliers. Maybe two. We easily sold a hundred pairs of import pliers to every one American made one. Probably more. This is called consumer demand. Most of those claiming a desire to buy American, simply would not, when it came time to put their money where their mouth was. The American consumer has ultimately brought this on themselves. I’m not saying every single consumer, but us as a whole, yes. We are to blame. I would say it is an exceptional few who have made the choice to buy Americam, every single time it was possible, regardless of price. To those who have, I can find no fault, but in the end certainly almost none of us can honestly say we share zero blame. I’m not wishing to start a big debate on the matter. I, too, am frustrated by the lack of higher quality products; which “Made in America” often denotes. I would often be willing to pay considerably more if an American made option were available. Rather, I’m simply stating that American consumers created the situation, and that’s just a fact. Chinese made products have become so ubiquitous, that now there is often no other choice.

5. I would prefer American made as well. I don’t mind spending a little more if it supports jobs here at home. 15-20% more seems to be my limit unless there is a marked increase in quality over the same product manufactured overseas.

   Appreciate the article on this knife. I’ve been looking for an affordable EDC knife that won’t break my budget.

6. I agree with you Chris about supporting American manufacturing but if anyone is trying to chase the low-end market they’re doing it wrong, and they’re still not going to be able to compete with stuff made with negligible labor costs and shipped over in container ships.
   The problem is companies that make quality things chase profits and setup factories elsewhere. If they were producing reasonably good stuff here they can produce reasonably good stuff there.
   You can compete on the high-end artisanal stuff. That has cachet. But the middle and low end stuff that people use to buy because it was cheaper and good enough or dirt cheap and serviceable can’t be made here cheap anymore.

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