Any love for Cotton Samplers?

draggat

draggat

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I received a pretty cool present from my wife today; the Queen Classic Cotton Sampler. I tend to enjoy some of the more odd patterns and this one definitely fills the bill.

One thing I have to say is that this particular knife has absolutely stellar fit and finish. I'm not sure exactly when this one was manufactured, but it's every bit as good as the best GEC I own. Absolutely no gaps anywhere, even when shining a light through it. All of the grinds are even, the spring is flush in all three positions. Well, maybe 1/64" proud at half stop, which is better than virtually all of my GEC's. The walk and talk is very crisp at around 6+ pull. Shield is pinned and the bone is a knockout.

I literally can not find any faults with this knife other than its not what I consider the most useful blade shape. If Queen pulled this off almost every time, I'd consider buying many more of their knives. The steel is BG42, which I've never used, but is supposed to be a good stainless.

The blade shape looks like it would make a great skinner and as for the flat, unsharpened portion, I was thinking it would work pretty well for striking a fire steel.

*I forgot to mention that this is the first Queen knife I've ever received that came with an insanely sharp edge. It's a fairly thin edge and the bevels look pretty even, which is usually the opposite in my experience. This thing is hair whittling sharp!

If you have a Cotton Sampler, lets see it!









 
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that blade shape has always looked sinister to me. i could never get into it
 
draggat, I LOVED the BG-42 steel and grinds on Queen's Burke collaboration cattle knife. I've never owned a cotton sampler (never sampled cotton either ;) ) but it is an interesting pattern and I also enjoy "odd patterns" (odd for today anyway). From what I've heard/remembered and possibly understood, the flat portion is for rolling cotton fibers.

The Daniels Family mark on the tang indicates that it was made relatively recently. Good to hear that the fit and finish is very good since I have my sights on the Queen/Ruple collaboration sowbelly.

It was a nice gift from you wife. How does that saying go.... Happy wife, happy life... or Happy wife, and gifted a new traditional knife?? ;)
 
I suppose the knife does almost have a sort of recurved tanto shape to it.... I have a few of those evil looking modern ones as well! At any rate, it's not so sinister on a slip joint..... At least not in my eyes!

Thanks Jake, we've been together a while and yes, buying me knives like this, I think she's happy. We like to indulge each other's interests.

I figured it was relatively recently made, but not sure exactly when. I suppose a bit of research is in order and I will do my best to update in the near future. I hope that Queen/Ruple is a winner! I was actually surprised at how good the fit and finish is on this one. I also love everything about the bone on this one. The color and the jigging pattern really hit the mark for me. Too bad it's not a Queen or S&M standard. All of the materials on this knife would make me a Queen fanatic if they matched the fit and finish as well.

I had read about the flat portion being used to roll cotton fibers. I'd be curious to see someone actually do it. Imagination is one thing, but i doubt many cotton buyers actually do such a thing these days.
 
I love these unusual knives, thank you for posting. This one has a lot of charm. The colour of the bone makes it perfect. Though I have not had any good experiences with any of the Queen knives I have purchased, I have now placed an order for one of these. Hopefully it will not be a disappointment regarding fit and finish.
 
Second right, cotton sampler by Amherst Cutlery. One of the very few knives I regret I sold

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Mike
 
wolfeknives said:
I love these unusual knives, thank you for posting. This one has a lot of charm. The colour of the bone makes it perfect. Though I have not had any good experiences with any of the Queen knives I have purchased, I have now placed an order for one of these. Hopefully it will not be a disappointment regarding fit and finish.
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If you remember, please post here what your experience with the knife is. I'd love to see Queen's fit and finish stay at the level of my particular knife.
 
I love to read about the history behind certain patterns, and like the looks of the cotton sampler. The Case Bose version and the Queen versions are the only ones I've seen in person. I've seen a few older ones here and on some Facebook groups. If I found one at a good price (good price for me), I would get one. Usefulness? Possibly for skinning, they were quite large in my opinion.
 
Very intriguing knife and that buffalo bone is just flat out gorgeous! I don't know that I would ever pick one up, except maybe as a curiousity, or as a historical addition to a collection.

Draggat, if you find yourself carrying it, let us know as a follow-up what you found yourself using it for. What tasks did it excel at, where something like a wharnie or clip would not have done as well. Conversely, what did you find it didn't handle as well. Thanks in advance (and thanks for showing off that beauty).
 
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Ratbert said:
Oops, my bad. Buffalo bone, not horn. 😳
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Well, looks like I halfway read the distributor's description and then just imagined the rest! I went back and looked at his site and he offers two of these knives, one in bone handles and one in buffalo horn. But the description for both list the horn, although that's obviously wrong. I guess I saw the bone picture on his site, read "buffalo horn" and just translated that into buffalo bone. Need to polish my reading comprehension skills.

One thing I am right about, draggat's knife is gorgeous!
 
Thanks Ratbert!

To be completely honest, it's doubtful this one will see pocket time. If it ever does, I will certainly be sure to relay my impressions. While I do use some of the knives I buy, a lot of them are just for CEing and CFing. :D. I don't think this one will kick the pruner out of my pocket.
 
I love the more obscure patterns and especially this one. Never had one but it always looked like a good skinning knife to me.
 
I did see the one in Buffalo horn originally, then the bone one here was put up maybe I thought i had missed something. Very Nice in bone. Unusual pattern which rears it's head up every so often. I have one of the Case/Bose collaberation Cotton Samplers a superb example.
 
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