John Ek didn't restart his knife business in Miami, Florida right away. He had been in the boat business for several years in Connecticut so in Miami he purchased the Pelican Harbor Marina on the 79 Street Causeway.

Then sometime in 1953 John Ek sold the Pelican Harbor Marina and opened the Seminole Gun Shop at the following business address:

SEMINOLE GUN SHOP
3214 N.W. 54TH STREET
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33142 U.S.A.

The location, a low concrete building, is now part of the Chavez Used Auto Parts (auto junkyard) buildings.

The store had an FFL license that allowed for manufacture of full automatic as well as silenced firearms. It also had a firing range, and a leather shop.

John Ek traveled to Cuba numerous times during the late 1950s and had made the acquaintance of Fidel Castro. Through some law enforcement connections and with the encouragement of the U.S. CIA, he got to know Fidel Castro. He helped the CIA for awhile, visiting Castro and, unknown to Castro, bringing back vital information.

Castro ordered a custom engraved and gold plated Colt Model 1911A1 pistol from the gun shop on a visit in 1958. John Ek had not returned the gun to Castro when the Bay of Pigs Invasion took place in 1961 and was not able to return it to him after that.

The store was also involved in helping to convict several individuals for possession of five submachine guns without registering them. See: Castro v. U.S., 296 F.2d 540 (5th Cir. 1961) at http://www.titleii.com/bardwell/castro_v_us.txt

In 1961 John Ek got involved with making a fiberglass model of a Zip Sloop. His involvement ended sometime around 1966.

On 26 July 1963 John Ek received registration number 272029 from the Florida Corporation Registry for the SUNNY ISLES SECURITY CORPORATION. It was dissolved on 09/03/1976.

On 19 Sept. 1963 John Ek received registration number 706178 from the Florida Corporation Registry for the SUNNY ISLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC. It was dissolved on 12/11/1976.

John Ek was also the Chief of Detectives of the police department of Pembroke Park, FL. as authenticated by his I.D. card, dated 27 Sept. 1963.

I don't know exactly when John Ek restarted producing Ek knives in quantity but I suspect it was sometime around 1966.

John Ek Miami era knives were made in two locations in Miami. The 54th. Street address is the first site and existed at the following business address which is the same as the Seminole Gun Shop address.

JOHN EK COMMANDO KNIVES
3214 N.W. 54TH STREET
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33142 U.S.A.

The 19th. Edition of Your Silent Partner lists the authors as John Ek & Robert Ek as well as making a reference to the "Ek Brothers". Robert Ek was John's older brother. The booklet also acknowledged their father, Robert Ek Sr., for his help.

So my guess is that Ek knives were made in quantity at this address for only about two years and that during the first 16 of the 18 years at this address, not many Ek knives were made as Mr. Ek concentrated on the gun business.

Towards the end of this period the crime rate in this Miami area was rising, so in 1968 John Ek moved the gun shop and his knife business to North Miami, about 6 miles away and nearer his home.

SEMINOLE GUN SHOP
1541 N W 119TH STREET
NORTH MIAMI, FL, 33161

On 16 July 1968 John Ek received registration number 332558 from the Florida Corporation Registry for the SEMINOLE GUN SHOP CORPORATION. It was dissolved on 12/05/1978.

Two other Seminole Gun Shop corporate Registries were also made. On 8 July 1970 John Ek received registration number 366811 for SEMINOLE GUN SHOP 95 INC. It was canceled on 09/03/1976. On 1 April 1971 John Ek received registration number 379767 for SEMINOLE GUN SHOP 54, INC. It was Dissolved By Proclamation 05/23/1973.

I don't know why there were 2 other corporations related to the gun shop or what the "95" or "54" stand for. Possibly Mr. Ek had thoughts of opening several more gun shops.

In 1971 John Ek's son, 15-year old Gary W. Ek, who worked for his father as a knifemaker, became the youngest maker in the American Knifemakers Guild.

John Ek Miami Knives were made at this location for approximately 8 years. During this period, Mr. Ek was involved in the gun business as well as making knives.

In early 1975 the business was renamed "Ek Custom Knives" and the maker was listed as Gary Ek, John Ek's son. Gary probably took over the knife business due to his fathers failing health. John Ek passed away on 21 October 1976.

From 1975 to 1978 John Ek's son, Gary W. Ek, continued the Ek Knife business in North Miami

In early 1978 the Seminole Gun Shop was sold and Gary Ek moved the Ek Knife business to Pembroke Park, FL. about 10 miles north of North Miami.

HOUSE OF EK
3180 PEMBROKE ROAD
PEMBROKE PARK, FL 33009

He may have liked the area as his father John Ek was Chief of Detectives in Pembroke Park years earlier in 1963.

Gary made knives here for two years before moving to St. Augustine FL, about 300 miles north of Pembroke Park.

HOUSE OF EK CUSTOM KNIVES
40 CHARLOTTE STREET
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL 32084

St. Augustine knives are the rarest of the Florida knives. Not many were made and not all were marked. There is very little information about these knives other than price lists.

According to Gary Ek, he started a "Commemorative John Ek" Knife project as well as making a "Bay of Pigs" Commemorative knife. This caught the attention of Robert A. Buerlein who owned the American Historical Foundation in Richmond, Va.

Gary and his mother, John Ek's widow Elsa Ek, were impressed by Mr. Buerlein at the time and so sometime in 1982 the Ek Knife business moved from Florida to Richmond Virginia.

In Virginia Gary Ek designed prototypes and worked closely with AHF for several years.

The EK trademark was registered Oct 3, 1983 to the American Historical Foundation, Ltd.

Although I don't have detailed dates, I believe that from 1983 to 1985, some commemorative Ek knives were issued by the company. One was probably the Richmond Bay of Pigs Commemorative. There may have been others.

In 1985 Mr. Buerlein bought the rights to the Ek Commando Knife Company from John Ek's widow Elsa Ek and son Gary Ek and acquired everything that went with it, including the Ek Commando Knife records. There were some conflicts involving the sale. Even today, Gary Ek is very unhappy with the outcome of the sale.

Richmond started producing Ek knives with modernized designs and modern manufacturing techniques. I was unable to find any details, but supposedly, some if not all of the Ek knives were made in Japan.

Business was conducted from:

EK COMMANDO KNIFE COMPANY
601 NORTH LOMBARDY STREET
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23220

Mr. Buerlein became the President of the Ek Commando Knife Company but also continued as the owner of the American Historical Foundation. The AHF company address was 1142 W. Grace St. Richmond, VA. This address is within a block of the Ek Commando Knife Company's 601 N. Lombardy address. I believe that most of the 16 AHF commemorative knives were sold in the period of 1982 to 1991.

There was also an entity called the Ek Collector's Club which was formed to create interest in the collection of Ek knives as well as a method of increasing sales for the Ek Knife Company. The club sold various knives such as the Murphy WW-II Commemorative and the 5 different Murphy SOG models as well as other knives. None of these knives are documented on this site. As far as I know, the only classic Ek knife offered was the GUNNER MODEL FIRST 500.

In the early 1990's Ek Benchmade Knives came into being. It was a marketing title, not officially a separate company, and sold it's knives though the same N. Lombardy facility. Some had the crossed commando knives trademark

The Richmond era at North Lumbardy, not counting H.G. Long and other non Ek design knives, produced the most Ek Commando knives, 48 models, the most of any of the EK eras.

In 1993 Robert Buerlein "sold" the Ek Commando Knife Company to Blackjack Knives. At that time Blackjack also bought almost all of the Richmond Ek knife stock.

So it seems that while Blackjack Knives began their manufacture and sale of Ek knives in Effingham, IL, some "custom" Ek knife sales continued in Richmond, VA under the "Ek Benchmade Knives" name.

Blackjack Knives business address was:

BLACKJACK KNIVES, LTD
1307 WEST WABASH AVENUE
EFFINGHAM, IL 62401

In 1993 Robert A. Buerlein "sold" the Ek Commando Knife company to Blackjack Knives where Mike Stewart was now CEO. At the time of the "sale", Blackjack also bought most of the Richmond Ek knife stock.

At first Blackjack Knives did very well. Although their 1993 catalog didn't show any Ek knives, they were selling off the stock they bought from Richmond. By 1994 their catalog showed a full line of Ek Knives. Blackjack Knives produced Ek knives from 1993 to sometime in 1995. Most of the Blackjack branded Ek knives were marked "MADE IN U.S.A. / EFFINGHAM, IL.". And some of the early Blackjack knives were Richmond made but Effingham marked.

Counting the Richmond made knives, Blackjack sold about 38 different knife models, second only to Richmond with 48 models.

When Blackjack started producing Ek knives they were the equal of the Richmond knives with regards to quality. But as the Blackjack Knife Company went through internal problems, quality control began slipping. Towards the end, there were some poorly finished Ek knives being made.

Blackjack Knives history after Mr. Stewart took on investors in 1991 reads like a soap opera. There was a lot of opinions about the cause of the companies financial problems. It seems blame fell into two camps. One camp blamed Mike Stewart, the head of Blackjack Knives during the Ek period. The other side alleged shady employees, crooked investors, or a dishonest controller.

Efforts to save the company were in vain. The Blackjack Knives company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August of 1997 and sold their remaining stock to Century International Arms. Ken Warner bought the rights to the Blackjack name and logo at that time.

At this time Robert Buerlein asserted that Blackjack Knives only bought the rights to use the "EK" mark in 1993 and he was still the legal owner of the trademark.

So in the end, the Ek Commando Knife Company business returned to Richmond, VA, again under the ownership of Robert Buerlein, and would start another chapter in the Ek company history that I call "Richmond II"

There were changes in the Richmond II Ek knives as compared to previous Richmond Ek knives. About one quarter of the models were dropped, several new models were introduced (especially in the paracord wrap models) and some models were renamed.

The model 1's and 2's that were discontinued in the late 1980's in Richmond were re-introduced in 1997 in the Richmond II era, but only in the M (Micarta) series of knives.

Another sheath/handle paracord wrap color, "ACU" was introduced. The overriding appearance of the camo paracord used on these sheaths and handle wraps is a medium gray.

In 2001 a dispute arose over the EK trademark. The case was brought against Royal Windyne Ltd. and Expedition Knives Inc. Royal Windyne Ltd. is a company owned by Robert Buerlein while Expedition Knives Inc. is a company owned by two individuals from Illinois and that commisioned the Ek 2C's made at Bark River.

The case: "Expedition Knives, Inc. v. Royal Windyne Ltd. - Administrative Proceeding USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Case No. 92028995-CAN

The case can be viewed at: https://www.plainsite.org/dockets/rl1anvq6/uspto-trademark-trial-and-appeal-board/expedition-knives-inc-v-royal-windyne-ltd/ There you will find a list of 47 documents, many of them in PDF form, generated over a time span from 7/16/1999 to 10/01/2004. In over 5 years of litigation, the end result was a dismissal. I'm sure that the only winners of this legal battle were the lawyers.

In 2005 the Ek Commando Knife Company moved to a new location and the business address changed to:

EK COMMANDO KNIFE COMPANY
6767 FOREST HILL AVENUE, SUITE 305
RICHMOND, VA 23225

In 2006 the grooves in the M-series knife handles were widened and deepened for a better grip.

Sometime around mid 2007 the model 1's and 2's that were previously restricted to the M series knives, were offered on the entire knife line.

But all in all, there was no significant design changes in the knives with respect to the offerings from the previous Richmond era.

Prices kept rising during this period and efforts were made to increase sales. Several new knife models were introduced among them the Marine Raider Stiletto (slimmer curved handle) and Historical Edition Models 1 and 2.

But the efforts were not enough and in 2014, Ek Commando Knives was sold to the KA-BAR Knife Inc. company of Olean, NY.

BRK&T - BARK RIVER KNIFE & TOOL COMPANY
1432 8th. Road
BARK RIVER, MI 49807

The company later moved to 6911 County 426 M.5 Road, Escanaba, MI 49829

The company made just one Ek knife, the "Ek Commando #2" in three handle configurations.

Note that these knives have a small "TM" (Trade Mark) at the one o'clock position on the Ek 3 Wars Logo. They are the only Ek knives that have an Ek logo with the "TM" marking.

There was a trademark dispute and litigation between Royal Windyne Ltd. (a corporation owned by Robert Buerlein) and Expedition Knives Inc. in Carbondale, IL. over the trademark "EK". At that point Bark River ceased all production of Ek Knives. Only a couple of hundred knives were produced.

Under KA-BAR the knife underwent a redesign. The full tang blade was retained but with a black parkerized finish. The handle material was standardized to a textured, glass filled nylon material. A Celcon® hard plastic sheath was selected for the knife.

Initially only 3 knife models were selected for manufacture. Production started in Olean, New York and in mid 2015 the EK43, EK44 and Ek45 models were released under the KA-BAR company.

Sometime in 2016 the EK43 model was discontinued. The reason is unknown but possibly sales were poor as compared to the sales of the double edged EK44.

In 2017 the Ek Commando Presentation Knife (EK13) with polished blade and lacquered walnut handle and leather sheath is released under KA-BAR production.

In 2020 the KA-BAR Custom Shop, State & Union Knives, issued 50 copies of a reproduction of the Hamden era John Ek Model 5 NAVY Knife. The knife is faithful to the original with a walnut bolo style handle but is laser marked and aluminum rivets were used on the handle instead of the original poured lead rivets.