A Tale of a Very Rare Cattaraugus Whittler, Book, and Letter

dma1965

dma1965

Joined
Mar 9, 2013
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408
A few weeks ago I saw someone selling a book on eBay called "How To Whittle" printed by Cattaraugus. It looked interesting, so I bid for it and won. It is a small book, in excellent condition, and in it was a letter from Cattaraugus which promoted their official Boy Scouts Whit-L-Kraft knife. The book was printed in 1931, so the letter is probably that old as well.

The knife was pictured on the back cover, and was unlike any whittler I had ever seen. It had some unique tools, one being a combination bottle opener, screwdriver, scraper and the other being a small curved chisel blade. All of this could be had for a whopping $1.50 back then!

I was sure that I would never see one of these knives, but then one turned up last week on eBay. There it was. The exact knife I had seen in the book, and in great condition.

Needless to say, I made my bid, and this turned into a bidding war. I paid more than I should have, perhaps (certainly a lot more than the original $1.50), but I just had to have it.

Well, I won, and now have the complete "set". As I said, the knife is in excellent shape, with a bit of patina all over, but the blades are tight and the bone handles are very sweet and crack free.

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Awesome finds (book, letter, and knife). Makes a really interesting set that will only get better with time.
 
I love old Catts and that book and letter is sensational! I don't blame you for paying what you needed to in order to get the exact knife. Well done!
 
That's a very nice set. Congrats on your find. You may have paid a bit more but I'm sure the satisfaction is PRICELESS!
Linus
 
Now that is what its all about!! Awesome and scout credits too!! And I leaned another thing from your letter...its goose not gus....huh. ~P is into owls and I like gooses:D Fantastic knife and thank for sharing the great set with us!!
 
The story is that Cat went to the Jamboree and actually talked to Scouts about what tools a Scout knife should have and, viola!, the Whitt-L-Kraft.

Isn't the chip-carving blade cool?

I have the book as well as several of the knives. I am jealous of your letter. Great item.
 
Fantastic, thanks for sharing :thumbup:
 
great set, it is interesting to hear the voices of the old cutlery makers that we revere so much, I'm curious about the Cat-a-raw-goose drawing - is that where the name came from or a joke that they make about their name?
 
That's a great set! It's nice to close the circle on something like that.
 
fatcorgi said:
great set, it is interesting to hear the voices of the old cutlery makers that we revere so much, I'm curious about the Cat-a-raw-goose drawing - is that where the name came from or a joke that they make about their name?
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Cattaraugus County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, founded in 1808. The county seat is Little Valley. The Champlins expanded into knife production, and along with William R. Case and his brothers, they formed Cattaraugus Cutlery in 1886, based in Little Valley.

Have to love the art work on that letter! ;):thumbup:
 
Good work putting that set together, dma!!
Imagine the thrill for a young person, getting a gift like that, or saving up for it!
 
Wow, Now THAT is what collecting is all about, great finds and Good on you for paying what it took to put these pieces back together.

Best regards

Robin
 
Primble said:
I love old Catts and that book and letter is sensational! I don't blame you for paying what you needed to in order to get the exact knife. Well done!
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I am not sure I would have fought to get the knife if the book and letter were not there. I am actually amazed that the book,and letter are in such remarkable shape after nearly 85 years, and that someone kept them as long as they did. The only thing that would make this even more perfect is the original box.
 
Very nice! I think I would have overpaid for the knife myself, to end up with that set.
 
Worth every penny, a slice of history! Congrats on finding and completing the set:thumbup:
 
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
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