Colonial Knife Co Providence R.I.

[TsarBomba]

First of all, a great thank you and hello to B. Mauser, who has proven to be a valuable resource and wellspring of knowledge about Colonial knives (have I seen you post before in AAPK?). Reading through this thread last night and today got me hyped up about the oft put-upon maker, who really does have a pretty storied history in cutlery and probably doesn't get nearly enough credit for contributions to the industry and the collecting hobby. Welcome and great job, B.! I am still reading through your blog but there is some fantastic stuff there. :thumbup:

I don't have a large collection of Colonials by any metric, but the ones I have are treasured parts of my collection regardless of any value or lack thereof. I have also made a habit of trying to grab the "imprint" Colonials like Ranger, Old Cutler, et al. and knives I suspect were contracted to Colonial. I took advantage of the dying light today after getting home and took some snapshots of my humble little hoard. Images should all be clickable to full-size, though some might not be as sharp as I'd like.





First up, the ubiquitous Colonial Barlow. Colonial had a few "tiers" of Barlow over their history. The slightly larger, more rounded Barlows were mosty used for advertisement. The maroon Barlow is a "Durango" imprint (model D222) built by Colonial, I believe the Durangos were meant to be a more upmarket brand a la Ranger. Oddly enough, Colonial tended to cut long pulls on their downmarket/advertising Barlows and nail nicks on the "retail" ones.

I've seen a number of those Bicentennial Colonial Barlows in this forum, I imagine they were pretty popular. I picked mine up because 1976 was my year of birth.





The kick on the Durango's pen blade is noticeably higher than the one on the matching Colonial; it's an odd difference and it makes the pen ride up high enough to make pulling the master a bit of a pain.

I don't have any granddaddy Barlows from Colonial as of yet but I continue to hunt for clean ones.





I have a couple Anvils -- a medium stockman and small serpentine jack -- to go with this Old Cutler jack (#421) that appears to be built on the same frame and with the same machining as the bigger Anvil. I suspect that another bargain acquisition of mine, this grooved Delrin Sharp USA #470, was a contract Colonial build; I have a number of Japanese Sharp-branded knives but this is my only USA-stamped one to date.





The cut and grind of the Turkish clips are all very, very similar. The pen blades on the larger knives are somewhat unique and flange out ever so slightly towards the end. I couldn't get a clean photo of one knife overlaying another but they sure did line up to the naked eye.





I'm kicking myself right now because for all the photos I took racing against twilight I forgot to take a photo of the knives from the top or bottom. The Sharp USA is actually a 3-spring while the Anvil is 2-spring, but the springs line up perfectly on each end. That pen becomes a real nailbreaker when the sheepsfoot is already open on the Anvil!

As BL is so fond of saying, you have to read the knife. My read of these knives is that they were all produced by the same company.





Glenn's sweet Cryovac fruit knife made me think of the only one I have. It's kinda plain in comparison but it's clean and solidly built. It's obviously not an idea choice for EDC in terms of size alone but it's a cool little knife anyway. I missed out on a chance for a serrated Colonial a few months back, sadly.





As a big fan of the TL-29/linesman's knife pattern, I was aghast to discover today that my only Colonial example appears to be lost! I know it's somewhere in the morass, but after a good while of searching through my linesman's knives and anywhere else I could think of, I came up empty. These are old photos. Aside from my affinity for the pattern, the advertising motto was a primary driver in snapping this one up.





Using Science(tm) to closely compare the Colonial fish knife B. posted at the beginning of the thread, I am starting to suspect this Kent fish knife is also a Colonial build. While the angle of the photo obscures any liner lock on his knife, I imagine that's just one option the factory could have added or subtracted at their whim (or the whims of those who contracted them). The placement of the "hook remover" stamp is different but it appears the curve of the lettering and the orientation of the font in relation to the arrow is identical. Again, my "read" on these knives indicates they were both produced by the same people.





This Kent jack I photographed earlier this week has a similar (but not identical) tang stamp to the fish knife above, and I'd guesstimate the age of both to be reasonably close to the era B. was talking about in his first post. I am significantly less certain of this supposition, but I think there's a good chance this Kent is also an earlier Colonial build.

I look forward to seeing and reading more about everybody's Colonials!

 

[screened porch]

I found a few more: old jack with curved stamp, Anvil lobster money-clips, and a couple of teenies.

 

[B.Mauser]

Nice. You guys really posted up some interesting knives. Thank you. I love how you keep finding them scrteened porch. And TsarBomba...WOW. I need to go look through my files but I think I have some information for you.

I will be back in a little while.

 

[B.Mauser]

I found a few more: old jack with curved stamp, Anvil lobster money-clips, and a couple of teenies.

Another fun post from you scrteened porch. :thumbup: Neat little key chain knives. I collect those too. I have never seen Mr Pibb on a Colonial.


And a couple very collectable money clips by Colonial. This was the # MC-47 money clip knife.

It was a shell knife that had the same skeleton but was available over the years with more than 20 different outer shells. Colonial blanked them in solid brass or stainless steel. You have one of each interestingly enough.

Chivas Regal bought more of these from Colonial than anyone else.


There was even a small amount of gold plated ones. Probably special orders to be sold by a Jeweler or high end men's clothing store. For the Gold ones, Colonial made the shells, sent them out to a plater where they were gold plated, clear coated and sent back. Colonial assembled them to the skeletons and sent it on down the line to be packaged and sent on its way.


I saved my favorite one for last. That beautiful little bare end jack. Nice black celluloid handles that seem to have shrunk a little but not enough to crack at any of the pins. Stamped with the curved stamp used from 1926 -1938. Solid bolsters and solid pin construction, these are such great knives. Truly one of the gems of your Colonial collection.


I can barley see it but the stamp on this one appears to be the one that has a curved Colonial with the whole word (not abbreviated) Providence under it,then under that it says R.I. If it says anything other than this please let me know.


So scrteened porch. Are you a patina guy? Some people shiver at the thought but if that jack was mine I would have a hard time not making it shine. Some knives when they show up I like the patina so much I wont touch it. other times, especially if there is any rust involved, I just have shine it up.

 

[screened porch]

You know your stuff, all right, B.Mauser.
I always thought the MCs were solid-handled, but now you mention it I can see the little tabs of the shells. The magnet sticks just as hard to either, so the liners must be steel. I think the polka-dot handle is chromed brass and the Glenlivet may be one of the gold-plated ones. I'll try to get better pics with my super macro.
Now that you mention it, I can see another line under the curved Colonial. I can barely make out enough letters to be confident it says "providence" straight across. If there's an R.I. under that, it must be under the liners.
As for patina, I try to stop rust with penetrating oil and steel wool and then keep it oiled. The jack is nickel-plated with failings.

 

[B.Mauser]

First of all, a great thank you and hello to B. Mauser, who has proven to be a valuable resource and wellspring of knowledge about Colonial knives (have I seen you post before in AAPK?). Reading through this thread last night and today got me hyped up about the oft put-upon maker, who really does have a pretty storied history in cutlery and probably doesn't get nearly enough credit for contributions to the industry and the collecting hobby. Welcome and great job, B.! I am still reading through your blog but there is some fantastic stuff there. :thumbup:

I don't have a large collection of Colonials by any metric, but the ones I have are treasured parts of my collection regardless of any value or lack thereof. I have also made a habit of trying to grab the "imprint" Colonials like Ranger, Old Cutler, et al. and knives I suspect were contracted to Colonial. I took advantage of the dying light today after getting home and took some snapshots of my humble little hoard. Images should all be clickable to full-size, though some might not be as sharp as I'd like.





First up, the ubiquitous Colonial Barlow. Colonial had a few "tiers" of Barlow over their history. The slightly larger, more rounded Barlows were mosty used for advertisement. The maroon Barlow is a "Durango" imprint (model D222) built by Colonial, I believe the Durangos were meant to be a more upmarket brand a la Ranger. Oddly enough, Colonial tended to cut long pulls on their downmarket/advertising Barlows and nail nicks on the "retail" ones.

I've seen a number of those Bicentennial Colonial Barlows in this forum, I imagine they were pretty popular. I picked mine up because 1976 was my year of birth.





The kick on the Durango's pen blade is noticeably higher than the one on the matching Colonial; it's an odd difference and it makes the pen ride up high enough to make pulling the master a bit of a pain.

I don't have any granddaddy Barlows from Colonial as of yet but I continue to hunt for clean ones.





I have a couple Anvils -- a medium stockman and small serpentine jack -- to go with this Old Cutler jack (#421) that appears to be built on the same frame and with the same machining as the bigger Anvil. I suspect that another bargain acquisition of mine, this grooved Delrin Sharp USA #470, was a contract Colonial build; I have a number of Japanese Sharp-branded knives but this is my only USA-stamped one to date.





The cut and grind of the Turkish clips are all very, very similar. The pen blades on the larger knives are somewhat unique and flange out ever so slightly towards the end. I couldn't get a clean photo of one knife overlaying another but they sure did line up to the naked eye.





I'm kicking myself right now because for all the photos I took racing against twilight I forgot to take a photo of the knives from the top or bottom. The Sharp USA is actually a 3-spring while the Anvil is 2-spring, but the springs line up perfectly on each end. That pen becomes a real nailbreaker when the sheepsfoot is already open on the Anvil!

As BL is so fond of saying, you have to read the knife. My read of these knives is that they were all produced by the same company.





Glenn's sweet Cryovac fruit knife made me think of the only one I have. It's kinda plain in comparison but it's clean and solidly built. It's obviously not an idea choice for EDC in terms of size alone but it's a cool little knife anyway. I missed out on a chance for a serrated Colonial a few months back, sadly.





As a big fan of the TL-29/linesman's knife pattern, I was aghast to discover today that my only Colonial example appears to be lost! I know it's somewhere in the morass, but after a good while of searching through my linesman's knives and anywhere else I could think of, I came up empty. These are old photos. Aside from my affinity for the pattern, the advertising motto was a primary driver in snapping this one up.





Using Science(tm) to closely compare the Colonial fish knife B. posted at the beginning of the thread, I am starting to suspect this Kent fish knife is also a Colonial build. While the angle of the photo obscures any liner lock on his knife, I imagine that's just one option the factory could have added or subtracted at their whim (or the whims of those who contracted them). The placement of the "hook remover" stamp is different but it appears the curve of the lettering and the orientation of the font in relation to the arrow is identical. Again, my "read" on these knives indicates they were both produced by the same people.





This Kent jack I photographed earlier this week has a similar (but not identical) tang stamp to the fish knife above, and I'd guesstimate the age of both to be reasonably close to the era B. was talking about in his first post. I am significantly less certain of this supposition, but I think there's a good chance this Kent is also an earlier Colonial build.

I look forward to seeing and reading more about everybody's Colonials!

Hello TsarBomba. Thank you! Its great to meet you!

Yes, I am a member at AAPK. Great place. I recently was trying to bring some life back to the Colonial Collectors forum there by posting a bunch of my pictures. But there just isn't much interest. Robert Paolantonio was a member there when he was alive, leaving behind a great deal of information that I am attempting to save.

. Reading through this thread last night and today got me hyped up about the oft put-upon maker, who really does have a pretty storied history in cutlery and probably doesn't get nearly enough credit for contributions to the industry and the collecting hobby.

I really like the way you said that. Great way to describe the legacy of Colonial. Meeting other people who "get" Colonial is very exciting to me.


Very nice collection. Humble yes but I can tell you have an eye for quality.


I'm not much of a Barlow collector myself. I have 3 Colonial Barlow's that I can remember. A Grandaddy just like your saw cut Barlow but bigger, an Old Cutler I bought just for my Mark 1 Colonial collectors box and the same Bicentennial Barlow you have.

That Durango Barlow is pretty special and a very collectable Colonial. You are on the right track knowing it was made by Colonial. But rather than an attempt at a higher end knife by Colonial, it was an attempt to enter a lower end market by Case knives.

The Durango line was contracted by Case to be made by Colonial in 1981 and 1982. Colonial actually made these on the same tooling they had been using since the 70's to make the Ranger line.

There were no Colonial or Case markings on the knives. They were sold in a Durango marked box with the case logo on it. But not for long.

They weren't very popular, not many were made and are getting pretty rare these days.



Your next picture sure has some nice ones.

Anvils are great knives. A lot of people who have them dont even know they were made by Colonial. That small Anvil peanut you have was my first Colonial. I also have the same one in white. I want to get the other sizes in both brown and white too but they aren't getting too hard to find yet so I'm holding off while I hunt for more rare models. Or just great deal I cant pass on.

Here is a picture my Anvils.

The Old Cutler is another great knife for the money in my opinion. I am not surprised to see they catch your attention. But they weren't contract knives. Anvil Knives and Old Cutler were both attempts by Colonial to produce a higher end line of knives. As the popularity of Chinese imports peaked in the 1970's the pain was felt by big American company's like Colonial. Profits were down and they were looking for something to turn that around. They introduced Anvil in 1972 and then Old Cutler around 76 -78.


I am trying not to repeat myself too much in this thread so I am not going to get to detailed on them right now. But if there is anything else you can think of I might be able to tell about these two lines please ask. There is also more information about this on my blog.


That Sharp is very interesting and another example of your well trained eye. You read these very well. I agree it sure looks like a Colonial. I have never seen one of these marked Sharp before but I have seen a pretty much identical knife with Colonial tang stamps.

Colonial made it for a company called Benchmark that was in business in the 70's and 80's. My limited research on Benchmark says they were a knife company in NC owned by a steel company. It seems they are not the same one that is around today but I am not sure. Their similar knife had Colonial tang stamps but said Benchmark on the main blade. I had an old advertisement for this Benchmark knife but I cant find it now.

Here is a picture of one though. Benchmark had these in both 2 and 3 blade models just like this. Very interesting to see it appears Colonial made some for Sharp too.

The fruit knife is a fun one. I dont have any but I can see how they would be exciting to collect with all the different colors and company's on them. I think I find the ones from poison company's most interesting and they are the ones that tempt me while shopping on eBay.

Colonial literally made millions of these, most of them advertising orders. They were made in 2 sizes, one about 7 inches long and a smaller one about 5 inches. They are the model #601 and #701. Add an S after the model # for serrated, #701S.

Hilarious slogan on your TL 29. I hope you find it!


I am out of time right now but I will be back to talk to you about your Kent knives soon!

 

[screened porch]

Here's some closer pics of the MCs.

 

[TsarBomba]

I'm not much of a Barlow collector myself. I have 3 Colonial Barlow's that I can remember. A Grandaddy just like your saw cut Barlow but bigger, an Old Cutler I bought just for my Mark 1 Colonial collectors box and the same Bicentennial Barlow you have.
That Durango Barlow is pretty special and a very collectable Colonial. You are on the right track knowing it was made by Colonial. But rather than an attempt at a higher end knife by Colonial, it was an attempt to enter a lower end market by Case knives.
The Durango line was contracted by Case to be made by Colonial in 1981 and 1982. Colonial actually made these on the same tooling they had been using since the 70's to make the Ranger line.
There were no Colonial or Case markings on the knives. They were sold in a Durango marked box with the case logo on it. But not for long.
...
Anvils are great knives. A lot of people who have them dont even know they were made by Colonial. That small Anvil peanut you have was my first Colonial. I also have the same one in white. I want to get the other sizes in both brown and white too but they aren't getting too hard to find yet so I'm holding off while I hunt for more rare models. Or just great deal I cant pass on.
...
The Old Cutler is another great knife for the money in my opinion. I am not surprised to see they catch your attention. But they weren't contract knives. Anvil Knives and Old Cutler were both attempts by Colonial to produce a higher end line of knives. As the popularity of Chinese imports peaked in the 1970's the pain was felt by big American company's like Colonial. Profits were down and they were looking for something to turn that around. They introduced Anvil in 1972 and then Old Cutler around 76 -78.
...
That Sharp is very interesting and another example of your well trained eye. You read these very well. I agree it sure looks like a Colonial. I have never seen one of these marked Sharp before but I have seen a pretty much identical knife with Colonial tang stamps.
...
I am out of time right now but I will be back to talk to you about your Kent knives soon!

Awesome information, B, and much appreciated! :thumbup:

I picked up the Durango about a year ago which set me off researching some of the "imprint" Colonial brands where I turned up references to Anvil, Old Cutler, and Ranger. I actually believe I have a Ranger stockman floating around somewhere as well that I could include in this thread, I will have to see if I can find it. I'm really surprised that it was a Case effort (though I had read about Case contracting Colonial -- I can generally spot a Case-built Barlow and the Durango just screamed "Colonial" to me so I never made the connection), and that makes it a little ironic that the Durango lives in my knife box next to a mid-70s Case Delrin Barlow.

Your Colonial-branded grooved stockman is slam-dunk proof that at least some of the USA-marked Sharp knives were Colonials. This one seems fairly notable in that it's a 3-spring stockman; I don't see anywhere near as many medium stockmans with 3 springs as I do with 2, the only others I have both being Bucks of semi-recent vintage.

Looking forward to the Kent information; I'm almost completely clueless about that marque.

 

[B.Mauser]

Awesome information, B, and much appreciated! :thumbup:

I picked up the Durango about a year ago which set me off researching some of the "imprint" Colonial brands where I turned up references to Anvil, Old Cutler, and Ranger. I actually believe I have a Ranger stockman floating around somewhere as well that I could include in this thread, I will have to see if I can find it. I'm really surprised that it was a Case effort (though I had read about Case contracting Colonial -- I can generally spot a Case-built Barlow and the Durango just screamed "Colonial" to me so I never made the connection), and that makes it a little ironic that the Durango lives in my knife box next to a mid-70s Case Delrin Barlow.

Your Colonial-branded grooved stockman is slam-dunk proof that at least some of the USA-marked Sharp knives were Colonials. This one seems fairly notable in that it's a 3-spring stockman; I don't see anywhere near as many medium stockmans with 3 springs as I do with 2, the only others I have both being Bucks of semi-recent vintage.

Looking forward to the Kent information; I'm almost completely clueless about that marque.

I dont have many Kent knives. I have 2 beautiful end of day jack knives by them. They are what started my interest. I also have a Scout knife and a black celluliod serpentine jack. Other than more end of day jacks I want to find a fish knife just like yours. You probably noticed my Colonial fish knife that is absolutely identical to your Kent Fish knife other than the tang stamps. That one really got my attention the first time I saw one.

So I did a bit of research. I learned that Kent knives was in business from 1931 to 1955 and were made under contract by Camillus....for F. W. Woolworth.


The absolute best article I read about Kent knives I found right here on Bladeforums. Its from 2008 by Codger_64. I couldn't possibly improve on it. Such a fun read. So here it is.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/585000-More-on-the-Kent-branded-Sportsman-knives


I have been working on getting pictures of all my Colonials so I haven't taken pictures of my Kent knives yet. But I want to get that done soon and share them here.

Since I cant reply to Codgers Kent post due it being years since its last post I am planning on starting a new one for us here and quoting all his amazing information in it. But I just haven't got to it yet.

I also think its likely my Colonial fish knife was made by Camillus. They are so much a like.

 

[screened porch]

This is the last, I'm pretty sure. The button is just for scale.

 

[B.Mauser]

This is the last, I'm pretty sure. The button is just for scale.

Another nice shell knife from my friend scrteened porch. This is a Colonial 2 blade jack, Model #B-44. Probably 1970's. Cant tell you exactly when on this one. :thumbup:

 

[B.Mauser]

In the last week I bought four more different Forest Masters I didn't have. 3 of them I have never seen for sale before.

I also found some more information that showed me I have a knife out of order in my picture showing the order I believed that the Forest Masters were made in. I will be working on an updated picture soon.

 

[screened porch]

In the last week I bought four more different Forest Masters I didn't have. 3 of them I have never seen for sale before.

I also found some more information that showed me I have a knife out of order in my picture showing the order I believed that the Forest Masters were made in. I will be working on an updated picture soon.

I think you've found yourself a nice niche with Colonial. And it's fun hearing about knives one can afford to own.

 

[5K Qs]

In the last week I bought four more different Forest Masters I didn't have. 3 of them I have never seen for sale before.

I also found some more information that showed me I have a knife out of order in my picture showing the order I believed that the Forest Masters were made in. I will be working on an updated picture soon.

Congrats on the new Forest-Masters, and on the info that helps you refine your conjectures about dating that model, B.Mauser! :thumbup::thumbup: Looking forward to what you've discovered!
Do you know if all Forest-Masters had stainless steel blades? Thanks!

- GT

 

[B.Mauser]

Congrats on the new Forest-Masters, and on the info that helps you refine your conjectures about dating that model, B.Mauser! :thumbup::thumbup: Looking forward to what you've discovered!
Do you know if all Forest-Masters had stainless steel blades? Thanks!

- GT

Thank you GT. :thumbup:

Most Forest Masters are carbon steel.

Colonial had a huge stock room just for steel. It came on trucks in rolls 3 or 4 feet in diameter secured to oak pallets. It had to be moved around with a forklift.

Over the years they used many different grades of carbon steel including 1010, 1025, 1055, 1075 and a lot of 1095 as well.

1095 was used on the more expensive models like Old Cutler.



Colonial did also use some stainless steel.

420 and 440 A and B stainless was used most, but these were
used mostly for more expensive knives such as the Swiss Army line, Anvil and some Rangers. The fruit knives were also stainless steel.

So you cant say they used a small amount of stainless steel, but compared to carbon steel they did use much less.


So which carbon steel is the Forest Master? I dont know.

In every advertisement and piece of literature I have on Forest Masters they always call it "Mirror Polished Carbon Steel".

I feel like they wouldn't use 1095 for these. Which makes me think 1075 is the most likely one. But I just cant say for sure.


But since you mentioned stainless steel Forest Masters I will go ahead and tell you something. One of my new Forest Masters is stainless steel. The only one I have ever seen. I wanted to go out get some pictures today but It has rained all day. Hopefully soon.

 

[B.Mauser]

I think you've found yourself a nice niche with Colonial. And it's fun hearing about knives one can afford to own.

Yeah they are a lot of fun. The price sure makes it easy for me to buy them often. And we all know how exciting a new knife showing up in the mail is. Besides the 4 Forest Masters I bought this week I also found an Old Cutler I have been looking for.

I have this Old Cutler Mark 1 series original edition collectors box. It comes with 6 knives but mine were all missing when I bought this box. It holds 2 small stockman,2 large stockman, a barlow and a trapper. The Old Cutler I just got is my 4th one for the box. Is pretty rusty but the handles seem to be in decent shape so hopefully I can get it cleaned up and save it. I need 1 more large and one small stockman to complete the box.

 

[edbeau]

An empty box needs to be filled up.

 

[B.Mauser]

An empty box needs to be filled up.

It sure does. 2 more to go. Luckily I have the trapper already. That's the hard one to find.

 

[B.Mauser]

I had time to grab a few pictures of this Stainless Forest Master today. That stainless sure does shine compared to the carbon steel bolsters and bail.

Interesting can opener.

Close up of the shield. Looks like its been dropped on some rocks while out on a journey.

 

[5K Qs]

Thanks for answering my question about Forest-Master steel, B.Mauser! :thumbup: And this most recent post with photos of a Forest-Master that proudly proclaims its stainless character is very enlightening; I hadn't actually seen pics of a stainless version before now!

- GT