All About Pocket Knives

I picked up this nice congress kissing crane this week and wondered if anyone could help me with information to do with the history of kissing crane, as always thanks for any help guys,

paul

paul, does that kissing crane have the letters R.O.G. stamped on one of the tangs. a month ago i asked the question as to what those letters stood for..i dont have the capabilities to post pictures, also it is my nephews knife.. just wondering if you can post a pic of the tang if your knife has that.. your pics are awsome.... btw folks, i know that kissing crane is now owned by two different parties and the stamp is not roger bone as there are periods between each letter..also paul i see that soon your collection will rival mine and others here,,, chet

thanks for the post chet, all the blades have the image of 2 cranes, but the main blade has the words kissing cran going over the imgage with the words since 1834 underneath , thats all,

paul

chetr1200c wrote:paul, does that kissing crane have the letters R.O.G. stamped on one of the tangs. a month ago i asked the question as to what those letters stood for..i dont have the capabilities to post pictures, also it is my nephews knife.. just wondering if you can post a pic of the tang if your knife has that.. your pics are awsome.... btw folks, i know that kissing crane is now owned by two different parties and the stamp is not roger bone as there are periods between each letter..also paul i see that soon your collection will rival mine and others here,,, chet

I think the letters are probably R.O.C - Republic of China

thats what i thought it meant tj,, wasnt 100% sure, paul, my guess is yours wasnt made in china.

chetr1200c wrote:thats what i thought it meant tj,, wasnt 100% sure, paul, my guess is yours wasnt made in china.

cool, so where are these ones made, U.S ?

Don't know for sure but I believe that the current Kissing Cranes are made in China. They were originally made in Solingen, Germany by Robt. Klaas. I think that it was United Brands that picked up the brand and began manufacturing in China. I could be wrong. If I am, someone will chime in with the correct info.

A company called Hallmark, owned and operated by a Hall family in Tenn. owns the rights to the Kissing Crane name. All the folders, like the one pictured above are being made in China, with the exception of the sodbuster. if it doesn't have a country of origin stamp on it, then it was most likely made in china.

Tim

there are two owernships of kissing crane,, one is the hallmark ownership. and one is still made at the robert klaas factory.

sorry the ones made at the klaas factory do not have the smoothing cranes anywhere on the blades or shield...

wow thanks guys for all the imformation, i like that congress be it chinese or not, its fit n finnish is very good and its built solid, i also like the blade layout on it, and its razor sharp, i have seen this make before as they made the german army pocket knife for a while (GAK) i had a few different versions of gaks as like the tools and there a very handy camping type pocket knife, well again big thanks guys


paul

Here's an old Robt. Klaas Crane Brand that I have. Never have been able to date it (maybe flowers and candy would work) or reference it. Note single crane.

Tom , I think this answers your question. Its not a "Kissing Crane" but rather a "Crane brand" by Max Klauss.

LOL! Love the dating line! LOL!

Thanks Gino. I saw those but neither one is exactly what I have. The Crane Brand Cutlery Sheffield England does not work because mine is stamped Solingen Germany and the Crane Brand New York doesn't work because mine is stamped Robt. Klaas, not Max Klaas and mine has only one crane.

If anyone is interested in owning the trademarke "CRANE BRAND" see here:
http://www.trademarkia.com/crane-brand-71432185.html

tjmurphy wrote:If anyone is interested in owning the trademarke "CRANE BRAND" see here:
http://www.trademarkia.com/crane-brand-71432185.html

thats intereresting, so does anyone know when they changed from 1 crane to 2 ?

Don't know if they did. Robt. Klaas may have had two brands, Crane and Kissing Cranes. This one of mine seems to be sort of a mystery knife/brand.

tjmurphy wrote:Don't know if they did. Robt. Klaas may have had two brands, Crane and Kissing Cranes. This one of mine seems to be sort of a mystery knife/brand.

so probably one of lifes mysteries its a very nice knife

there are two owernships of kissing crane,, one is the hallmark ownership. and one is still made at the robert klaas factory.

From what I have gathered, as far as current manufacturing goes, in a way there are three ownerships...

A company called Hallmark, owned and operated by a Hall family in Tenn. owns the rights to the Kissing Crane name.

Unfortunately, Hallmark does not own the rights to the Kissing Crane name. Currently, BudK owns the rights to the Kissing Crane name.

The quick version is this:

The Robert Klaas factory/family manufactured the Kissing Crane knives in Solingen, Germany for the larger part of the 20th century. Production and importation slowed down eventually and the old United Cutlery during the Hall ownership had the US license to sell and manufacture the knives. They were able to do so affordably (and with quite a bit of quality for the money) through Chinese production.

The Halls had a turn of bad financial luck and sold United Cutlery to BudK -- Hallmark Cutlery rose as the new phoenix from the ashes and continued to manufacture high quality Kissing Crane knives. A legal battle arose around who got to keep the rights to the "Kissing Crane" name and BudK came out the victor. So, as of today, BudK sells and manufactures their version of the knives (also made in China) still with the Kissing Crane name and logo. Hallmark cutlery sells and manufactures their version of the knives with the Robert Klaas name and logo. (Of the two I lean heavily towards the Hallmark Robert Klaas knives regarding fit, finish, and durability)

Is the real Robert Klaas factory in Solingen, Germany still producing Kissing Crane knives today? The only answer I have is...maybe. If they are they aren't importing them into the US as far as I know.

Hi predecessor and Welcome to AAPK.

In a 2009 press release, Klaas was using "Home workers" and transporting raw materials back and forth between workers. The article does not mention the use of the old factory.

Tim

Thanks for the welcome Tim! Learning so much as I read through the threads, with much learning yet to come...

Very interesting about the "Home Workers" -- looks like maybe is now a no in regards to factory production. I wonder what the total production now from the "Home Workers" is each year if any? Also, where did you run across this press release btw?

Just to muddy up the water a bit. If I remember rightly, the German name was KISSING CRANES and the Chinese version is KISSING CRANE..

OW, as far as i know , you are correct.

predecesser........Hallmark and Budk are both selling the Kissing crane brand via their websites.


The article that i referred to earlier is in the archives of Messerforum, I will try to relocate it.

Tim

Edit: Bladestore .com is offering the Robert Klass stamped knives by Hallmark

basser5 wrote:predecesser........Hallmark and Budk are both selling the Kissing crane brand via their websites.
The article that i referred to earlier is in the archives of Messerforum, I will try to relocate it.

Tim

Edit: Bladestore .com is offering the Robert Klass stamped knives by Hallmark

Yep - That's what I was trying to delineate - the murky waters of the current manufacturing of these knives

The BudK knives are a different batch manufactured in a different Chinese plant - but have the Kissing Crane name and logo. The Hallmark knives had the Kissing Crane name and logo but as of 2011 they now sport the Robert Klaas name and logo -- but I think the store you are referring to above that sells them is suppose to have an "e" in front of it: ebladestore.com

From what I've been able to piece together (and much of this is hearsay and conjecture),
the Robt Klaas factory that made Kissing Crane(s) was closed in the 1960s.
The German KS knives after that were made on contract by either Olbertz (Schlieper/Eye Brand) or Boker.
A lot of the 1970s Kissing Cranes have patterns and etches that are very similar to the Eye Brands of the period.
The later Kissing Cranes looked very similar to Boker (who also made Hen & Rooster until recently).

But now no matter what name is on them, Robt Klaas, Kissing Cranes, Kissing Crane, etc, all new production is from "over there".