A few months back I stumbled across this site while researching a 1911 that I had inherited from my father and, even though my questions were answered, I still find myself coming back here at least once a week. Yes, I am now hooked on 1911s.

The other day I decided to venture into the knife forum. I must say that, again, I am extremely impressed by the knowledge and willingness to share that the members have here.

While I was tempted to reply to several of the posts individually, but I decided to hold off and make my own long-winded post about some of my knife background and knowledge. This involves a little family history, so bear with me.

My Grandfather was a home builder for almost fifty years in the Portland, OR area. This was back when a builder actually built the house - not sit around and call subs all day. During that time he built two different houses for a local school principal, and he and my Grandmother became close friends with the principal and his wife. Grandpa, who was born in 1900, retired in '72, sat on his butt for a year, had a heart attack, and decided that he needed to get back to work.

He mentioned this to his principal friend one night during their weekly cribbage games. It just so happened that one of his student's father had started his own knife company, and had told the principal that he was looking for a local guy that could make a few small displays for him - maybe ten to start, and then twenty or so a month once things took off. The principal introduced Grandpa to Pete Kershaw and the rest, as they say, is history.

The quantity of displays quickly grew so, as a teenager, I would help out Grandpa on the weekends. At eighteen, I started working with my Grandfather full time and attended college at night. For you younger folks, cherish the time you have with the elders in your family. My Grandfather taught me trade and "life skills" that I still use today. There is a wealth of knowledge there for you to tap into.

Many people aren't aware that Pete Kershaw worked for Pete Gerber for many years. Kershaw actually established his relationship with Kai during his trips to Japan for Gerber. Ironically, that is the same thing that Paul Gillespie did at Kershaw before he started Columbia River kinves.

About a year before Kershaw moved to their location in Wilsonville, my Grandfather passed away. That's when I became an employee of Kershaw Knives/Kai Cutlery USA. Pete included a beautiful space in the new building for a display shop, which I designed and managed. When we moved into the new facility, we "stored" a few items in the shop at my Grandmother's house. This way, Pete could legitimize paying a small monthly rent to her. This was a very kind, generous and completely unconditional gesture on his part that continued until Grandma died a few years later.

The display shop grew to upwards of 1500 displays a month - many of which were portable ones for Snap-On-Tool trucks. We even made displays for a few other local companies, such as Danner Boots.

A few years later, I handed over the reins of the display shop to my brother, and took over as Plant Manager at Kershaw. Granted, all of the product was being made in Japan, so I was responsible for import/export, warehousing, shipping/receiving, quality control, packaging, customs, inventory, displays, repair, customer service, and all the personnel "from the office wall back". Yes, I wore many hats.

When I took over as Plant manager, I discovered that there hadn't been an accurate inventory done in over three years. I gathered a team of employees and attacked the warehouse one weekend. We had over half a million knives that had to be accounted for. I took on the customer service area, which was run by a sweet elderly lady that had been with the company since day one. There was always a stash of hard to come by product in there, as well as discontinued items that were kept around for warranty replacements. As I was going through her area, I noticed a rather large box, semi-hidden in a corner, under a shelf. I pulled it out, and written on the top was "Things I Don't Know What To Do With". Inside were hundreds of knives, broken and in need of repair, all with labels on them containing the customer's contact information. It turns out that anything she had a question on would be tossed into the box and then forgotten about. Some of the items went back over six years prior. Needless to say, I promptly established policies and procedures to make sure that this would never happen again. Judging by one post in here, it looks like they are still being followed. It took me about three months, but I personally contacted every customer from "the box" and made sure they received either repaired or new product.

There is quite alot of discussion in here about different steels. The steels used today must meet the metallurgical criteria for their specific classification. In other words, all 440C must be the same. All AUS8 must be the same, etc. Where the real difference comes is from the hardening process. People used to complain that Gerbers were harder to sharpen than Kershaws. They were both AUS8, but Kershaws were treated to a C57-59 hardness, while Gerbers were around C61-63 hardness. So, Kershaws were easier to sharpen and, we felt, hard enough to maintain their edge. This is why there can be such a drastic difference in sharpening and edge holding characteristics between two kinives that are made from the same type of steel.

Modern stainless steels, in my opinion, are far superior to the old tool steels. Yes, tool steel sharpens easily, but it will not hold that edge nearly as well. Plus, there is the maintenance issue which, as I get older, tends to play a larger role in many of my decisions. It's not a laziness issue, just older and wiser, I guess.

Back then there were always debates around the campfires about which brands were better than the others. Funny thing is, if you went to one of Kai's subcontractor plants, like Sakurai or Hatori, you would see Kershaws, Gerbers and Bucks all rolling down the same production lines.

One person wrote that they wanted a knife that they could stick into a tree and wiggle it back and forth without breaking. Well, that is what an ax is for. Others wrote that they want a knife that can be used for other purposes - more like a tool. If that's what you need, then buy a Leatherman or other multi-tool. A knife should be used for cutting, period.

During the Rambo craze, we came out with our Survival Knife, and we sold a ton of them. You would not believe how many came back with broken blades, despite the fact that the blade was almost 1/4" thick! Of course, these customers swore that they weren't doing anything unusual with their knives and yes, we'd replace them. Out of curiosity, I decided to try and break one of these myself. I finally managed to do so by hammering the blade tip into the crack between a manhole cover and its rim, and then hitting the handle sideways with a 6lb. sledge hammer several times. Nope, nothing unusual there.

The sharpening posts in here are all correct - there's countless methods available to get the job done. The basics are all the same - start coarse and work finer, use the right angle for the knife's intended purpose. By the way, none of the pro sharpeners I know use an angle guide. It's all by feel, which is by far the best way. I was lucky enough to have one of Kai's craftsmen from Japan teach me how to use a sanding belt and buffing wheel to sharpen. There were days when I'd have to fill in and sharpen knives all day long. For less than a hundred bucks at Harbor Freight Tools, you can set up an awesome sharpening system. A 1" x 30" bench belt sander w/ 220 grit aluminum oxide belts, a 1/2 hp bench grinder, two stiched cloth wheels, some black stainless and red jewelers buffing compounds, and you're set. Grind the edge with the belt - working progressively lighter , then use black, then red compounds on the wheels. It does take practice, but the results are amazing. Just remember to start light. If there's sparks flying, you're grinding way too hard.

I know, this post has gone on way too long, but I have to express one more opinion. It seems that most of the newer knives out there are more about style than substance - serrated, coated, colored, worthless blade shapes, etc. For me, a classic 5" blade with a slight upturn at the tip and a phenolic handle is still the best all around knife. My field carry knife is a Kershaw mdl. 1035 that I won in a school raffle when I was 12 years old (try doing that in this day and age!) It'll gut, pop a pelvic bone and quarter out an elk. What more could you want?

Just my two cents worth.

mrcabinet, Your two cents worth is very well written, informative and interesting! Happy that you are aboard! I hope you have a very big jar full of pennies, to further contribute your two cents worth.



Rich

__________________
Certified NRA Instructor Pistol & Shotgun
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
"There Is No Greater High Than Defeating Armed Felons" Rich-D

Splendid post. You can use my dime to ramble, anytime. Thanks, again!

__________________
Have a pet? Join us at pets-r-great

Ditto! Excellent post...

You are the man I needed to know when I started Folders-R-Us.ORG.

Welcome on board and thanks for sharing your experience with us.

__________________
John Caradimas SV1CEC
The M1911 Pistols Organization
http://www.m1911.org

MrCabinet,

Nice post Sir, glad you're with us!

__________________
"Think you used enough dynamite there Butch?"

I'm still chuckling about this, I think most of us have encountered this employee, at one time or another.

And, too, using the manhole as a Rambo brace...thanks, again!

__________________
Have a pet? Join us at pets-r-great

Mr. Cab-

your whole post is spot-on. A knife is a knife, not an axe. A multi-tool is a multi-tool, not a Snap-On rollaway full of tools. A pistol is a pistol, not a stand-in for common sense. Best post I've read in this fine collection of well-thought-out posts.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

__________________
"Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid."- Ronald Wilson Reagan

"Mmmmm.....tasty burglar......"- Tonka the Large Dog

I just read this post for the first time and I just want to say thank you Very much. WOW, lots of info and insight. Keep sending your 2 cents. I'll take all the spare change you're willing to through out here.

__________________
JTMcD.


We sleep peaceful in our beds because Rough Men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm.......G. Orwell

WOW!!! Great post, very informative. I can read long post like this all day long.