Colonel Coon Knives..?

sunnyd

sunnyd

Joined
Jul 17, 2004
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For the last 20 some years I have heard from time to time about Colonel Coon knives that were made for a short stint in Tennessee back in the early 1980's. They were old slipjoint patterns of supposedly better than average quality. Other than this information and seeing them from time to time on eBay, I don't know anymore about them(other than they get pretty hefty $$ for them!). I have never seen or handled them in person and was wandering if any of you had knowledge about who Colonel Coon was or how these knives came into existence, there quality, there tenure, collectability, ext. Any information would be welcome. Thanks in advance for any and all assistance you can provide.
 
I believe these were bench-made knives(similar to Cripple Creek) made/run by a fellow named Adrian Harris in Tenn. in the late 70's to mid 80's. Never handled one, but they are rare and expensive($150+).

Most of their work were trappers, and a few stockman, usually in bone or stag.
 
bob bowie said:
I believe these were bench-made knives(similar to Cripple Creek) made/run by a fellow named Adrian Harris in Tenn. in the late 70's to mid 80's. Never handled one, but they are rare and expensive($150+).

Most of their work were trappers, and a few stockman, usually in bone or stag.
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Thanks for your post b b!.. From Adrian Harris I got the following very interesting information...

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/colonel_coon_knives/index.php
 
mrd74 said:
According to the Colonial Knife Co. website, Colonel Coon knives were by them.
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Hey mrd74, I tried the Colonial site, and couldn't find anything about Colonel Coon! Perhaps you could tell me where it is, or post the page URL??
Thanks in advance,
Charlie the technophobe
 
I remember reading somewhere a while back that Colonial made the parts for Adrian Harris of Tennessee Knife Works, Inc. to assemble in the late 70's- late 80's. I think they are essentially hand finished fancy handled versions of Colonial's "Old Cutler" wood handled barlow (which in turn was a production version of the Russell reproduction that Colonial put out). I believe that Colonial still lists the wood handled version in its "Rancher" series. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks my friend! That's what I love about BF; I can live in a "knife desert" up here in Canada, where I'm sometimes considered a bit strange for collecting knives, but I can talk the good talk with fellow aliens;) ,and get intelligent responses and interaction about the things that really count in this world!!:D
So it looks like Colonel Coon made some, and Colonial made some. I think Colonial made a lot of knives for a lot of people!
It's funny. They made some pretty cheap stuff, that has turned more than a few people away from collecting Colonial STAMPED knives, but I'll wager a lot of people unknowingly have a number of Colonial-made knives in their collections:eek: !
 
Colonial can make great knives when it wants. I'm thinking Colonial either they made'em and kept quite, or supplied the parts/ rough work and Colonel Coon did the rest.

:).
 
As far as I recall from seeing them set up at knife shows in the early 80's (Col Coon even used to show a video of the knives being worked on in their shop), the parts (blades, springs, liners/bolsters) were made by Colonial and by Camillus and Col Coon assembled them with natural handle materials, and did the blade etches and packaging.

WR Case & Sons actually bought out Col Coon just to get their etching and packaging tehnologies. Not sure what the year was for that...maybe 1987.
 
Sounds like a good way for a small guy to get it done!!
A guy named Chris Tenney tried it more recently with Queen cutlery making him parts and whole knives, and putting them in handmade wooden boxes. I don't know how well he's done overall, but his knives seem to be pretty rare with "Tennymade" etches and tangstamps. The Colonel Coon logo is more in your face, so marketing was probably one factor.
Colonel Coon (Adrian Harris) also wrote a book on knife repair, a nice little handbook!
 
waynorth said:
.. Colonel Coon (Adrian Harris) also wrote a book on knife repair, a nice little handbook!
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waynorth,

Do you perhaps, or anyone else know the name of the book?.
 
sunnyd,

The book is "Knife Repair & Restoration" by Adrian A. Harris. There was a reprint in 2004. I think they still have it at KnifeWorld...under Out of Print books...or maybe another online book dealer.

The quote you posted from AAPK, is actually taken from the Introduction/About The Author section.

Bill
 
Are you referring to the Colonel in Lynnville, TN?

If so, he is still around and turning out mail order stuff on a regular basis.

He lives about 15 minutes from me.

I had no idea the knives with his name were worth so much. He is the typical buy something and put his name on it type mail order business.

A lot of the stuff I have seen was quality. Never have bought anything, though.
 
Does anyone have one of Bernie Levine's guides to look this one up? I have a few images that may clear up a few things.
Greg

orig.jpg


orig.jpg
 
Yea Baby!.:D Great Picture! Thanks Greg... :cool:

Now then, this reminds me of what BRL just said about the good 'cutlers of old' (in another thread)refering to using Stag the proper way on the Stag scale instalation on slipjoints...

I am impressed:thumbup:
 
Hey B.B. I don't see a revised edition of Adrian Harris's book on Knife World's site! You are not referring to Ben Kelley's book on knife repair are you? Another good one by the way!
 
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