The conventional wisdom over at BladeForums holds that current Taylor brands quality is pretty decency. I have one Taylor Old Timer stockman about ten years old, so it must have been within a couple of years after Taylor acquired the Schrade brands. Fit and finish are not the best, but it has held up pretty well, more than enough knife for the usual EDC tasks. It would not surprise me if more recent production was pretty decent.

I say that because I have seen some very nice Rough Rider traditional knives, not related to the Taylor brands, but representative of the quality that Chinese manufacture is capable of producing. However, neither Rough Rider or Taylor offers carbon steel, AFAIK. For that, you have to pretty much go to Case (CV) or Great Eastern (1095).

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