Knife collecting is an extremely rewarding experience for knife enthusiasts. There truly is a knife for everyone. Many increase or hold their value throughout the years, making collecting knives something to pass on to the next generation of knife collectors.
Help celebrate Valentine’s Day by telling BLADE about the knife you love the most. Which knife do you love best? It can be one you carry, one from your past, one you wish you had, one someone used to save a life or otherwise do something significant, etc.
Use the form below to explain why the knife is so special to you. Include a picture if you have one.
BLADE will choose the best stories for a feature here on blademag.com.
As U.S. states relax automatic knife restrictions, new models hitting the scene focus on converting collectors and enthusiasts into fans.
This California-compliant automatic predictably sports a blade under 2 inches, but surprisingly packs loads of character into a small package.
Pro-Tech’s new Chris Kyle Frog Collection is anchored by the Model 752, a spin on the Godson Tuxedo. The Chris Kyle “Legend” logo is lasered into the ivory Micarta inlays. Proceeds benefit the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation.
Stubby blades designed for the Golden State may also hold appeal for those elsewhere. That seems to be the thinking behind SOG’s discreet California Special, which could be described as an entry model for new collectors.
This series won’t hit shelves until May 1, but it’s worth keeping an eye out. This USA-made auto is slated to retail for $125.
Final specs aren’t available yet, but the series will offer S30V blades and four style options.
The models in this series (or family) aren’t necessarily distinct variants. Instead, buyers can choose from plain or serrated edges, and satin or coated finishes. That makes for four possible combinations for this EDC auto.
If you made it this far down in an article about automatic knives, it’s time you took the leap and subscribed to BLADE magazine.
Rarely does a single brand, style or look set the standard for an entire genre in the knife industry, let alone hold its place for decades with no sign of a loosening grip. Just say the words “Swiss Army knife” and the image is clear and constant.
The classic red handle emblazoned with the shield and cross of its land of origin render the Swiss Army knife (SAK) instantly recognizable, while its multifunction versatility makes it indispensable for those who carry it and rely on it in a variety of situations.
Cut, slice, tighten/loosen a flat- or Phillips-head screw, punch, file, open a can or bottle and even sign your name, the pride of Victorinox and the trademark of the Swiss Army is the versatility that is found nowhere else.
Like every icon in any field, the SAK is surrounded in legend and lore. The consensus is that the knife gained widespread appeal during and after World War II as Allied soldiers brought them home, and those who saw the knives clamored for one of their own.
American military personnel came to further love the SAK when it became available at the nearest base PX (post exchange), and sales are said to have exploded.
Of course, there was a tinge of controversy related to the “first” Swiss Army knives. In 2005, Victorinox went a long way in closing the book on that discussion with the acquisition of rival Wenger, followed by the consolidation of the two brands into the single Victorinox label in 2013.
Victorinox Global Chief Executive Officer Charles Elsener likes to tell the story of his family’s development of the early SAK.
“In 1897, founder Karl Elsener created his ‘Officer’s and Sports Knife,’” Charles explained, “and registered it legally June 12 of that year. He also was responsible for the iconic design, which has not changed to this day. From 1897 to 1937, the handles were made of red fiber. Functions of the knife included big blade, small blade, can opener, corkscrew and reamer. The name of this model today is the ‘Spartan.’”
In 1937 the knife handles changed to celluloid, and since 1971 the material used is Cellidor. The red color was probably chosen for the red in the Swiss flag and also for the Swiss canton [district] of Schwyz—and probably to help the owner find his treasured possession when it falls on the ground!
According to Elsener, the most popular SAK in the company’s early days was the Spartan. In 1902, a wood saw and scissors were added. The new model with scissors was christened the Climber, and the Huntsman included both the wood saw and scissors.
As more and more tools were added, the flagship knife became the SwissChamp, introduced in 1986 with a grand total of 33 functions.
“The fourth bestseller is our smaller Classic keyring model,” Elsener added, “and these five bestsellers have been the same since their introduction.”
Charles confirms that American soldiers popularized the SAK during World War II and are responsible for its name today since they had difficulty pronouncing it in German as the “Schweizer Offiziers-und Sportsmesser.”
Today, Victorinox produces 60,000 SAKs per day and a staggering 13 million pieces annually, achieving these numbers consistently.
BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Tim Leatherman, developer of the popular Leatherman Tool, gave the introduction speech when Charles Elsener’s father, Carl, was inducted into the Cutlery Hall Of Fame in 2011.
Charles told of a modest, unassuming man who wore a workman’s smock while at the company.
“One day Carl happened to be at the loading dock when a truck pulled in and everyone else was at lunch,” Tim smiled. “The driver saw Carl and said, ‘Hey you! Help me unload this truck.’ Without saying a word, Carl did. Only when another worker returned from lunch and saw what was happening did the mortified driver realize what he had done. But Carl took no offense at all. He was still his humble self.”
The humble knife the Elsener family put together also has risen without unnecessary fanfare to the height of fame and cutlery glory. Leatherman sees an unassailable place in knife history for the SAK.
“Victorinox with the Swiss Army knife anchors the knife industry,” he asserted. “One category of products within the cutlery industry is ‘pocket-carried knives,’ which has three subcategories—common pocketknives, tactical knives and multipurpose pocketknives. And deservedly so. The design deserves every bit of recognition it has received. I know firsthand how hard it is to make a knife or tool without a cosmetic defect. And I have never seen a cosmetic defect in a Swiss Army knife. The Swiss Army knife is recognized and coveted worldwide.
“I was very much aware of the Swiss Army knife as I was designing the Leatherman Tool,” Tim continued. “So much so that in one of my prototypes I cannibalized a pair of scissors from a Swiss Army knife to put in my tool. However, my design diverged away from the Swiss Army knife because in a Swiss Army knife the blade is the central feature, and I wanted a pair of pliers to be the central feature of my Leatherman Tool.”
While satisfying the needs of the businessman, blue-collar worker and outdoorsman, the SAK also has cultivated a devoted group of collectors. Doug Dillman, owner of Freeport Knife Co. in Freeport, Maine, leads the Swiss Army Knife Collectors Society, which was founded in 2000 by avid collector Dan Jacquart.
“The club currently has about 150 members,” Dillman commented. “Our objective since the beginning has been to encourage and support collectors who share a passion for both collecting Swiss Army knives and educating members about the many changes to the product and the factory’s history since its creation in 1884. We largely accomplish this through the publication of a biannual newsletter. We try to offer articles about changes to the many models over the years, new product introductions, and special-edition models. Our last issue included a tang stamp chart to help members determine the age of a knife.”
A collector for 30 years, Dillman has seen a number of SAKs appreciate in value.
“Old-style Soldier’s knives prior to 1954 can be found anywhere from $100 to more than $1,000, depending of course on condition,” he commented. “Very early ones from the 1890s with black-stained oak handles are certainly the most valuable. Many people also try to collect specific Soldier’s knives with specific-year date stamps. Knives that are highly desirable for collectors are often models made for only a short time, such as the Swissflame series from the late 1990s and early 2000s. These were unique in that they included a butane lighter.”
Other highly prized collectibles include the Scientist, produced in the 1980s and ’90s, and the Motorist with its metal inlay of St. Christopher. Knives made first as presentation gifts for four American presidents sell for $50 to more than $100.
Chris Lubkemann wrote The Victorinox Swiss Army Whittling Book, published in 2015, which already has been translated into Swiss, German, Dutch and Spanish. His use of the Swiss Army Tinker for carving led to the research and the publication of the book.
Actually Lubkemann carved for many years with an assortment of other knives.
The Tinker had been given to him as a gift and stayed put on a shelf. As he recalled, “My [previous knife] developed a lot of play between the handle and the blade, to the point where it was no longer a viable carving tool. I’m sure I could have gone out and bought another, but conservative spender that I am, I decided to pull out my Swiss Army Tinker and see how it worked.
“The rest is history. Not having any personal previous experience with Swiss Army knives, I was immediately impressed with the tool. While the blades were stainless they took an edge well, and for my special purposes maintained the edge well.”
Chris met Brian Huegel of Country Knives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Brian in turn knew Carl Elsener. At Brian’s suggestion, Chris contacted Carl, who demonstrated an interest in the whittling book, which became a reality with the support of both Victorinox and Fox Chapel Publishing.
“I was a fan of the knife long before I had any contact with Victorinox,” Chris concluded. “The more I used my Swiss Army knife the more I liked it and recommended it, especially the Tinker model, which is widely available, reasonably priced and incredibly useful—for much more than carving!”
Tim Leatherman remembers a trip to Europe that he made about 30 years ago.
“I had occasion to be near Ibach, Switzerland, so, uninvited, I parked well away and walked up to the entrance of Victorinox’s headquarters and factory. I was totally in awe,” he said. “I felt like I had found the Holy Grail. I remember they had a display on the outside wall of a Swiss Army knife broken down into its components. I must have studied it for an hour. I was too awestruck to knock on their door. The key to the success of any knife is that the value given be more than the price charged. With the Swiss Army knife the value given is much, much higher than the price charged, and the price is very reasonable.”
All images courtesy of Victorinox.
The world’s largest and foremost knife show, BLADE Show, is taking place June 1-3 in Atlanta. You’ll find the planet’s most innovative knifemakers in one spot. Learn more about how to attend BLADE Show 2018 here.
Knife sheaths usually don’t get a lot of press. However, occasionally some particularly interesting developments in the area necessitate attention. While it may seem a rather mundane topic to expound on how to get your knife from here to there in a manner other than carrying it in your pocket or hand, there are some vehicles of transport that require notice.
Derick Kemper’s Sailor’s Delight rigging set incorporates 30 individual pieces into a sheath outfit that makes mobile a rigging knife, including a marlinspike with individual sheaths for each, all harnessed together on a free-swinging swivel system.
The Smith & Wesson Bullseye Combo sheath holds two tools as one unit and orients them in opposite directions. This offers full purchase of each handle without interference of the other, and doesn’t take up as much space by having the axe handle hang down on your leg. Blade steel: 420 stainless. MSRP: $54.96
The shape of the Benchmade 10 Rescue Hook’s Boltaron sheath is a symmetrical polygon, allowing it to cradle and engage the detent from either a left- or right-side mounting. By designing the sheath to allow multiple mounting positions, it increases the versatility of how the tool can be accessed. MSRP for the knife and sheath: $75.
Brian Tighe matches the carbon fiber handles of his Tighe Fighters with a carbon-fiber pattern with the accompanying sheaths.
The world’s largest and foremost knife show, BLADE Show, is taking place June 1-3 in Atlanta. You’ll find the planet’s most innovative knifemakers in one spot. Learn more about how to attend BLADE Show 2018 here.
It’s becoming easier and easier to add quality knives to your collection without breaking the bank. Here are new knives with price tags of $200 or less.
The 5A08 from Bear & Son Cutlery attaches handsome stag to an automatic platform. $164
The Benchmade Proper sports a classic design with either canvas Micarta or G-10 handles. $135
The familiar Model 110 receives an automatic overhaul in one of Buck’s latest releases. $200
The CRKT Raikiri won a Most Innovative Design award at the 2018 Shot Show. $99
Don’t be fooled by the button on the handle. This is an assisted opener, sporting Gerber’s smooth-deploying B.O.S.S. tech. $119
The Model 4 bakes in the spirit of the jungle fighting knife that inspired it. $135
The Kershaw Bareknuckle is similar to the Natrix, but there’s one important difference: the Bareknuckle is made in the USA. $109
The Manix 2 receives a tune up with G-10 handles and CPM M4 steel, exclusively for Blade HQ. $189
Editor’s note: With news of Canada ending imports of folding knives rocking the knife world, here is another important issue taking place at international borders.
As part of his duties at Buck Knives, Joe Houser clicks through e-commerce websites like eBay, searching for fake Buck knives. When he finds a listing where someone is pedaling a counterfeit Buck, Houser works with the website to take the listing down and perhaps banish the seller from the site.
A few years ago, Buck didn’t have someone doing this job. But more and more fans of Buck Knives were sending their blades to the company’s warranty department only to learn their cherished knives really weren’t Bucks at all. Someone had ripped off the designs, piggybacking off Buck’s name and reputation to sell a shell of a knife to a swindled customer.
Counterfeiting may be the most recent challenge to adversely affect the knife industry. Over the past year or two, counterfeiters have gotten smarter, mimicking knife designs better. And thanks to the rise of international e-commerce websites, it’s harder to stop shipments of illegal knives entering the country because many come through in onesies and twosies, sent direct to the buyer through FedEx, UPS and other shipping outfits.
Buck took a dozen of the counterfeits and gave them a Rockwell hardness test.
“None of the blades, not one, are made of hardened steel. They are very cheaply made and fall apart quite easily,” Hauser wrote by e-mail. “I know of one model of Buck’s that I see counterfeited where the producers of the knife did not even install the linerlock. The blade had nothing at all to hold it open or closed.”
Research by the American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI), a leading organization fighting for common-sense knife laws, indicates U.S. manufacturers lose 10 percent in sales annually to counterfeiting.
As a result, AKTI officials estimate counterfeit blades siphon about $95 million from the knife industry every year. It’s enough to erode the bottom line of knife manufacturers providing American jobs. And if the problem is to be solved, it will take the whole of the knife industry, AKTI officials say.
Gregory Moore, public affairs specialist with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), said Customs made 31,500 seizures in 2016 of products it found to have 77 violated intellectual property rights—52 percent more products in fiscal year 2016 than in 2014. The increase presents a challenge for the agency.
“With the global rise of e-commerce and online shipping, the number of small packages containing counterfeit goods continues to rise,” Moore wrote. “Ninety percent of the seizures in fiscal year 2016 were small packages shipped through express carriers or international mail. The increase of [goods infringing on intellectual property rights] in the small-package environment creates both a logistical and enforcement challenge for CBP.”
Counterfeit knives make up less than 1 percent of the products Customs seizes that it considers a threat to health and safety, a category that also includes counterfeit pharmaceuticals and sporting goods. After all, poor steel can cause a blade to snap, a pivot to fail, etc., increasing the chances of injury or even death.
Besides, seeing a knife being ripped off and made with poor materials stinks.
“Well, it’s frustrating,” said Doug Ritter, executive director of the other leading organization dedicated to common-sense knife laws, Knife Rights. Ritter also has designed knives for CRKT and Benchmade.
Most honest knives are derivatives of older knives, Ritter said, where knifemakers seek to improve the designs and make a better knife.
“That’s the way stuff develops,” Ritter said.
Meanwhile, the organization spearheading the effort against counterfeit knives is AKTI.
“We encourage them in their efforts and hope they are successful because these counterfeits hurt everyone in the knife community,” Ritter wrote.
CRKT President Rod Bremer’s interest in counterfeit knives began to grow about five years ago when he started noticing more and more counterfeits from Southeast Asia. Today, he noted, most counterfeit knives originate from China.
Bremer, who chairs AKTI’s anti-counterfeiting committee, said most counterfeiters have small operations—simply working out of a garage—making them hard to track down. Sometimes they copy manufacturers’ knives right down to the packaging and warranties that are honored for genuine models only. Often, the counterfeiters try to catch the eye of buyers looking for a deal.
Compared to legitimate knives, Bremer said, counterfeits are usually priced at 50 to 70 percent of the MSRP of the genuine article. For example, one American knife company manufactures a fixed blade for $425 of which a Chinese e-commerce site recently listed a counterfeit—complete with the company’s logos on the packaging—for about $41.
Some counterfeiters have become so sophisticated that knife companies must look at machining marks and other small details to identify the real thing, similar to identifying counterfeit currency.
These details are kept secret by the companies lest the knowledge falls into the hands of counterfeiters.
Bremer said the knife industry’s most comprehensive strategy is to play a full-court press, including being vigilant in asking e-commerce sites to remove listings of counterfeit models. If the knife industry as a whole makes it a “pain in the butt” to sell bogus knives, he said, then the bad actors may move to more lucrative products.
“Counterfeiters are not particularly selective,” Bremer observed. “They just want to knock somebody’s brand off, sell it and make a lot of money.”
Can the federal government build a virtual wall of blue-gloved U.S. Customs officers opening boxes and targeting shipments coming in from outside nations? Unfortunately, as Bremer noted, “I don’t think they have the manpower to catch all the shipments.”
Stop by any major port, such as San Francisco or Savannah, and you’ll see container yards of goods miles and miles long. But not all is doom and gloom.
“China has gotten more aggressive on intellectual property,” Bremer said. “The new president of China has gotten pretty harsh on people that are knowingly ripping off patents, but the effort is clearly not as aggressive as most of us would like. And it’s going to take time.”
If you live in Canada, expect the price of most folding knives to go up, especially in secondary markets. Collectors may want to start stock up while prices are still at par.
The culprit is a new rule by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), in effect now, that prohibits the import of assisted openers and any manual folder that opens with centrifugal force. (Automatics were already restricted, but the rule covers them, too.) This only applies to imports, not knives already legal to own in Canada. Both businesses and individuals are impacted.
As BLADE reported here and here, it’s that centrifugal force qualifier that will especially limit Canadian knife enthusiasts’ choices. An inspecting CBSA official may open a blade halfway, give a flick of the wrist and determine the knife is prohibited.
If a knife can open with one hand, it’s not going to make it into Canada.
This wide leeway effectively ends the flow of fresh folders imported into Canada. That includes popular brands from the United States.
Imported folders already in Canada will remain on shelves and are not banned from purchase or possession. However, retailers won’t be able to reorder them.
If anyone will benefit from this new CBSA rule, it’s enthusiasts with assisted openers and manual folders already in their collections. Mundane assisted openers and folders not originally thought of as collectibles are now investment pieces.
Collectors have more, safer bets in categories never considered before. That $50 flipper doesn’t look so insignificant anymore.
It’s hard to say, but prices will only go in one direction in 2018. Beyond that is less certain. Rising prices reflect a market adjustment. Expect that prices will find a ceiling, then drop to a new normal. The trick will be to catch prices in secondary markets on the upswing before the fall happens.
The rise in prices may press some Canadian collectors to try their luck with the CBSA and order folders/assisteds from outside the country. However, authorities are already working to stay one step ahead.
“The way the Canadian government figured out all the tricks on how to get knives into Canada was reading blade forums and watching YouTube where all these people were bragging and giving instructions on how to get knives into Canada,” Neil Ostroff, owner of True North Knives, told BLADE in an e-mail. Ostroff is originally from Canada, but now resides in the U.S.
If you’re a knife collector in Canada, it’s time to start buying new assisted openers and folders while you still can. Hold on to them and wait to see where prices go in secondary markets.
* For those also interested in U.S. knife laws, don’t miss this book by attorney Evan Nappen.
