How does Kershaw do it?

J

JTC

Joined
Dec 22, 2002
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I have noticed that Kershaw offers alot of knives made in the USA at very reasonable prices. Correct me if I am wrong but Storms,Blurs,Chives,Leeks,and Scallions among others I may have ommitted are all made in the US. You can find these knives very reasonably priced. I'd say very comparable to CRKT,Gerber, and other companies offerings that are made in Taiwan. Maybe they have invested in state of the art machinery to lower costs? At any rate it gives me hope that the US knife industry will adapt and face the imports head to head in price and quality. What do you guys think?


John
 
Just looked at my Leek, yep it says "MADE IN USA" on it, never really noticed. :D
 
All except the quince wood scaled Splinter. According to another forum, they admit that they have to get that one made in china 'cause of the intense labor involved in working the wood.

I am equally impressed with Kershaw for being a leader and advocate of "Made in America"

As for Gerber, IMHO, Kershaws are far superior as a label. Better steel and Gerber's quality has nose dived like a china made MIG 15. Note that Gerber only states "400 series SS Steel" for most of their knives.

Please... let's not get started on Wal-Mart again... Please
 
Well, that's interesting. KAI is a Japanese company. I wonder who is doing the work for them - probably Buck. I would be surprised if KAI actually owns a plant here.

Of course a number of Asian automobile concerns have plants here.
 
Any Kershaw piece marked "Kai" is made in Japan. Kershaw is not exclusivly US. But their Japanese products are usually much better. I just got to compare an old WildCat Ridge II (American) to it's newer Japanese counterpart, and the difference was night and day.
 
It's late,and I am punchy, but I happen to know a bit, and what I don't know, someone else can fill in.

Kershaw started out like Gerber, in that these guys were not knifemakers by training and trade, but were salesmen that had good ideas. Pete Kershaw decided to go the way that Pacific Cutlery did, and outsource most of the production to Japan. When he decided to move on, he sold Kershaw to a Japanese fella who owns about 1/2 of the factories in Seki City(the Solingen/Sheffield of Japan), and was already familiar with the manufacturing end of it. Now, if it was not for Ken Onion and the SpeedSafe, Kershaw would probably be more like Al Mar than Benchmade. That was serendipity in the flesh. From what I remember, Kershaw was not the first company that Ken approached, but it was the one that could see the potential.

Ken injected a lot of excitement into the company. During this time, the fella from Japan sent over "Jack" Igurashi, who had the great idea of having some other japanese fellas come over and teach engineering and QC to the Portland area locals. They already had Doug Flagg, who had been GM for a while, and Doug brought in Jeff Goddard, who has been in the knife business for like, 20 years.

When you make a good product, affordably, and you have interesting designs, and everybody on the team is committed, and you run a tight ship, you have success, generally.

Kershaw had more than adequate capital to start "fresh" if you will, to change the business model midstream. The current owners' attitude seems to be, "if you can convince me of the soundness of the idea, I will make sure you have enough money to get it going". Guys like Les DeAsis and Sal Glesser generally have to convince the bank, and that comes with problems. For Kershaw, the owner IS the bank. The American made products are made in house, not outsourced. Buck wishes that they could make a knife that precise, with C.J. at the helm, I seriously doubt that they are capable of much beyond the Mayo Buck.

That's all I know, if I am incorrect in my timelines, or statements, someone please correct me, I always forget the who, what, when and where stuff.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I recently purchased a Kershaw Military Boot Knife.

This one is made in China.

Great QC however !
 
What I want to know is how Kershaw makes them so f#$%&ing sharp! Regardless of price, I've never seen a knife sharper than a $40 Kershaw.
 
I have a Military Boot Knife also. The Quality is as good as the original, the sheath is better.
 
I've got a Blur that is marked in the following way "1670BLK
KAI pat.No.6,145,202
MADE IN USA
It even has "AUG 03" marked on the blade. Very nice knife for $56 .
 
I didn't buy my Leek because it's made in USA, I bought it because it's a fantastic knife for the money. Better than the imports, and at a better price. Then I bought a rainbow leek, which is probably the coolest production knife I've ever handled. That vapor deposition coating is very cool AND extremely durable- and people flip out when I hand it to them (and ask me where they can get one). No doubt Kershaw is doing something right. If they would start putting some better steel in these knifes, I would have to go out and buy more...
 
The Kershaw website provides the following information:

Kershaw is a wholly owned subsidiary of KAI Corporation - Japan.
Kai does have a new (2004) manufacturing facility in Tualatin, Oregon.
They opened their first USA plant in Portland in 1996.
 
All "Speed safe"knives are made in the USA. As well as the "STORM" . The Kershaw facillity is located in Tualitin Oregon. Most of our product line is mfgred there . Kershaw also has some products manufactured in Japan and yes China. Our China factories are all owned by KAI, Kershaws parent company in Japan and primarily use Japanese raw goods in the manufacture and utilize Chinese labor in the assembly of all products made in China.Kershaw needed to stay competative.
 
Planterz said:
What I want to know is how Kershaw makes them so f#$%&ing sharp! Regardless of price, I've never seen a knife sharper than a $40 Kershaw.
Click to expand...

i agree that kershaws edges are hard to beat.
i would like to see kershaw come out with a few knives with a better grade of steel. maybe a few in 154cm. they wouldn't have to be in the $50 range by all means but they are wiping up the low to mid range knife market in my area. with better steel i believe they would sell even better. i know that that may not be the market that they are going after but every little bit helps.
 
Planterz said:
What I want to know is how Kershaw makes them so f#$%&ing sharp! Regardless of price, I've never seen a knife sharper than a $40 Kershaw.
Click to expand...


I have a Kershaw Vapor II (the one with the big, vampiric serrations on the combo-edge blade). It's made in China (says so on the blade), and does not say what steel it is made from. I do know that while I like the knife, and it feels quite well-made (good fit and construction), it is not the best at holding an edge, and didn't come with an especially sharp one. I have put a good edge on it myself, and coincidentally, it's been in my EDC pocket for a week or two now since I sharpened it.

Now, the knife that was sharpest of all when I bought it new was my Spyderco Bill Moran Featherweight (VG10). OMG what a frickin' sharp knife! Such a shallow grind -- it's as sharp as the best edge I've ever put on any other knife using my own sharpening skills! That's REALLY RARE! Apart from that knife, I have never had another that was sharper when factory-new than after I'd resharpened it myself.

-Jeffrey
 
peacefuljeffrey said:
...and does not say what steel it is made from.-Jeffrey
Click to expand...

According to the Kershaw site, the Vapor II is AUS6A. Anyone know what the "A" at the end is for?

I would not choose this knife for myself, but it does get in at an incredibly low price. MSPR is $40, and I've seen them e-tail for <$25.

I think it's great how Kershaw stays price competitve on the low-end side, but still offers alot of better "US MADE" stuff for a few $$ more.
 
Patapsco Mike said:
Then I bought a rainbow leek, which is probably the coolest production knife I've ever handled. That vapor deposition coating is very cool AND extremely durable- and people flip out when I hand it to them (and ask me where they can get one).
Click to expand...

Now if only they could be bothered to scale the Leek up to match the dimensions of Vapor II (or create a rainbow Vapor II) i'd buy it right away. 3" just doesn't cut it for me, alas :( :grumpy:
 
I'm always amazed at how good the Japanese are at manufacturing and not just in Japan. They seem to be able to do it well wherever they go. I saw a recent article that rated automobiles in terms of reliability. The top 5 were all Japanese and many of these Japanese cars are made right here in the USA.

I think the U.S.-made Kershaws are another good example. They are of good quality and reasonably priced. The Storm is incredible in terms of its value. I can't think of a better made folder for that price made anywhere in the world. Perhaps the other U.S. makers will play close attention. There is plenty to learn.
 
One reason why Kershaws are reasonably priced is that most of their models don't feature high end steel. Most Japanese Kershaws are AUS-6 or AUS-8 and most of their American models are 440A, a few like the Leek are 420HC. They come with great fit and finish and are very sharp out of the box, but they use easy to work steel. If they used mainly 154CM or S30V, all of their knives would cost about like the Bump ($165 or so).
 
Since we've already had the epiphany of Ken Onion here, I just want to fill in that I think the Bump is just as great value for the price, compared, for instance, to the Chris Reeves of the same materials and more than twice the price, as the American-made Chive, available from 25$ upwards.
I'd also be conscious of the fact that Ken is Hawaian, hence the merger between American and Japanese comes natural. Most importantly, in the knife world, we should be clear that the old war between American-made cars and "Rice bowl cars" is utter nonsense: the Japanese have been making the best blades in the word for thousands of years, literally. Similarly, I know from my bike addiction that while Taiwan and China have long been considered like Japan to make only cheap and sub-standard imitations, in fact they're quite capable to make very competitive high-end-steels and -products as well, I agree with BladesTwo here.
I see absolutely no lack in quality in a Splinter as compared to a Leek.
Also, I've paid more for each of my Japanese knives than for any of my American-made knives, including Woody Sebbies - without ever feeling they were overpriced, as I do with the CRs.

At the same time, I'm also an advocate for higher-quality Kershaws. The Leek is to my knowledge not an inferior 420 but a 440-steel, quite an acceptable steel and very adequate for the price, but there's been a lot of calls for a higher-end Kershaws like the Leek (S30V+G-10, for instance) on the Ken-Onion-forum. With the Leek, I think it's not so much the blade steel as the handle steel that could be improved, like the new aluminium-handle Chives (though I actually prefer the same-steel, same-color-Chives for aesthetic reasons, the weight doesn't make all that much of a difference in that small handle.)
But Ken Onion has only limited influence on what Kershaw will do with his custom-designs. You can get high-tech Boas and carbon-handled Bumps etc. if you like, and don't mind the extra cost.
The only knife I've seen sharper-out-of-the-box than most Kershaw Onions is a particular Spyderco, with some Microtechs about equal.

But the overwhelming fact for me remains, for the price of a single Sebenza I've been able to get a whole Kershaw-Onion Speed-safe collection from Chive to Bump, which is equal at least to any production knife in the world.
You don't pay anything extra for the unparalleled beauty and ergonomics and innovation of them, you get that for a very low price if made with modest materials, or with the top materials if you prefer with the Bump.
They're the top in absolute and in relative terms.
Sorry, I'm a fan.
t.
 
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