70's US Imports: Seki, Japan

In the 1970's - 1980' US Companies began importing quality, affordable knives from long establish Seki, Japan Craftsman.

Jet-Aer and G96 knives.

Jet-Aer Corp. of Patterson, NJ started selling knives in 1973 till the mid 80s taking classic knife designs manufactured by companies like Buck and Gerber and having them produced in Seki, Japan and advertising them for sale in Sporting Magazines. Made in Seki, Japan they are a quality knife. Jet-Aer still produce fluids for the aviation industry.

 Compass Industries

Compass Industries was founded in NYC in 1936. It was a wholesale importer of reasonable quality items. Today they seem to focus mainly on Advertising Specialties -- items with ad imprints -- including Maglite flashlights.

This is scarce Compass Industries boot knife from Seki, Japan circa 1980. Tak Fukuta made these for C.I.. Tak Fukuta was the first Japanese member of the American Knife Maker's Guild, and apprentice to Bob Loveless. He hand crafted fine quality knives that impressed his mentor.

 Valor Corporation of Miami

Valor Corporation of Miami Florida existed from the late 1960s until the early 1990s. In its time, it was a prominent seller of low-cost firearms, ammunition, firearms related accessories and a large importer of knives from various Seki makers. While Valor’s knives covered a wide range of types, a few models were of high quality and stood out. Valor’s copy of the Gerber Mark II dagger, as well as the leather handled Valor 373 were adopted as official knives of two separate US Army Special Forces units.