Kershaw Black Horse #1060 Hoffritz blade made in Japan

[Warzi]

Hi Guys I was wondering if anyone know the history of my knife , it says made in Japan and have a marking on the blade "Hoffritz".
Mainly interested in when it was made , but all history is welcome

Ty in advance

 

[Ilikesharpstuff]

An exact date is pretty tough to pin down but I think they started making these in the early 80s and they came with a nylon pouch/belt sheath. Here's the 1984 Kershaw Catalog which includes the Black Horse. They were originally made in Japan and later production moved to the US. Hoffritz was a brick-and-mortar chain store at one point and it's not clear whether the manufacturers applied the branding for them or if they did it themselves upon receiving the knives. Cold Steel, Kershaw, Buck, Victorinox, and Spyderco (to name a few) knives can all be found with that Hoffritz marking. Hoffritz is still around, it is possible that they could give you more information. They have a small banner at the bottom of their home page with pictures of knives sent in by customers.

 

[Warzi]

An exact date is pretty tough to pin down but I think they started making these in the early 80s and they came with a nylon pouch/belt sheath. Here's the 1984 Kershaw Catalog which includes the Black Horse. They were originally made in Japan and later production moved to the US. Hoffritz was a brick-and-mortar chain store at one point and it's not clear whether the manufacturers applied the branding for them or if they did it themselves upon receiving the knives. Cold Steel, Kershaw, Buck, Victorinox, and Spyderco (to name a few) knives can all be found with that Hoffritz marking. Hoffritz is still around, it is possible that they could give you more information. They have a small banner at the bottom of their home page with pictures of knives sent in by customers.

Hi ,
Thanks a lot for helping out !

Have a great day!

 

[LimpCroissant]

I know that they made them up until at least 2008 because I used to be a Kershaw dealer, and that's when I started. They were producing them still then, I cant remember when they were discontinued, and we took them off the shelves though. I have a couple of them still, great knives, I've always liked them. I cant recall if mine are made in Japan or the US though. I can check this afternoon if you're interested.

 

[tltt]

Hoffritz was sold in 1995, and just sold kitchen stuff after that. They used to rebrand or cobrand a lot of products. My guess is mid 80's - early 90's for your knife. They usually waited a few years to see how an item sold before cobranding, and by the time they were closing/being sold, they weren't doing anything special.