Colonel Coon Knives were made by Adrian A. Harris, Mr. Harris started
making fixed blade knives as a hobby in the 60's, in 1976 he became the only
authorized field repairman in the U.S. for Schrade, a few months later he
became the only authorized repairman for Kissing Crane and J.A. Henckels in
the United States, in 1978 he founded Tennessee Knife Works Inc. in his home
town of Columbia, Tenn. and began making Colonel Coon Knives the old style a
true bench made or handmade pocket knife, In 1980 he devised his own
chemical milling process for custom etching the blades, along with this he
developed a packaging process which included a hinged paper box which is
still being used today. By offering this packaging system and custom etching
to knife dealers this help start the trend of " the commemorative knife " In
1988 he sold his manufacturing processes to W.R Case & Sons and retired. Thanks to yerout for
contributing the above information.
Book Knife Repair And Restoration by
Adrian A. Harris
The Comeback
In 2006, Smokey Mountain Knife Works purchased the Colonel Coon name
and the brand was soon reintroduced. The more recent Colonel Coon Knives are
factory manufactured models that come out of the Queen factory under
liscence by SMKW.
