Early queen folder

Campbellclanman

Campbellclanman

Platinum Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2007
Messages
15,814
Hi everyone.
I have just recently got this old Queen knife, and would very much apprecate your comments and whatever you can tell me about this knife.
It was sold as a "rare" queen 1945-55 light trapper, Itook the rare with a grain of salt, but so far one member who has looked at it hasnt seen one like this with real bone.

When I first saw this knife advertised...I had a double take at it...moved on..but always seemed to be drawn back to it...each time I looked..I grew fonder of it...

The knife arrived yesterday morning-eargerly unwrapped it, and to be honest...my heart sank, the movement wasnt nice at all-very very weak half stops, the main blades final "snap" was hardly there at all....I saw the blades neede attention- but the coluring was quite active...

Out came the Mineral oil, a long wooden toothpick, and a plastic dish, and I went to work...I spent nearly all day on it, and soaked it-scraped within the liners with toothpick, warm soapy water washed it out half a dozen times-blew out all water with compressor air gun, and drowned it with wd40 ( I dont usually like using crc or wd40...but I wanted to expel ALL water-I worked the blades for quite some time...and then wiped off all wd 40..
Each time I oiled the joints, and springs etc...and cleaned it, the knife felt different almost immediately..and it just got better and better.

Apart from the look of the blades..the knife works beautifully, the snap just is so strong that it sort of "thuds" through the whole knife-on each stop the blades just snap lovely, I am now pretty happy with it.
Although the blades look terrible in these phots...they do look nicer in person-I am very happy with it-as the blades havent had too much sharpening, the surface rust was the only major problem, now the blades have a colouring that realy is ok!!
The photos make the blades look terrible-but to be honest folks..I REALLY like this knife... and would appreciate all honest comments good or bad-please let me know your thoughts,
Length closed is just over 4 inches, the main blade( clip point) is 3 & 3/4 inches, the othe blade is slightly longer.
Please could you help me with the correct names of the blades, and what THIS knife really is.
Thank you very much for your time in looking,I hope you like it.

Queen002.jpg


Queen011.jpg


Queen009.jpg


Queen003.jpg


Queen004.jpg


Queen005.jpg


Queen007.jpg


Queen006.jpg
 
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Looks like a model #24, Queen "Slim Trapper" with Clip and Spey blades.

I've seen a couple of images with winterbottom bone that looks somewhat similar.

The tang stamp looks like the one listed for 1932-1955 (but I am only going by a guide. I am not a Queen collector and have no particular knowledge.)
 
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Queen was famous for its Winterbottom bone handles, which is what you have, Duncan.
It seems they used it for the most part, starting before WWII, and into the 1950s.
By the end of the 1950s/early 1960s, they converted to synthetic Winterbottom, using Delrin like most cutleries at the time.
I'm glad the spring tension was just gummed up, and not failed or weakened springs.
It's also nice that it appears to be carbon steel. I'm not sure when they converted most all of their knives to stainless.
Nice knife!
 
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Charlie, it looks like from the late 40's on most of the tang stamps indicated "stainless" blades. After 1960 many stamps dropped the "stainless".
 
Blues said:
Charlie, it looks like from the late 40's on most of the tang stamps indicated "stainless" blades. After 1960 many stamps dropped the "stainless".
Click to expand...
So, perhaps Winterbottom bone handles transitioned the change to stainless blades, before they were replaced with Delrin "winterbottom".

Here are some examples of Winterbottom (WB) over the years;
Winterbottoms.jpg

Left to right -
A very old Case with WB dyed red. An aluminum framed, stainless Queen Barlow, with real WB, not as old as Duncan's knife.
The most common Queen Delrin version in the 60s and 70s. Then a burnt Orange Delrin, which was a failed experiment apparently - rare - I LIKE it!
A recent/modern Forest green, and finally a modern version on the big hunter, real bone, possibly old, with faded dye. So they painted it! Kinda ugly:thumbdn:!
Duncan, I like the "mellowed" version on your knife - the real thing!!
 
Elliot, Sir wood, Charlie and Lambertiana,
Thank you so much for your help so far, and thank you for your comments...I havent finished with the knife yet!!...still more grooming to do
I forgot to say one thing about the knife..it does have slight side play-enough to annoy-not enough to dissapoint...so in saying that Im kinda glad I got this knife-as I think I have saved it from being too far gone.
Charlie...I like very much the bone on my knife-its not a minter by far, but I think its a gem :o
The orange on the Queen...yes I agree-that is a very handsome knife, for eye-catching..I pick it out of that fine line up!

Elliot, I hope this isnt a silly question-as I am very thankfull for giving me an indication as to what era the knife came from...how can I narrow this down-or is that everyones wish?
 
Campbellclanman said:
Elliot, Sir wood, Charlie and Lambertiana,
Thank you so much for your help so far...Elliot, I hope this isnt a silly question-as I am very thankfull for giving me an indication as to what era the knife came from...how can I narrow this down?
Click to expand...

You are very welcome.

The guide that I was looking at gives a date range for the particular tang stamp. I was able to identify the pattern from images.

Any further information would need to come from someone with far more information than I possess...Someone who either collects or is a vendor of vintage Queen knives.

At least you have an idea of the time frame. It's sort of like with Case knives by way of example. "Case XX" tang stamps generally derive from the period 1940-1964. Most of us don't get much more info than that on a given knife.

In any case, you got yourself a nice little piece of yesteryear. :thumbup::cool:
 
Elliot..Thank you!!
Yep..your right, and to be honest Im starting to get hooked in the world of folders, ..its scary..as there is much to learn and much to look out for ...for faking etc, repairs, repaced blades etc.....so once again thanks very much for your time in helping me.

Many hours have I looked at fixed blades, read, collected...I am now haunting the folder world...boy the knives shown on the traditional forum alone are simply stunning, the knives here ...man ..this is simply a fantastic forum.


Ok..I have done this before on a very low valued fixed blade, and it was suggested by a knife collector...would you do this?? ( and please-all members welcome to have a say here )...using only the grade0000 steel wool-which does not shine or clean in any way-its so fine-but just takes off the slight surface that a softer rust may give...I am a bit cautious...but the one and only time I have done this-the result was great-it kept the colouring ( or do you prefer the patina? ) and yet took of the active rust....any other ways/suggestions of now enhancing this ol' girl without the horrible acts of polishing/sanding etc are most welcome.
Once again thank you.
Duncan
 
Duncan,

I would do very much as you suggest...in fact I have recently done so with a couple of older knives.

Do just enough to take off any red rust and scale. (I removed enough with toothpicks and very mild techniques to have the blade go from feeling rough to relatively smooth to the touch. The black spots and staining I left intact. After I was done I sharpened them up and they get occasional play and carry time.

No reason not to enjoy your acquisition imho.

You'll get lots of tips on cleaning and restoring in the "Maintenance" forum. I highly recommend doing a little research there. Though it sounds like you have the matter well in hand.
 
Very nice vintage knife Duncan. For some reason far fewer vintage Queens show up on ebay than other USA brands, so it certainly is not a common find now.
You may ask the "Maintenance" guys if it's o.k. to gently squeeze in a padded vise to tighten it up.
roland
 
rprocter said:
Very nice vintage knife Duncan. For some reason far fewer vintage Queens show up on ebay than other USA brands, so it certainly is not a common find now.
You may ask the "Maintenance" guys if it's o.k. to gently squeeze in a padded vise to tighten it up.
roland
Click to expand...

Oh my lordy...I know that my bum would be puckering while doing that Roland!! lol...ok I will ask...
By the way, nice to hear from you, and thank you for looking at my knife-I appreciate your comments very much Roland, also along with the guys who have helped so far...I feel quite privileged to be able to recieve such good advice from you guys here-so my thanks to you all.
 
I like the size and slim pattern. The bone, bolsters and blades are beautiful. I think it's fantastic that you were able to work the knife back into shape. Looks like a great pocketknife.
 
Beautiful knife and a nice find. I really love the bone and the fact the it has very few grooves. It really matches the slim aesthetic of the knife
 
Thank you Johnny & Tom for your comments-much appreciated.
Roland...Elliot...I put this up on the thread that you both recommended....and did what they said..
I had three attempts at using fairly soft pressure...then went a little harder-and held it there for a wee while-, then gave it just a gentle "tweek" more...I can tell you it was a bit of a anxious momement...after the work I did to gain all the snap...I lost all of it!!..:(


The side movement has totally gone-and I was pretty darn carefull with how much pressure i gave it....so I have been frantically working away at it again...with the wd40 again...and I have to tell you I have all the snap back again...bar just a little laziness for the main blade when returning back into the liner.
Both blades have beautifull snap everywhere-exept for the main blade as mentioned above...yet Im sure with working it with Mineral oil it will come back...

Update...I have the main blade snapping back into liner around 60 to 70 percent of the time...so that tells me it will get there..it feels almost brand new again!!...

A scary momement there for me for awhile!!! -but its turning out to be twice the knife it was yesterday morning-Thank you everyone for your help....
 
Duncan, wow you're "livin' on the edge", eh ! putting your lovely knife's head into a vise ! But you are having fun and discovering one aspect of collecting well made vintage folders: you get to work (well, play really) on them in hopes of returning them to capable 'active duty'.
and yes the "squeeze 'em in the vise" trick is very easy to overdo. next time you'll probably get it right on.
roland
 
Duncan, my philosophy on this is pretty straighforward..."keep it simple" and "do no harm".

Do the very least necessary to get the knife into acceptable parameters. (This means in terms of cleaning, function and aesthetics.)

In the end the only person that needs to be pleased is "you".

If the knife looks the way you like, sharpens up to your satisfaction and the mechanics are reasonably sound, give it a good lube, wipe it off and put it in your pocket.

Now's the time to enjoy your new companion.

(None of this is intended to disparage any other point of view...just don't want to see you swept away with minutiae that in the end aren't necessary to your enjoyment.)

I think you've got yourself a knife you can be proud of. In fact I am carrying a modern single blade Queen of similar pattern in my pocket today in your honor. :cool:
 
Nice find there!!!!

I've got a early 50's stainless bladed Queen with the same Winterbottom bone.

Queen-51-1950-1.jpg
 
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