All About Pocket Knives

CAN YOU TELL ME IF HENCKELS IS STILL MADE IN GERMANY? ARE THEY COMING OUT OF CHINA ALSO? I HAVE A CHANCE TO BY SOME NICE BONE HANDLES BUT IM NOT SURE OF ORIGINATION ANY MORE. THEY DO SAY GERMANY ON THEM. ANY HELP WILL BE APPRECIATED. I DID NOTICE ONE KNIFE HAD HR24S ON IT. THE TANGS DO SAY GERMANY. BUT ARE THEY CONTRACTED OUT?

Hi. The word "Zwilling" means "Twin" in German language. This "Gemini" logo has been registered since 1731 with the Cutlers' Guild of Solingen. They have been using the "red" logo since 1969. Yes, as German as sauerbraten. Only the "TWIN Cermax" line are not made there. They operate all their own retail/partner shops and studios worldwide. No, they are not made in China but J.A. Henckles International does own over 200 retail shops there. Who wouldn't jump at the chance to buy? They are allowed to stamp Solingen, Germany on the blades. Yes, they had sub-contracted work done for them by Anton Wingen Jr., Boker, and Klaas, including alots of different styles. Below is a photo comparing a Boker (left) and a Henckles (right). Yes, as German as sauerbraten... yum!

DANKESCHON
I WAS GETTING A LITTLE JUMPY EVER SINCE I WENT TO A FLEA MARKET AND BOUGHT A COUPLE REMINGTONS THINKING THEY WERE MFG. BY CAMILLUS. THEY WERE MFG. BY CHINA. THE CHINA WAS BUFFED OFF BY A DREMEL. (THERE IS NO END TO IT)I HAVE SEEN KITCHEN KNIVES MADE IN GERMANY WITH CHINA STICKER ON THEM.. I APPRECIATE THE HELP. IS IT GETTING A LITTLE CONFUSING OR IS IT JUST ME???????????

HOW IS THE TWIN CERMAX LINE DISTINGUISHED FROM THE REST?

Colonel666 wrote:Hi. The word "Zwilling" means "Twin" in German language. This "Gemini" logo has been registered since 1731 with the Cutlers' Guild of Solingen. They have been using the "red" logo since 1969. Yes, as German as sauerbraten. Only the "TWIN Cermax" line are not made there. They operate all their own retail/partner shops and studios worldwide. No, they are not made in China but J.A. Henckles International does own over 200 retail shops there. Who wouldn't jump at the chance to buy? They are allowed to stamp Solingen, Germany on the blades. Yes, they had sub-contracted work done for them by Anton Wingen Jr., Boker, and Klaas, including alots of different styles. Below is a photo comparing a Boker (left) and a Henckles (right). Yes, as German as sauerbraten... yum!

Hi Colonel,
Do you have reference to Klass doing contract work for Henckels.
I would be interested in the information.

Tim

I ATTACHED A COUPLE PHOTO'S OF THE TWO I DID BUY. IM STILL NOT POSITIVE OF THE AGE. THEY BOTH LOOK POST 70'S. RED ONE IS HK 7-8. ZWILLING SOLINGEN GERMANY. THE CONGRESS IS HK 24-S. JA HENCKELS GERMANY. IF YOU COULD HELP DATE THEM I WOULD APPRECIATE IT. THANKS FOR THE HELP. THE CONGRESS IS A STAIR STEP. BOTH ARE BONE. RED INSIGNIA ON BOTH. THATS THE FIRST REAL DECENT CONGRESS IVE FOUND

This is the only one I have. Nice knife.

Only Henckels that I have. A sleeve-board pen?, about 3 1/2" closed, nickel-silver liners and bolsters, ebony handles, both blades marked, secondary blade has long pull and half-stop, main blade does not, back of main blade is number 1761. Anybody know how old this is??

I HAVE LOOKED EVERYWHERE AND THE ONLY THING I CAN FIND IS IN THE STANDARD KNIFE COLLECTORS GUIDE THAT SAYS AS FAR AS THEY KNOW THERE HAS BEEN NO DETAILED RESEARCH DONE OF MATERIAL, PATTERN, STAMPINGS, ETC FOR DETERMINING AGE AND RARENESS. IT SAYS THE COLLECTABLE RATING IS HIGH. IF ANYONE HAS A WAY TO DATE THESE JA HENCKELS PLEASE LET US KNOW. THANKS.

winchester907...

About all i can tell you is that the knives with the stick man shield are all contract knives.

The knives you posted are made by Boker and do quite well on ebay.

Tim

THAT MADE MY DAY, IM A HAPPY CAMPER. BOKER HAS NICE KNIVES. JUST A LITTLE REMORSE FOR NOT BUYING ALL FOUR, BUT WHO EVER BOUGHT THE FIRST TWO LEFT THE BEST FOR LAST. THE CONGRESS IS FANTASTIC. THANKS FOR THE HELP. RON

Nice half of the loot winchester The Red twinkie handle inlet to my knowledge signifies High Carbon Steel Blades whereas the Black insert signifies Stainless I hear good things about the Boker "Solingen" stainless but I lean toward greater Carbon Solingen Stee ? errr... ummm High Carbon German Steel (?) hmmm. I think it depends on what the knife is stamped as to what you MIGHT be getting oops Henckels uses The red and black inlets as the signifier between the two metals BUT From what little research I've done from the little reference material that I've managed to come across. The twins motif is recognized As equating to Solingen in and of itself and this is why their knives are simply stamped Germany with the utmost twinkie pride and Understood throughout the Solingen cutlers organization/Guild/Government as such or so I read somewhere. hmmmm... And If in accordance with Solingen law a german company that has a storefront in any other country can make and mark a knife German BUT NOT Solingen if I was informed correctly. BUT they can NOT stamp or (allegedly) Mark The cutlery Solingen or Solingen Germany unless the Cutlery was at least FINISHED in Solingen (Germany) or the blades were imported there etc. EEEKKKS They do make for good riddles So this makes me wonder about the "Twinkie Motif of Solingen" hmmm that makes it interesting, you would think that in the Solingen rules book the "symbol" would have to be read and written as the word it represents? Is this what Prince was pointing out to us when he was no longer Prince but suddenly became the "Artist Formerly Known As Prince" represented by that symbol? Please correct me if I'm wrong because I find it quite the riddle.... The Solingen Henckels/Boker thing not Prince. He is Prince again right? Anyway, They've been contracted out for how long? And contracted out by whom? International is still around but what of the Zwillingwerkz or Twin Works? They seem to have done a good job shrouding themselves in mystery and teaching the tricks of the trade to those who make the brand. I can actually only speak on Boker to this since they have been going out of their way to try and baffle us all with BS For lets see how long.... ummm.... welll When weren't they might be the easier answer to discover. Casa Roberto Boker (H.Bokers Arbolito Branch Mexico City since 1869) Was pretty brilliant as far as smuggling or oh sheesh WHO HAS THE BOOK!!! LMAO Did anyone see a potential loophole in there somewhere with companies being able to mark cutlery Germany as a German company and the Symbol of the Twinkies which signifies Solingen in and of itself? Surely Solingen Pride would never let economics corrupt the very things that throughout history made them of such worldl fame???
O'kay I'll shut up but I still have an axe to grind towards Boker's little tree, Also I figured this would be a good way to get PEOPLE IN THE KNOW to toss down some of those good links to us unknowing ones... And I don't think it will be any big mystery when Henckels pocket knives pop back up as to what country they will be made in.... Shall I go down the list? OH! Here's one... Did you hear that China is going to rename a stretch of land Solingen? Solingen China kinda has a ring ting tao uang tsing tzang pow to it wouldn't you say?

SO LEMME GET THIS STRAIGHT TATER TIP(REDDIRT)

PRINCE is now makein TWINKIES in MEXICO..........HET, errr am i lost?
i LOVE hostess

Lay off the Mountain Dew RD




Tim

Henckels quit making pocketknives around 1960. After that they were made by Boker and Olbertz (sp?). Up until five or six years ago, United was importing them.

Pre WWI, Henckels made some outstanding knives that rivaled Sheffield and early American cutlery companies. After pre-WWII they were still pretty good. The factory was bombed pretty heavily during WWII but some material that was left over was assembled in the 1950s.

The company made an amazing range of goods. I don't collect them as much as I used to but have several catalog reprints and one original from the late 1800s.



The hammer forge came in handy:



Two guys on the grinding wheel. I'd hate to be the guy in front bending over all day and then worrying about the new guy above losing his grip:

Great info, and lovely pieces Mike.

Thanks Rick.

Woseyjales very nice rosewood stockman with the slanted bolsters ObsidianEdge very good info and Awesome pieces from your collection, I would love to get my hands on scans of those catalogs any idea where a fella can find them? I apologize for all of the Prince and twinkie's rant eh hem ummm Basser it wasn't mountain dew That would have been a 3 Rockstar and 2 Mars bar night well okay 2 Snickers with almonds...

Hi all. As a rule, generally, never tell the "secret" to your own "magic". Huh? I saw the info to J.A. Henckles folders on www.bladeforums.com so now you know what I saw. It said there that they stopped making their regular line of pocketknives in 1960 but continued their "special edition" models until 1975 (like they have since 1731). Henckles work that was sub-contracted by Klaas was during the 1990's. The photos of their factory are great, thanks alots.

The factory shots are from a book Henckels published in 1931 that celebrated the company's 200-year anniversary. There are some great, almost photo-like, prints in the book, but it's written in German. I've thought about trying to translate it using an online translation service but have never got around to it. Glad you like the pictures.

I'm not aware of any "special edition" pocketknives made before or after Henckels quit making its own knives in the early 1960s. Unless you count the pieces that were made for Expositions. There's a lot of good info on Henckels in Bernard Levine's subforum on BF, including posts by Germania.

There are also a lot of catalog reprints circulating about. The only way I was able to learn was by other people helping me, and forums are great for that.

This damascus hunting knife (not mine) was a catalog item for a lot of years (hard to find with the gold leaf intact.):


Sorry for the bad pictures, but here's another:

ObsidianEdge wrote:The factory shots are from a book Henckels published in 1931 that celebrated the company's 200-year anniversary. There are some great, almost photo-like, prints in the book, but it's written in German. I've thought about trying to translate it using an online translation service but have never got around to it. Glad you like the pictures.

I'm not aware of any "special edition" pocketknives made before or after Henckels quit making its own knives in the early 1960s. Unless you count the pieces that were made for Expositions. There's a lot of good info on Henckels in Bernard Levine's subforum on BF, including posts by Germania.

There are also a lot of catalog reprints circulating about. The only way I was able to learn was by other people helping me, and forums are great for that.

This damascus hunting knife (not mine) was a catalog item for a lot of years (hard to find with the gold leaf intact.):


Sorry for the bad pictures, but here's another:

Outstanding knives!!! Thanks for the pictures and graphics.

Thanks Mason. I've seen a few of your Henckels knives and they are amazing.

Nice knives being shown ...... here`s my old J.A Henckels . I don`t know how old it is but would like to Can anyone here tell ? it is stamped a bit differently than most i`ve seen in that it does not say "solingen" and instead of "twinwerks " it says "zwillingswerk" also is stamped Germany on the back tang .