Clauss Cutlery Company

IndustryCutting Tools

Founded1877; 148 years ago

Clauss

Industry	Cutting Tools
Founded	1877; 148 years ago (1877)
Owner	Acme United Corporation
Website	Clauss Home

Clauss Cutlery is a cutlery brand owned by the Acme United Corporation since 2004. It was founded as Elyria Shear Works in 1877 by John and Henrie Clauss in Elyria, Ohio. At one time the company was the largest manufacturer of scissors and shears in the world.

1877–1918

The two brothers John and Henrie Clauss, of German origin, started Elyria Shear Works from a one-room building in Elyria, Ohio.^[1] Together with five employees, they began manufacturing scissors, shears, straight razors and serrated kitchen knives.^[2]

In the early 1880s, with his shear business prospering, John Clauss planned a major expansion. In August 1887, he moved the company to Fremont, Ohio, to be near an accessible, abundant supply of natural gas which had recently been discovered.^[2] The gas was ideally suited to fuel the furnaces for the company's forges and foundry. Clauss erected a two-stories-high plant at the corner of North Buchanan Street and Pine Street. Within one year, the company was producing 3,000 pairs of shears and scissors a day.^[2]

On January 17, 1889, disaster struck as the plant was completely destroyed by fire, causing 125 employees to lose their jobs. However, in less than four months, Clauss built a new plant and was back in full operation.^[3] The new four-story brick building at the corner of State Street and Sandusky Avenue was the largest shear factory in the world at that moment.^[3] Clauss also used this opportunity to change the company's name to Clauss Shear Company.

1919–1945

In 1919, Clauss Shear merged with Henkel Company, also from Fremont, to create Henkel–Clauss Company.^[1] Henkel Company was founded in 1906 to manufacture nail files, knives, shears and razors.^[4] The Henkel–Clauss merger created a company with over 1,000 employees and had the largest payroll in the United States at that time. John Clauss didn't live long to enjoy that success as he died later that year.

In the early 1920s the cutlery business faced a serious setback as Germany was permitted to export shears and scissors duty-free to the United States. The idea behind this was to help Germany pay back its World War I debts. As a consequence, German shears sold at half the price of American made shears.^[4] Despite the fierce German competition, Fremont counted twenty-five cutlery businesses and was known as the "Cutlery Center of the World".^[1]

1946–1966

After World War II, Henkel–Clauss was unable to compete with European firms producing household scissors and other simple products because wages were much lower in Europe. As a result, the company shifted focus to industrial scissors. Henkel–Clauss continued to struggle as much of its sales revenue came from declining industries or businesses where automation was reducing the need for scissors.^[3]

In 1954 the corporate name was changed to Clauss Cutlery Company to eliminate the confusion with the German cutlery firm J.A. Henckels.

1967–2004

In 1967 Clauss was taken over by Alco Standard Corporation. Alco Standard, which later divested its manufacturing companies to create Alco Industries, integrated Clauss into its existing structure to manufacture tools for industrial niche markets. For instance, Clauss made surgical scissors for eye operations, heavy-duty metal cutting shears, poultry shears for gutting chickens, and specialty items such as anti-acid, anti-magnetic tweezers for the electronics industry.^[5]

Clauss had approximately 100 employees and produced about $18 million in annual revenues in the late 1980s, but profits continued to decline.^[5] In May 2004, Acme United Corporation acquired the Clauss inventory, trademarks and brand names from Alco Industries for approximately $500,000.^[6]

2005–present

The Clauss business was immediately integrated into Acme United's existing operations. Since then, the number of Clauss products has continued to expand. In 2006 and 2007 the company brought sewing shears, utility knives, chef shears, hobby knives and a titanium-bonded, spring-assisted pruner to market.^[7]

In 2008, Clauss introduced the SpeedPak utility knife and its replaceable cartridges with ten titanium blades, having won a Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum, Museum of Architecture and Design in 2007.^[8]

Early 2013, Clauss launched a family of titanium-bonded, non-stick putty knives that make use of a coating to protect the tools from rust and allow easier application of putty.

More recently, Clauss introduced an 8-inch (200 mm) workbench shear with titanium-bonded blades, with an integrated box cutter and bottle opener.

As of 2024 Clauss website does not mention where their products are actually made these days.

v t e Knives and daggers
List of daggers List of blade materials
Kitchen and table knives	Boning Boti Bread knife Butcher knife Butter knife Caidao Cheese knife Chef's knife Cleaver Electric knife Fillet knife Grapefruit knife Lame Mezzaluna Parmesan knife Pizza cutter Splayd Steak knife Tomato knife Japanese kitchen knives Deba bōchō Maguro bōchō Nakiri bōchō Santoku Sashimi bōchō Udon kiri Unagisaki hōchō Usuba bōchō Yanagi ba
Other knives	Aircrew Survival Egress Knife Athame Balisong/Butterfly Ballistic Ballpoint pen knife Bayonet Boline Bolo Boot knife Bowie Cane knife Ceramic knife Clip point Coin slasher Combat knife Commander Corvo CQC-6 Deba bōchō Diving knife Drop point Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife Gerber Mark II Ginsu Golok Gravity knife Guna Hacking knife Higonokami Hunting knife Husa knife Ivan's Knife Jacob's ladder Karambit Kard Kirpan Kitchen knife Kukri Laguiole knife Machete Mandau Marking knife Military knife wz. 98 Misericorde Mora knife Multi-tool Navaja Neck knife Nontron knife Opinel knife OSS Escape Utility Knife Palette knife Pantographic knife Parang Penknife Penny knife Pesh-kabz Pirah Pocketknife Phurba Putty knife Puukko Rampuri Resolza Sabatier Sami knife SARK Scalpel Seax Sgian dubh Sharpfinger Sheath knife Shiv Sliding knife Smatchet SOG Knife Straight razor Strider SMF Survival knife Swiss Army knife Switchblade Taping knife Throwing knife Trench knife Tumi Ulu Utility knife Verlängerungsmesser Warrior knife Wedung X-Acto Yarara Parachute Knife Yatagan
Daggers	Anelace Applegate–Fairbairn fighting knife Arkansas toothpick BC-41 Bagh nakh Balarao Baselard Bichuwa Bollock dagger Cinquedea Dha Dirk Ear dagger Emeici Facón French Nail Gunong Hunting dagger Jambiya Jile Kabutowari Kaiken Kalis Katar Khanjali Khanjar Kris Kunai Liaoning dagger Mark I trench knife Microtech Jagdkommando Parrying dagger Poignard Pugio Push dagger RAF Aircrew Knife Rondel dagger Seme Shobo Sica Stiletto Tantō U.S. Marine Raider stiletto V-42 Yoroi-dōshi
Manufacturers	Aitor Knife Company Al Mar Knives American Tomahawk Company Aritsugu Benchmade Böker Buck Knives Camillus Cutlery Company Cattaraugus Cutlery Company Chris Reeve Knives Chroma Cnife Clauss Cutlery Company Cobray Company Cold Steel Columbia River Knife & Tool Cuisinart Cutco Dalian Hanwei Metal Dexter-Russell Ek Commando Knife Co. EKA Emerson Knives F. Dick Fällkniven FAMAE Fiskars Gerber Legendary Blades Füritechnics Glock Ges.m.b.H. Imperial Schrade Ivan's Ka-Bar Kershaw Knives Korin Japanese Trading Company Kyocera Leatherman Mad Dog Knives Marble Arms Medford Knife and Tool Microtech Knives Morseth Muela Murphy Knives OLFA Ontario Knife Company Opinel Randall Made Knives Ranz Cuchillos Rösle Sabatier Shun Cutlery Slice, Inc. SOG Specialty Knives Spyderco STI Knives Strider Knives Thiers Issard TOPS Knives Tramontina Victorinox W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. Carl Walther GmbH Wenger Western Knife Company Wilkinson Sword Wüsthof Yoshida Metal Industry Global Zero Tolerance Knives Zwilling J. A. Henckels
Knifemakers	Rex Applegate James Black Tom Brown Jr. Blackie Collins John Nelson Cooper Jack W. Crain Ernest Emerson Jerry Fisk Bill Harsey Jr. Phill Hartsfield Gil Hibben Jimmy Lile Bob Loveless William F. Moran Ken Onion Ralph Osterhout Bo Randall Chris Reeve A. G. Russell Jody Samson William Scagel Mike Snody Robert Terzuola Michael Walker Buster Warenski Daniel Winkler
Associations	American Bladesmith Society Cutlery and Allied Trades Research Association Knifemakers' Guild
Category:Knives / Daggers

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	United States
Other	Yale LUX

Clauss Cutlery Company

1877–1918

1919–1945

1946–1966

1967–2004

2005–present

References

External links

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