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Kershaw knives

It is said that Ken Onion is the man responsible for putting Kershaw on the map. Ken Onion is a master of his trade and is also the most sought after custom knife maker in the industry. When Ken was 5 years old he received his first knife. His dad brought him one back from work. It was a cheap brand and after grinding off the point to make it dull, he then gave it to Ken. Ken was not happy with this and after many hours on the pavement he had restored the point and cutting edge, only for his dad to confiscate it, tell him off and make it dull again. Ken spent his early years in Wellington, Ohio and Rochester, New York. When he was 12 he and his family moved to Palestine West Virginia to a farm, where now a teenager, Ken was inspired by a blacksmith and maker of garden tools and knives called Vernon Ott. In 1981 Ken joined the United States Marine Corp, this was to mark the beginning of Kens quest to design the perfect knife. In 1987 he moved to Anderson, South Carolina where he began to work with robotics and automation for the Robert Bosch Corporation. Two years later Ken was hired by PHP Petroleum in Hawaii where he worked as a machinist and inspector. Once there he began to realise he was not the only person who was enthusiastic and passionate about knives, and then he began to subscribe to every knife magazine and annual available. In November 1991 Ken met with Stan Fujisaka, a very talented knife maker who agreed to teach Ken the art of knife making. After many years of preparation and inspiration when he was working on a Harley cam for a friend of his, Ken created his first Speedsafe knife. Today Ken designs a variety of custom knives for Kershaw, and many of them feature the patented Speedsafe torsion bar system for assisted opening. With his personal involvement from the design right to down to the manufacturing process, he ensures that each knife meets his high standard for performance and quality. 858 to choose from.