All About Pocket Knives

I heard that Mark Cruse is no longer the importer of Eye Brand to the U.S.
Is that true and,if so, is there someone else taking the role?
Are they still made?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Mark's family lost their exclusive contract back in the mid-to-late 1980s. C. Risner took over until recently but he is no longer the exclusive importer. I am not sure took his place.
Mark still handles some Eye Brands thru his Jenco company in Austin.

Ray

I believe the new importer is Post Oak Knife Co., but not certain.

By the way, I met James Marek the former jobber for Mark Cruse. I saw a reference to him you (Paladin) made in a post. He lives not far from me. He still has some Eyes and other knives. This fellow is a wealth of knowledge and a pleasure to discuss knives with. He also makes rustic furniture.

nifenut wrote: .....By the way, I met James Marek the former jobber for Mark Cruse. I saw a reference to him you (Paladin) made in a post. He lives not far from me. He still has some Eyes and other knives. This fellow is a wealth of knowledge and a pleasure to discuss knives with. He also makes rustic furniture.

Amen to that. I always found Mr. Marek to have a great memory and willing to share his info. Glad to hear he is still amongst us.

Ray

Ray, I'm sure you already know this but Post Oak Knife Co. is right down the road from you in Elgin TX. Have you visited with those folks? (It appears he runs it out of his house)

jerryd6818 wrote:Ray, I'm sure you already know this but Post Oak Knife Co. is right down the road from you in Elgin TX. Have you visited with those folks? (It appears he runs it out of his house)

I wasn't aware of that. For sure, the world's greatest BBQ sausage is located in Elgin. Truthfully, I don't try to keep up with the modern Eyes but I will check 'em out when I am over that way.

Ray

Sometime in the last 10 ? years there has been a change in the look of the handle materials. Is this due to a change in manufacturer ? Eye Brand knives used to be made in the Olbertz factory. Are they still made there ? and it is Olbertz under new ownership ?
Quote Ray: " I don't try to keep up with the modern Eyes". Ray, when did 'modern' start ? and is this associated with a change in manufacturer ?
kj

kootenay joe wrote: Quote Ray: " I don't try to keep up with the modern Eyes". Ray, when did 'modern' start ? and is this associated with a change in manufacturer ?
kj

If I was picking out one particular thing to mark what I call the modern knives it would be the yellow box. Back when I was buying, my rule was to never buy a knife in the yellow box. Some of the Eyes with the one Eye etch still had the good old steel, so I couldn't exclude all of those but when the yellow box came along, it was over for me.

Ray

Do you know what year or years the yellow box first appeared ? And why was it over for you once the yellow boxes started ? what features of the knives seemed to be not as good as compared with knives from before the yellow boxes ?
The change in handle appearance that i mentioned is much more recent than the yellow box.
Most of my Eye Brand knives came without a box. I'm sure some are yellow box knives but i don't know which ones they are.
kj

Can't quote the exact time the knives came on the market in the yellow box. For me, it is all about the steel and Schlieper knives were known for having the best carbon steel. For that matter, their stainless was no slouch.
I have a friend, HiPower here on AAPK, and he performed cut tests on various brands using heavy cardboard. Schlieper knives out-cut all carbon steels except possibly Schmidt & Zigler, which I maintain is an under-appreciated brand. None of the modern steels are included in my comparison and by that I mean the steels used in Spyderco, Benchmade, & etc.
Where I am going with this is that when Eye Brand went to the one Eye etch and the round shield the good carbon steel that had been the norm essentially began to disappear. Yes, I am aware that was prior to the introduction of the dreaded yellow box and it is very possible to get a one Eye etch knife and maybe even one with a round shield that still has the good carbon steel. HiPower says that the new steel "would not cut a popsicle stick". He, HiPower, also made the tongue in cheek comment that he believed they were using frozen dog turds for handle material. To me these are transition knives that signaled the end of the 3 Eye knife and they hold little interest to me. Nothing wrong that they interest other collectors.
The very desirable Straight Line stamp had dropped out back in 1965 so it really needs no comment here except to say that it also had the top notch carbon steel.

Ray

since i lived only 2 miles from knife importers [mark cruse] i had the pleasure nof veiwing many, many patterns. inthe n80s i useda carbon folding hunter to clesr a bunch of small trees so i could access the bank of the san gabrieal river, after an hour of clearing trees my hunter would still shave hair.in fact it seems the hunters were only made in carbon steel. HiPower

I thought the blade steel was 1095 and supposedly the hammering as it is heated and forged affects the grain structure of the steel giving it superior edge taking & edge holding properties. The yellow box knives & more recent than that, still say "Hammer Forged", so did they drop 1095 steel in favor of some other carbon steel ?
My favorite outdoor use folder of all time and one that i regularly use around my property, is a Eye Brand 99S-DS. I bought it new from a dealer in 2007 so it is reasonably recent (don't know how many years dealer had it). The blade has 1 eye and there is a second eye on the front tang over "Germany". The blade gets very sharp and holds it very well, probably best of any 1095 blade i have used(a few).
It is this knife that makes it hard for me to accept that blade steel went downhill after the '3 eye' knife 'era' or with the advent of yellow boxes. Could it be that some patterns (like mine and the Sod Busters) continued to be made with same steel same processes as the knives made during the '3 eye era' ?
kj

Well KJ, if you like it and it suits you, enjoy. If you have trouble accepting that the new are not as good as the old, then that's just the way it is. Opinions are just like that other part of one's anatomy, everybody has one.
So, you take pleasure in your knives and I'll do the same with mine.

Ray

Ray, that does not address my questions:
Do you know what steel they changed to when the blades became 'inferior' to what they had been ?
And, could Eye Brand have continued to make some patterns with the same steel as when '3 eye' ?
Likely the only way to answer this would be to hear from a 'bunch' of people who have a 2000 or newer 99 pattern that they have used, give a report on blade performance. If everyone reported the same superior performance that i get, then likely no changes were made to the steel in this pattern.
kj

Here is the current web site:

http://eye-brand.com/

Picture time. Here is a 99S-DS exactly the same as my fav. EDC except this one is unused and i recently sent it to a knife maker friend as a gift.
The Swing Guard is 6" closed, solid when open, zero play. So far i have resisted the temptation to sharpen it and maybe go cut some saplings.
kj

Steve the link is to Post Oak Knife Company, Texas, importers of Eye Brand. However their introduction does provide some useful information:
" Post Oak Knife Co. is a proud Texas corporation dedicated to importing the highest quality knives for our customers. We work directly with and receive directly from Freidrich Olbertz GmbH in Solingen Germany. Olbertz is the exclusive manufacturer of Eye Brand knives. All Eye Brand/Carl Schlieper knives are made in Solingen Germany without exception".

Interesting. The Eye Brand knives are still being made in the same factory as they have since 1960's ? I believe the "3 eye" knives were made in the Olbertz factory. Please correct me if necessary.
kj

Edit to add: Post Oak only carries a few patterns and in just 1 or 2 sizes. The Eye Brand 'of old' had many patterns are size range from 2 1/2" to 8" closed !
kj

Contact Achim Gronauer at Olbertz.
They will gladly answer your questions.

O.K. thank you.
kj