Colonial knives

Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
162
I've been wondering why Colonial knives ,apparently still in business looking at their website, has no presence in the current knife world? Kind of surprising considering their long history. Last time I saw a knife of theirs in a retail store was in the early 1990s. They still show a couple of autos on the site,but you never see them around. No shot show,no blade show ? Online sellers have nothing. What am I missing here?
 
I have been wondering the same thing. They make it out like they are still providing demo knives and TL29 electrician knives and the paratrooper knives for the government and the website looks like you can order. However there is no current info out there and the website never gets updated, and to your point they don't have any inventory anywhere. Are they still in business? Are they still making knives in the US? If so where? I have been wondering this for a long time and all attempts to Google it I have only found dated info.
 
Holy cow, I was just thinking about their orange auto. I need to get me one :D
 
I think a lot has to do with their being big questions on their claim of being USA made.
And, their quality has been reported to be quite lackluster.

The real Colonial knife had closed quite a while back, I think the name and business was then started up some time later. It's tough to find solid info on this current operation.
 
I bought one of their 114 Rangers last year, and it's not a bad knife at all...
They're just more "traditional"...
 
I bought a handful of their Mil-K knives. I think they were $25 or so. Gave them away. The quality was OK. But it “Felt” kinda cheesy. I can’t describe it. On their website, those are now $50.

I also bought a few of their parachute auto knives. And again, felt cheap but, seemed to work ok. Those are now $199. At $39, they were worth it. Weirdly, the shroud line cutter is carbon steel.

If you just handed me either one, I would not have thought they were made in USA.

There’s been discussion that their address is just an office and, no one has found where these knives are actually made.
 
I sure liked their slipjoints back in the 1980s. Here are a couple from their Old Cutler line from 1980. I thought they were very nice and stood up well to some of their competitors. I still have both of them. However, this is coming from an individual who's never really spent over $40 on a slipjoint. There are numerous good reads about Colonial on AAPK with a lot of information coming, at the time, from Bobby Paolantonio (Colonial family member).

 
Back
Top