Gent's Knife Thread

Nice find. Does anyone know what the current market value is for one of the 14k knives?
 
This MOP oldie had lots of ugly staining when I bought it but after some TLC today it shines once again. Unfortunately my new mirror-polish shows as black when scanned but I'm happy with the knife's new appearance even if my pics are less than stellar. Mine is now "crocus polished" on both sides and the file tip is a mirror too.

The F7426 as listed in the 1926 catalog on page 34 has a spear blade and a sharp nail-file blade. The tip is not dull like on later files. The knife has half-stops, MOP handles, nickle-silver pins and brass liners.
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Before pics:
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After pics:
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Hi-res scans of another 2-1/4" shadow lobster. This time a Scissors Knife. The S8606 Shac from 1936 supplement.

Shown beside its bigger brother the 877, some handy pearlescent friends and the huge Schrade I*XL Texas Stock Knife.

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I recently added two more 2-1/4" Schrade Cut. Co. pearl lobsters to my collection. I just had to take some pics of them all together. Enjoy!
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Edited to add a comparison pic of the liners. All the pearl knives have milled nickel silver liners except for the knife with five visible pins. It's the one with no liners at all.
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I just cleaned up a 2-9/16" Schrade Cut. Co. Oval Lobster with smooth, sterling silver handles. This pattern can be found in the 1934 and 1936 supplements. There were a number of variations. My knife, with it's easy-open cut-out, is most similar to the 8729GOLD Shac as seen in the 1936 supplement. Sterling handles were not listed in the catalog as a standard option. I'm thinking it's likely a SFO (for "BB" ?) or perhaps "BB" bought the skeletons and put on the sterling handles themselves. Schrade would have called it a 8729SS Shac.
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Knife was super filthy when I got it. None of the blades would close on their own. The blade wells were full of nasty gunk. I gave it a complete clean and polish and now the handles are scratch free and gleaming. All three blades snap shut again. I decided not to be a perfectionist and started wet-sanding the blades at 1500 grit (instead of 600 grit). This removed the worst of the rust and scratches but left some faint staining and scratches. By the time I got to 10,000 grit all the blades had their mirror-polish back.
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I like that the initials are on the pile side and find the sharp cuts used for the font quite attractive.
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A pair of SS7099SI knives. One a salesman's sample, the other a SFO for I.T.E. Circuit Breaker Company. Their all stainless construction has kept them looking good for the past 80+ years.

First listed in the 1930 supplement. I.T.E. adopted that name for their company in 1928. This may have been when the SFO was ordered, or not.
https://www.npeinc.com/the-history-of-ite-low-voltage-circuit-breakers

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Three more 2-1/4" lobsters to add to my pod.

The Schrade Cut. Co. 5-pin, 2-blade MOP lobster has no liners at all and is in near-perfect shape. It would be tough to find a finer example. These particular knives didn't appear in any of the available Schrade Cut. Co. catalogs.

The 3-blade MOP 8606 is listed in the 1926 catalog. This knife would be a 8606SHA as it has a shackle added. It hasn't received the spa treatment yet. It will...
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Lastly, a Schrade Walden ultra-rarity. I haven't seen any other 2-1/4" lobsters bearing the Schrade Walden tang-stamp. They are not listed in any Schrade Walden catalogs. I thought these tiny lobsters were a Cut. Co.-only pattern but never say never with Schrade. I expect they had some old Cut. Co. parts still hanging around and put them to good use.

It has finely milled sterling silver handles and, thanks to the crisp engraving, was most likely made in 1950. Blades are fully mirror-polished.

All my other 2-1/4" lobsters have carbon blades but by 1950 Schrade Walden was using more and more stainless. This knife looks, walks and talks like new. Really cool find!

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These CEM Maniago Lobsters have curved jaw, flush cutting cuticle nippers.image.jpeg
 
These CEM Maniago Lobsters have curved jaw, flush cutting cuticle nippers.

Nice knives! This is the Schrade Collector's Forum though so all the knives posted in this particular Gent's Knife thread would preferably be made by Schrade. The Traditional Folders and Fixed Blades Forum would be an ideal spot for your lobsters. I like the unusual cuticle clipper option.
 
I didn't catch Schrade exclusivity angle. In fact, I posted 2 knives earlier that didn't raise a flag. I will take them all down if you wish. I have to add that cuticle nipper knives are my most used knives by far on account of this feature. They were made in the early 50's and are no longer produced because the skilled craftsmen who made them have disappeared. Skin tags and hang nails are easily dispatched by these precision tools.
 
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I didn't catch Schrade exclusivity angle. In fact, I posted 2 knives earlier that didn't raise a flag. I will take them all down if you wish. I have to add that cuticle nipper knives are my most used knives by far on account of this feature. They were made in the early 50's and are no longer produced because the skilled craftsmen who made them have disappeared. Skin tags and hang nails are easily dispatched these precision tools.

I don't think they necessarily have to go but please don't post any more. It's just not the right spot. I did indeed let your first post slide but after the second I figured you had missed the Schrade context.

Keep posting your lobsters somewhere! They are really nice.

Cheers!
 
I posted these in the Elusive Schrade thread but they fit in here too. Group shot shows my current pile of 2-1/4" lobster knives in pearl and sterling silver with a Shaw Leibowitz sterling handled coffin lobster as the centrepiece.

The two pearl ones that show 5-pins on the handle are the only duplicates. All the other little lobsters differ in some way. The "L.W. Inc." engraved knife is a Schrade Walden stamped rarity. There are a couple stamped for E. Weck and the rest are stamped Schrade Cut. Co.

The E. Weck knife with the "ES" shield was a bit of a mystery. I wasn't sure if that was someone's initials or a company logo. Recently I came across a second example online so I now think "ES" was a company back-in-the-day who bought a number of these knives as an SFO.

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The 2-1/4" Shaw Leibowitz handled coffin lobster was built on an old Cut. Co. skeleton that had been gathering dust at the factory for decades. In 1980 Schrade worked with Shaw Leibowitz to put these fine covers on the 95 or so coffin skeletons that they had in storage. Rumor has it "Uncle" Henry Baer gave some away as gifts. Pretty sweet gift!

I also found pics of a coffin pattern skeleton itself online. I include those too for information purposes. I think the serial number 43/100 on this knife is the smallest I've ever seen on a Schrade. That type is tiny as a tang stamp.

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