Keen Kutter

[thawk]

How long did Schrade make knives for Keen Kutter, and did Keen Kutter outsource to companies other than Schrade?

 

[gradall5200]

I also wanted to know the answer to this qestion as well hal. I just picked up a keen kutter level on a garage sale for $2.00 mainly cause it has a really cool shield on it just like the keen kutter shield on there knives and I think its brass. Joel

 

[thawk]

Keen Kutter made a lot of things. My mom has a table top meat grinder she inherited from her side of the family over in the Ozarks. She never ground meat with it, but she made some killer green applesauce every summer. I see an occasional knife on Ebay, but they are usually reproductions or real expensive.

 

[waynorth]

I've posted a couple KKs in "who made it" threads and got pretty strong opinions that Camillus made one or two of them.
The upper knife here for instance.

 

[lrv]

Most of you know that Keen Kutter brand was originaly owened by the Simmons Hardware Co and they started using the name in 1866.
Here is a little history. Its almost as twisted as Schrade.
Simmons 1st used the KK name on axes then on other edged tools. Simmons Hardware became E.C.Simmons & CO. Pocket knives were 1st cataloged in 1880. About 1874 Simmons was buying their knives from Walden knife and in 1902 bought the company and all KK"s were made by Walden untill 1922 when Winchester bought Simmons and Winchester moved the buisness to their plant in Conn till 1929 when Simmons seperated from Winchester. Walden Knife closed in 1924. Simmons was bought in 1940 by Shapleigh and was selliing KK's in 1959 when they closed selling the trademark to Val-Test in 1960.
Now whom made the kk's from 1929-1960 ?
Simmons/Shapleigh like Sears, contracted everything. KK's name was attached to many products in fact there is a huge conterfet maket for KK things like wall plates, posters and such other trinkets. I just found a web site just full of reproduction and fake alerts
http://www.thckk.org/fakes-page.html

Schrade and Camillus were both selling knives to Shapleigh.

Can I say whom made Charlies KK? Nope.. But I'll look through a couple more books. It was made after 1939 based on the tang stamp.

 

[ea42]

I believe I read someplace that, even though the mariage was over, Winchester continued to make the knives for Simmons up until 1940 on the original Walden Knife Co. equipment, which had been moved to Connecticut after the merger. Shapleigh had the Diamond Edge brand of knives made by a more diverse group of cutleries, such as Schrade, Camillus, and Boker (Although Camillus did some work for Simmons also), so I don't think Schrades really came into the Keen Kutter picture until around 1940.

Eric