"Old Knives"

[Mike Robuck]

That's a cool knife Augie. Haven't seen one like it before.

 

[LongBlade]

Nice knives all - really enjoyed the kits which were all in awesome condition ...

LF&C Boys Knife - Cocobolo and 3 1/4" closed. Always nice to find an LF&C knife without black rubberoid handles or celluloid

 

[veitsi_poika]

Picked up this 4"shadow pattern Schrade Cut Co grafting knife, close to unused condition, pile side of blade is flat. Always wonder how a knife can make it 80 years without being used.

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Ebony... and Ivory, live together in perrrrfect... har-mo-ny

 

[veitsi_poika]

Picked up this cool pen knife the other day... by deductive reasoning I'm thinking this one was produced around 1933 But then again in the world of knife production, who knows?

 

[smiling-knife]

Nice knife Kevin. I have one from Philadelphia about the same time as your's. This one made by D Peres of Solingen.

 

[veitsi_poika]

General question, if you were to explain the definition of a "boys knife" to someone like myself (new to the knife world and primarily interested in older knives) how would you explain it? I thought maybe there was a definite size limit, handle material, pattern, etc. but I have seen quite the variety... even just looking at Charlie and Dave's Boys Knife display for the Oregon show it's hard to see a definite "pattern". My best guess right now is that they are the body shape of the LF&C that Lee posted above, 3" to 3-1/2" closed length, with 1 or 2 blades on one end and a lanyard shackle. Is that about right?

 

[waynorth]

They don't always have lanyard shackles, Kevin. But your sizes are about right, IMO.

 

[Duckdog]

Kevin, Bernard Levine describes them as "a small (3 1/2 inch or under) regular jack or curved regular jack, ordinarily with a single spear blade, Some have a pen blade as well." All of the examples he shows are single bolstered bareheads. Originally, they were very cheaply made and sold for little, but were sturdy, according to Levine.
- Stuart

 

[matfox]

Great blades, folks!
Never seen a skyline on a handle, nor such a curved blade like on the schrade.
The cocobolo on the LF&C looks great and nearly free from cracks.
I recently bought a similar sized congress from 1886-1963 (period of time given from the seller).

 

[LongBlade]

Kevin, smiling-knife and nifebrite - lovely knives ...

General question, if you were to explain the definition of a "boys knife" to someone like myself (new to the knife world and primarily interested in older knives) how would you explain it? I thought maybe there was a definite size limit, handle material, pattern, etc. but I have seen quite the variety... even just looking at Charlie and Dave's Boys Knife display for the Oregon show it's hard to see a definite "pattern". My best guess right now is that they are the body shape of the LF&C that Lee posted above, 3" to 3-1/2" closed length, with 1 or 2 blades on one end and a lanyard shackle. Is that about right?

Just my opinion Kevin which agrees with Charlie ... 3 1/2" was no doubt the max closed length - I personally think most were between 2 3/4 - 3 1/4" - with single or double blade... as Charlie said not all had a bail for a chain... however with the background research herder and I had done we found that in fact not all were regular barehead jacks - in fact some of the fancier variety were made with rear bolsters on the regular jack frame... This was supported , for example, by a Montgomery Wards catalog cut for boys knives from 1895 - there was probably 18 different boys knives and some of them had rear bolsters and a few examples had scratted bone, a few had shields, one was actually a wharncliffe frame and one other a clip blade and pen in a fancy frame and called a boys hunting knife - perhaps for the more "wealthy" boys... some of them were abit fancier and even used ivory and MOP (imagine MOP in a boys hands - bet that didn't last long without a crack )... I guess what I am saying is that the majority were barehead regular jacks but others didn't fit that mold ...

 

[Jack Black]

You folks have posted some real beauties over the past half dozen pages I struggle to keep up with this thread these days, but it is always a treat when I do

Wow - this thread is moving along at high speed again ... Beautiful knives all and I am so far behind I can't even recap - I admit I was out playing in the Golden Age of Sheffield thread ... Cool Richards knives Kevin and Jack - and very cool jack that your family was involved with that cutlery Sweet pruners from Charlie (nice lineup ) and Augie which are awesome

...

Interesting Charlie (and all) that when one looks across the hawkbill blades that companies seem to differ to a degree on the exact profile - it seems that some blades were broader and some had a definite "bill" - others had less of a broad profile and not a deep long sweeping curve and associated "bill" point - I hope that makes sense... in fact when one looks across old catalog cuts you can see exactly the original blade profiles and how much sharpening may or may not have changed the profile... in fact some companies made a few different hawkbills that sported different blade profiles... just some rambling on my part here

Anyway here are a few more of mine - one is a Russell Green River to compliment the ones posted by Augie and herder with what I believe is a fairly full blade. The other is a Platts N'Field - that knife dates from the earlier 1900s when Ray Platts starting making knives from Northfield parts and stamping them Platts N'Field... I think Ray Platts may have been considered the first knife cobbler - just kidding!!! Platts N'Field knives are not too common... anyway thanks for looking!

Russell Green River Hawkbill -

Platts N'Field -

Cheers
Lee

Thanks a lot Lee, those are beautiful Pruners

Now if this doesn't bring a smile to your face..... post (10644) ... so very cool.

Thanks Dwight, that one is a ways back I'm not sure what I've done with that particular pic, but here that knife is on the blade of one of Charlie's Barlows

Nice examples V.P., LongBlade, and S. K.

Richards was to England as Imperial was to the United States, except Richards had more fun with their knives.
Here is a Richards souvenir knife from circa 1960s.

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Great to see that one again, I love the old Richards displays and packaging

Going back to Jack Black and the Francis Newton knife... Spotted this in Goins

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I'd almost forgotten about that! If only they were still going

 

[ea42]

Beautiful knives Kevin, Nifebrite and Lee. Jack that's the smallest knife I've ever seen!!

Here's one from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, aka the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. Made by Walden Knife Co:







Eric

 

[waynorth]

Nice Walden, Eric. I wonder if modern cutleries could do those handles in a cost effective manner???

 

[Gevonovich]

I'll follow that tiny tot with an even smaller one: standing small at 2.75" an Imperial stockman from 1935-1945, and a Golden Rule Cutlery Co. (Chicago, 1911-1921) swell center whittler, a whopping 3.5".

- Stuart

Something about that old whittler that I really like...wow !!

 

[veitsi_poika]

Beautiful knives Kevin, Nifebrite and Lee. Jack that's the smallest knife I've ever seen!!

Here's one from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, aka the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. Made by Walden Knife Co:

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Eric

That's a really cool knife Eric If you are interested in that type of history and have never watched the PBS series by Ken Burns called "Lewis & Clark", I'd recommend watching it

 

[Wurrwulf]

Wow! I really like that big crescent nail (k)nick on that Walden!

 

[veitsi_poika]

New arrival... Utica ~3-7/8" Muskrat knife

 

[W.M.B.]

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I cant seem to make the image appear, but the link works for me. I hope you can see it. its a camillus stock knife, 40s I think, in unused, unsharpened original condition except for some slight patina. I was shocked to find it at the local antique fair for a very reasonable price and couldnt wait to show it off. now of course my technical issues are preventing me. I also picked up a Vancamp jack that I wanted to see what people thought as far as age and maker, but im having no luck with photos at the moment....

 

[W.M.B.]

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[W.M.B.]