The Recollection of Quality Since 1867.
When Edward Campbell Simmons completed the first prototype to satisfaction, without any premeditation, he wrote in pencil on the fresh pine wooden axe: Keen Kutter.
At first, Keen Kutter referred to a particular kind of axe whose ultra-thin blade worked best on soft woods. By 1880, Simmons applied the name to all of the company’s top-of-the-line cutting tools including axes, hatchets, saws, knives, scythes, adzes, bill hooks, shears, scissors, files, stones & razors.
By 1900, the Keen Kutter catalogue included every conceivable type of tool & hardware item needed by carpenters, mechanics, gardeners, farmers & handymen of any discipline.
Merging with the Shapleigh Hardware Company in 1940, the Keen Kutter® catalog achieved remarkable success through innovative campaigns designed to simplify the job of the retailer & satisfy the customer. The Shapleigh Hardware Company became one of the most extensive corporations of its kind with divisions in Wichita, Sioux City, Ogden, Toledo, New York, Minneapolis & St. Louis.
By the turn of the century, Keen Kutter® warehouse space occupied over 1.5 million square feet & its pocket-knife plant in New York was the largest in the U.S.A.
Today, the Keen Kutter® trademark is owned by the Val-Test Hardware Group of Illinois. After Val-Test acquired the trademark, limited use authorization was developed for a premiere line of Keen Kutter® pocket-knives manufactured by Schrade Cutlery, Frost Cutlery and most recently Bear & Son Cutlery Co. to remain committed to the finest quality made in the U.S.A.
Val-Test would like to express immense gratitude to the legacy of E.C. Simmons & A.F. Shapleigh. Both gentlemen are founders of historically significant companies & greatly responsible for founding the wholesale hardware industry as we know it today.