Kershaw began its foray into the knife business sometime during 1974. The company was originally based in Portland Oregon, but most early knives were manufactured in Japan. The first US manufacturing plant was opened in 1997 & the company currently offers knives made in the U.S., Japan, & China. Pete Kershaw (an ex Gerber salesman) started the business.
Jeff -- Hang on to that Tilt. I see they bring a big chunk of change.
Kasey -- I dearly do love those DWO 3000s. My first was a no name Chinese knife which led me to search for the Kershaw editions. Now I have a pink one made in Japan and an orange one made in USA. Orange was hard to find.
Attachments
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
I gotta quit givin mine away--carried a c Clash most of last year and give it away to my Yuengling beer supplier--that was a good work knife just a little big but stout as hell bet I cored out a few hundred dandilions with it last year--I been carrying a CRKT that cost more and it ain't half the knife and just no comparison to a Kershaw--I've had four different Kershaw's and liked them all
Bought this pair off eBay yesterday. The little DWO 3000 is USA made and will replace the black one I have that is not Kershaw branded and was made in The Land Which Shall Not Be Named. I now have all three colors, two USA made and one made in Japan. I think that's it for the DWOs.
I'm eager to get the Black Colt II and see what it's all about. Up side the DWO, it looks like a bit of a horse (no pun intended).
Sellers pictures.
Attachments
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
jerryd6818 wrote:I now have all three colors, two USA made and one made in Japan. I think that's it for the DWOs.
When will I learn to keep my tater trap shut and stop making a fool of myself? I was doing a little research after I posted that and discovered someone mentioning a yellow DWO. A little more hunting turned up a green one at Worthpoint and then a red one for sale at HandTools.com.
That started me wondering just how many colors were made and how many of those were made in the States so I called Kershaw and talked to a lady named Katie. Katie dug into the subject and sent the following, same day service I might add. Those Kershaw folks are spectacular and render exemplary customer service.
"Thank you for your patience while I researched the 3000 DWO for you. I had to go back to the 1986 catalogs all the way up to our current catalog to get the correct information for you. The only bad thing is, I do not have an exact date as to when we stopped making the DWO in the US. I have attached pages from the catalogs and have written which year they are on the bottom or top of the pages. The knife was first created in 1986 in the color black and in 1988 they decided to add color to them. They also made a DWO II and DWO III, which you will see on the attachments. It looks like we made green, yellow, red, blue and pink. If there are other colors out there then they were special makes that wouldn’t be in the catalog. The best guess I have is that we stopped making it in the US in 1999-2000 because in the 2001 catalog, it does not say USA like the 1999-2000 catalog page does. It looks like the steels changed as well from AUS6A to 440A and finally to 8CR13MoV. We don’t have a data base that has exact dates on when knives were moved from the US to Japan to China. The catalogs are our best guess. The files are large so I have one attachment with the catalog pages from 1986 up to 1999-2000. The next e-mail will be from 2000-2010. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions for you."
Great! Just when I thought I had them all. Now I have green, yellow, red and blue to look for.
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
Thanks to Katie at Kershaw, I now know the DWO 3000s came in Gray, Green, Red, Blue, Orange, Yellow and Black. Some made in The USA, some made in Japan and of course, some made in China. I'm only searching for the USA and Japan knives.
I found a Black USA, a Blue Japan came in todays mail and a Yellow Japan came up today on eBay as a BIN (and I did). The yellow one is the seller's picture.
Attachments
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
I bought a black DWO when they first came out.
I also bought one for my dad. His cover got worn out so I went to Kershaw for a repair.
They gave me a handful of replacement covers. I used a couple but still have a red, an orange and a black covers left if I wear out the one on mine.
The folks at Kershaw are very customer service oriented!
A gray 3000 DWO came up and I grabbed it. It arrived today. First one I've seen. I just need green and red and I'll have a complete set of the 3000s. Trying to get all Japan or USA (No China).
Attachments
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
junebug, My two favorite Kershaws are the 1050 folding field from when I was younger and did a lot of hunting and I always loved the liner action knives simple with good steel and light. ( I own 6 of the 1050's and 20 or so of the liner action knives )