An unusual Colonial

Absintheur

Absintheur

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Jan 31, 2008
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Or it is to me at least. I have seen hundreds of these but with a spear blade and a screwdriver blade. This was the first I have seen that had three blades built into it, in addition to the two already mentioned it has a hawk's bill as well. I bought this mainly on a whim...my Grandfather was involved in mining a goodly portion of his life both in the coal mines in Kentucky, Illinois, etc, as well as in open pits. I still have his Hawk's Bill knife in my collection. No model number and the spear and hawk blades are marked as shown with the screwdriver blade carrying a patent #.

colmine1.jpg


colmine2.jpg
 
IIRC, the three blade variation of the electricians knife with the hawksbill was sometimes called a janitor's knife -- don't know how rare the Colonial version of it might be, but other companies made very similar ones, though you won't see a lot of them either. I would guess that the pattern was probably not a runaway commercial success -- taking an already plenty sturdy pattern and adding another spring and a big hawksbill blade to it must turn it into a bit of a chunk.
 
Actually in hand it feels good, I used the screwdriver blade on a rifle stock and that fat handle was very comfortable. Actually it isn't that much fatter than my soddie or camp knives. The bail makes it easy to carry on a belt clip.

I do find it interesting that the hawksbill evidently was favored by miners, doesn't seem like the most useful blade but as my Grandfather's shows signs of extended use there must of been a reason.
 
Absintheur, I have the exact same knife, it came out of WV. It says Carroll Inc Logan WV on it. I was trying to post a pic, but cant get it to load on my computer. I will try and get some pics up this evening when the wife gets home.
 
absintheur my guess is the hawksbill was used to remove chunks from equipment & tools. in any case my heart goes out to coalminers since such a tedious occupation must have weighed heavy on their spirits.i've worked hard at manual labor all my life but coalmining is my idea of Dantes Inferno.
 
Case made the electrician's knife in both two and three blade configurations.

The 12031 LR had the standard spear master blade and screwdriver blade.

The 13031 LHR had those two blades plus the "hawkbill" blade...three backsprings. Similar to the Colonial knife pictured.

In the mid 70's the three blade version was discontinued, and later Case introduced the 12031 LHR...a two blade version with the "hawkbill" blade in place of the spear master blade.

In their catalogs from 1967-1977 Case listed both the two blade and three blade versions as "ELECTRICAN'S - JANITOR"...apparently indicating that in addition to being useful for the electrician, these knives would be good choices for the handyman or janitor. Remember these were the days long before the Leatherman tool.
 
My dad worked the coal mines up till the time he joined the Air Force to get out of them...lol. I have thanked him for doing so or I might have grown up in the mines. Of course today it is far different than it was in my Grandfather's day. My Grandfather was a mine engineer, he was often the first in after a mine collapse mounting either rescue or body recovery efforts. Here is his Kutmaster along with my new acquisition...

hawkbills.jpg
 
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