I went to a local knife store to get my dad a new pocket knife for Christmas the other day. I asked the lady working if they had any Kissing Crane knives for sale and she said yes but they were no longer made in germany that the company moved to china. Has anyone heard this? I know my dad liked those knives I beleive because of the type of steel they used in Germany. I was just curious about that and if anyone knew for sure if they really had moved.
Yes. it is true! German cutlery manufacturer Kissing Crane moves to FULL Chinese manufacture. Yes another one bites the dust. It's hard to say how long before the Made in China Kissing Crane knives were already out there but now it's official. Some GERMAN Kissing Crane still exist with the round shield. Stilettos were already made in Italy as well as a few others. Before Made in Italy was not on the Stilettos, now it is! It is sad to see a German Co. go to China. Kissing Crane is distributed in the USA by United Cutlery, a company heavily in Chinese cutlery. To complicate things even further, Germany has no country of origin laws, so things can get dicey when it comes to German cutlery. For years, unscrupulous manufacturers and importers have had cheap knives made for them, then imported them into Germany. They then stamp "Germany" on them, and sell them domestically or send them around the world. The key phrase here being "unscrupulous" makers or importers. Update: No factories make knives in Germany, they are all made in the European Union using German Design.
Kissing Crane stilettos were always made in Italy by Armondo Beltrame and then assembled back in Germany by Robert Klaas. Some tangs would come throught with the made in Italy stamp only to use up what ever was laying around They are well made knives. I don't know about right now but for a few years some were shipped here to the states to be assembled. Here are some of my KCs with the kris blade.
Friends Kissing Crane is not the only knives that are being made in China now Days. You have to be really careful when buying PUMA also. They have PUMA and the PUMA logo on them but they are called PUMA TEC. As for the Kissing Crane knives the only ones around now that where made in Europe, were before 1988, and have NKCA stamp on them. They are hard to find, but you can find a few on ebay.
Claudester- Your knives were not assembled in Germany. Total production was in Italy. Huckleberry- "Kissing Crane" WAS one of the trade names of the Robert Klaas cutlery co., of Solingen, Germany. Klaas went out of business years ago, and the trade name was acquired by United. It's just a name, and the knives are Chinese.
