Pocket Knife History

From hunting wooly mammoths with flint blades to cutting through impossible packaging with your favorite EDC, humanity has relied on sharp and stabby implements throughout the ages for essential everyday tasks. Check out our short list of essential pocket knife history factoids:

1.4 million years ago: Using flint, hominids in present-day Spain make the first knife ever—to-date, this is the oldest knife in existence
13,500 BC Pre-Clovis people use chert blades in present-day Texas
5000 BC Ancient peoples in Turkey use obsidian for knives
2100 BC Pre-Columbian Americans use metals for art and tools
2000 BC The Stone Age ends and the Bronze Age begins
1800 BC Steel used in ancient Turkey
1323 BC King Tut buried with a gold knife (EDC goals amirite)
1200 BC The Bronze age collapses and the Iron Age begins
300 AD Romans design and use first folding knife
700 AD Japanese Samurai carry kwaiken knives
1000 AD Puuko knives come into vogue in Finland
1100 AD European crusades encounter Damascus steel in Turkey
1300s Sword makers set up shop in Seki City, Japan
1374 Solingen chartered as a town in Germany
1400s Artisans begin making knives in Maniago, Italy
1500s Iron knives arrive in America with settlers
1700s Boker begins making knives
1860s Troops use slip joints for utility knives in American Civil War
1880s Stamped parts enter manufacturing world
1889 W.R. Case begins making knives in New York
1890 Opinel begins making knives in Savoie, France
1891 Victorinox releases original Swiss army knife in Ibach
1897 Tidioute Cutlery begins a knife-making era in Pennsylvania
1897 Sears and Roebuck mail knives across America
1904 Schrade Cutlery Company opens its doors in New York
1905 Balisongs invented in Batangas, Philippines
1906 The first liner lock patent issued
1907 Heroult makes first electric furnace for steel production
1910 Bill Scagel makes his first fixed blade knife
1913 Stainless steel invented in England
1916 Brothers Michael and Felix Mirando start Imperial Knife Co.
1917 Knuckle knives see combat in the trenches of the Great War
1937 Bo Randall makes his first knife after seeing a Scagel blade
1939 Gerber begins making fixed blades in Portland, OR
1940 Imperial Knife company produces millions of knives yearly
1942 Ka-Bar releases the USMC Fighting knife for use in WWII
1946 First Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine developed
1947 Hoyt and Al Buck start mass producing Buck knives
1950 Women's magazine prints anti-knife piece read by millions
1956 Paul Bos begins heat treating
1957 West Side Story debuts on Broadway
1958 US Switchblade Act passes to stop Broadway's thug life
1960s Bob Loveless perfects the drop point hunter
1960s Plastic becomes popular in consumer goods
1964 Buck releases the Model 110 Folding Hunter
1964 A.G. Russell mail-order catalog starts
1964 Imacasa begins making machetes in Santa Ana, El Salvador
1966 Buster Warenski learns knifemaking from Gil Hibben
1967 The first commercial wire EDM machine released in USSR
1968 Gil Hibben designs Browning's first knife line
1969 Al Mar leaves Gerber to start his own company
1970 A.G. Russell creates the Knifemaker's Guild
1970 The first official counterfeit knives enter the market
1971 A.G. Russell recruits Bob Dozier to save Morseth Knife Co.
1972 Ron Lake pioneers gentleman’s knives
1973 Bill Moran pattern welds a knife to revive Damascus steel
1973 Blade Magazine releases first issue as "American Blade"
1974 Pete Kershaw leaves Gerber to start his own company
1975 Tony Bose makes his first folding knife
1976 Bill Moran starts the American Bladesmith's Society (ABS)
1977 Japanese-owned KAI purchases Kershaw
1978 NASA buys Swiss Army knives for Space Shuttle missions
1979 Bali-song Inc established in California
1980 Spyderco releases the first knife with thumb hole opener
1980 Cold Steel popularizes the tanto blade amid a shower of meat
1980 Sports Illustrated publishes article on Bob Loveless
1980s Bob Terzuola coins the term "tactical knife"
1981 Spyderco releases the first knife with a pocket clip
1982 Conan the Barbarian and Lucas Burnley enter the world
1982 Jimmy Lile designs Rambo's knife in First Blood.
1982 National Knife Museum opens doors in Chattanooga, TN
1983 Tim Leatherman makes his first multi-tool
1983 Blade Magazine creates the Cutlery Hall of Fame
1985 Steve Shackleford joins Blade magazine
1985 Rick Hinderer builds his first knife
1986 SOG releases a Vietnam-era styled fixed blade
1987 Buster Warenski makes reproduction of King Tut's burial dagger
1987 First Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza made
1988 Pacific Cutlery goes bankrupt and re-emerges as Benchmade
1988 Finland-based Fiskars purchases Gerber
1989 Anso and Voxnaes become dynamic Danish designer duo
1990 Spyderco Delica and Endura knives are released
1990 Michael Walker perfects the Linerlock mechanism
1991 Bear and Son Cutlery launches in Jacksonville, AL
1994 Two Kershaw employees leave to start CRKT
1994 Microtech begins making knives in Florida
1995 Online retailers begin selling knives
1995 Blackie Collins invents the spring-assisted folding knife
1996 Ken Onion and Kershaw release Speed Safe assist
1997 American Knife and Tool Institute started
1997 ESEE combines training with survival knives
1998 Ernie Emerson patents the wave opening mechanism
1998 Protech begins making Cali legal autos
1998 CRKT releases Kit Carson's M16 model with a flipper
1998 McHenry and Williams patent new locking mechanism
1998 Benchmade releases McHenry and Williams' new “Axis Lock”
1998 Blade Forums created
1998 TOPS begins manufacturing survival knives
1999 1/3 of U.S. households have the Internet
1999 Microtech releases the Ultratech OTF
2000 Warren Osborne designs Benchmade 940
2000 Benchmade releases the 42-- a titanium handle balisong
2000 Reality survival shows like Man vs. Wild. hit primetime
2001 War on Terror begins in Afghanistan
2002 Bill Harsey + CRK’S Yarborough knife given to Green Berets
2002 Crucible Industries and Chris Reeve develop S30V steel
2003 Iraq war begins
2004 Schrade knives closes its doors
2005 YouTube invented, and 1 year later Nutnfancy starts channel
2005 Victorinox buys Wenger
2005 Blade Sports International sanctions cutting competitions
2006 KAI starts American-made Zero Tolerance Knives
2006 Great Eastern Cutlery reignites traditional knives
2006 Doug Ritter founds Knife Rights to lobby sensible knife laws
2007 Gerber's Bear Grylls line brings knives to the masses
2007 Camillus files for bankruptcy. Its assets and brand sold.
2008 Cutlerylover starts his YouTube channel
2009 Crucible and Chris Reeve Knives introduce S35VN blade steel
2009 U.S. Switchblade Act changed to clarify assisted knives ≠ autos
2010 Instagram invented
2010 Spyderco Paramilitary 2 released
2010 The Father of Modern Handmade Knives, Bob Loveless, dies
2011 New Hampshire repeals all the knife laws in the state
2012 BRS perfects the balisong for sport flipping
2012 Blade Show celebrates 30 years
2012 EpicSnuggleBunny starts his YouTube channel
2013 Custom makers begin commissioning mid-tech knives
2014 The last issue of Tactical Knives magazine is printed
2015 High-end Chinese manufacturers (WE, Reate, Kizer) launch
2015 Nick Shabazz starts his YouTube channel
2015 Forged in Fire TV series launches on the History Channel
2015 Government campaigns in Britain push to eradicate knives
2015 G+G Hawk release the Deadlock -- an OTF without blade play
2017 Plaza Cutlery closes its doors
2018 Queen Cutlery closes its doors
2018 Guardian Tactical releases new OTF knife with smoother action
2018 A.G. Russell passes away
2018 Benchmade's Axis lock patent expires. Crossbar locks abound
2020 Legendary knifemarkers Les de Asis and Tony Base pass away
2020 Global pandemic causes uptick in online knife sales
2020/21 Cold Steel and Outdoor Edge sold to corporate holding groups
2021 Larrin Thomas and Crucible release Magnacut steel
2022 Mel Pardue, Elijah Isham, and Jon Graham pass away

Pocket Knife History Timeline