I'm finding statements online about the Linder knife company in Germany closing soon... Update: It's true...

Legendary_Jarl said:
Read the messages above. Apparently if it is not marked with Solingen or Germany anywhere on the blade, it was actually made in another country. Out of all the Linder knives I have only 2 say Solingen or Germany. The daggers I have are listed as made in Solingen on their website. But what does that really mean? Is it just assembled there or is it actually ground, heat treated, etc.?

I asked but they have not answered my communications for a long time.
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I think if we are honest with ourselves, we know that many knife companies are likely involved in some shenanigans, using whatever loopholes that laws leave open, and getting away with things us customers would likely not be happy about.
I've read quite a few posts recently on this forum, (Bladeforums), where folks have discovered that this or that knife is not what they had thought it was, having components or other aspects of knife not be done by whatever company was selling them.
And, it brings me right back to my having decided to call it quits on today's production knives. I am good with what I own, and there are plenty of vintage knives out there if I get the itch to acquire another knife for my collection 👍😊👍
 
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Tomorrow I should be receiving the early 1990's vintage Linder Dagger I recently ordered, I'm hoping she's a nice specimen, but other than that, only the Linder company knows the true deal about origin... I guess it is what it is 😔
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
I think if we are honest with ourselves, we know that many knife companies are likely involved in some shenanigans, using whatever loopholes that laws leave open, and getting away with things us customers would likely not be happy about.
I've read quite a few posts recently on this forum, (Bladeforums), where folks have discovered that this or that knife is not what they had thought it was, having components or other aspects of knife not be done by whatever company was selling them.
And, it brings me right back to my having decided to call it quits on today's production knives. I am good with what I own, and there are plenty of vintage knives out there if I get the itch to acquire another knife for my collection 👍😊👍
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What about custom knives? I have some designs in mind I'd like to have made or other designs that I'd like replicated.
 
Lodd said:
Thank you for getting the word on this. I am saddened though. Even though I have only one Linder knife (I discovered them quite recently) I have been turned into a fan and was planning to buy more.

It doesn't look like anything was said about the reason for closing. Do you know anything?
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Just a guess, but it could just be the owners getting old, and no one stepping up to take their place. A lot of the old German companies are family owned through multiple generations, and that's the reason they've stuck around this long. Puma, Boker, Linder, Hubertus, and a few others are like that. The last 20 years or so it's been a big complaint that no one wants to be production knifemakers anymore, and it's hard to get people to stick with it.

Couple that with rising material costs, costs to retrofit factories, etc..... I wouldn't be surprised if we see more old lines closing.
 
tltt said:
Just a guess, but it could just be the owners getting old, and no one stepping up to take their place. A lot of the old German companies are family owned through multiple generations, and that's the reason they've stuck around this long. Puma, Boker, Linder, Hubertus, and a few others are like that. The last 20 years or so it's been a big complaint that no one wants to be production knifemakers anymore, and it's hard to get people to stick with it.

Couple that with rising material costs, costs to retrofit factories, etc..... I wouldn't be surprised if we see more old lines closing.
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I thought of that myself, but since Linder is an established name brand with a history that goes back over 100 years, I can't imagine that they wouldn't want to at least sell the firm off to someone that may keep the brand alive 🤔
 
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I was checking out a knife vendor website after I got home from work today.
It's a vendor I recently purchased a few 1990'ish vintage knives from. They had listed the knives as being in mint condition, and they did arrive to me as they described 👍

Anyhow, I typed in the word "Linder" into their search function, and ran across this mint second hand Linder Big Eagle Bowie knife being sold by them. I wouldn't exactly say this particular knife is a "vintage" specimen, it looking more like a fairly recently manufactured item, but... I am tempted to get this big ole Linder Bowie!
👍😅👍

CB-1250_720x_(1).jpg

I mean, hey, Linder is on it's way out, so having a few nice specimens is a must... Right? 🤔
I don't need too much arm twisting on this one, guys! 😅
 
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Yup, I wound up ordering it... Yes, I am weak, I fell hook, line, and sinker! 😅

I was just thinking about something... Maybe the Linder owners simply decided to parcel everything out in piecemeal form....

They liquidate their inventory to vendors at attractive prices to move them out fast, then sell their building, and simply sell off the brand rights to the highest bidder... no doubt to someone that will then have EVERYTHING made in China.
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Yup, I wound up ordering it... Yes, I am weak, I fell hook, line, and sinker! 😅

I was just thinking about something... Maybe the Linder owners simply decided to parcel everything out in piecemeal form....

They liquidate their inventory to vendors at attractive prices to move them out fast, then sell their building, and simply sell off the brand rights to the highest bidder... no doubt to someone that will then have EVERYTHING made in China.
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Or Spain... please be Spain if this is the case🙏

Congrats on the new knife! The wording does say Germany & Solingen so it should be a good piece. What vendor is that?
 
Legendary_Jarl said:
Or Spain... please be Spain if this is the case🙏

Congrats on the new knife! The wording does say Germany & Solingen so it should be a good piece. What vendor is that?
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Thanks, it does seem it will at least be something that the Germans had some part in doing, maybe just assembly... I don't know.

I remember Spain being a source for Hen & Rooster Bowie knives for a bit. I never picked one up, but they surely seemed like they were nicely done and actually had Spain marked on their blade... so, no shenanigans.


I Will probably never know where this knife was actually made, but with it having Solingen Germany on it's blade, that pretty much means something needed to be done in Germany, rather than just being something they imported into Germany.
The whole thing is a mess, and German lax in their import laws has a lot to do with it.
It seems that some countries have simply made it easier to cheat the consumer by having requirements that allow these brand companies to blur the facts quite a bit.
And again, it happens more and more in the USA, my still not understanding how my recently purchased CRKT Sting Dagger is allowed to be sold onto the market without having any country of origin on the knife itself?
I doubt CRKT would purposely break an import requirement, so it must be the loophole is there, so they take full advantage of it.
I have a few Otter Messer folding knives, I do trust them being truly German made 👍

As for the vendor I used, I'd rather not say 👍
 
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Earlier in this thread, we wondered why so many traditional knife makers, like Linder, are closing their doors.
Well, I will stick to my guess that it truly is a shrinking market of consumers that want them.
One simply has to look at the traditional slip-joint pocket knife market as another example. Sure, there are still some folks that gravitate towards these knives, but the dwindling consumer market has caused most of the production makers of these knives to go DoDo Bird.
In the USA, you now mostly only have the budget versions coming in from China, like Rough Rider and such, and maybe a handful of domestic companies offering them, like Case, GEC, and a few others at best.
That makes for a small manufacturing base that is left making them, in a world where makers of these types of knives used to be all over the place.
But it's now the modern folders that are the most popular, with the traditional knives becoming ever more a shrinking niche market.

So, to close my point of view/opinion... If there truly were a big demand for traditional knives, (folders or fixed blades), we would simply not have seen so many of these firms that were so well known for making them, going under.
 
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I found this video of a person giving a table top review of a German Bowie made by a firm I never heard of... 'Corneta'.

It has a high polished blade and what seems like quite a long handle, but is in so many ways so similar to the Linder Big Eagle Bowie knife that I just ordered yesterday.
So much so, that I wonder if the cast guard and pommel components are from the same source 🤔

Anyhow, I have never heard of this 'Corneta' German knife brand, but... it seems like a very nicely made knife 👍

The video is done in German, so it was only a visual for me, my not understanding German 😅
I have watched other videos put out by this guy, he owns a great selection of big Bowie knives!
👍😊👍


After a little google searching, I discovered that the likely maker of the Corneta Big Eagle Bowie in the video above was Gebrüder Weyersberg in Solingen Germany.
I guess they made all sorts of knives, swords, and machetes. There was a big need for good quality machetes in Central and South America, and Gebrüder Weyersberg would supply the machetes/blades that were sold in the Latin world under the name brand 'Corneta'.
I guess the brand still exists in South America, where it is used for a brand of machetes made over there.
I must say, I like the Corneta Bowie shown in the video... It's pretty darned cool! 😊
It also seems to be a rare bird, (pun intended 😉), since the only thing that pops up when google searching it, is the one video above.
Based on the specs he gives of it, it seems that the Corneta Big Eagle Bowie has about a one inch longer handle than the handle on Linder's Big Eagle Bowie. I don't really understand why the Corneta' handle is so long, but it does add to it's uniqueness.

I wonder if the two Bowie knives have any ties?
Did the Linder Big Eagle Bowie come onto the market first, or was the Corneta first?
Did one company make it for the other?
I did find a Linder page that showed a knife model that Linder specifically made for the Gebrüder Weyersberg firm under contract...

Screenshot_20220611-051839_(1).png

So maybe Linder made the Corneta Bowie for them as well?
Hmmm? 🤔

I have always found the learning part of my collecting hobby to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of it.
 
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Okay I'm probably going to be a bit of a contrarian here. I would argue at least in the realm of traditional folders the market is expanding not contracting. As proof I offer up the GEC crazy that is going on. More anecdotally I would mention that I saw more new slip joints at blade this than I have in a long time. That does not mean the same thing for fixed blades of course.

As for these knives, in skimming this thread it seems to be being suggested that they are being outsourced to random manufacturers and frankly it looks like it. Many of the knives look similar to whatever you can find at the local flea market. In short perhaps I m just not very nostalgic but them shutting down doesn't look like a big loss.

Also I'm offended that you all are calling things made in he 1990s vintage.😀
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
I found this video of a person giving a table top review of a German Bowie made by a firm I never heard of... 'Corneta'.

It has a high polished blade and what seems like quite a long handle, but is in so many ways so similar to the Linder Big Eagle Bowie knife that I just ordered yesterday.
So much so, that I wonder if the cast guard and pommel components are from the same source 🤔

Anyhow, I have never heard of this 'Corneta' German knife brand, but... it seems like a very nicely made knife 👍

The video is done in German, so it was only a visual for me, my not understanding German 😅
I have watched other videos put out by this guy, he owns a great selection of big Bowie knives!
👍😊👍


After a little google searching, I discovered that the likely maker of the Corneta Big Eagle Bowie in the video above was Gebrüder Weyersberg in Solingen Germany.
I guess they made all sorts of knives, swords, and machetes. There was a big need for good quality machetes in Central and South America, and Gebrüder Weyersberg would supply the machetes/blades that were sold in the Latin world under the name brand 'Corneta'.
I guess the brand still exists in South America, where it is used for a brand of machetes made over there.
I must say, I like the Corneta Bowie shown in the video... It's pretty darned cool! 😊
It also seems to be a rare bird, (pun intended 😉), since the only thing that pops up when google searching it, is the one video above.
Based on the specs he gives of it, it seems that the Corneta Big Eagle Bowie has about a one inch longer handle than the handle on Linder's Big Eagle Bowie. I don't really understand why the Corneta' handle is so long, but it does add to it's uniqueness.

I wonder if the two Bowie knives have any ties?
Did the Linder Big Eagle Bowie come onto the market first, or was the Corneta first?
Did one company make it for the other?
I did find a Linder page that showed a knife model that Linder specifically made for the Gebrüder Weyersberg firm under contract...

View attachment 1841604

So maybe Linder made the Corneta Bowie for them as well?
Hmmm? 🤔

I have always found the learning part of my collecting hobby to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of it.
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Very interesting! I was just reading about this and found a reddit post that suggest Imacasa, the Machete company from El Salvador might be related to Corneta. At least they were owned by that parent company in Germany that went downhill. But, Imacasa survives and keeps making machetes to this date.

It is very possible they share parts and models. I have noticed how in big knife making centers the various makers share popular designs... e.g. Oaxaca, Sheffield, Solingen.
 
Corneta was a brand of Weyersberg ( https://www.wkc-solingen.de/en ). In the 60's Weyersberg set up Weyersberg-Imacasa to service the Latin American market, which Weyersberg was making gains in. The Corneta band was also used on their products. Years later, in the late 80's, Imacasa became more or less it's own company.

The mountings on those Bowies go back to an old pattern popular in Latin America and the Caribbean called a Cutacha. Cutacha are Bowie or sword style machetes that were meant to show status.

Both companies (Linder and Weyersberg) had the capacity to make similar knives, but it's very possible it's a Linder contract. Linder did a huge amount of subcontracting with lots of German firms.

Corneta made a Bowie similar to the Eagle head one with a Wolf's head. It's rare, but very pretty.
 
tltt said:
Corneta was a brand of Weyersberg ( https://www.wkc-solingen.de/en ). In the 60's Weyersberg set up Weyersberg-Imacasa to service the Latin American market, which Weyersberg was making gains in. The Corneta band was also used on their products. Years later, in the late 80's, Imacasa became more or less it's own company.

The mountings on those Bowies go back to an old pattern popular in Latin America and the Caribbean called a Cutacha. Cutacha are Bowie or sword style machetes that were meant to show status.

Both companies (Linder and Weyersberg) had the capacity to make similar knives, but it's very possible it's a Linder contract. Linder did a huge amount of subcontracting with lots of German firms.

Corneta made a Bowie similar to the Eagle head one with a Wolf's head. It's rare, but very pretty.
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Very awesome information, Sir... Thanks for taking the time to share that here.
👍😊👍
 
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