Boy's Knives

As an aside, the GEC knife recently produced and sold, shown earlier in this thread, is not of this genre any more than the later camp utility knife. It is simply a traditional barehead jack with premium features such as the covers and blade grind. And of course sold to an upscale, not entry price point market. At best it is then a "tribute to boys' knives".
 
I'd love to, but don't have picture posting priviledges. Mine are exactly like all of those German ones; including "Our Boy" "Boy's Knife" "Dime Knife" "5 cent Knife" "Boys Favorite" "Boys Easy Opener", (except the boy's barlow) etc. and the early IKCO single blade metal handles jacks. Nothing different about mine than those already pictured.
Rich
 
My posting of the Boy Scout Camp knife was more directed at Sonny's comment about the unlikelihood of another maker's knife lasting 70-80 years. My point being, there are some that will certainly last that long or more. And, the Boy Scout knife at the time was under $10 if I remember correctly.
 
Rich S said:
I'd love to, but don't have picture posting priviledges. Mine are exactly like all of those German ones; including "Our Boy" "Boy's Knife" "Dime Knife" "5 cent Knife" "Boys Favorite" "Boys Easy Opener", (except the boy's barlow) etc. and the early IKCO single blade metal handles jacks. Nothing different about mine than those already pictured.
Rich
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Hah! I started posting pictures here a decade ago and used an off-site photohost. I use tinypic.com and others use photobucket. Upload the picture there then copy the
 
I lost or broke all my knives as a wee boy. I had SAKs, Buck Knight, traded to a former friend, and a few Frost knives. Does a peanut count in the category?
 
BigBiscuit said:
My posting of the Boy Scout Camp knife was more directed at Sonny's comment about the unlikelihood of another maker's knife lasting 70-80 years. My point being, there are some that will certainly last that long or more. And, the Boy Scout knife at the time was under $10 if I remember correctly.
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Oh BigBiscuit, please don't think I am chastising anyone here for their contributions to this thread. It natural for threads to drift like conversation and your point was well understood by all I think.. Even the inexpensive old knives due to the quantities in which they were sold, survive in amazing numbers. I have knives from the 1880's through today, representing most decades and price points between. And the lower priced knives, perhaps because of the massive amounts sold, still survive in surprising numbers.
 
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Would not the Douk douk woth its folded sheet metal handle be the closest equivalent to the western boys' knives of old?
Would not also the cheap Japanese folder fall in this class, once hugely popular there before the Blade Free movement?
 
Four-and-twentypence said:
Would not the Douk douk woth its folded sheet metal handle be the closest equivalent to the western boys' knives of old?
Would not also the cheap Japanese folder fall in this class, once hugely popular there before the Blade Free movement?
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I am not aware of these knives being imported into this country during the time period being discussed. Of course there were indigenous patterns of knives made around the world at the time. They just did not enjoy importation and marketing like the patterns the American public wanted. There certainly were no cheap Japanese folders imported during the period that I am aware of. And from what I find, the douk douk came into being circa 1929.
 
Codger_64 said:
I remember the end of that period, the late fifties, sixties and early seventies. And though it may sound odd today, rare was the boy who did not have a knife in his pocket every day at school. I don't remember many incidents where the boy caused trouble with their knives. If one was confiscated it was likely because the miscreant was caught playing with it when they were supposed to be doing their school work. They were as common on the playground as marbles. One only imagines that it was more so that way in the earlier days of the century.
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I graduated high school at the end of the '70s and carried a pocket knife from the time I was in (about) 3rd grade to the day I finished my senior year. So did every other boy (and some girls -- usually those who were in FFA, as this was a farm town -- did as well.)

It was an accepted and expected part of life.
 
Yes, I grew up on a farm in a rural part of the state. And most of my classmates and even teachers were rural folk.

Which reminds me... to understand these boys' knives place in history, it pays to look at that history. At the turn of the century, a large percent of Americans lived rural lives. This led to the rise of catalogs, chief among which was Sears Roebuck & Co. Rural people could buy things previously available only in the larger cities. Everything from plows to buggies and farm wagons to pocket knives. In 1900, 39.6% of the population lived in cities and the remaining 60.4% were rural. Thus with the lobbying of Julius Rosenwald of Sears and others, RFD, Rural Free Delivery of packages by the postal system was born. And Sears became "WLS", the "World's Largest Store". They even had their own "WLS" farm radio station in Chicago broadcasting across the country at night. They had competition of course, but none matched their volume. And FYI the first retail store didn't open until 1925.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Rosenwald
 
Codger_64 said:
Yes, I grew up on a farm in a rural part of the state. And most of my classmates and even teachers were rural folk.

Which reminds me... to understand these boys' knives place in history, it pays to look at that history. At the turn of the century, a large percent of Americans lived rural lives. This led to the rise of catalogs, chief among which was Sears Roebuck & Co. Rural people could buy things previously available only in the larger cities. Everything from plows to buggies and farm wagons to pocket knives. In 1900, 39.6% of the population lived in cities and the remaining 60.4% were rural. Thus with the lobbying of Julius Rosenwald of Sears and others, RFD, Rural Free Delivery of packages by the postal system was born. And Sears became "WLS", the "World's Largest Store". They even had their own "WLS" farm radio station in Chicago broadcasting across the country at night. They had competition of course, but none matched their volume. And FYI the first retail store didn't open until 1925.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Rosenwald
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I remember looking in the Sears catalog pre-1968 (I was VERY young, you understand) and spending inordinate amounts of time picking out just the perfect knife, hatchet, and rifle. That's when I decided I wanted a Scout knife because they had all those neat tools (a knife I've still never had, despite copious hints dropped around Christmas and birthday time!)
 
I found a scanned article online written by Steve Shackleford in "Blade's Guide" on the topic of Boys Knives that makes an interesting read. It gives some prior history and more of the subsequent evolution of the genre. It also mentions the patents for folded metal handles, earlier than I had surmised. Still, for my collecting purposes, I consider only the cast malleable iron and pressed metal shell knives to be the "true" boys' knives of old.

https://books.google.com/books?id=E...Q#v=onepage&q=metal shell boys knives&f=false
 
Codger_64 said:
I found a scanned article online written by Steve Shackleford in "Blade's Guide" on the topic of Boys Knives that makes an interesting read. It gives some prior history and more of the subsequent evolution of the genre. It also mentions the patents for folded metal handles, earlier than I had surmised. Still, for my collecting purposes, I consider only the cast malleable iron and pressed metal shell knives to be the "true" boys' knives of old.

https://books.google.com/books?id=E...Q#v=onepage&q=metal shell boys knives&f=false
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Well! I was discussing this topic, "Boys' Knives" with a friend and shared the link above with him thinking he might find the new-to-me information informative. Boy is my face red. Here is his reply in part:

Steve didn't write that. He doesn't know (this topic).

I wrote it.

It's from a pirate version of LG.
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:eek:

I'll leave it to readers here to guess who the friend is that I was talking to. Shouldn't be too difficult. ;)

It is with his permission that I correct the authorship.

Michael
 
Now here is another example seldom seen. I just ran across this one (not mine) and the handle design is unique though the blade is in relic condition. See if you can name the merchant?

2hefzgi.jpg
 
Wyeth Hardware and Manufacturing Company out of St. Joseph Missouri.

Glad you like it Perry. I am still learning every day. It is helping immensely that I am able to talk to experts, engineers and other collectors. As you might guess, I am finding this genre fascinating myself. I just wish I could afford to buy every different example I see.
 
Yes, it can be very frustrating at times trying to find these little worn jewels. I like you, have a pretty good collection of these but there are many out there still, I believe. It's nice to see anything related to them.
 
Her is another example of the text-and-stag themed metal shell boys' knife. I've not yet located a jobber catalog example exactly like this one but the c. 1901 Logan-Gregg Hardware catalog. As seen, it is a single blade whereas the example I just got (still in the mail) is a two blade jack with the added pen blade.

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This one is marked Dixon Cutlery Co., Germany. A wholesale importer's brand. Research reveals thus:
Polk's New York Copartnership & Corporation Directory, 1915: Dixon Cutlery Co. (RTN) (Emil Kaufmann) 119 E. 16th.
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And further, via Mr. Linton's search,
Geo. Borgfeldt Co., "Sole distributor for . . . Dixon Cutlery Co.," Hardware World, July, 1919.
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Thus Dixon was an actual company and, at least in 1919, Borgfeldt was the merchant/jobber for this marking. It is suspected that "Dixon" is a Kastor mark and that may very well be true. If so, Kastor either made (in their Germania plant) or sourced the mark for export to Dixon, who sold to Borgfeldt, who sold to retailers who sold to the public.

This particular text theme would of course be unheard of in today's world where even a fingernail file is considered a weapon in a school. But for the most of last century, it was most common for a boy to own and carry a small knife with him wherever he went, including to school.
 
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