Grandma, can we stop at the five-and-dime? I like Kent knives from Woolworth's!

[Gevonovich]

Sweet! You know, I like the modern high polish knives being made but... there is something about a knife that any boy growing up in the 1920's, 1930's, 1940's or 1960's could own if he was willing to go look for some work. For me growing up on a farm five miles from the nearest town, twenty miles from the nearest one more than two or three blocks long, what else was there to do in the spring, summer or fall besides work? And boy or man, where I grew up, you had to have a pocketknife. You might break it or lose it in the field scraping mud out of the hipping fenders of the planter or leaving it on the tailgate of the old two-tone IH pickup you drove through the field to keep the planter hoppers filled, but you always had a knife of some sort.

Fall and winter was what we called layby and we also had a short one in the mid summer when the cotton, beans and wheat were still maturing. But on layby, if you weren't in school, you went fishing with the farmhands in summer or haunted the ditchbanks and narrow wood scopes between the several hunderd acre fields. Knife in one pocket, a few shells in the other, carrying a single shot Glenfield .22 or an old shotgun. No, not just teens by when you were eight, just like driving the tractor or the pickup. At eight these things were just expected and what was expected, well... you just did.

Oh, and you carried a totesack on your forrays. You know, a coarse burlap bag the cotton, bean and wheat seeds came in. Or if you were lucky, a farm hand's wife would give you a flour sack to use. Berries or poke salet or wild onions or plums or in the late fall, persimmons. You were expected to know where and when to find them and to bring them home when you did. But always the knife. Man just couldn't get work of any type done on the farm without a knife.

I have to agree with Singin ...sounds like a mighty fine life!!

 

[SAK Guy]

The first ice cream soda I ever had was at a Woolworth's in the 60's!!!! It was heaven after hours of scouring the toy bins and camping stuff!

 

[zippofan]

Woolworth's...brings back a lot of memories. I grew up with C.S. Woolworth's favorite store in downtown Scranton Pennsylvania in the late '60's/early 70's. I never got a knife there, but my cousin got his first Scout knife at Woolworth's, and in the haze of my memories I think it was a Kent. Seems to me we got ourselves in trouble with it more than once and it was confiscated. The next time he had a pocket knife it was the official Cub Scouts Camillus with blue handles.

Even though Woolworth's stayed open in downtown until the late 70's (with S.S Kresge's right next door), business moved out of down town to the mall just outside of the city, built in 1968. Sears was one of the anchors, W.T. Grant the other. The Imperial Barlow that I begged off Dad when I was around 8 came from Grant's IIRC.

Great memories, thank you

Z

 

[Codger_64]

I have to agree with Singin ...sounds like a mighty fine life!!

To a boy it was. But I wasn't the one who worked til my hands bled, fussed over sick children, prayed for rain and prayed for it to stop. I didn't read the tare tickets on the cotton or the moisture dockage on the beans. And I didn't worry about making payments on the land or where I was going to get money for a new combine when one burned. All to give their children more than they had. My turn at this came later. I raised two, mostly in the country. And three step children, a total of... let me think... yeah, eight grandchildren now. And I hope they have better than their parents had. I have some knives for them when they are old enough to appreciate them. Even if it just to open a cigar box every few years and remember the old man they belonged to.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

I have a Kent somewhere, I have to look when I can get around to poking in boxes, were they common as advertisers Michael? BTW, always love the history, thanks. :thumbup:

 

[singin50]

That's the right idea Michael, give it to them when they're old enough to appreciate where it's been and who it came from.:thumbup:

 

[Codger_64]

I have a Kent somewhere, I have to look when I can get around to poking in boxes, were they common as advertisers Michael? BTW, always love the history, thanks. :thumbup:

According to the former employees I have spoken to, Camillus like Schrade seldom threw anything away. It was common to overrun production of some components and hold them in inventory for future orders. It covered the rejects of the original run, warranty replacements and made subsequent smaller runs needing those components much quicker from order to out the door. And it wasn't uncommon to use over run pieces to make promotional pieces for the company itself, or for sales of event enhancement or advertising pieces for special customers with small orders. So Kent blades might well have been assembled for other customers after Woolworths quit ordering that special branding (I don't know when that was but it did eventually happen). Or... Woolworths could have ordered etched knives for their suppliers, salesmen rewards or for local promotion events. When you get back mobile and feel up to it, I'd love to see what you have.

That's the right idea Michael, give it to them when they're old enough to appreciate where it's been and who it came from.:thumbup:

I have one of my dad's knives. An oddity, it was an ad knife he had made to promote our cotton gin. I never knew he had them made, much less when. I found in in a drawer when I was emptying my mother's house for an estate sale. The knife is nothing remarkable, flat rectangle stainless slab covers over a lobster skeleton housing one clip blade and one file blade. It has his initials engraved, as by a jeweler, on one side. And the pocket blade is stamped "381" over "Stainless" on one side and "Western" over "USA" on the other. But it is a keepsake. Along with his pistol and his Gene Autry wristwatch.

 

[ptradeco]

Here is the only one I seem to have. 3 5/8" Composition Scales:

 

[Codger_64]

Nice! I wonder just how many different titles they stamped on that shield. Do you see the liner punch marks inside where they attached the covers?

 

[r8shell]

Often, I'll pick up an old relic of a knife because I like it, and think it has some potential for fixing up and using. Sometimes I buy it because I just know when I get home, I'll do a search here and find all kinds of stuff to read about the history of the brand and folk's memories of those old knives. Here's an old Kent I found in a pawnshop yesterday.
[



I avoid buying cell covered knives usually, but I didn't know what they were. Still, it might be worth trying to fix the wobble and putting an edge on.

Oh, and my strongest memories of Woolworth's was the pet dept. I feel bad about it now, but my folks would keep buying me those 25¢ turtles, even though they didn't live very long in my care. Also, I remember there was always at least one parakeet that got loose, flying around in the rafters.

 

[Codger_64]

I had the parakeets and goldfish. Our Siamese cats usually made short work of the parakeets if it didn't fly out the door at first opportunity.

Yep the knife is definately pyrolin, thick molded cell. If you had the will to do so, you could find a knife just like that one under one of several markings including Dunlap and Camillus, and have the broken pen blade replaced. Or as you said, just sharpen the pocket blade and use it.

Other than the utility knife I posted in another thread, my latest Kent is a "XLNT Barlow" also posted in another thread. But I will repost it here as well.

 

[billym]

Wow great thread. I was lucky enough to catch the end of the Five and Dime era. Woolworths was still around and another the was in a nearby shopping center was JJ Newberry's.
I have a Kent somewhere that I will have to photograph but here is a picture of a Newberry's "Multitool"

 

[Codger_64]

These are mostly Kents to give you an idea of the pattern variety out there. Many can also be found in other Camillus brandings.

 

[meako]

I remember back in the 70s buying a large hunting knife from Woolies Variety the store that sold clothing and sporting goods ,appliances etc as opposed to food and groceries-a light side dark side if you will.
It was Japanese carbon steel with a stacked leather handle and a 5inch clip point blade . It came with a leather sheath all for the outrageous price of $3. We all had one and used to roam the local streets on Saturday arvo after the shops had shut down looking for trouble. Although at 13 I didn't really want to find out much more after one the gang decided to get into the roof of the school and light a "campfire".
I thought this was a stupid and dangerous idea but was called a chicken(the ultimate insult)-well better a live chicken than a cooked goose. Used that knife for many camping trips after that. Lost it a long time ago.