Red, White, and Blue Utility Knives
By Dennis Ellingsen
When you put the colors red, white and blue together, you think of the following: the United States of America, American baseball, apple pie, mom’s cooking, patriotism, and all the other things that are associated with this great country of ours.
Since early times people have displayed flags and shields to acknowledge their nationality or allegiances. In the United States we are proud to show our allegiance, nationality and patriotism with our flag which has the stars and stripes and the colors red, white and blue. The American flag, with its familiar pattern and colors, has its roots going back to 1776; and the names George Washington and Betsy Ross exude patriotism at its best. And when you think of Uncle Sam, can you imagine him in any other than a suit comprised of the colors red, white and blue?
If we reflect back to the years before World War I, we see that the cutlery market in the United States was dominated by Germany. They had the best steel, quality, price and marketing. American cutlery was far behind in competitive sales. With the approaching advent of WWI (1914), Germany exported little if any steel products abroad. How could they when they needed the steel for themselves for the War?
This article appears in the July 2022 issue of KNIFE Magazine. Premium Online Members can read the whole thing by clicking the blue button below.