paulhilborn
Gold Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2006
- Messages
- 14,245
Wow Lyle, just a BEAUTIFUL HJ
Lee ,I had never noticed before,but they are integral bolsters and liners. Hah...View attachment 736214
That Camillus cleaned up nice Charlie.
Wazu, I still use the Leatherman that we got as a safety award at the US Steel(I think) blast furnace rebuild.Cool knife.
Nice Wostenholm pruners Lee and N. Here's the stamp on this Wostenholm,I'm curious about timeframe. I suppose earlier than 1890, per lack of country of origin,although that may not be definite proof.It is somewhat worn and was sharpened as to remove the "hawkbill". The pile side stag being "gnarlier" and thus remaining more intact.
Lee does your pruner have IXL in the tang stamp, doesn't seem to? Seems we have three different earlier stamps by the same company. then we have the early "Celebrated" stamp I know of...
I concluded it is an early example,as the Schatt and Morgan,and the Holley I have are early knives and are smaller than all the other examples. I know that is little to go on, but it's my guess.
View attachment 735866 View attachment 735867 View attachment 735868 View attachment 735871 View attachment 735878
That Camillus cleaned up nice Charlie.
Wazu, I still use the Leatherman that we got as a safety award at the US Steel(I think) blast furnace rebuild.Cool knife.
Nice Wostenholm pruners Lee and N. Here's the stamp on this Wostenholm,I'm curious about timeframe. I suppose earlier than 1890, per lack of country of origin,although that may not be definite proof.It is somewhat worn and was sharpened as to remove the "hawkbill". The pile side stag being "gnarlier" and thus remaining more intact.
Lee does your pruner have IXL in the tang stamp, doesn't seem to? Seems we have three different earlier stamps by the same company. then we have the early "Celebrated" stamp I know of...
I concluded it is an early example,as the Schatt and Morgan,and the Holley I have are early knives and are smaller than all the other examples. I know that is little to go on, but it's my guess.
View attachment 735866 View attachment 735867 View attachment 735868 View attachment 735871 View attachment 735878
Wostenholm did use different tang stamps on different knives during the same time periods and we can't use the "England" stamp (or lack of) as proof of pre/post 1890, as you stated. Some knives which ended up in the U.S. may not have intended to originally. The stamp type on your Farmers jack is a bit unique in that it was not used on many knives in the late 1800s to early 1900s, but it was used on your knife from at least 1885 to 1908. (picture enclosed from a 1908 catalog). By 1915 the blade tang stamp for the Farmers Jack had changed from "GEORGE" over "WOSTENHOLM" over "I-XL CUTLERY" to "I-XL GEORGE" over "WOSTENHOLM" over "Sheffield"
Unfortunately, there is no mention of integral liners (only steel liners) in any catalogs. The integral liner is an interesting topic which should be explored further.
View attachment 736304
Interesting... Your points are well taken Herder - lots of tang stamps and hard to date even without England as you note... though my guess is for the most part if indeed England is on stamp I would say post-1890 and without perhaps raises questions pending final retail location... The integral liner and bolster is indeed an important question as I alluded to as well - this one is abit harder to research given that info was probably not included much in the catalogs (as you noted) and therefore may take alot of "reading" many Sheffield knives from early to later makers with some idea as to dates of production... only way may be in "hand" evaluation in order to answer the question or at least come to a conclusion... though in my opinion I will say in general integral liners and bolsters were probably more abundant pre-1860... again I originally read this in Levine's Guide but not sure of his research reference (maybe a personal communication from Geoffrey Tweedale but not included in Tweedale's book)... Hmnnn.... but as you said Herder an interesting topic deserving of further exploration ...
I don't have time to post scans right now,but the 1885 Wostenholm catalog reproduction ©1971 I have shows all three of these stamps.I haven't examined it closely since I got it,or I could have answered some of my questions.
Herder is one of the definitive sources on European cutlery,thanks friend.
And Lee is very astute,if we could only get him to open up. He he he
IXL
George
Wostenholm
Sheffield
George
Wostenholm
Sheffield
George
Wostenhom
IXL Cutlery
These Barlows have integral bolsters, with different styles, the only SEO&S marked Barlows I have. No visible Joseph Allen marks, but an"England" on the top knife main blade.
View attachment 736773
And Lee is very astute,if we could only get him to open up. He he he
There were an awful lot of short lived and obscure knife brands in the United States throughout the later half of the 1800s and first half of the 1900s.
Here is one such example which is marked "Carrier Cutlery Co. Elmira N.Y." circa 1900 to 1920.
View attachment 737174
Nice Carrier. I grew up on the other side of the hill from Elmira, and have tried to find one to add to my collection.
Thanks, Do you know if there were any other cutlery companies aside from Carrier and Robeson which were once located in Elmira?
Was there ever a Physicians Knife thread?