Kenneth L. Onion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 16, 1963 Wellington, Ohio, US |
| Occupation | Knifemaker |
| Spouse(s) | Noel Onion |
| Awards | Blade Cutlery Hall of Fame |
Ken Onion (born January 16, 1963) is an American custom knifemaker based in Kaneohe, Hawaii, United States who invented the "SpeedSafe" assisted opening mechanism for Kershaw Knives. [1] Ken Onion was the Premier Knife Designer for Kershaw Knives. [2] [3] [4]
As a US Marine, Onion devised a helicopter mechanism that was adopted for use by the military. [5] [ dubious ] In 1989, Ken's wife, Noel, made arrangements through a friend for Onion to meet custom knife maker Stanley Fujisaka. [5] [6] The two became friends and Onion learned his basic knifemaking skills from Stanley, building his first knife in 1991. [6] Five years later, in 1996, Doug Flagg, then with Kershaw Knives met Onion while calling on an account for Kershaw and the two discussed an arrangement for the assisted-opening mechanism, which led to a contract. [5] [6] This contract led to Kershaw expanding its factory and number of employees to accommodate the demand for these knives. [6]
Onion has since moved on to design knives for Columbia River Knife and Tool, and most recently a knife sharpener with Work Sharp.
Onion holds 36 design patents on different items including locks, mechanisms, and knife designs. [6] [7] Most notable of these is the Speed-safe mechanism used by Kershaw Knives. For these many designs and his work throughout the cutlery industry promoting the art of knife making, Onion was inducted into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame at the 2008 Blade Show in Atlanta, Georgia as the 45th and youngest living member. [6]
In 2005, Onion collaborated with Spyderco on the Spyker knife design. In 2010 Onion parted ways with Kershaw Knives to start his own production company and to collaborate with Columbia River Knife and Tool on several designs. [8]
An article in Blade Magazine asserts that celebrities, such as Steven Seagal, Steven Tyler, Nicolas Cage, Kid Rock, Pamela Anderson, Wayne Newton, Emily Ahern, Stephen Lefebvre, Wayne LaPierre and Ziggy Marley collect custom knives made by Onion. [9] [10]
A pocketknife is a foldable knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife) or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A typical blade length is 5 to 15 centimetres. Pocketknives are versatile tools, and may be used for anything from whittling and woodcarving, to butchering small game, to opening an envelope, cutting twine, slicing a piece of fruit or as a means of self-defense. Specialised designs are also used for mushroom hunting.
Strider Knives, Inc. is a custom and production knifemaking facility headed by Mick Strider based in San Marcos, California.
An assisted-opening knife is a type of folding knife which uses an internal mechanism to finish the opening of the blade once the user has partially opened it using a flipper or thumbstud attached to the blade.
Ernest R. Emerson is an American custom knifemaker, martial artist, and edged-weapons expert. Originally an engineer and machinist in the aerospace industry, Emerson became a knifemaker by producing knives for a martial arts class and making art knives early in his knifemaking career. In the 1980s he became better known for his combat knives and popularizing a style of knife known as the Tactical-folder.
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Columbia River Knife & Tool, Inc. (CRKT) is an American knife company established in 1994, and currently based in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. The company's president and sales executive is Rod Bremer and the finance executive is Peggy Bremer.
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A. G. Russell was an American knife maker.
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The Blade Show is an annual tradeshow for the cutlery industry. It is the largest event of its type in the world. The show is owned by Caribou Media Group and is hosted by Blade Magazine. The event has over 1,000 exhibitors and is the host for inductees into the annual Cutlery Hall of Fame. It also hosts the annual Blade HQ Balisong Competition, BladeSports International Cutting World Championships, Blade University, Knife of the Year Awards, and a variety of knifemaking classes and demos. The event takes place every year over the course of several days and brings in knifemakers and knife companies from all parts of world.
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