Case has been owned by Zippo for a few years and never assembled anywhere but Bradford, PA.
I think they outsource handle materials like cow bone from Brazil and some other fancy handle materials.
The cow bone used by Case is shinbone from a specific type of oxen like cattle. It has something to do with bone density and thickness. Any old cow bone will not do. It's a type of cow not common in the US. Case does wonders with it. South American cows are welcome on my knives.
Kershaw is part of Kai USA, which is part of KAI Group, a Japanese holding company. Some Kershaw knives are US made others are Chinese made. ZT (Zero Tolerance) and Shun are also part of Kai and are produced mostly in China and Japan.
Buck knives are mostly US made of US produced components. They have outsourced some lines to China. In recent years they increased US production while dropping certain Chinese produced lines. Buck's best products come out of Idaho, and their design and components are improving every year.
Spyderco makes some knife lines in Golden, CO. They have bargain/budget knives produced for them in China. They have a line of knives made in Japan. They also have a line made in Taiwan. You'll also find certain Spyderco models produced in European countries. One of my favorite Spydercos is of US design, made with US produced Crucible CPM S30V blade steel, the finished product produced for Spyderco by another company in Taiwan. Spyderco does design and QC and tries to produce in facilities which are most skilled dealing with the materials and design called for.
Gerber is owned by Fiskars of Finland. They make some knives in Oregon, others are globally produced. I just researched a Gerber Mk-2 fighting knife for a cousin. I found it to be US made, but of 420HC steel instead of the original's 440C. A small reduction in quality to hit a price point. I have three Gerber knives that date to 2001. Two were made in Taiwan from Japanese AUS-6 steel and one made in the US from 420HC steel.
Kabar is owned by Cutco, a US company. Their series of WW-II pattern utility/survival/fighting knives are still produced in the US, but they also sell foreign produced knives.
Ontario Knife Co. (OKC) is a US company. They produce the Old Hickory line of carbon steel kitchen knives in the US. Their WW-II military pattern knives, current USMC bayonet, and the RAT series fixed blades are US made. Their popular budget/bargain RAT 1 and RAT 2 folders are produced in Taiwan from AUS-8 Japanese steel, those models are also produced in generic D2 and I have no idea of the D2's origin.
Schrade/Walden/Imperial Et al. US corporate owned, overseas production, traditional/quasi-traditional designs now made to meet a price point at a profit.
Dear to me are my old Chicago Cutlery "Walnut Traditions" line of kitchen knives. They were consistent Consumer Report "Best Buy" knives during the 1980s to early 1990s. They were made from 'Mystery/Proprietary' high carbon stainless steel, which I suspect was 425M, 420HC, or maybe 440A stainless. I have over 30 of these knives. I'd buy myself their newest model each year for Christmas. Corporate raiders took over, production was moved to China, the quality of the 'Mystery' stainless steel dropped, design innovation ceased, and I quit buying them. I could care less who owns the line now.
In another thread about carbon vs. stainless steel I brought up a Takefu (Japanese) steel company laminated carbon core/stainless exterior steel used on one of my Spyderco (American) knives. One of the special things about this blade material is the V-Toku-2 (carbon) core material is made from a Swedish iron ore which is especially pure.
It's a global world.
