Benchmade, CRKT, Gerber, Leatherman, and Steelport Knife Co teamed up to form the Portland Knife Center of Excellence.
All 5 companies are headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Knife Center of Excellence has the shared mission to:
establish Portland as a destination that connects and celebrates a passionate knife community, while building pride in American craft, education and innovation.
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The first public engagement will be the inaugural Portland Knifemaker Showcase, which will take place at the Steelport Knife Co factory in Saturday, August 24, 2024, from 10am to 2pm PST.
There, visitors will have the opportunity to engage with all 5 Portland Knife Center of Excellence (PKCoE) brands.
Portland government officials will also be at the event to make an official proclamation, declaring the date as the Portland Day of Excellence in Knife Manufacturing.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to experience a life knife forging demonstration, and there will also be a showcase of Portland’s knifemaking history.
There will also be local food and drink.
Press materials mention that:
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Over 50-percent of knives sold domestically are manufactured in the Portland Metro area, and the region boasts the highest concentration of knife and hand-tool companies in the country.
The founding members have joined together in an unprecedented show of collaboration and community building to uplift their shared craft, supporting both local and global economies with job creation and demand for high-quality utility products.
Here’s a shared statement from all member brands:
As the founding members, we recognize the significance of our collective craftsmanship and the legacy of our brands. We represent more than 200 years of combined experience in knife design and manufacturing here in Portland, where the competition is fierce. We’ve long admired each other’s dedication to excellence and innovation. Now, we are proud to unite and uphold a spirit of collaboration that will spotlight Portland’s impact on the knife industry.
If you’re wondering about the image at the top of the page, all that could be yours!
The PKCoE is kicking things off with a massive giveaway with a selection of products from all 5 knifemakers, with a retail value of over $5000.
Here’s a link to the PKCoE knife package giveaway.
(If you win thanks to seeing this post, you don’t need that Steelport paring knife, right?)
The giveaway ends at 11:59pm PST 8/24/24.
Scott K
I saw this in an email from Leatherman. I initially drooled over the number of Leatherman multitools included, but those kitchen knives are beautiful.
Keith
From the press release;
“Over 50-percent of knives sold domestically are manufactured in the Portland Metro area”
As much as I’d like it to be true, I’m a bit skeptical that half the knives sold in the USA (that’s their domestic market, right?) are made in one region. I’d figure Asian imports would be the vast majority.
Are they doing funny math, or am I waaaay off base?
Peter
Yeah, maybe over 50% of made in USA knifes sold in the USA?
Doresoom
That’s actually how I interpreted it – as 50% of USA made knives are manufactured in Portland. I had to go back and re-read it to realize I just made that assumption.
Keith
That I could believe. Half of US made knives are from the Portland area. That would make a ton of sense.
But as the release is written it is not what they say, even if it is what they mean.
Jim Felt
It’s tough to word a press release for a retail centric audience.
I took it to mean half of all US made products in this category are made in the PostPortlandia metro area.
MM
Agreed, that claim sounds very sketchy. There’s no way I believe that half of all knives sold in the USA are made in Portland. Half of USA-made knives sold in the USA? That’s possible. But if so that’s a really important detail they left out!
frobo
I agree; this claim looks a little fishy on the surface. It probably has a lot to do with how they define “knives”.
Champs
That showcase is on same the weekend as the MADE bike show across town.
Nice to see Portland and craftsmanship getting the band back together again!
Jim Felt
They’ve all been competing for the same national sales from the same Portland, OR area manufacturing sites.
Literally first starting when an ad agency owner named Gerber (now part of Fiskars) started in WW ll hand making knives in his garage for client Christmas gifts.
Max Musial
The name sucks but the idea is solid. Worked for FN in Belgium. Also let’s be clear Gerber and CRKT both do a lot of manufacturing overseas. So it’s interesting to see them included.
eddiesky
I still have my discontinued Gerber Kitchen block and knives. But I moved to recommending/gifting Made In brand, along with Wustoff. All about weight, balance and staying sharp.
Somewhere, I have a Gerber multitool in its pouch. Darn…where’d I put that?
Ron
Back in the late 80s, I lived on the island of Kuaui for about a year. While I was there I found a couple Gerber knives. One a chef’s knife and the other a utility knife. They were marked down half price to $50 each. That was big money back then. I paid the $100……….and still use these knives today. I have some Wustoff and Kikuichi and Henckels but for sentimental reasons I will never part with those Gerbers.
Art
One question. What is it exactly that you do? Idk how you review all these tools and don’t talk about how they work after a few months of use
Alexk
I just entered the contest. If I win, the paring knife is yours, Stuart.
Nathan
I took think their claim is a bit fishy I’m curious. I find most tossed statistics are not necessarily true
Shameless plug since talking kitchen knives. Weather and son knives out of Dover Ohio. Love mine had some of them for decades now
Goodie
As a Oregonian (displaced on the other coast) , I am very happy to see this. The Portland area produces a lot of tools and knives, and it seems be creating a feedback loop. Lots of these knives are now made overseas, but there is still manufacturing in the PDX area and there is a lot of design and manufacturing excellence occurring there. Quite sad that we lost Bridge City (a Portland nickname), which made fabulous tools in PDX.
Jim Felt
It was a small business and the original owner/designer simply got tired of the marketing, local sourcing issues and (mostly?) the lowball knockoffs.
(I’m still in PostPortlandia).
HG Forage
Thanks, if I win I am keeping the paring knife. However, I will buy you one for informing me about the knife lottery.
Another Bob
I read this as some sort of marketing campaign declaring Portland as knife town ,USA. Or are they combining resources? Purchasing power, staff, machinery etc. not sure that’s completely possible as they are competitors, but maybe they worked out some sort of beneficial agreements?
Either one is a good idea. Ad campaign can get customers interested in the brands again, bring community awareness i.e. potential employees. Staffing is always an issue these days. Get the local politicians involved. Try to work out some lower cost financing or tax rebates/incentives to keep a local industry going.
I would assume this is a step to help weather the storm of Asian imports? Some of those brands are even going upscale being able to provide higher quality at a lower price point because of wage, material and overhead advantages.
I think a lot of businessman are concerned the economy is faltering and may go south. This is especially worrisome when a lot of what you’re selling is a luxury good.
You see this done successfully with other artisan type products especially in Europe. Wine making, leather industry, candles and even knives. Solingen is Knife Town, Germany. I guess it’s sort of anything steel but you get the idea.
JoeM
This kinda cheers up my day. I’m a relatively new owner of a Benchmade CSTM Crooked Creek folder, and Several Leatherman Tools… That they’re now uniting to work together in any way warms my heart. When business teams up to work, the Customer gets to call them out on any mistakes and hold them accountable for it. This, in turn, allows the market to adjust for these brands, more direct interaction and feedback goes to the individual companies, from all the companies involved, and better products are produced in the future.
Downside may be an increase in pricing as user demands and reports flood in… But these are brands worth the pricetag!
CMF
My thinking is like “Another Bob’s” comment.
The cheap stuff has been around forever and never been competition for the above brands.
But there are more and more Asian premium brands making an impact in the US market; this for sure erodes the market of the above brands.
Be it marketing, making people aware of these MITUSA knives, or a preventive measure as to not wait till their market shrinks and forces some of these to close shop, they believe they need to do something.
We’ll see how well the word gets out.