I had a crazy couple days and couldn't make it back to this thread until now. Its great to see the new posts and everyone's pictures. Keep them coming!
Very nice dog leg jack Gevonovich. Great picture too. Thanks for coming back and sharing it.
Mr. Mauser, my first pocket knife was a Colonial Forest Master that I think I got around 1960 back on the dairy farm on which I was raised. Here's a fairly current picture of it:
Not the original bail, and one of the backsprings is bowed from youthful prying indiscretions or from getting run over by a tractor (or both), but still serviceable after 55+ years!
I don't remember exactly when I got it. I'd guess I was 8 or 9, which would be in 1960 or 1961, but I also think I remember that my younger brothers got knives on their 10th birthdays, which would have been December 1961 for me. Can you tell anything about the age of my knife from the photo??
I used the heck out of my Forest-Master until I went off to college in 1969, and from then until January of 2014 I didn't carry a pocket knife most days. Since getting re-interested in knives a couple of years ago, I've found that I have a "soft spot" for Colonials and Imperials because that's what everybody in my area carried when I was a kid. Here are some other Colonials I've picked up here and there.
A Swiss Army Knife version that's basically my Forest-Master in different covers, with a corkscrew:
An electrician's knife I picked up at a gun & knife show:
a small Colonial jack:
and a wireframe Colonial with bottle-opener:
- GT
Hello GT. Nice old colonials you have there. Thanks for sharing them. Something I really like about the Colonial Swiss army style knives is the bail. They copied pretty much everything else but stuck with the old school bail. Neat.
I enjoyed hearing how much you used your Forest Master. So cool that you still have it. And I know what you mean about carrying an old Colonial or Imperial. It feels right.
Most Colonials are pretty hard to date, impossible even with some. Colonial didn't keep any records of their tang stamps. The only one known for sure is the curved stamps were used from 1926 to 1938.
I have been trying for years to figure out the Forest Masters. But I have some big gaps that I just dont know. I have found out the years of some models by finding new in the package Forest Masters that say the year they were made on the package.
But yours is in one of the gaps I dont know. I believe yours is one of the earliest of the black stag models but I dont know when it started so i cant give you an accurate date.
One of the differences in the black stag models that I have identified so far is the bail. The older models had a little bigger, rounder bail. The ones made closer to 1971 had a smaller bail. The older black stags also has silver steel liners and somewhere closer to 71 the liners went to a brass color.
Here is a picture showing the different bails.
I have always guessed that your model of Forest Master came out in the early to mid 60's.
In this picture, your Forest Master is number 3.
Number 1 was made from 1934 to 1938.
Number 2 was made from 1939 to ?? (I guessed that date to be somewhere in the 60's .)
Number 3 was made from ? (Guessed somewhere in the 60's) to 1972.
Number 4 was made from 1973 to ?
Number 5 was made from ? ( mid to late 70's ) to ?
Sounds like you are pretty sure you've had yours since 1960 or 61. So you are teaching me something too. It sounds like the black stag went back as far as 1960 if not into the 50s!
I wish I had more information for you GT. Hopefully someday I will.
Here's an example of my Imperial/Colonial confusion: upper left is an Imperial Matterhorn, lower right a Colonial Mountain Guide.
The Barlow is a Ranger which I'm pretty sure is a Colonial, with a patented snap-on solid bolster. Looks like the same deal on the stockman.
This is your basic paper doll-handled Colonial. I like this one; I'll have to get it rehandled someday.
I bought this one without handles at the flea market probably in the early '70s. Epoxied mahogany, as I recall.
It has the old curved stamp.
Nice collection scrteened door. Yes, they are all Colonials. Neat old fish knife with replacement wood handles. Can you imagine how many people have used that since in was made in 1920 or 1930?
The Stockman you have is a line by Colonial called Anvil knives. It was one of their attempts to put out a nicer line of knives. They were designed for Colonial by students at the Rhode Island School Of Design. Anvils first year of production was 1972. It came in 3 sizes, small, medium and large and was available in 2 colors, brown or white. Its a great knife!
The paper doll knife you mentioned is called a shell knife. They would make the knife without handles, it was called the skeleton. Then in another area they assembled the handles. Then they came together and added the handles to the skeletons. They could use the same skeletons with different handles and produce a cheaper knife faster. Unfortunately they tend to come loose, wobble around and also break quite a bit. But as you mentioned, they turn out great when you re handle them.
As for those Swiss army style knives you have from both Colonial and Imperial, its not so confusing once you realize a few things.
Both the Paolantonios (Colonial) and the Mirandos (Imperial) were huge Italian family's who were cutlers in Italy and emigrated to America to start a family knife business.
Both businesses were in the same city, Providence R.I.
The 2 family's were friends. They shared ideas and helped each other. There were Paolantonios that worked at Imperial and Mirandos that worked at Colonial. That connection lasted thru many generations at both knife factory's and they have had some similar knives since the 1920's.
They each had some unique knives but there were always similarity's between the 2 company's.
Here is an example from my collection. These were made in 1920-1930. The one on the top is an Imperial and the one on the bottom a Colonial. I have others too.
Ranger was a line of Imperial Knives
oops.
The Colonial stockman has the same patent number on it as the Ranger Barlow (3,317,996), but then they always used the same shell handles too.
The Ranger is definitely a Colonial Knife, not an Imperial. Imperial had a knife very similar to Ranger knives, it was called Frontier.
Here is a Colonial catalog for the Ranger line of knives and a couple ranger advertisements.
My very Modest collection of Colonials. 3 Blade Electrician ... 3 blade 3 spring Stockman 'Ranger' shield with
"Colonial" Tang Stamp ... E2 - built like a tank - Electrician - up until last week I did not know the Colonial Knives including this E2 were still in production mine has an "08" included in the Tang stamp anyone know if this means 2008 production?
Now I have seen edbeau's post above
"Ranger was a line of Imperial Knives" I am not sure about this next knife - It is exactly the same as the white Colonial Stockman above but has a "Ranger" Shield and "Ranger" Tang Stamp. I'd always assumed it was made by Colonial. Both have solid handles (Not shell handles)
I have also used a couple of Colonials as the starting point for Customized Knives - very nice to work with
Derek
Nice knives Brumby. Your Rangers are definitely Colonials. They are both the model #933, 3 Blade Stockman. They were made in black, white and yellow. Looks like you need a yellow one.
And I would love to see your customized Colonials!
I have a couple in great shape with broken handles I am saving to get custom handles put on.
I have one already, A Colonial Toothpick with the handles replaced with Micarta. Its really makes it nice, adds some weight and makes it very solid. Great knife. Here it is.
In 1998 the original Colonial Knife Company went out of business. In 2002 or 2003 Steve Paolantonio, one of the grandsons who worked at Colonial, started a company called Colonial Knife Corp.
In my opinion he wanted consumers to think it was the same company. But there was one big difference. His knives were made in China. As was your E2. But yes, it was made in 2008.
After a while of struggling the new Colonial secured a 4.5 million dollar contract to supply a switchblade to the US Military to issue to soldiers who parachute. Its made in the USA. After that he started bringing out more USA made models for the public. He also got a big contract with Girl Scouts of America for scout knives. So these days, some of their stuff is USA, some China. I think the USA made knives look pretty good. I wouldn't mind trying a few out but I just like the older stuff so much more. So that's what I spend my money on. I usually have a couple old Colonials a week show up in the mail.
Here is a newspaper article that talks about the new Colonial Knife Corp.
The new Colonial has a website at colonialknifecorp.com
