Colonial Knife Co Providence R.I.

Tdhurl1103 said:
I really wish Colonial would bring back the Ranger series.
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If it was completely USA made I would be interested in giving one a try. But it would probably be made in China and assembled in USA. Which is something I just dont want to buy. I buy plenty of Chinese made stuff, im sure my house is full of it. But knives are one area I try to stay away from Chinese products.

Have you seen how many Rangers are on eBay? There are even some new in the package sometimes. It takes some work but there are great deals to be had on there.
 
B.Mauser said:
Colonial%20Ranger%20Yellow%207_zpsqfymjsm4.jpg
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It's odd, that on well worn stockmen, the different blades can end up looking very similar.:)
 
B.Mauser said:
Thank you my friend. And thanks for stopping by with your new finds. Very nice!
That stainless Forest Master is in amazing condition. Heck of a find.:thumbup:
All Forest Masters are Model # 1200. This would have been Model #1200 4 Blade Stainless Steel Forest Master with burnt brown stagged handles. Weird name but that's what Colonial called these handles. Burnt brown stagged.
Smokey Mountain Knife Works was a big customer for Colonial over they years. Ive seen quite a few of their Colonial orders but never a year knife. And only 2000 of them, cool find.
You have the last one figured out. Its an old one too, the Model #17 stainless steel jewelry knife.
Some were sold in hardware stores and sporting good stores but they were most popular at jewelry stores where they could get initials engraved on it. They were advertised as extra thin, extra sharp knives with a picture of a razor blade on the box. Neat to hear it still sharp after all these years.
Here is a picture of a display box of these knives.
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As always, the information is very welcome. A good deal of the hobby is hearing the various stories and anecdotes about the knives. That's why I always tend towards traditionals -- they have better stories. :D

B.Mauser said:
Have you seen how many Rangers are on eBay? There are even some new in the package sometimes. It takes some work but there are great deals to be had on there.
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This is absolutely true. I actually missed out on a Ranger stockman the other day because I got too busy to hound eBay, and I normally try to "read" the bids on those auctions to measure the risk. I was a little upset when I returned to my watch list to find out the knife had gone for under what I would have paid for it, but that's how it goes! :p

Nice work refurbishing that Ranger, Mauser. Those carbon blade sure do cut above their price tags. If you're interested in Camillus as well, take a look at my comparison post over in the Barlow thread. Camillus is another brand I enjoy collecting, though even their later models occasionally fetch prices I'll bet their staff wishes they could have commanded before they had to auction everything off in 2007. I have a few knives from that auction including a Classic Cartridge bone moose knife and a composite TL-29 with an unfinished (rough, not dull) edge grind on the screwdriver blade.

I found out just this evening that I've had another Colonial hiding "in plain sight" in my knife collection this whole time. Here it is, a 4" single-blade linerlock serpentine jack:







Now you might be thinking to yourself "Self, that's a Lakota, not a Colonial!" Yeah, that's what I thought too. Then I spotted this knife up on the big auction site:



Same liner lock pattern, similar NRA membership etch on the handle. But it's stamped "Colonial"! I guess that must mean Lakota was either a Colonial imprint or a contract knife (and it's entirely possible that, like Camillus, they were scraping to build knives towards the bitter end and grabbed any blades they had on hand to finish their orders).

So I used my "missed Ranger" money and snapped it up for the matched set. :D
 
Here is a new find of mine that showed up recently.

This is a little Colonial 3 blade stockman. 3.5 inches long.

It has one of Colonials oldest tang stamps,CKCO. This was made in the late 1920's and is in amazing condition for its age.

Colonial%20white%20CKCO%204%20X_zpss8vkjubn.jpg


Colonial%20white%20CKCO%205%20X_zpsfyyrj2qr.jpg


Colonial%20white%20CKCO%202%20X_zpsxdvlxiq5.jpg


Colonial%20white%20CKCO%206%20X_zpsx4jebs14.jpg
 
TsarBomba said:
As always, the information is very welcome. A good deal of the hobby is hearing the various stories and anecdotes about the knives. That's why I always tend towards traditionals -- they have better stories. :D



This is absolutely true. I actually missed out on a Ranger stockman the other day because I got too busy to hound eBay, and I normally try to "read" the bids on those auctions to measure the risk. I was a little upset when I returned to my watch list to find out the knife had gone for under what I would have paid for it, but that's how it goes! :p

Nice work refurbishing that Ranger, Mauser. Those carbon blade sure do cut above their price tags. If you're interested in Camillus as well, take a look at my comparison post over in the Barlow thread. Camillus is another brand I enjoy collecting, though even their later models occasionally fetch prices I'll bet their staff wishes they could have commanded before they had to auction everything off in 2007. I have a few knives from that auction including a Classic Cartridge bone moose knife and a composite TL-29 with an unfinished (rough, not dull) edge grind on the screwdriver blade.

I found out just this evening that I've had another Colonial hiding "in plain sight" in my knife collection this whole time. Here it is, a 4" single-blade linerlock serpentine jack:







Now you might be thinking to yourself "Self, that's a Lakota, not a Colonial!" Yeah, that's what I thought too. Then I spotted this knife up on the big auction site:



Same liner lock pattern, similar NRA membership etch on the handle. But it's stamped "Colonial"! I guess that must mean Lakota was either a Colonial imprint or a contract knife (and it's entirely possible that, like Camillus, they were scraping to build knives towards the bitter end and grabbed any blades they had on hand to finish their orders).

So I used my "missed Ranger" money and snapped it up for the matched set. :D
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We were posting at the same time. :)

What an interesting find TsarBomba. I see these Colonial Ranger NRA knives on eBay quite a bit. I sure did a double take when I saw the Lakota tang stamp though.

Ive heard a little about Mr Hoffmans old Condor and Lakota knives but I never knew they contracted with Colonial. I wonder why they would do that, its seems nothing like the knives he normally sold.

As you pointed out it was definitely made by Colonial. Its a re branded Ranger 931LB. This isn't the first re branded Ranger Ive seen but the first Lakota. Your Lakota Colonial is the 3rd re branded Ranger knife I have see. I have seen one that had a Coast tang stamp and one that was stamped Mt Ida Arkansas. I will be adding your knife to the file I keep of Company's that contracted knives from Colonial.

Thanks for sharing this neat find with me! Great idea buying the Colonial model for the matched set. Maybe keep an eye out for a regular Ranger 931LB to go with them.
 
B.Mauser said:
Thanks for sharing this neat find with me! Great idea buying the Colonial model for the matched set. Maybe keep an eye out for a regular Ranger 931LB to go with them.
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I certainly will now that I know what I'm looking for. :D The NRA knives seem fairly new, though I judge strictly by the one I have and the pictured one I'm going to receive soon. Is it possible that they were tossing knives together to fulfill orders and the Lakota-stamped knives made it onto some of the knives? I've always assumed that these knives were issued right around the year 2000, but I'm not really as familiar with where Colonial's fortunes may have been at the time compared to, say, Camillus or Schrade.

The only Coast I've come up with is unlikely to be related to Colonial; initial examination (about 3 weeks ago, when I got it) gave me the distinct impression of a certain Mr. Parker's involvement. I just scanned it again and I'm even more convinced that by this point the people who owned the "Coast" marque had moved production overseas. I will keep an eye out for USA-made ones, though, good to know.
 
I think its more likely they are early 90's. Are you thinking 2000 because of the the new millennium starting after the year 2000? I believe the millennium on these knives were for millennium members. At one time, buying a lifetime membership from the NRA made you a millennium member. I think this was free with that membership.




TsarBomba said:
Is it possible that they were tossing knives together to fulfill orders and the Lakota-stamped knives made it onto some of the knives? I've always assumed that these knives were issued right around the year 2000, but I'm not really as familiar with where Colonial's fortunes may have been at the time compared to, say, Camillus or Schrade.
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Colonial was known for assembling some interesting knives out of left over parts but I dont think this was one of those times. I dont think they would fill a contract for Colonial knives with another company's tang stamp.

It looks to me like Lakota had a few contracts to supply the NRA knives and managed to contract a deal from Colonial for some of those knives.

It does make me wonder why the NRA would get them from Lakota instead of straight from Colonial. And which company sold them to the NRA first?

When I search for Lakota NRA knives I find more just like yours. I also see some different styles of Lakota NRA knives marked made in Japan.



It makes me wonder if it happened like this. Lakota was working on a deal to supply knives to the NRA. They contract with Colonial for those knives and successfully sell them to to the NRA. Later the NRA cuts out the middle man and starts ordering them directly from Colonial.
 
Nice finds Ed! I really like that Fire department knife. So cool. That 3 blade is pretty darn neat too. I bet that hawkbill makes a great utility blade.
 
Hey B. Thanks for the reply to my post. I've never known what model my ranger is. Much appreciated.
 
Here is a before shot of my latest Colonial advert Barlow. BERKO Electric Heat with address on the back side. Needs a bit of TLC.


 
I picked up a couple more Barlows off the bay. I still need to clean them up before they go in the box.

 
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