Post WWII
In 1949 John Ek moved to Miami, Florida where he continued production of his knives. From here he provided knives to American forces during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Miami-produced knives were marked "John Ek Knives, Miami, Fla.", whereas earlier knives bore the "Hamden, Conn." identification.
John Ek died on October 21, 1976, but the business was continued by his son, who had worked for his father as a knifemaker prior to John Ek's death. Due to the growing crime rate in Miami, the Ek family decided to relocate the operation to St. Augustine until 1982, when they moved it to Richmond, Virginia.
Current Ek Knife President Robert Buerlein took the reins in 1982 when the company moved the Richmond, VA, with the new company slogan of "Constant Improvement". New knives has been introduced, including the Raider/MCMAP Knife, authorized by the U.S. Marine Raider Association. Under Buerlein's direction, the quality of the knives improved with superior fit and finish. Handles were made of finely grooved black Micarta and hand-checkered walnut handles were offered as an upgrade. Machined brass X-nut screws to fasten the handle became standard instead of the original poured lead rivets. Blades were ground out of stainless steel and were mirror polished. Ek knives produced lower cost models with a handle made entirely of green or black (and occasionally "desert camo") wrapped parachute cord and a heavy nylon-webbing sheath in a matching color. A number of variants, such as Ek bowie knives, hunting knives, throwing knives, boot knives and reproductions of other WW II patterns such as the Australian bowie and a copy of the Murphy-pattern combat knife were produced.
Read more about this topic: Ek Commando Knife Co.
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