"Consorting with Robots", or, "Where you been??"

[waynorth]

This knife arrived in the mail today, for a little exercise in studying its history.

This reminds me of my oldest son, who would do the grocery shopping just to drive a nice old Firebird I had. "honest Dad, I won't speed!! MMM hmmmm!
When the groceries got back, taking much longer than it should, I got some lame excuses, as answers to the question, "where you been?". When a little detective work found the "titties" worn off the sides of my new tires, that was the end of the grocery runs!! Anyone know what a "Rockford" is??
Anyway, I asked this knife, "Where you been??" and the first answer was "Camillus, NY". Looking at his buddy here, do you agree?

Now, the handle covers are commonly known as "Christmas Tree" (CT) celluloid, but some refer to them as "Robot Puke". (Wonder who that is?)I guess either one fits.
I'd never seen an HSB with CT, but I haven't seen all of them that's for sure.
Looking inside the knife, there are signs that a shield adorned it at one time. Looking closely at the bolsters, all of them are dinged where they meet the cell, but the dings miraculously stop, leaving the handles unmarred. Obviously pre-cell dings. Then there's the silver-colored backspring pin. It seems that American knives almost universally will be pinned with metal that matches the liners; nickel with nickel, brass with brass. This knife has brass liners.

In that last picture, you may have noticed the eccentric hole for the handle pin. Two others are the same. I wonder if the handle remover was a dremmel? Or Robot teeth??
Where you been, knife?? Besides Camillus??
Judging from the gouges and the material of the handles,
this knife has been out drinking with Robots, and came home with the wrong coat!

 

[waynorth]

Just keeping this thread in view for Kerry and Tony, who I think are away this weekend.

 

[Bastid]

This is a great thread with some information I have not thought about. I caught the bolster marks vs the pristine "robot puke" as I scrolled down, but missed that spring pin.

Thanks for the lesson Charlie!

 

[VCM3]

This is a great thread with some information I have not thought about. I caught the bolster marks vs the pristine "robot puke" as I scrolled down, but missed that spring pin.

Thanks for the lesson Charlie!

I agree with Gus,CC,this is a cool & informative thread.I guess,if you had the knife in hand,the pin hole inside the liner might be the easier spot ,revealing the re-do job.

But what I ask,is,why would someone go through all that trouble ?
Is it because he liked the robot puke?
Or,because this knife would be valued higher as a "rare" collector (even though a fake) ?
And if that is the case,how much $ gain are we talking here?

You guys can laugh at me,but I never did get this old pocketknife collection thing down,man,you really got to have a huge amount of experience & knowledge to really know what you're looking at.
Thanks for the thread and the lesson Charlie,
-Vince

 

[KnifeHead]

:thumbup:Awesome stuff!

Would you say that this is an honest repair since, as has been mentioned before, there isn't much to gain from fixing it otherwise? Judging from the dings in the bolsters, it is quite possible that the original handle material was damaged in a gravitational mishap. I would guess that someone trying to hide a repair would have used either brass or N/S...not both. I think they fixed it to keep a neat old knife in service.

I didn't get hurt on the purchase(although the "robot puke" will make me nauseous if I stare at it long enough) so all in all, it's still a cool old knife with a history.

Thanks for looking this knife over Charlie.

BTW...bathroom remodeling has keep me from doing anything fun for quite a while so Tony went to the knife show without me.

 

[Durwood]

:thumbup:Awesome stuff!

Would you say that this is an honest repair since, as has been mentioned before, there isn't much to gain from fixing it otherwise? (

Unfortunately very few repairs to older slipjoints are "honest". Some of you guys could benefit from educating yourselves better about counterfeiting. This is obviously Fight'n Rooster Celluloid and the original motivation to put it on this knife was not just for the sake of repairing it, otherwise bone would have been more suitable. There are some great books on the subject or counterfeiting antique knives or you can always go to a few knife shows in the Louisville, Kentucky area where you'll find so many "factory finds" and "Hardware Store" finds it will begin to dawn on you a little better Fortunately I was taught about this stuff by a reputable dealer before I was deceived too much. Even I was fooled once, though. I bought a gorgeous four blade Keen Kutter Senator with blade etch and all...it was as fake as the boobs on a porn star Then you are left with a delimma...pass it on or eat the loss. I ate the loss

The dumbest thing about counterfeiting knives that I've never understood...is that some of the repair work is done so well that the perpetrator(s) could have probably made more money making custom knives. For some, the thrill is the deception more so than the monetary gain

 

[waynorth]

I think the repair was not meant to deceive. It's amazing the knife is in such great shape, given quite a rough patch in its life. It deserves to live on, even though it has no taste in clothes!
Actually, I kinda like CT!
But then, I don't go out much.
Sorry you are stuck in the bathroom, Kerry. Hope you get out soon.
This little exercise was fun BTW.
Having a good scanner is a wonderful thing for taking a close look at old knives. I have found fake tang stamps by blowing them up and putting them on a hi-res monitor. In that state, they look pretty pathetic.
Any collector of old knives would be wise to invest in one.


PS. Please email me your return address. I have mislaid the packaging.
charlie.campagna@telus.net

 

[sunnyd]

Charlie,

By "Rockford" I'm guess'n you must mean Jim Rockford, as in the character James Garner played in the 1970's "Rockford Files"?? And the way he drove that firebird of his would explain the rest, right??

A fine lesson on this knife indeed by the way. And incidentally, your scans are second to none..:thumbup:

><> Anthony

 

[waynorth]

You got it Anthony!
A Rockford is where you reverse at speed, crank the wheel, slam shift and do a spin to put the car in the opposite direction and smoke out after the bad guys! Exciting! And very hard on the equipment!

 

[sunnyd]

You got it Anthony!
A Rockford is where you reverse at speed, crank the wheel, slam shift and do a spin to put the car in the opposite direction and smoke out after the bad guys! Exciting! And very hard on the equipment!

Well alrighty then. I learned two lessons on this thread then.. I never heard of a Rockford before but was familiar with the show from some of my misspent teenage years while shooting pool, drinking beer and watching the tube in the clubhouse of the apartment complex where I worked as the maintenance manager in Gainsville, Florida. Those were the days..

 

[KnifeHead]

Well alrighty then. I learned two lessons on this thread then.. I never heard of a Rockford before but was familiar with the show from some of my misspent teenage years while shooting pool, drinking beer and watching the tube in the clubhouse of the apartment complex where I worked as the maintenance manager in Gainsville, Florida. Those were the days..

There's a good chance you would never learn about a Rockford at a knife show

 

[waynorth]

There's a good chance you would never learn about a Rockford at a knife show

Knife shows got nothin' on this here forum!

So Kerry, I took another look inside your knife, before I ship it out, and in order to see better, I polished the tip of a knife pick to provide me with a slim mirror. Confused and bewildered, I put some polish (Blue Magic) on a cloth, and with a tongue depressor I rubbed the liner where there looked like two dots in the shield location, and the dots disappeared!!
I hope you don't mind a little loss of internal patina. It's hardly noticeable; but I am embarrassed to say, I misread what I saw in there. It was staining from something (maybe a granny smith). I did however learn a new trick!
I am sure you could make one from a scrap of steel in Tony's shop, but for those with less access, I used a thin pick, and polished it on a flat surface with green compound, then said Blue Magic, 'till I could see my hairy face in it, and it works great to scan the liners!!