Kershaw History? First Kershaw Knife Ever?

knifedepot

knifedepot

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Nov 12, 2012
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So I'm writing a thorough article on Kershaw Knives and its history. I can't seem to find much information on the early days of the company (after 1974 when Pete Kershaw left Gerber). Does anyone have a source or know anything about the years immediately following 1974? Also does anyone know what the first Kershaw knife ever produced was?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
you'll have to look up kai records (japan) i suppose. but i clearly recall the first kershaw knives in the early 70s to be either lockback, like the buck, with brass liners and bolsters and dark wood inserts. but unlike the buck, they had nice grooved forms. fixed blades were also styled this way. i actually liked their designs back then.
 
This June I visited Mr Ichiro Hattori in Seki Japan and spent most of the afternoon with him. He showed me his "collection" room which had literally hundreds of knives, samples of knives he had made for many companies since 1971. One of the oldest knives he showed me was a Gerber fixed blade, can't remember exactly what it was. It was marked as made in USA and remember thinking it looked like a 400 or 500 series. Mr Hattori told me that this was the first knife that Pete Kershaw sent to him in the 1970s to use as a design basis for the Kershaw 10x0- series. Don't know how "early" that would be but seeing the "USA" on it indicated that it must have been pretty early after Pete Kershaw left Gerber. Very likely a knife that he had designed while still at Gerber. Don't know if this helps you at all
but for what it's worth. I've read that the first shipment of Kershaw knives went out in November 1974.


DSC_0228_zpsv723a3wu.jpg
 
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I can't recall exactly but I was thinking that the 1050 folding field knife was the first? I'm sure Dave "kershawguy" will be able to tell you regardless.
 
As an example of their older stuff, here's a Kershaw 2120, which was produced between 1980 and 1987, I've been told (someone said so in a Blade Forums post elsewhere):

6CES4Ce.jpg


It's beautifully put together, has a smooth action and rock solid lockup, and feels great in the hand. Smooth bone handles with brass; not sure what the steel is.
 
knifedepot said:
So I'm writing a thorough article on Kershaw Knives and its history. I can't seem to find much information on the early days of the company (after 1974 when Pete Kershaw left Gerber). Does anyone have a source or know anything about the years immediately following 1974? Also does anyone know what the first Kershaw knife ever produced was?

Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Here is a link to an article I wrote many years ago http://www.oregonknifeclub.org/Newsletter 0610.pdf , if you email me, I can give you some leads and I can email Pete to see if I can give you his email as well. steelhead15@juno.com
 
brancron said:
As an example of their older stuff, here's a Kershaw 2120, which was produced between 1980 and 1987, I've been told (someone said so in a Blade Forums post elsewhere):

6CES4Ce.jpg


It's beautifully put together, has a smooth action and rock solid lockup, and feels great in the hand. Smooth bone handles with brass; not sure what the steel is.
Click to expand...

Pretty certain that's a later Hattori made Aus8 model.
 
Unfortunately I can not offer much to help. Kai had it's earlier knives made by Hattori, who is predominantly a fixed blade maker but he did make some very heavy folders
like the 1050 Field. Around the same time he was making folders like the Browning Sportsman 506 and Valor 360 Super Sport. All of these sport a lot of brass.
Kai also had fixed blades made by Ono Cutlery as well, the later synthetic handled 1010 family. Kai being the largest knife company in Seki could contract with just about
anyone as needed but if the Macho was made from 1980-87 then I tend to think it likely falls in the first group. It is just my suspicion though naturally I can't be sure.
 
Thanks for all the great info. I learned more from this one post than sleuthing around the web. I would have loved if Pete kept up his blog, but there's only one post. Hopefully, I can get enough info to make the article thorough enough.
 
brancron said:
Are you able to provide more information? I can't find much of anything online. This article seems to indicate that the one I have is from the first run, as it has the squared off bolster and riveted scales: http://www.oregonknifeclub.org/Kershaw article.pdf

The place I purchased it has more photos: http://www.cuttingedge.com/knife/klc09209_model_2120_macho_lockback
Click to expand...

I am reasonably sure that yours was pre 1980. Most of my catalogs are on loan temporarily, I do have a 1980 catalog showing them with AUS8 and Angled bolsters, yours would be earlier. In later years I think they switched to AUS6. I would guess at 1978 or 1979 and if you bought it for the price in the link , I would value it at least double that, very nice example of one of the earliest pieces.
 
knifedepot said:
Thanks for all the great info. I learned more from this one post than sleuthing around the web. I would have loved if Pete kept up his blog, but there's only one post. Hopefully, I can get enough info to make the article thorough enough.
Click to expand...

Did you read my post, I can get you in touch with those in the know.
 
kershawguy said:
I am reasonably sure that yours was pre 1980. Most of my catalogs are on loan temporarily, I do have a 1980 catalog showing them with AUS8 and Angled bolsters, yours would be earlier. In later years I think they switched to AUS6. I would guess at 1978 or 1979 and if you bought it for the price in the link , I would value it at least double that, very nice example of one of the earliest pieces.
Click to expand...

That's awesome, thanks for the info! It's in absolutely impeccable condition, too. Not a bad grab for 75 bucks!
 
If you do follow this up and learn what the fist Kershaw model was, please let us know. Thanks.
 
I wanted to update you guys on what I found out.

I was able to get in touch with Pete Kershaw, who was more than happy to answer my questions about the early history of the company. (I first reached out to Kershaw Knives the company but they said they didn't know much.) According to Pete, the first models were six fixed blade models (Models 1029, 1030, 1031, 1032, 1034, 1035). He came up with the concepts himself and Hattori Knives made them. The first shipments were made on Nov. 12, 1974.

Originally, he planned to sell folders at the very start because he drew up the concepts at the same time as the fixed blades. However, they were delayed and didn't become available until Jan. 1975 (Sakurai Knife made them). There were models 2000, 2010, 2020, 2050.

He sent me some of the catalog sheets, which I attached in the article here: https://www.knife-depot.com/learn/kershaw/#section1

He also corrected some misinformation about dates floating around and was generally eager to help out. Just wanted to thank you guys for the leads.
 
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