3.5" OVB Harness Jack

KnifeHead

KnifeHead

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
5,561
This is a 3.5" OVB Harness Jack with main blade and leather punch. The main blade is stamped OVB on the mark side and 1326 on the pile side. The leather punch is stamped PAT'D I171,422 The mark in front of the first numeral 1 isn't stamped the same as the 1's. We think the handle is ebony. It is iron bolsters and brass liners. Still works and looks great. Tony picked this up at a fun little swap meet in Coal City.

tbovbhrnsjck1.jpg


tbovbhrnsjck2.jpg


tbovbhrnsjck3.jpg
 
That's a Camillus knife right? How I wish Camillus was still making slipjoints like that today.
 
Great pictures Kerry of a cool old knife, but that knife in the sand is freaking me out.
 
The punch on this knife, with the spiral grooves, was designed by James E. Fuller, and he received a patent in 1916. New York Knife Co. got the rights to the design, and very likely made that knife for H.S.&B.
 
Sweet knife! Thanks for posting. I knew I could count on Waynorth to provide info on the punch. He's made HJ believers out of a lot of us.
 
I can't resist commenting on punches and Harness Jacks! Obsessed comes to mind!
Here's an OVB (lower right), again, likely made by NYK. I've seen the same bone on other NYKs. It has Owen L. Harrison's punch of 1902 patent date. Interestingly, it carries the correct patent number, but the design was changed. You astute knife lookers-at and fondlers-of probably saw the laminated tangs on these. The Harrison punch here was originally designed with a full thickness blade continuous with the tang, but somewhere, maybe to ease production by using thinner more easily bent steel for the punch, the tang was thickened with the extra piece.
Then along came James E. Fuller and added the spiral grooves (Tony's knife), and a new patent was achieved!! 1902 for Harrison, then 1916 for Fuller. The punches are essentially identical except for the grooves.
The dates suggest that my knife is pre-1916, and Tony's is post-1916, but it would be nice to have more proof.
Advertisingpays.jpg

If you BF'ers don't want to hear all this minutia, let me know!!!!:D
 
Interesting to know that the Harrison punch started with a one-piece tang. I only have one, on a NYKC cattle knife, and it is the two-piece design.
 
Waynorth...I second the motion by muskrat man. You have to let that stuff outta ya or it will fester :) Thanks for posting that.

JpN...I agree with the bone. When it's done right it lasts and gets even better with time.
 
Waynorth...is there anything interesting about the little "l" mark preceding the first one in the PAT'D number? Do you think it is just an errant tool mark from the stamping process? It is significantly deeper than the numerals and wider at the bottome than it is at the top.
 
Kerry, the actual patent number is 1,171,422 so it is correct, and the "I" is intended to be a 1. Maybe they had trouble with the stamp. I have seen anomalies, where a stamp is broken/ missing a piece, or doesn't strike squarely. Maybe they filled it in later with a different tool.
I know patents were a big deal when it came to punches back then. Most patents that we see are dated in the first twenty years of the last century, and the various punches were a source of commerce between cutleries.
 
waynorth said:
Kerry, the actual patent number is 1,171,422 so it is correct, and the "I" is intended to be a 1. Maybe they had trouble with the stamp. I have seen anomalies, where a stamp is broken/ missing a piece, or doesn't strike squarely. Maybe they filled it in later with a different tool.
I know patents were a big deal when it came to punches back then. Most patents that we see are dated in the first twenty years of the last century, and the various punches were a source of commerce between cutleries.
Click to expand...

Very cool info. Thank you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top