Colonial Knife Co Providence R.I.

[B.Mauser]

Hey guys. Possibly my first post here in the traditional forum.

I spend a lot of time beating up big black fixed blade knives (buy an axe genius!) but always have a little traditional in my pocket.

One of my favorite traditional knife company's is Colonial. My grandfather gave me my first Colonial knife about 35 years ago and my collection of them is huge these days. I like the older ones best. But I have a soft spot for the cheap shell knives too. They just remind me so much of being a kid.

Anyone else collect Colonials?


Here are a few of my best pictures of my Colonials.

The knife below has the curved tang stamp that was used by Colonial between 1926 and 1938.

Below is a Kinney Shoes advertisement knife.

A rare coffin handled Colonial knife. Its 9 inches long when open.

Below is a Colonial Fish-Knife with the curved stamp made between 1926 and 1938.

The knife below was also made between 1926 and 1938. It has the less often seen CKCO stamp.

Also, I have a Colonial Knife blog that gets very little traffic. I sell nothing and make no money there, purely for fun and appreciation of a knife company that is very special to me.

If you are interested in Colonial knives please check it out. I have lots of knife pictures, old Colonial advertisements as well as the history of Colonial knives and the Paolantonio family that made them.


https://colonialknives.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/an-introduction/

 

[Gevonovich]

Great knives and thread!! I would enjoy seeing more. I will check out your blog as well. Welcome!! I have a few and they take a nice edge.

 

[T.Knotts]

Beautiful collection...I especially like the scales on the first one. Thanks for sharing.

 

[afishhunter]

irrelevent

 

[screened porch]

Colonial is over-shadowed in my mind by the similar but larger Imperial. I have some old Colonials fairly near the top of my heap, though; I'll find and post them.

 

[edbeau]

I also have Colonials. I have a few Electrician knives and Barlows. I am mostly into advertising knives made by Colonial.

 

[edbeau]

Like your blog and would like to share my two boxes of knives. Pictures are not current, I need to get to work.





This was mentioned in your blog

 

[deltaboy]

I got a few of them . The pre 1970 ones were really well made for the price point.

 

[leghog]

 

[wazu013]

 

[edbeau]

Here is one I am working on for a friend at work. A three piece camping knife. Pic-Nic-Pal

 

[ConBon]

Wow, welcome to the porch! Quite beautiful pictures, and I'm interested in the blog. I don't think I have any colonial knives atm, but I believe I did at some point.



Connor

 

[btb01]

Below is a Colonial Fish-Knife with the curved stamp made between 1926 and 1938.

I like that one a lot, something about the "Hook Remover" stamp on the bolster. Very cool. :thumbup:

I only have a couple Colonials. This is a favorite from my childhood (one of my first knives, given to me when I was probably 6 or 7):

 

[B.Mauser]

Great knives and thread!! I would enjoy seeing more. I will check out your blog as well. Welcome!! I have a few and they take a nice edge.

Thank you Gevonovich! I enjoy sharing my passion for Colonials with cool people like you so much! Really appreciate you checking out my blog too. If you've read my blog you have seen most my pictures so far. But I have many more Colonials that I have not taken pictures of yet. More pictures of knives and other Colonial collectables coming soon.

Beautiful collection...I especially like the scales on the first one. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you. You have a good eye. I also think this is one of the most beautiful in my collection. I also think its the oldest Colonial I have. Unlike Imperial, Colonial didn't keep much records of the tang stamps and they cant be dated very accurately.

The one thing that is accepted as fact is that Colonials first tang stamp was curved. They used the curved tang stamp from their opening in 1926 through 1938. In 1939 the Colonial stamp changed to a straight line.

I have quite a few curved tang stamp's in my collection. All of them are the same, except one. That Red one in my first 2 pictures. Instead of Colonial Providence R.I. like all the others it says Colonial Knife CO Made in USA.


Just a detail about this knife that I though you guys might find interesting.

Here are pictures of the 2 different curved tang stamps.

This first one is the curved stamp I see most.

Here is the tang stamp on this Red Colonial.

Colonial made some great knives. I'm not sure how the new ones compare, a rather limited selection of patterns, and I (personally) do not need a switch blade, designed by Jackie Collins, or not.

I sure do agree with you there. Love the old ones and just dont have much interest in the new Colonials. I do think their Mark 1 Navy deck knife made in USA looks decent. But I doubt I will buy anything from them. Too many neat old knives out there waiting for me to find them.

Colonial is over-shadowed in my mind by the similar but larger Imperial. I have some old Colonials fairly near the top of my heap, though; I'll find and post them.

I'm not surprised to hear that, I find a lot more serious Imperial collectors than Colonial. I have some Imperial and Hammer brand knives. I like them also but they just dont excite me as much as the Colonials. I dont know why. I sure would enjoy seeing your Colonials. Thank you!

Like your blog and would like to share my two boxes of knives. Pictures are not current, I need to get to work.





This was mentioned in your blog

Hi ed. Thanks for checking out my blog. WOW! Very nice collection. You sure know what you like. Advertising Barlows and Electricians! I even see a salesman's sample in there. Very cool. I like that Dole knife too.

I would love to put your knives on my blog.

Want to email me when you have some time so I can ask you a few things about them?

Milehighk5@gmail.com

Here is one I am working on for a friend at work. A three piece camping knife. Pic-Nic-Pal

Cool Pic Nic Pal. You must be cleaning it up for him. Looks like it should turn out pretty nice. :thumbup:

I got a few of them . The pre 1970 ones were really well made for the price point.

Yep, the old ones were definitely the best. Sure do enjoy having one on me every day. Still very useful. :thumbup:

Hi leghog. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your knives. I enjoyed seeing them. Very clean knives you have there.

Forest Masters are one of my favorite models of Colonials. I am trying to get 1 of every kind made. So far I have 9 different kinds of Forest Masters.

Your Forest Master was made in 1971. There were 3 models of Black Forest Masters in 1971 in what Colonial called imitation black stag. The most popular was a 4 blade with 1 main knife blade, a can opener, a bottle opener and a leather awl. There was another 4 blade that had what Colonial called a belt punch instead of the normal leather awl. Its other 3 blades were the same. The 3rd kind was a 3 blade. Main blade, can opener, bottle opener. It is a little more compact than the 4 blade models.

Here is a picture of my 1971 black stag Forest Masters. All 3 models.

Very interesting knives Wazu. I dont believe I have ever seen a church advertising on a Colonial knife before. Neat one, thanks for sharing them!

Wow, welcome to the porch! Quite beautiful pictures, and I'm interested in the blog. I don't think I have any colonial knives atm, but I believe I did at some point.



Connor

Hi Connor. Thank you. I hope you enjoy my blog. If you want another Colonial dont wait to long. I'm planning to buy them all!

I like that one a lot, something about the "Hook Remover" stamp on the bolster. Very cool. :thumbup:

I only have a couple Colonials. This is a favorite from my childhood (one of my first knives, given to me when I was probably 6 or 7):

Hi bt. Yeah, I agree that bottom bolster makes this one neat. I'm lucky to find this in such great condition considering its at least 70 years old.

Another interesting fact about this knife. Camillus made one absolutely identical to this one other than the tang stamp. But they made it for a company called Kent in New York. Kent was started by the owner of woolworths and was in business from 1931 to 1955.

Thank you for sharing the picture of your Colonial. That is SO cool to hear how long you have had that knife.

Here are a couple more pictures of the fish knife.

 

[John A. Larsen]

I have commented to btb01 before about his blue Royal Ambassador Colonial that what i found interesting was it had a Victorinox SAK style can opener. i think that is the only USA made knife I have every seen with an SAK can opener. John

 

[B.Mauser]

Hi John. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

I looked around on Ebay and see some older Colonial Swiss army style knives with a different, round can opener. I also found another Colonial with this same SAK style opener.

Very interesting.

 

[edbeau]

Here is a shot of one of my latest off the bay. It will not take that much to clean it up. I mainly look for good clear printing.

 

[edbeau]

Here is a better shot of the salesman knives. A Barlow style with a screwdriver is not seen that much.

 

[deltaboy]

Good collection.

 

[Gevonovich]