Mr. Herder.
Questions...
Aluminum was not really produced (as a product) until the later 1/2 of 1886. Sort of simultaneously produced in both France, and the U.S..
My real question is do you know much more about the history of that knife?
In it's time it must have been a spectacular example of modern engineering, and use of an "exotic" new material.
I guess my point is that, that particular knife has to be the equivalent of the Holy Grail since it has to be one of the very first examples using this new metal (Aluminum).
Am I totally off base here? Did I miss something?
Side note:
You can certainly see the French influence in the handle design.
NICE Hatch Cutlery Lee and Neal, gotta love those Pruners Lee
Neal, what a piece of history/cutlery my friend. Duncan and I enjoyed our lunch with you the other day
Nice knives everyone- Longblade - Herder....... friends both of you guys thank you so much for the great knives and descriptions, this is one awesome Thread.
Neal - it was just fantastic meeting up with you the other day with Paul.
Paul and I enjoyed the chat immensely- although the food was rather ordinary which Paul was surprised at as it is usually quite good there - the company was awesome - a good lunch indeed!
You are right on base with your statements.
Yes, Aluminum was a rare metal in the mid to late 1800s, and was worth even more than gold or silver early on. Napoleon III is said to have served his primary dinner guests with aluminum utensils, while lesser guests were given utensils of gold. By the late 1800s though, aluminum was being produced at a more economical rate and was incredibly cheap to produce by the early 1900s. When this Hatch aluminum handled knife was made, prices were still fairly high and aluminum was a pretty exotic metal as you suggested. Hatch wasn't alone though and other cutlery companies from the US and Germany in particular were also using aluminum for handles. A good example is the "Press Button Knife Co." from 1892 to 1923 who also had many wonderful embossed aluminum handles on some of their knives.
Hmmm.
With the information I am reading on THIS thread more than others, I am leaning toward these "Old Knives" as my genre of interest.
I read a bit on "Scarcity vs Value". We all know that aluminum handled knife is priceless simply because it is so rare.
Yeah... I'm more of an old knife guy. The new stuff selling for thousands of dollars is worth a bucket of rocks to me.
I'm going to have to start this thread from page one, and see where it leads me.
Thanks guys!!!
Great knife Herder. I posted this Henckels with aluminum scales earlier this thread but since we are on the topic.
Nice Hatch pruner Longblade.
Here is another Hatch (curved stamp) model with beautiful aluminum handles which was based on Arthur Wilzin's patent from 1889. The little tabs at the ends on the handle are pressed to fire the blades partially open so that they are then easier to fully open with fingers. These models were on display at the Chicago Colombian Exposition in 1893.
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