The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Boker Trapper and Teckel m2 with Inkosi.
GEC#29 and Mini Fox River with Seb21.
???
From the "Golden Age" of Kershaw - a Heavy Duty Field Knife (1035) and a Field Folder (1050).
Just love the look and feel of these knives. Heftier than they look w/excellent balance and perfect contouring of the handles in my hand. The brass fittings are also great accents which probably add to the heft/balance of the knives.
I like to think that this is where the motto - "Proudly OverBuild In The USA" - found its inspiration, except that they were made in Japan.
LOL!
From the "Golden Age" of Kershaw - a Heavy Duty Field Knife (1035) and a Field Folder (1050).
Just love the look and feel of these knives. Hefty w/excellent balance and perfect contouring of the handles in my hand. The brass fittings are also great accents which probably add to the heft/balance of the knives.
I like to think that this is where the motto - "Proudly OverBuild In The USA" - found its inspiration, except that they were made in Japan.
LOL!
Thanks!
I actually bought them off of EB in the past 2-3 years. No boxes but they were in GREAT shape w/the sheaths which were also in great shape. Couldn't resist. Bought the folder 1st and then bought the fixed blade to go w/it.
According to an article on the history of Kershaw, the 1035 was among the 1st six knives (all fixed blades) made by the company back in 1974. Those knives are now collectively referred to either as the "Kershaw or Hattori Hunters." The author of the article also rates the 1050 as one of the most "iconic" knives ever produced by Kershaw and I have to agree w/him about that.
Thought briefly about trying to collect all of the "hunters" but considered that too difficult and expensive to attempt. Besides, I thought that the 1035 was the best of the lot in terms of size and blade shape and I really didn't like the others as much.
Anyway, here's an except from the article mentioned above:
The First Kershaw Knives Ever
There wasn't much information out there about the early days of the company, so I reached out to Kershaw Knives. A customer representative told me file keeping in the '70s and '80s was poor and the company didn't even have their own complete history.
So I contacted one of the only people who could give an accurate and firsthand account about what happened at the start of the company. Pete Kershaw, who is no longer part of the company, was more than happy to recount the early days to me.
While working at Gerber, Pete had gained knowledge about which Japanese and European knife manufacturers he could approach to make his knives. When he started his own company, he used those contacts to search for the right manufacturer.
By May 1974, Pete appointed Kai Cutlery to make Kershaw Knives. Within the Kai Group, Hattori Knife of Seki City made the six fixed-blade knives Pete made the concepts for. Sakurai Knife of Seki City made the four folders.
According to Pete, the first Kershaw knives ever were the six fixed-blade models: Field & Stream (1029), Camp & Field (1030), Camp & Stream (1031), Skinner (1032), Field (1034), and Heavy Duty Field (1035). These models were made by expert craftsman and knife maker Ichiro Hattori; the scabbards were made by Safariland Leather of Monrovia, CA.
. . .
When the knives arrived in Oregon, Pete said they inspected the knives and shipped them to a dealership network he had established between May and November in 1974. The first shipments were made on Nov. 12, 1974.
See: Kershaw Knives: History, Innovations and More
Hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.
