Something cooking at Hattori Seki

[The Whip]

Steve,
Yes I am refering to the Condor line that Phil Hoffman had made at Kinryu. I hacve been told that those were the first synthetic handled knives, coupled withsynthitic sheaths, made in the Seki factories. Of course patent dates do not necessaruly mean they were not being made prior, just when the patent was registered. The Condor line as you probably know subsequently failed business wise and the Kinryu factory was left with lots of parts from the project. They were looking for a solution when a former member of Pacific Cutlery named Mike Stewart offered to buy up all the remaining tooling/parts, and sign a contract for a new line called "Blackjack". As Kinryu only made fixed blades, the folders were contracted with Seizo Imai. That only lasted some 4 years, but Kinryu carried on after that with main contracts from SOG and Cold Steel.

I owned that OD colored handle Buck 616 and a Buck Lite folder (which I still have). Can't remember now when I bought it, but it was roughly the same time I bought the Buck 184, and later the skeletonized 185 which I used as my Dive knife.

Glad to hear that you got your SRK in late 1989, because I was certain I got mine in 1989 as well. It stuck in my head cause I became a father that year. But Jon pointed out that the SRK only shows up in the1990 catalog, so I wasn't sure. My black coating is pretty much gone.
Ken

Great information, Ken! While I was aware of Condor's knives and the company's subsequent disappearance, you grant me too much credit for my knowledge of the Japanese suppliers of the time. As always, I bow to your expertise in this area! I had no idea about the Kinryu/Condor/Blackjack connection, and I truly appreciate the education.

Your SRK still looks great! Thanks for the pictures.

Interesting that you both got your SRKs in 1989. Maybe they released it (and possibly others) earlier, but just compiled them into the New for 1990 flyer to keep them all together.

View attachment 1685849View attachment 1685851

Awesome and informative stuff, John! Thank you for sharing this flyer!

Three things of note:

1) While it's interesting that Ken and I both got our SRKs in 1989, it's even more perplexing that we received different sheath models. That makes me wonder if there were two different knife manufacturers, two different sheath manufacturers, or just two different sheath styles used from the outset. There's so much we don't know about those early years!

2) Amazing to discover that the Master Hunter and the SRK were released at the same time. Also remarkable to learn that Lynn was solely responsible for the design of both.

3) The photos of the Ready Edge are too blurry for me to tell. Do both pictures show blades with Spyderco serrations?


Thanks again for the education, gentlemen!


-Steve

 

[Cobalt]

From the Trail Master history thread:

History of Cold Steel Trail Masters (and Recon Scout)

With the demise of the Cold Steel Forums, I am attempting to recreate the History threads that I had done over there. Hopefully this can be made a sticky. History of Cold Steel Trail Masters (and Recon Scout) This will focus on the older Trail Masters made in USA and Japan, rather than the...

www.bladeforums.com

Look at posts #15 and #16.


-Steve

Thanks for the link. good info

 

[jlauffer]

Didn't catch the sheath difference...very interesting. Knew there were versions with one and two straps, but would have thought they were offered at different times.

Will try to post some better pics of the flyer.

 

[jlauffer]

Posted the flyer and another old catalog in the "Old Cold Steel Ads" thread.

Tried to take better pics of the Ready Edge in the flyer, but their pics weren't great to begin with. But the description does mention "...famous Spyder serrated edge..."

 

[J.Davey]

I don't want to belabor the point too much, and I apologize for taking this otherwise informative thread down a rabbit hole (Ken's remark about interchangeable Cold Steel and Fallkniven knife parts rekindled an old fire), but I want to clarify my position. You gentlemen both are focusing on cost, materials, and even performance comparisons between the knives. I'm talking mainly about design parameters, aesthetics, and originality.

To my eye, Fallkniven barely bothered to modify the design drawings of Cold Steel's SRK, Trail Master, and Recon Scout when it "invented" its A1, Thor, and Odin models, respectively. For about a decade before those Fallkniven knives existed, Cold Steel's knives were in the hands of people using them, and using them hard. I found the reviews lauding the Fallknivens as though they were something new and original to be laughable.

Now we have this innovative new bargain from Fallkniven. At least they changed the Trail Master handle shape...a little.

Not a tremendous innovation? Maybe you could make that argument in general terms. But which knives were constructed and performed like this one in 1990 when it was released?

That's interesting to know about the blade treatments. The reason I asked is because whichever manufacturers treated the blades would then have Cold Steel's proprietary tempering and heat treatment formulations and could use them on knives made for other companies--one of many reasons to make your own knives in your own factory, a path that Cold Steel, unfortunately, never chose. But that's yet another topic for a different thread.

I wasn't aware that Kinryu had gotten out of knife making. Thanks much for the information, Ken.


-Steve

You keep saying that the A1 and SRK are the same design, and I don't get it. The A1 is more of a drop point blade whereas the SRK is a clip point. The grinds are different, as are the handle shapes (if you actually see one in person). The SRK is more similar to the S1 in blade style. In hand feel is totally different between Fallkniven and CS. I like both.