"Black Box" Winchesters

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Will Power said:
Hard to say, there are some who used to claim it was a large consignment of Rogers Bone from before WW2 that Queen got hold of. Might be true, might be fanciful myth?

Either way, it's very attractive stuff.

Regards, Will
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Bill reiterated a version of this story at a Rendezvous picnic!!
I'm fuzzy on some of the details!!
Queen came into a large amount of Rogers bone!! Some had to be redyed!!
 
waynorth said:
Bill reiterated a version of this story at a Rendezvous picnic!!
I'm fuzzy on some of the details!!
Queen came into a large amount of Rogers bone!! Some had to be redyed!!
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Bill Howard told us a similar story at the unofficial Rendezvous picnic in 2020. I too am fuzzy on the details, but I’m pretty sure Bill said that the Rogers bone did come from the Utica factory. He also talked about getting those old jigging machines working again. My Brother-in-Law has a better memory than me. Maybe he can add anything he remembers from that conversation with Mr. Howard. ( Manofcarbonsteel Manofcarbonsteel )
 
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Travman Travman
waynorth waynorth

thats what Charlie Parker writes to his Winchester Black Box Knife Sales on ebay:

''This knife features the great looking brass pinned old style Genuine Bone (cattle bone) scales. My father, the late Jim Parker, and Charlie Dorton were great friends. Charlie and my dad dealt for years as they were both instrumental in the development of the Case Classic program. Blue Grass Cutlery holds the license agreement for these Winchester knives and when Charlie was a partner in Blue Grass, he told my father that this Genuine Bone used on these late 1980's produced knives, was actually antique age Genuine Bone that he acquired from the Utica Knife Factory.''
 
JoKr said:
Travman Travman
waynorth waynorth

thats what Charlie Parker writes to his Winchester Black Box Knife Sales on ebay:

''This knife features the great looking brass pinned old style Genuine Bone (cattle bone) scales. My father, the late Jim Parker, and Charlie Dorton were great friends. Charlie and my dad dealt for years as they were both instrumental in the development of the Case Classic program. Blue Grass Cutlery holds the license agreement for these Winchester knives and when Charlie was a partner in Blue Grass, he told my father that this Genuine Bone used on these late 1980's produced knives, was actually antique age Genuine Bone that he acquired from the Utica Knife Factory.''
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If I remember it. A few months earlier to the rendezvous I picked a Standard Knife Co trapper. It was a Case family knife that Blue Grass Cutlery commissioned. I was curious about it. I was at the rendezvous picnic and Mike Latham was there and he would know something about it so I showed him. I was most curious about the scales. He told me about the bone dyes on the black box Winchesters and that particular one. Something about sunlight makes them lighter for some reason. Mine was the goldenrod color. It had spectacular jigged bone. We showed Bill and he confirmed that it was made at Queen. What made it special was the machine that did the jigging. The machine was old and sounded like it had been in the knife industry for a while. By the time Queen got it. It was in need of repair. It had a series of cams with different timing that gave the jigging the unique randomness. Bill sounded like he worked hard on repairing it and making it able to jig bone again. It came from one of the more early famous knife makers. He said he would like to find that machine again. I really hope he does.
 
JoKr said:
Travman Travman
waynorth waynorth

thats what Charlie Parker writes to his Winchester Black Box Knife Sales on ebay:

''This knife features the great looking brass pinned old style Genuine Bone (cattle bone) scales. My father, the late Jim Parker, and Charlie Dorton were great friends. Charlie and my dad dealt for years as they were both instrumental in the development of the Case Classic program. Blue Grass Cutlery holds the license agreement for these Winchester knives and when Charlie was a partner in Blue Grass, he told my father that this Genuine Bone used on these late 1980's produced knives, was actually antique age Genuine Bone that he acquired from the Utica Knife Factory.''
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Bill really liked and respected Charlie Dorton!! (RIP)
Bill said, Charlie taught him everything he knows about "old-style" knives in Bill's early days at Queen!!
 
Travman said:
1991 3904 Stag
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Manofcarbonsteel said:
If I remember it. A few months earlier to the rendezvous I picked a Standard Knife Co trapper. It was a Case family knife that Blue Grass Cutlery commissioned. I was curious about it. I was at the rendezvous picnic and Mike Latham was there and he would know something about it so I showed him. I was most curious about the scales. He told me about the bone dyes on the black box Winchesters and that particular one. Something about sunlight makes them lighter for some reason. Mine was the goldenrod color. It had spectacular jigged bone. We showed Bill and he confirmed that it was made at Queen. What made it special was the machine that did the jigging. The machine was old and sounded like it had been in the knife industry for a while. By the time Queen got it. It was in need of repair. It had a series of cams with different timing that gave the jigging the unique randomness. Bill sounded like he worked hard on repairing it and making it able to jig bone again. It came from one of the more early famous knife makers. He said he would like to find that machine again. I really hope he does.
Click to expand...
 
Sketch32 said:
I talked to a guy at the 2010 Blade Show that worked for Blue Grass cutlery back in the day. They worked closely with Queen in putting out these black box winchesters...about the same time as the Case Classics. He explained to me that it was only the smaller patterns that used the Rogers Bone. The larger patterns like the Coke Bottle and others used other bone. I wished I would have written it all down. This guy was an encyclopedia of knowledge.

I have a binder full of original color advertisements for this complete line of knives. I haven’t seen them posted anywhere. I think I need to scan them and get them posted. This seems like the best place to do this.
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Hope to see those adverts soon.

Here's the one that came with my Small Gunstock-

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JoKr JoKr I don't have access to a scanner for some time and since a house move I'm not totally sure of the location of the original. If you PM me I can send you the picture if that's of any use?

Regards, Will
 
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