Boy's Knives

Interesting thread. Sorry for the poor quality of this image depicting some Sheffield-made Boy's Knives.

 
Another with the same I.K. Co. branding showing that the metal shell boy's knife was made with a clip point blade as well as the previous shown spear. Another web find.

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A BF.Com find,

LKJW said:
IKCO, Imperial, Colonial.
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LKJW said:
Anyone know anything about the metal ones?
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zerogee said:
The metal ones are what are usually called shell handles (meaning a thin, hollow formed one piece shell of metal that is crimped onto the liners - typically with tabs that fit into notches in the liners to make it all neat and not so obvious). Originally they would have had the "jigged" part painted or covered in a thin layer of plastic, leaving the "bolsters" as shiny metal to imitate a fully constructed knife with actual bolsters and scales. They were the cheapies back then, made by the millions and sold everywhere -- however, the ones with carbon steel blades typically have decent steel (later stainless bladed ones were more knife shaped objects)...
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Of couse any search using decent run-of-the-mill googlefu turns up SUE. And what better fits here than an as-new example of the genre, inexpensive boys' knives from the early 1900's?

waynorth said:
Who hasn't heard the song by Johnny Cash, "A Boy Named Sue!"? I'd venture we've all heard it, 'cept maybe a few young'uns!:D
The ne'er do well father in the song/story figures he's not going to be there to raise the boy, so he names him "Sue", figuring he'll have to learn to be tough to survive such an appellation!
Old Pop eventually gets his come-uppance!:p

Misters Mirando and Fazzano brought their considerable Italian knifemaking skills to bear around the end of WW I, ca.1917 when they formed Imperial Knife Co.
They started out making humble, but well made "skeleton" knives for jewelers to adorn with fancy covers. They very soon branched into a full line of cutlery. They made some beautiful traditional bone handled knives, but found a lot of satisfaction in making less expensive pocketknives for those with less money to spend. They, to their credit, never skimped on functionality and made inexpensive knives that kept their "snap" and held an edge. They were masters of production toolmaking in their chosen area. They were very proud of their heat-treating consistency!
In the mid-1930s they began manufacturing knives with shell handles, one of the most significant changes in the industry. Again I'll ask a question - who hasn't owned one??;)
This tough little knife, 3 1/16" long, single bladed, with a painted shell handle, certainly wasn't made by Tony Bose!:rolleyes:
The fit is good, but the finish is rudimentary, the spring sporting the as-punched edge at the back. But the blade edge is still quite sharp after all these years. And walk and talk, including half-stop, is worthy of a custom knife!
A bit of a time-machine knife, it's hardly ever been used, but I dare say, it would have been the best value for a dime, that any red-blooded boy could ask for!
To stand up to the endless mumbly-peg, and a few throwing efforts, this little guy HAD to be tough, and that's why I call him "Sue"!:D
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Ha Ha - you beat me to it!! Thanks for bring it in, Codger!

Here's a little paper work to go with it!

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I guess that if you had a big paper route, or a snow storm yielded lots of shoveling work, or if maybe you were a future Bladeforums Denizen, you might spring for a bone handle, maybe even a two-blader!!:D
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Here is the "Our Boy" knife I mentioned earlier. Again this is a web find photo of a knife in my collection. It is marked Germania Curlery Co. Germany. The right find is the same mark but with slightly different handle die.

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Yet another stamping, this time with text "Boys Easy Opener" and tang stamped "Swan Works Ohlig Germany". This was a mark of Peter Altenbach & Sohne.

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I found my latest photo of the flag motif boy's knife see in the first post's catalog cut. With it, you can see what I meant about the thin shell's tendency to dent and flatten over time. It is still a cool, seldom seen example. Germania Cutlery Works Germany is the tang stamp and my sources show it to be an active Kastor mark c. 1896-1938, but we know our history that there was a WWI embargo from 1915 through 1918. So more accurately, 1896-1915, 1918-1938. Though I don't have a source suggesting that these figural hollow metal boy's knives were made as late as 1938.

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Wholesale in that catalog was 20 cents a dozen, about 1.6 cents apiece. So selling at five cents gave the merchant a decent profit and kept it within reach of most young boys. The same as the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola.
 
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Too cool to see this knife and know it still exists Michael! Glad you own at least one.:thumbup:
 
I'm always on the lookout for them. And original jobber catalogs showing and describing them. I'll post another seperate thread about a similar genre of boys knives soon. But I am trying to keep this one to the earlier painted metal shell knives. Glad you are enjoying it.
 
Sounds good, really enjoying seeing them! Have always wondered about the "Boys knives" and whether or not anyone collected them. Never knew there were so many different ones until you posted all those catalog shots the other day.
 
singin50 said:
Sounds good, really enjoying seeing them! Have always wondered about the "Boys knives" and whether or not anyone collected them. Never knew there were so many different ones until you posted all those catalog shots the other day.
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There were quite a few more designs. I just lack the period catalog resources to show them. They are a distinct subgroup from the ones which were originally plastic or celuloid wrapped and have lost their wrappings. So not every bare metal shell handle knife fits in this subgroup.

That Billy Barlow knife? Interesting story behind that one. It was a minstral/folk song dating back to the mid 1850's. So "he" was an actual mythical charactor. Though I doubt that knife goes back that far.

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Yes, I had heard of the Billy Barlow story before, somewhere. The Companion and Flag knives were some I had not seen previously. I guess the first American/20th century ones were all the wrapped IKCOs and painted either black, red or blue, is that correct?
 
Unfortunately, as I said, I do not have enough period primary resources to state that as fact. The IKCO knives previously shown are later and not contemporary with the imported knives I have shown. There were however other American cutleries starting up around the end of the first World War which might have made such, Fazzano and Mirando's Imperial and Paolantonio's Colonial for two. I don't remember right off when Vignos' Novelty began... 1880's I think. But they specialized in clear cell wrappings with printing or photos underneath.
 
I was just referring to the American cutlers mainly. When you showed the other options or ads from the turn of the century like Kastor Bros.it started my mind turning. I know Kastor made some very valuable today, Coca Cola knives as well as Boys knives. I'm a pretty serious Coca Cola collector too. And I think they made the IKCO metal wrapped knives up until the late 1950s didn't they? Seems like I saw an ad that came out of a comic book showing one that you could send off and get.
 
singin50 said:
I was just referring to the American cutlers mainly. When you showed the other options or ads from the turn of the century like Kastor Bros.it started my mind turning. I know Kastor made some very valuable today, Coca Cola knives as well as Boys knives. I'm a pretty serious Coca Cola collector too. And I think they made the IKCO metal wrapped knives up until the late 1950s didn't they? Seems like I saw an ad that came out of a comic book showing one that you could send off and get.
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The IKCO mark was mostly used up until circa 1935 or so when they acquired the Hammer Brand mark from NYKC, and the Ernst Lohr and Otto Stiehl patent for the cell wrapped shell handles. Ones you see after that which are bare metal are ones that the cell or plastic has fallen off of. Like the one shown earlier with a crown shield stamped into the handle.
 
Right, I own a ton of those,, if you've seen my post showing the shell wrapped knives on original store display cards. That's what started me down this twisting turning road.:D
 
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