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Do we have other SEKI Vintage Collectors out there?

Any other vintage collectors of Parkers, American Blade, Taylor, United Boker, Frost, or STAR brands out there?

Am far from an expert on these brands, but I do own a few! I typically have gone "straight to the horses mouth", with many of my questions answered by Buzz Parker. Have another friend, who I would consider experienced with '80s SEKI produced brands. Drop me line, or a question anytime please! Thanks.

Tim

Tags: pocketknives, seki, vintage

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Permalink Reply by Kevin M on January 3, 2018 at 9:59

A gunboat canoe from back in the day.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/4durOml.jpg?1[/IMG]

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/MOMd9JS.jpg?1[/IMG]

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Permalink Reply by Kevin M on January 3, 2018 at 10:03

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/YpRPPdX.jpg?1[/IMG]

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/AxfO6MW.jpg?1[/IMG]

They were really nice knives for the money. They now are starting to catch up in price/value for the level of quality.

Many folks still wont collect them as Parkers business reputation still lingers , but these were very nice knives. I like them a lot.

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Permalink Reply by David Mullins on January 3, 2018 at 11:05

Personally I had always been wary of the Parker brand , but really cannot say why.. This past couple of years I have had a change of opinion after buying a few here and there. I don't know about their new knives but of the few I have, I count them as some of my better built and attractive knives. BTW, are Taylor knives made in Seki, Japan? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by David Mullins on January 6, 2018 at 20:25

I have developed a liking for Taylor Knives from Japan and in particular Seki Japan. I have bought a few lately and they seem well made and attractive knives to me. I just got this little Taylor set and the stag is awesome. I have another similar set with MOP handles and like them as well.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin M on January 7, 2018 at 7:40

David , I think Taylor was Seki and also Seto. As far as the timeframe for the manufacture in Seki , I am not sure. I bet some of the Seki specialists that stop by here from time to time will know.

David Mullins said:

Personally I had always been wary of the Parker brand , but really cannot say why.. This past couple of years I have had a change of opinion after buying a few here and there. I don't know about their new knives but of the few I have, I count them as some of my better built and attractive knives. BTW, are Taylor knives made in Seki, Japan? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by David Mullins on January 8, 2018 at 11:14

Thank you Kevin, my Coleman's have Seki on the tang, but my Taylor knives , (of which I am starting to really like) just say Japan. I have bought several Taylor knives recently and a couple of two piece sets and they really are sweet. I have never seen such beautiful stag handles on one set and the other set has mop handles and also are very nice. I didn't know much about Japan and Seki knives in general but am glad I opened my mind enough to see what I had been missing. You are right though...a lot of knowledgeable knife folks here! Good to know.

Kevin M said:

David , I think Taylor was Seki and also Seto. As far as the timeframe for the manufacture in Seki , I am not sure. I bet some of the Seki specialists that stop by here from time to time will know.

David Mullins said:

Personally I had always been wary of the Parker brand , but really cannot say why.. This past couple of years I have had a change of opinion after buying a few here and there. I don't know about their new knives but of the few I have, I count them as some of my better built and attractive knives. BTW, are Taylor knives made in Seki, Japan? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin M on January 16, 2018 at 16:03

David,

I think the Taylors just grow on ya. Very nice knives.

I was at the local gun show this weekend and picked up 4 more Parker knives. A nice Canoe and 3 Balisong knives(Gypsy)

Neat stuff.

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Permalink Reply by David Mullins on May 17, 2018 at 18:39

Sorry for late reply Kevin. Yes, I think you are right about the Taylor knives, especially the Japan and Seki models. I like the thick stag Indian stag handles.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on July 2, 2018 at 13:07

Anyone that could be of some help?

http://iknifecollector.com/forum/topics/seki-cutly-scm-walnut-scale...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Dirgo on November 13, 2018 at 14:35

I am beginning to become a huge fan of Ichio Hattori and Tak Fukuta together they produced many knives for USA Importers It would be geat if there as a list of which brands and models they produced. when you at look brands like Sharp, Valor, Jet Aer G96. Precise Deerslayer, Rigid them ae some amazing knifes but only a few models ae identified as Hattori, or Fukuta. Most of the US imported are gone or there is no access to their records. A few of my favorites;

two Hattoris's and a Fukuta. Beautiful knives. Thanks for your info...Steve

Ken Hashimoto said:

Hello to everyone. I am a Japanese knife collector residing in NY. Please allow me to introduce myself and contribute to this thread. My main collection are Hattori knives, both under his own brand and the countless OEM models he made for companies like Browning, Beretta, Kershaw, SOG, Valor, Tekna, etc. Ichiroh Hattori (age 76) is one of the very notable mebers of the Seki Cutlery Association, a group of knifemakers and manufacturers, Seki City, located in Gifu Prefecture is the most prominent cutlery center in Japan. Others such as Tsubame City in Niigata Prefecture and Osafue in Wakayama prefecture are less known outside of Japan. Seki's cutery history goes back some 800 years when a number of swordsmiths settled there, such as Kanemoto Magoroku. The reason that Seki is well known globally is that it is the only Japanese cutlery city to have become famous as Solingen in Germany or Sheffield in the UK has. Seki's entry into the global market as an OEM maufacturer may have started with the Gerber contract with Sakai Cutlery (now G.Sakai) to produce a folding knife called the "Silver Knight" sometime around 1977. Some say that it was designed by Gerber's designer at the time, Al Mar. And that , Al Mar's long standing relationship with G.Sakai started back then. The success of the Silver Knight brought one OEM contract after another to the Seki knifemakers from the top Knife Companies to obscure US knife importers, Parker did go into a joint ownership with Seizo Imai in the mid 1980s to produce the Parker-Imai line of knives. When that ended, Mr Imai became a dedicated custom maker for a couple of decades thereafter and he passed away last year in 2014, Parker also contracted with Tak Fukuta as well during that time. Fukuta made most of AG Russell's Seki knives for many years, While the OEM contracts today are far less than they use to be, mainly because of their customers switching to Taiwan and China, some of the production knives considered the "best" are stil made in Seki. All of Fallknieven's fixed blades are made by Hattori, as are Cold Steel's top SanMai3 models. Fallkniven's folders, as well as some William Henry folders are made by Moki (and final grind by Kikuo Matsuda).SOG's top folders, as well as Spyderco's Seki models and Al Mars are made by G.Sakai, As you can see Seki is still an active participant in the outdoor knife industry,

Ken

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Permalink Reply by Steve Dirgo on December 31, 2018 at 20:56

I find the 70's 80's era of Seki, Japan knives amazing. Some beautiful knives, I love Explorer Boot knife 11-338

"Explorer" brand owned by Guttman, one of if not the first US knife company to contract in Seki Japan. They imported a whole bunch of models under the Explorer and Edge Mark brands including various daggers and hollow handled "survival knives". The 440 stainless is most likely Aus6, as many US companies back then used the US equivalent for customer familiarity rather than the Japanese designation. Very similar models were made in the early 1980s for brands Jim Parker, possibly Jim Frost, Valor Corp, etc. Many of these were basically copies of the then popular Gerber models.

OAL opened 8", 3.5" blade, 4 3/4" closed AUS 6 steel. micarta handles,