A Brief Study On Swedges

The Smiling-Knife has just revised the age of the George Gill & Sons to nearly 100 years more recent than I thought. The year letter has been used for a few different years but the shape of the shield is probably 1933. Ah, well. You live & learn. - sulk- :p;)
 
Regardless of age, she's a little beauty. That's a fine penknife and a definitely worthy of a place in any collection.
 
smiling-knife said:
Regardless of age, she's a little beauty. That's a fine penknife and a definitely worthy of a place in any collection.
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Thanks, Steve. I now have 4 other knives to check the hallmarks of. (How's that for worst sentence construction of the evening?) :D

Cheers

David
 
dkonopinski said:
Anthony, here's my 1836 George Gill & Sons. (BHL is a mystery)

IMG_0034.jpg


Sorry, but I've no way of scanning in the picture from Tweedale. Perhaps some else can do so for you. It's on page 24.

David
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You should throw that in Vince's old knives thread. Nice knife.
 
smiling-knife said:
Regardless of age, she's a little beauty. That's a fine penknife and a definitely worthy of a place in any collection.
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Dave,

Thanks again for the contribution. I completely agree with S-K that she is a very fine looking and well built pen knife in her own right. No question about it. :thumbup:

~ ~ ><> ~ ~ ><> ~ ~ ><> ~ ~

If anyone else here has examples of very early 1800's(or before) slip joint pocket knives with the blades ground with the SWEDGE geometry, would you please post them here?!. Thanks in advance.


Anthony
 
smiling-knife said:
Sunnyd and others I don't know when the first swedges appeared on Sheffield knives. If I find something I'll be sure to add it here.

Here are pics of the knife shown earlier with the blades open as requested.

Needham2.jpg

Needham1.jpg
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(1) Thanks S-K! :) As always partner, all your efforts are very much appreciated!! :thumbup:.. Very much looking forward to any new evidence you can supply here in the near future from your stash of catalogue references or knives in your collection.

(2) OHH--MY--GOSH :eek:,, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL KNIFE YOUR EXAMPLE SHOWS HERE! :thumbup: :thumbup: :D

Best,

Anthony
 
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Somebody asked me about swedges and I thought it might be a nice time to give this one a bump for folks that haven't seen it.
 
Kerry and Tony,

Thanks a lot for that. That was really well thought out and informative. I'm just now 37 years old but every year age, is a year that I like slippies more.

I love reading threads like this.
 
Swedge - A type of big hammer, right? :p

Nice bump, good thread to go back through.
 
Besides the eye appeal, once you start to make multi blades you can see what cut swedges are about. I beleive Terry Davis referred to it as one of the hardest parts of making a knife. That makes it pretty hairy considering the knife is usually 75% or more finished and the chance of screwing up the knife at this stage of the game is not cool.Thanks for bumping this thread up!
Ken.
 
That was awesome !!! Thanks Kerry for sharing such useful knowledge, It all makes sense when someone who knows what there taking about breaks it down like that !! That's something that will stick with me and I think I can explain it to someone else. Thanks again.

Jason
 
Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but besides the difference in looks between the cut swedge and the drawn swedge, what other differences between the two are there? In other words, what dictates the use of one over the other? For instance in the stockman at the beginning of the thread the clip has cut swedges on both sides. Why do the spey and sheepsfoot have cut and drawn swedges instead of one or the other? Just curious. Thanks

Chuck
 
aggiebuilder2003 said:
Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but besides the difference in looks between the cut swedge and the drawn swedge, what other differences between the two are there? In other words, what dictates the use of one over the other? For instance in the stockman at the beginning of the thread the clip has cut swedges on both sides. Why do the spey and sheepsfoot have cut and drawn swedges instead of one or the other? Just curious. Thanks

Chuck
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Great question :thumbup:

Mostly, the choice of what style of swedge is employed on a particular blade is cutlers choice. On a multiblade, the choice is heavily influenced by the space that is needed for the blades to pass each other.

On the stockman in the OP, the master blade has cut swedges on both sides but it's only NEEDED on one side. A drawn swedge would have worked for clearance on the inside but a cut swedge gives more clearance and looks better on that blade IMHO. The swedge is put on the outside (mark side) for symetry/appearance only.

Cut swedges offer maximum clearance which begins right at the plunge near the tang. Drawn swedges offer maximum clearance only at the center of the swedge. Those differences in position of clearance along the length of a particular blade will generally make the choice for the wise cutler.

BTW, nice pix Campbell!
 
Great thread. Dang, everytime Kerry opens his mouth in it I learn something. :D.

Thank you Kerry and the gang who put some awesome knives up as examples.
 
Kerry
Terrific thread, it is great to read and learn about knifes but seeing the photos and the explanations is fantastic. Thanks for the well done write up.

Thanks to all who added info.

Bob
 
forgive me for posting so late on this thread but, one other thing i like about the swedges is that is saves your pockets by not being so "jagged." i love swedges! this is an interesting thread to read. thank you so much!
 
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