Visiting Arthur Wright & Son (Pics)

VCM3 said:
Thanks for once again another outstanding thread Jack :thumbsup: I recently got it quite a load of Wright stamped knives to consign. I do believe 1970's vintage. Post 66 shows recent stag in this knife style & it kind of confirms what I thought,that the stags I have from that vintage appear to be of higher grade. Also,some knives I have are stamped J T Wright & Daughter. Now my quick research tells me,that these were made possibly to export to Canada exclusively,but I am not sure of this. So if anyone knows,please let me know. I have sold quite a few so far with no complaints. I thought it was a very cool find,to be able to offer .
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Thanks a lot Vince :) Wow, that sounds like quite a find my friend :thumbsup: I've not heard of 'J T Wright & Daughter' stamps before, I'll see if I can find anything out on them, though of course the firm has transferred hands since then. Scottish stag is of very variable quality, and nowhere near as dense as either US or Indian stag. Sheffield cutlers always used Indian (Sambar) stag, but then, for reasons which are still a bit of a mystery, the Indian Government banned the export of stag. Since then, it's been difficult for the Sheffield cutlers to source good quality stag, particularly since the dog-chew market, of all things, has inflated the price many times over. Herder and I had a long discussion about stag with John Maleham, and John was telling us that certain breeds of deer transfer urine to their antlers, and then to trees, to mark their territory. The resin of these trees, pine trees in particular, then stains the antlers. Most British deer apparently don't have this characteristic, or it has been bred out of them, so the antler is pale by comparison. Currently, Wright's are managing to source stag from Pere David's deer, and also some Sambar. Here's a pic of Sambar compared to typical Scottish stag, which is much more open and porous.

 
Thanks for posting all the additional photos, Jack! Fascinating to see! :thumbsup:
 
If I had to guess I'd say these are India Sambar

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These were marked JT Wright & Daughter Sheffield England
 
Not marked but the original stickers say A Wright & Son

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These are JT Wright & Daughter & real nice quality

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Some smaller hunters marked A Wright & Son & you can see the stag,whatever species it is,a lot nicer than on post 66
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So I do not know if it is a different stag species or since the vintage is older,the quality is up,but I figured those pictures should be added to this particular thread,you may never see knives like them again ? I just do not know enough about this particular company to know if that's so.
 
That's some history there Vince :thumbsup: I think that would definitely be Sambar, it was all that was used in Sheffield until the Indian stag ban.

Here's an older one PMEW sent me a while back
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Jack Black said:
Scottish stag is of very variable quality, and nowhere near as dense as either US or Indian stag. Sheffield cutlers always used Indian (Sambar) stag, but then, for reasons which are still a bit of a mystery, the Indian Government banned the export of stag. Since then, it's been difficult for the Sheffield cutlers to source good quality stag, particularly since the dog-chew market, of all things, has inflated the price many times over. Herder and I had a long discussion about stag with John Maleham, and John was telling us that certain breeds of deer transfer urine to their antlers, and then to trees, to mark their territory. The resin of these trees, pine trees in particular, then stains the antlers. Most British deer apparently don't have this characteristic, or it has been bred out of them, so the antler is pale by comparison.
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Sambar stags urinate in muddy wallows along their territorial boundaries. They will regularly visit these wallows to 'refresh' them, tearing up the ground and rolling in the mud. Some select trees near wallows have especially high mud stains plastered over their trunks and branches, made by stags standing up on their hind legs and scraping mud off their sides and antlers. These are called 'Preaching Trees.'

Sambar antlers are cast off annually and regrow the next season. Good conditions in any given year, take two annual cycles to manifest as improved antler growth.

The antlers actually are soft living tissue while they are growing, which progressively calcifies and hardens as the fine network of blood vessels narrows and finally closes, and dries.

As this is presumably extremely itchy and uncomfortable, stags will scrape their remnant 'velvet' off on favoured trees - with suitably hard, rough bark. Sometimes they will thrash young eucalypt saplings to shreds with their itching antlers.

The favoured tree of Sambar in Victoria, Australia (where they are one of the most plentiful introduced deer) for this purpose is wild cherry.

Here is a picture I took a couple of weekends ago, showing some fresh Sambar antler 'in the rough' - you can clearly see the reddish colour staining from the fibres of wild cherry tree bark packed into the gnarling of the antler.

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Chin, you are a mine of information, my friend :thumbsup: Antler is something I've not given a lot of thought to in the past, and I had thought that Sambar stag antler came only from India (something I don't think I'm alone in). That's a nice bit of stag there. Maybe the Sheffield cutlers could source it elsewhere than India :thumbsup:

I remember we had a good chat with Stan Shaw about stag :)
 
Jack Black said:
Chin, you are a mine of information, my friend :thumbsup: Antler is something I've not given a lot of thought to in the past, and I had thought that Sambar stag antler came only from India (something I don't think I'm alone in). That's a nice bit of stag there. Maybe the Sheffield cutlers could source it elsewhere than India :thumbsup:

I remember we had a good chat with Stan Shaw about stag :)
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Kinda like striking a " vein" ,huh Jack ;)? WTG Chin :thumbsup:
 
Jack Black said:
Chin, you are a mine of information, my friend :thumbsup: Antler is something I've not given a lot of thought to in the past, and I had thought that Sambar stag antler came only from India (something I don't think I'm alone in). That's a nice bit of stag there. Maybe the Sheffield cutlers could source it elsewhere than India :thumbsup:

I remember we had a good chat with Stan Shaw about stag :)
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Thanks, Jack.

Yes, Sambar deer were first introduced here in Victoria during the 1850s, IIRC, by local 'Acclimatization Societies.' The objective of these groups was to spread 'beautiful and useful' plant and animal species all throughout the British Empire. The Australian herd derive mainly from Sri Lanka - Ceylon at the time.

I have visited a local deer farm that had Sambar on them, and I remember the farmer's wife complaining about what a trial it was wrapping Sambar antlers to put in the post to local custom knifemakers.

Sambar are classified as a game animal in Victoria, but have become so numerous in recent years that there is hot debate as to whether to declare them a pest animal.

Yes, I remember that conversation with Stan and you fondly. I recall that Stan didn't rate other antler material at all, and showed us how he carefully thinned out the back of his Sambar stag covers, so as to preserve the texture and character of the knobbly front sides.
 
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Many thanks to everyone for this thread, I have been busy of late, but it sure is nice to take a break and have a read! Just the right mixture of information to please the mind, photos to please the eye (although at times I must turn away to avoid an overwhelming twinge of envy!), and just enough use of subtle puns. Nice!
 
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Good bit of info on the feral deer situation Chin.
In my backyard the feral Javan or Moluccan Rusa is in plague proportions-no predators.
Introduced into the Royal national park southern sydney in 1880s they quickly escaped.They thought it would be nice to make it look more English.
Hunting is legally restricted in NSW national parks to contract shooters. The area where I live is the Illawarra escarpment and home to upwards of 3000 such deer.
The Rusa is not as large as Sambar but has pound for pound the biggest antlers of any deer(so i'm told).
I see those shredded up saplings all the time on my wanders and a wallow is not hard to detect from the stench they leave behind.
I pruned the neighbours giant privet tree 2 days ago and left the loppings in my garden. When I went to chop it up for the green bin this morning I noticed that most of the foliage had been nibbled off.
A couple of weeks ago there was a herd in the street where i dropped one of the scouts off home about 9pm.
I had to toot them to get off the road. One had his new looking velvety antlers on. they scattered into the park via peoples gardens. Wonder if you have heard of the Rusa /Sambar hybrids in Nthn Vic or Gippsland.
apologies Jack- slightly off topic- I believe most of the antler from Australian deer farms is processed into "medicine" type powdered products for ther Korean and Japanese market and tourists.
 
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It sounds like Sheffield should be looking to Australia for its stag! :thumbsup:
 
Forgive me everyone,I did not ever intend to hijack this thread and turn it into a stag thread. I was merely pointing out and asking,the differences of the stag now vs a few decades ago,and,this was brought on by my lack of knowledge about this company,wich seems to still produce knives. I know little about

So in the cache of knives that came n,again,my guess 1970's,this one. Duncan told me the name,I already forgot :oops: It isun marked,but going by the sheath it has to be more A Wright stuff

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Just says Sheffield England

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These were unmarked too,only Sheffield England

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Same with these, Sheffield England only

I found an on line retail outlet on the internet,it seems some of these same styles are being produced by A Wright
 
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