Has anyone ever owed a ...

Guest Guestofferson · Post by **Guest Guestofferson** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 3:04 am

Kissing Crane stiletto ? They look alrite on the web, and are out of Solingen, but they're cheap. Im sure all in all you get what you pay for but does any1 know 1st hand ? Thanx guys

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 7:09 am

There are no German Stilettos I know of. They are all made for the Germans somewhere else. Sometimes they are assembled in Germany from imported parts. If the description says stainless steel liners the knife is from the Orient. If it says liners are brass it's from Italy.

tydy · Post by **tydy** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 7:15 am

Liners aren't necessarily an indicator as to where they are made. I know some of the Falcon nonautos have steel liners. I also believe they make ALL the nonauto stilettos that come from Italy, just like they make ALL the big autos over 15". tydy

Roccomo · Post by **Roccomo** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 11:42 am

Mr. Guestofferson,

I have owned several of these Kissing Crane Stilettos since the mid 1980's. Stag/Brass 9 inch, Wood/Brass with Kriss Blade 9 inch and a couple 13 inch wood/brass ones. The 9 inchers were well made and the stag went on to become a good work knife for a friend of mine. These had a brass shield stamped Germany (maybe assembled there?) and were also tang stamped Germany. They were nicely made with full frame pieces. The thirteen inchers were also well made but were not stamped with any country name. They did however come with 'made in Japan' stickers on the blade-if I remember it right.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 1:21 pm

I have a 15" back lock Kissing Crane Rosewood/Brass Stiletto. The drop point blade has a sword with the words "Stiletto" and "Germany" etched on it. The tang stamp is a "Kissing Crane" logo. There is a brass "Kissing Crane" logo where the release button normally is. The tang stamp on the reverse side of the blade reads "K C 45" and has the word "Rostfrei" underneath that. It's a really big, well made folder.

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Mon Aug 19, 2002 12:07 am

Every [auto] German Stiletto I have ever seen was made in Italy or in the Orient. Those from the Orient are very recent, the Italian ones go back to at least the 50s. The tang stamp means nothing if it says Solingen
it just means it was ASSEMBLED there from imporrted parts. This is not
deceptive in the usual sense since German law requires an importer to stamp His [or his company] name on the knife.
Non-autos I'm not so sure of but I know Frank [Beltrame] made and probably still makes a lot of parts that he ships to Germany for assembly there. TyDy is right about liners, on non-autos I owned a Kissing Crane Kriss that had steel liners. Sources I respect say most [all?] of these had Italian roots. On all the 9" [auto] Stilettos I've seen, Brass liners=Italian
Steel liner=Oriental. I sold several [brass lined autos] that were stamped Solingen and Frank confirmed that He made them for the Germans. In the catalog the source is at least hinted at. The Italian are listed as "Original Italian" and the Oriental are listed as "Quality Mechanism".

Guest Guestofferson · Post by **Guest Guestofferson** » Mon Aug 19, 2002 2:31 am

Thanx guys. I'll try one out. Also looking at the French OTF adc865 at the knifeshop, any1 have one of those? Just think they look pretty sweet.