Kershaw – Cutting Edge

The first members of the Kershaw family were trappers in Oregon, that state where wild nature has the edge, since it is as large as half of France but with only three million inhabitants. A ranch was built that was used from generation to generation. In 1939, the prestigious Gerber brand set up its premises not far from that property.

The young Pete Kershaw, who worked his way through many knives, his activities in this untamed nature seriously putting blades to the test, now started to supply himself directly at the “factory”, where he became well known.

The directors of Gerber knew a good opportunity when they saw it and so got Kershaw to start testing new steels and prototypes. He was thus able to familiarize himself with the various stages of manufacture. But much as he appreciated Gerber’s production and their prestigious quality, the style of the range did not appeal to him in its entirety.

Unable to persuade Gerber to adopt the shapes that he suggested, he started to sketch all of his ideas out on paper. In the 1970s with the Vietnam War in full swing, Gerber was concentrating all of its production on military models.

So Kershaw decided to produce his own line of knives, but without compromising his quality of life in the great outdoors. He designed a whole line, contacted Kai in Japan for the manufacture, and took charge of the distribution himself. He innovated a completely new style that was an immediate success, with much attention paid to the finish and mounting as well as the quality of the cutting edge, that soon made the name of the new brand.

Early manufacturing was primarily done in Japan. In 1977, Kershaw became a wholly owned subsidiary of the KAI Group. In 1997 the U.S. production facility was opened in Wilsonville, Oregon. Due to an expanding market, the facilities were moved to a larger production site in 2003. Currently, Kai USA manufacturing facilities are located in Tualatin, Oregon with some goods coming from their Japanese and Chinese factories.

Kai USA Ltd. has three lines of products; Kershaw Knives brand of sporting and pocketknives, Shun Cutlery, handcrafted Japanese kitchen cutlery, and Zero Tolerance, a line of premium and professional knives.

Kershaw has collaborated with a number of custom knife makers over the years. Collaborations include working with Hall of Fame Knife Maker, Ken Onion on Kershaw's SpeedSafe® knives, Ernest Emerson, Grant and Gavin Hawk, Frank Centofante, Rick Hinderer, R J Martin, and more.

In 2002, Kershaw released a Stephen Seagal model featuring stingray leather on the handle. In 2004 Kershaw developed a multi-tool for the National Geographic Society with National Geographic filmmaker Bryan Harvey. Kershaw has also released models in collaboration with Jeep, Orange County Choppers, the American Professional Rodeo Association, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Kai USA Ltd. and its Kershaw, Zero Tolerance, and Shun brands have a history of garnering industry awards. In May 2005, Kai USA Ltd. won four of the top awards at the Blade Show in Atlanta, Georgia. This was the first time in the show's history that one company won this number of awards in one year: 2005 Overall Knife of the Year, 2005 Most Innovative American Design, 2005 Kitchen Knife of the Year, and 2005 Knife Collaboration of the Year.

In June 2007, Kai USA won the Blade Show's "Overall Knife of the Year Award" with the Kershaw "Tyrade" (model 1850), in which the company's patent-pending Composite Blade technology using two different steels in the same blade was introduced. The blade steels were D2 tool steel at the cutting edge, and a spine of 154CM stainless steel.

2009 brought a Kershaw win for the Speedform (model 3500). In 2010, Kershaw won "American Made Knife of the Year" for the Tilt (model 4001) and Shun won "Kitchen Knife of the Year" for the Shun Premier line. Zero Tolerance's 0777 won "Overall Knife of the Year," the ZT-Rick Hinderer 0560/0561 won "Collaboration of the Year," and the Shun Fuji line won "Kitchen Knife of the Year" in the 2011 Blade Show.

Then in 2012, Kai USA Ltd. repeated its four-win sweep of the Blade Show awards. The Zero Tolerance 0888 won "Overall Knife of the Year", while the 0600 won for "Collaboration of the Year". The Kershaw Cryo won 2012's "Best Buy of the Year" and the Shun Taiyo was the 2012 "Kitchen Knife of the Year."

His catalog have continued to progress over the last twenty-five years, while the leading models of the first few years remain imprinted in the memory of the hunters who used them.