Keen Kutter and Shapleigh finds

I have this old Keen Kutter butcher knife. I hope it is ok to add it here. I also have a Keen Kutter corkscrew which I could photo if anyone is interested but I appreciate this will be off the knife theme.

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We are always interested in seeing your wonders, SK! I have never forgotten that knife, its incredible!!
 
Thanks very much Gevonovich. I'm glad you like it. I have this catalogue excerpt from 1915 generously provided by a friend. Note the typo Mo instead of No for the item number. I think my knife looks better than the one in the catalogue :)

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It is so interesting when one can find an old catalog with the exact knife you have in your possession. 1915!

and...what does Double column mean?
 
MerryMadMonk said:
Some key dates that apply to Keen Kutter knives:

(sources, except where otherwise noted: Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values, 4th Edition and Pocket-Knives ... both authored by Bernard Levine)

1902 - E.C. Simmons Hardware buys Walden Knife Company
1904 - Keen Kutter "wedge and bar" logo was adapted (source: The Hardware Companies Kollectors Klub or THCKK)
1921 - E.C. Simmons dies at age 82
1922 - E.C. Simmons Hardware merges with Winchester Repeating Arms Company
1923 - Walden Knife Company is liquidated and its equipment and staff moves to the Winchester plant in New Haven, CT
1930 - E.C. Simmons Hardware and Winchester go their separate ways
1940 - E.C. Simmons Hardware is acquired by its major competitor and St. Louis neighbor, Shapleigh Hardware
1960 - Shapleigh Hardware closes

--------------------------

So from about 1904 to about 1922, Keen Kutters were made by Walden Knife Company and from 1923 to about 1930 Keen Kutters were made at the Winchester plant (which used Walden's equipment and employed former Walden workers among others). From 1930 to 1940, I think Schrade Cutlery Company made Keen Kutters for E.C. Simmons (I'm going by patterns in Schrade catalogs of the period), but I'm not sure if Schrade was the sole contractor. I don't know who made the Keen Kutter for Shapleigh from 1940 to 1960, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Schrade was in the mix.
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Interesting note based on the timelines here, which I agree are accurate, is that while Simmon's and Winchester merged in 1922 and did not part ways 1930, Winchester branded knives had more patterns and pages in the Simmons's catalogs than Keen Cutter branded although KC occupied the first part of the catalog. This is at least true in the 1925 and 1930 catalogs I have. As I said, just a curiosity. Was KC a brand worth protecting while Winchester was the real money maker?
 
ptradeco said:
Interesting note based on the timelines here, which I agree are accurate, is that while Simmon's and Winchester merged in 1922 and did not part ways 1930, Winchester branded knives had more patterns and pages in the Simmons's catalogs than Keen Cutter branded although KC occupied the first part of the catalog. This is at least true in the 1925 and 1930 catalogs I have. As I said, just a curiosity. Was KC a brand worth protecting while Winchester was the real money maker?
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Not exactly that simple. Keen Kutter was the jobber branding of a wide variety of items from kitchenware to padlocks, pulleys, rakes, farm implements etc. Jobbers sold to merchants and there were few large hardware store chains like today. Remington was the marker dominator on knives and firearms. And they could demand that their customers buy their brand of knives if they wanted to buy their firearms. Acoording to Albert Baer,
"The dominant factor in the cutlery industry in the 1920's was the Remington Arms Company.... Remington, Winchester and Landers Frairy & Clark dominated the American pocket knife business. Any whoilesaler who didn't handle one of these three, plus a Henckel and Wostenholm, just wasn't in the business. Most others in business lived off of their scraps... Remington did what was called missionary work i.e. go to the stores with the jobbers, or alone, and sell the store and fill the order through the wholesaler. ...(no knives, no guns).
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So Simmons needed Winchester to compete with Remington.
 
smiling-knife said:
Thanks very much Gevonovich. I'm glad you like it. I have this catalogue excerpt from 1915 generously provided by a friend. Note the typo Mo instead of No for the item number. I think my knife looks better than the one in the catalogue :)

37_zps18591ed6.jpg
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I do too Steve.
 
Herb Walsh said:
A couple of weeks after finding the E.C. Simmons KEEN KUTTER knife I found this SHAPLEIGH HARDWARE knife....it cost me $15.00! Neat that Shapleigh bought out Simmons so I have a "series" going here. I think Shapleigh's top knife was called DIAMOND EDGE so this is not the top of the line?
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Herb,
Is there no markings on the reverse of the tang,or could they be worn off (pictures ?). Goins says the DE trademark was started in 1864,but that the exact markings on the earlier knives,he did not know.

As Charlie said,I also believe this is an early mark,just not pre 1864. The jigging seems at least around WWI??
 
Codger_64 said:
….. they wanted to buy their firearms. Acoording to Albert Baer,

So Simmons needed Winchester to compete with Remington.
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I do not disagree. Much the same as today with the big box stores. They all have their own private label along with the named brands. You could find almost anything in a Simmon's store with the Keen Kutter brand as with Shapleigh and the DE brand. Toys, dishes, linens, etc. and not just tools. Pretty much the same as a private label today. Additionally, the last pages of the Keen Kutter, (and I should have specified this earlier, Keen Kutter Cutlery Catalog) also gives space to Remington. Albeit only a couple of pages.


My apologies to the OP. Gotten a bit far off course with a couple of my posts.
 
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wlfryjr said:
Herb,
Is there no markings on the reverse of the tang,or could they be worn off (pictures ?). Goins says the DE trademark was started in 1864,but that the exact markings on the earlier knives,he did not know.

As Charlie said,I also believe this is an early mark,just not pre 1864. The jigging seems at least around WWI??
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I will have to get it out and look again, but I don't think there is anything on the opposite side of the tang.
 
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Gevonovich said:
Great work, Jon!! 1917!!
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I really appreciate your encouragement Gevonovich :-). I suggest people to read the links below for more details than Im quoting.

Origin of the Keen Kutter brand:
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/tools-and-hardware/keen-kutter
"One night in the mid-1860s, Edward Campbell Simmons, a junior partner at Waters, Simmons and Company, a St. Louis hardware wholesaler, went to bed agitated. He had just had a sales call with the manufacturer of the wildly popular Lippincott axe, whose thin blade worked best on soft woods—the manufacturer had refused to reduce Simmons’ price to a competitive rate. Simmons woke up with a start and, in the middle of the night, began to whittle a prototype of an even thinner axe.

As Saunders Norvell, who spent 30 years working for Simmons, wrote in his book, “Forty Years of Hardware,” “When it was finished to [Simmons’] satisfaction, without any premeditation, he wrote in pencil on the fresh pine wooden axe: Keen Kutter. The next day he started out to find a manufacturer who would make his new axe, and he succeeded.

The company’s famous “wedge and bar” logo, which looks like a slice of pizza with a banner over it, was introduced in 1905 and trademarked in 1906"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keen_Kutter
"It represents the tooth of a saw through a piece of wood."

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After reading the above links, I would say the Keen Kutter logo could also be the Axe head on which the Keen Kutter name originated.
Keen Kutter Axe, post 1905?
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http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/KeenKutter/KeenKutter.htm
"Simmons gained controlling interest in Walden Knife in 1902. All Keen Kutter knives were made by Walden until 1922"
1917 Catalog, note they call jigged bone "STAG", and the last line lists Spey as a blade option.
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/KeenKutter/KeenKutter-pg19-36.pdf
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A Spey Keen Kutter model K505, I think its a Walden, and Im really excited, I was the only bidder.. Keen Karma:
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http://www.knivesillustrated.com/ki-1210-qa/
“The recollection of quality remains long after the price is forgotten.”
 
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Jon, You've been a busy man. Thanks for your efforts here and in other threads... I always learn something. And congratulations on your new Keen Kutter!
 
I hope it is OK to post this early 1900s Keen Kutter corkscrew. I thought it would be of interest, albeit a little off topic.

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Great read, Jon!

Fantastic example of the quality of Keen Kutter, SK! I am glad you shared it here too.
 
E.C. Simmons Keen Kutter Jack Knife
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Close-up of tang stamps
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Beside a GEC Tidioute #15 Boys Knife
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E.C. Simmons Keen Kutter Easy Open Jack, 3 3/8 inches
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Close-up of tang stamps
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Pure goodness, Al!! What a joy it must be to handle and own those two...wow. The tang stamp on the ebony is perfect
 
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