F. A. Bower penknife

Galeocerdoshark

Galeocerdoshark

Joined
May 21, 2011
Messages
3,132
Hi folks,

Recently my mom was cleaning out some drawers and found an older pen knife that she was gifted from her mother or father.
Her father used to be a truck driver and he drove all over Europe during the 50s, 60s, 70s, and early 80s. I have never had the privilege to know him since he passed away when I was only one year old. However, he did have a good sense of curiosity which shows in the watches, pocket knives and other curiosities I've seen that belonged to him. A few of his things were gifted to me by my grandmother and my mom. Among them were some Solingen made knives but I was gifted the ones that are totally worn out and beyond repair.

Last week however, my mom found this pen knife with the markings 'Solingen 99' on the small blade and 'FA Bower IMP CO Germany' on the other.
I've done some research and I understand that Bower was a distributor and importer of amongst others Solingen made knives up until the 80s.

The blade was rusted pretty badly, the blades hit each other when closing and there was no snap whatsoever. After a night in Coca Cola, some cleaning with steel whool, WD40 and some mechanical oil, this baby regained its snap and the blades no longer hit one another.
A fresh edge and a good stropping made it quite pocketable again.

I'm amazed with the f&f, no gaps or nothing, and the steel seems to be some good quality carbon as well.
As I'm not really endowed with a lot of knowledge on patterns, some info on this pattern is welcome. What is striking to me is that the smaller pen knife seems to be 'reinforced'. What I'm saying is that it's not fully flat ground but that the grind is pretty wide towards the spine, but it's kind of swedged giving it a more piercing or needle like appearance.

Here she is:


Here you can see what I'm talking about on the left blade. Haven't seen that on my other smaller pen knives yet.


Finally, a comparison shot with a Case peanut and a Kabar 1071 small stockman


Hope you enjoyed the pics. If you guys wanna see details of the stamping I can provide additional pictures. I really dig this small addition to the collection!

Jerry
 
Nice little knife - quite a treasure being your Dads.
The long Swedge you see served as a relief for the other blade to Close without touching each other you see this a lot in three or four blades knives when the blades are so tightly packed closely together- the blades need these Swedge work for the knife blades to open and close without clashing. To boot Swedges just look awesome.
 
Campbellclanman said:
Nice little knife - quite a treasure being your Dads.
The long Swedge you see served as a relief for the other blade to Close without touching each other you see this a lot in three or four blades knives when the blades are so tightly packed closely together- the blades need these Swedge work for the knife blades to open and close without clashing. To boot Swedges just look awesome.
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Thanks for the info! Very interesting indeed and I see the purpose from an engineering point of view. As you said though, swedges just look cool . Oh and it's from my mom her dad, so my granddad. Really wish I could have gotten to know him. He seemed like a really interesting person with a wide array of interests.

WinchesteRalox said:
Very nice! I believe that’s a tuxedo pen right?
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Just Googled that, yep it sure does resemble a tuxedo pen knife. I call that a lucky coincidince. My job requires a costume every day of the week and small - hence often traditional - pocket knives is what I usually tend to carry in my inner vest pocket. This will serve that purpose well.
 
Yep. Also called a swell center penknife, tuxedo pen is the more common name. The swedge on the back of the blade is pretty common on the pattern. It does help one blade slide past the other when closing which can be very helpful. I've seen some that are packed pretty tight.

 
sunnyd said:
Great thread with a heartfelt story.. Here's one of my favorite pen knives. A Remington circa 1919-1939..

View attachment 917830
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yablanowitz said:
Yep. Also called a swell center penknife, tuxedo pen is the more common name. The swedge on the back of the blade is pretty common on the pattern. It does help one blade slide past the other when closing which can be very helpful. I've seen some that are packed pretty tight.

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blademan 13 said:
Awesome find and a very nice knife:thumbsup:
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Thank you guys for the compliments and the ton of info! Might have to search for a more recent incarnation that I won't be afraid to use too much.
Here's some more quick shots:










 
Just a beautiful Ebony Swell Center pen knife that you got passed down from you're Grand-Dad inadvertently from your Mom.. What a treasure to be sure!. :thumbsup::cool:
 
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