Keen Kutter fact finding mission

M

majorpain1

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
1,386
80731263_10220676755617804_4937065666961211392_o.jpg
80768014_10220676756017814_6924373242710851584_o.jpg
 
That looks to me like a knife made post 1990, when Frost owned the Keen Kutter mark. The box says made in the USA. Is there a country of origin marked on the reverse of the blades?
 
Was this made by Bear & Son? Is it really made in the USA. I know Frost has had some misleading practices in the past. Is this real stag? There are no stamps on the opposite side of the blades.
 
Ernie1980 said:
What are you trying to find out exactly?
Click to expand...
Was this made by Bear & Son? Is it really made in the USA. I know Frost has had some misleading practices in the past. Is this real stag? There are no stamps on the opposite side of the blades. I don't know why it didn't include my text when I posted.
 
Only way I know of for sure to determine if faux stag, is a red hot (or warmer) needle/pin point pressed into a "hidden" area.
If it stinks like plastic, it is faux. If it stinks like something else, it is genuine.

Does it really matter, if you like the knife?
 
Don't use a hot pin.
Fake stag feels like plastic, its not as hard as real stag. The color of real stag isn't uniform, where the fake stuff has no irregularities in color. That looks to be burned stag.
Who made it? Jim Frost owned the Keen Kutter mark since 1990, still might. The knife itself looks very much like one sold by Jim Parker in the late 1970s under the Parker and Son label.
There is a picture of one in this thread, its nearly identical.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/parker-knives-id-and-company-info.1316594/
There may be a connection between Jim Parker, Ken Griffey, owner of Bear and Son, Frost Cutlery and this knife. Its possible that the design was used by Frost Cutlery by way of Griffey, who was a Parker employee for some time, and who bought Parkers Jacksonville AL factory along with a bunch of knife designs and tooling in 1990 to start Bear MGC. Jim Frost and Jim Parker had been business partners, Griffey had worked for them in the past, its possible I suppose that Frost could have had knives made by Bear MGC in the 1990s....
If you do a search for Bear MGC razor knife, you'll find pictures of razor jack with a very similar design marked Bear MGC Keen Kutter....
 
I have 3 of this style knives, 2 are Parker Edwards and one is a Case. I believe that these are from the soup of owners/employees that were involved with all 4 companies mentioned. The Case number is R611098, all are marked USA. I have had the 2 Parker’s, if I remember correctly, the mid 80’s and the Case from the early 90’s. I also have another Parker that is a little larger in size (couldn’t locate for picture). I have compared these to a Keen Kutter that a friend owns and the knives look identical except for the scales. Just a note the Case has the best fit/finish of them all.
upload_2020-1-1_10-0-15.jpeg
 
You're right. It looks a lot like the Bear MGC razor knife. Thank you and everyone else for all the information. I think it is most interesting how all these connections come about.


Arathol said:
Don't use a hot pin.
Fake stag feels like plastic, its not as hard as real stag. The color of real stag isn't uniform, where the fake stuff has no irregularities in color. That looks to be burned stag.
Who made it? Jim Frost owned the Keen Kutter mark since 1990, still might. The knife itself looks very much like one sold by Jim Parker in the late 1970s under the Parker and Son label.
There is a picture of one in this thread, its nearly identical.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/parker-knives-id-and-company-info.1316594/
There may be a connection between Jim Parker, Ken Griffey, owner of Bear and Son, Frost Cutlery and this knife. Its possible that the design was used by Frost Cutlery by way of Griffey, who was a Parker employee for some time, and who bought Parkers Jacksonville AL factory along with a bunch of knife designs and tooling in 1990 to start Bear MGC. Jim Frost and Jim Parker had been business partners, Griffey had worked for them in the past, its possible I suppose that Frost could have had knives made by Bear MGC in the 1990s....
If you do a search for Bear MGC razor knife, you'll find pictures of razor jack with a very similar design marked Bear MGC Keen Kutter....
Click to expand...
 
No, it doesn't matter that much, more curiosity. Thanks for the tip.

afishhunter said:
Only way I know of for sure to determine if faux stag, is a red hot (or warmer) needle/pin point pressed into a "hidden" area.
If it stinks like plastic, it is faux. If it stinks like something else, it is genuine.

Does it really matter, if you like the knife?
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top