Who made knives for Smith & Wesson

[Dickens]

I have a small stainless lockback and the only marking on it is the S&W logo. Can anyone tell me who may have made this knife?

[orvet]

I think most of them now come from China.

[Dickens]

I'd be surprised if this one was made in China. It's very heavy for its size and is really well made. I've heard that they were made by Taylor Cutlery in Japan but I have no way of verifying that.

[rexstubbins]

My vote is China.

I've observed knives that are made in Japan and usually they are stamped on the Tangs Japan or Made in Japan. Chinese made knives usually are inked.

Only what I have observed and I am not an authority.

[orvet]

It may be from Japan, though I have not seen any knives I knew were from Japan that were not marked with the country of origin.

The last Taylor Cutlery knives I saw from Japan were in the mid 1980s when I managed a cutlery store.
I think they disappeared about '87 or '88. I don't recall seeing any Taylor from Japan after that, (but that doesn't mean there weren't any).

The Taylor brand knives we sold from Japan were all stamped 'JAPAN'. That was actually a positive selling point for the knives because Kershaw, Al Mar and some of Gerber's series like the Silver Knight were really popular then; all made in Japan and all excellent knives.

The construction of that knife closely resembles the Kershaw 5200S that came out in the late '70s or early '80s.
This is a 5200 I bought about 1984 or '85. I carried it for 2 or 3 years.

I have a knife of the same type of construction made for Coast Cutlery on Portland Oregon, also made in the mid 1980s.
However this knife is etched HONG KONG on the pile side tang.

Nice style and I loved the pointed clip blade, but it was no where near the quality of the Kershaw in edge retention or in fit and finish..

[Paladin]

I thought I remembered this but Goins says that they made their own knives from 1974 to 1986. After that, the knives were made by Vermont Cutlery.
Next question: Is Vermont Cutlery located in China or such? Don't think so but not sure.
Since Goins is a little dated, this might have changed with any more recent production.

Ray

[Miller Bro's]

I have a knife like the OP knife I carried for a while, I don`t like stainless steel blades so I put it aside it did not hold an edge at all, I think the tang was marked will have to check it had the same S&W logo on the handles.

[wlf]

Taylor owned the S&W trademark.I emailed them about a nice art deco turquoise sunfish,concerning the country of origin.Their reply was they did not divulge this info!!

Somehow ,I got information that the handles were done by someone in maybe Korea ,but don't quote that? Been a few years.

[RobesonsRme.com]

How about that big S&W toenail that NKCA put out a few years ago.
Pretty sure that was American made, Bluegrass/Queen or who?
I had one, but sold it. Interesting bone on it. Looked like lava rock.
Charlie

[wlf]

I have to get my box out Charlie,for the knife I spoke of. Seems it said made in the USA also,I came away knowing less than before.

CHECK THESE OUT:

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... son#p29258

http://taylorbrandsllc.com/Online%20Retail%20Store.html

[Producer]

I live close by the S+W plant. Back in the 70's we use to buy 2nds right from Smith and Wesson.
I believe they were originally made on site.

[wlf]

I found my pictures.

S&W sunfish.

And my foot,the canner blew off the lid and scalded me,my hand's not as bad.It could have been a lot worse.

[Paladin]

OUCH!!

[Miller Bro's]

That looks very serious Lyle!

Hope it heals up soon

[rmeron]

Every S&W knife I've ever owned had made in China on it.

[wlf]

Canning's easy,MY FOOT!!

Thanks Dimitri,I hope it doesn't get any worse.

It could have been much worse,it could have hit me in the face and eyes.It sure enforced my avoidance of Hell.

It seems Taylor had different origins for their knives,depending on the time frame.I think a Korean or SE Asia artist did the handles for the knives like I showed.I think I got that info from an email to Taylor.

[Rookie]

The 1997 NKCA Club knife did indeed say "Smith & Wesson USA" on the tang. Not sure who made it though. My guess would be Queen.

[knife7knut]

These two were definitely not made in China(2nd & 3rd knives from the top):Smith & Wesson model 6060.These were issued in the 1970's and I was always under the impression that they were made in-house. I also have a fixed blade that was made around that time.

[1967redrider]

Here's some USA made Smith & Wesson knives for you, with some paperwork pictures. Vermont Knife Inc. out of West Rutland. I'd guess made in the late 80's/early 90's. Anyone live in that area?

[0078]

I found my pictures.

S&W sunfish.

And my foot,the canner blew off the lid and scalded me,my hand's not as bad.It could have been a lot worse.

You better go see the doctor, that looks terrible. Don't let it get infected.

[ken98k]

Here's some USA made Smith & Wesson knives for you, with some paperwork pictures. Vermont Knife Inc. out of West Rutland. I'd guess made in the late 80's/early 90's. Anyone live in that area?

I used to party in that area back in the mid eighties. There were a couple good bars and lots of single women there back then.

[1967redrider]

If you tell me there are single knife making women there I might be moving soon! Anyone know a good realtor?

[philco]

Calm down Red. I don't think that's what he was saying.

Sorry dude.

[ken98k]

If you tell me there are single knife making women there I might be moving soon! Anyone know a good realtor?

It was long ago and the girls I knew are most likely someone's Grandma now.

[jerryd6818]

Made In China

Prior to Chairman Mao's death in 1976 China was struggling just to feed it's self. Due to poor management and pervasive corruption, Mao's collective policy failed and caused the largest famine in history. Around 30 million peasants died of starvation. His Cultural Revolution, aimed at getting rid of China’s ancient cultural practices in favor of a new Communist ideal, mostly led to French Revolution style madness and slaughter. China began to eat itself. Mao Zedong and his picture of Communism was a total failure.

Mao's second successor, Deng Xiaoping ruled China from 1978-1992 (remember those dates. They're important). Deng realized that China would have to adopt some capitalist policies in order to be competitive. He disbanded the forced agricultural collectives in favor of an incentive based “household-responsibility program” where families were given a plot of land and were able keep whatever surplus they could muster after the government had taken a stated quota. This led to bumper crops that fed the countryside and the cities. It also saw the peasants earn more money than ever before, which increased the demand for luxuries. Deng also designated 18 coastal cities as special economic zones where capitalist practices were tolerated. (The mother of today's "Made In China" boom.) As you could imagine, this led to an influx of peasants desperate for work and foreign investors desperate for cheap labor, in the coastal cities.

Given all of this, I think it's safe to say that if you have something stamped "Made In China" or simply just "China" it was most likely made during the past 25-30 years and if it's of 'high' quality, it was more than likely made during the last 10-15 years. (All speculation on my part. Sometimes called an educated guess.) Case in point: I started accumulating knives sometime in the mid to late 90s and I don't remember being concerned over the country of origin of the knife I was buying, until sometime in the mid-2000s. My poor memory recalls knives made in China being fairly obvious in the early years. Fantasy knives, off brand knives, tourist knives, etc. It's my opinion that the demise of Schrade and Camillus was a key factor in the flood of China made cutlery or was it the flood of China made cutlery that was key in the demise of Schrade and Camillus. Kind of chicken and egg thing there.

My take on the issue. Feel free to present facts repudiating anything in the last paragraph. The two paragraphs in italics were gleaned from the Internet and edited by me for content and length.

Mods, if you think this post belongs somewhere else, please feel free to contact me and lets install it in it's own thread. The post is intended to shine some perspective on the back and forth over the country of origin of a knife with respect to the era in which it was made. It may fall miserably short but I don't believe we'll ever be able to nail down anything solid with respect to that subject.