Hell On Wheels Cutlery

[combatjiujitsu]

Anyone else been watching this show? Their have been some fine cutlery shown on the show but only one or two slipjoints. What would you guys say the people on the show would carry back then? Pics would be great!

 

[Woodrow F Call]

Look at the old knives sticky thread.

But, yeah, I love that show!

Of course, anything about life West of the Mississippi between 1800 and 1915 has a good chance of getting my attention.

 

[coaltrain]

My favorite show since the beginning. Have been more aware of noticing the traditional knives this year than last. And I agree with Woodrow's last sentence for sure!

 

[Old & In The Way]

Love that show.

 

[jackknife]

Being the only decent western on TV, of course I'm a fan.

In the first season, when the widowed Lily Bell is wandering around with an arrow stuck in her shoulder after surviving the attack that killed her husband and survey crew, Cullen finds her, and in the course of first aid, he cuts the arrow out with the help of a very nice period looking semi fancy folder from his vest pocket that looked a little too high tone for him. But then, he was a well to do plantation owner before the war.

Then we get a good look at the bowie that Elam is always sharpening, when he slits the throat of the guy who is about to shoot Cullen at the end of the first season. Again, it looks like a Sheffield type of bowie, which would be common in that time period just post Civil war, also known as the War Of Northern Aggression.

I imagine a good amount of low cost barlows would be found in an environment like that. English, and American.

Given the size of Sheffield at the time, and the massive amount of exports to the U.S. market, I'd expect to find fine English cutlery even at the end of the tracks construction camp. Aside from cheap whisky and ladies of the night, or afternoon, depending on your work shift, what else is ther to spend your pay on at the end of the line?

Whisky, women, and cutlery. Boy, there's a combination that will fill grave yard lots!

Carl.

edit to add, if anyone has that great photo of the knives recovered from that sunken riverboat, that is probably a very good sampling of what you'd find in the pockets of the railroad workers laying those tracks.

 

[Old & In The Way]

Being the only decent western on TV, of course I'm a fan.

In the first season, when the widowed Lily Bell is wandering around with an arrow stuck in her shoulder after surviving the attack that killed her husband and survey crew, Cullen finds her, and in the course of first aid, he cuts the arrow out with the help of a very nice period looking semi fancy folder from his vest pocket that looked a little too high tone for him. But then, he was a well to do plantation owner before the war.

Then we get a good look at the bowie that Elam is always sharpening, when he slits the throat of the guy who is about to shoot Cullen at the end of the first season. Again, it looks like a Sheffield type of bowie, which would be common in that time period just post Civil war, also known as the War Of Northern Aggression.

I imagine a good amount of low cost barlows would be found in an environment like that. English, and American.

Given the size of Sheffield at the time, and the massive amount of exports to the U.S. market, I'd expect to find fine English cutlery even at the end of the tracks construction camp. Aside from cheap whisky and ladies of the night, or afternoon, depending on your work shift, what else is ther to spend your pay on at the end of the line?

Whisky, women, and cutlery. Boy, there's a combination that will fill grave yard lots!

Carl.

edit to add, if anyone has that great photo of the knives recovered from that sunken riverboat, that is probably a very good sampling of what you'd find in the pockets of the railroad workers laying those tracks.

If you're talking about the Arabia, I think this picture is from their collection.

 

[jackknife]

If you're talking about the Arabia, I think this picture is from their collection.

Yes, that's it. They seem to have the full spectrum there, from small congress knives to large pruners, and everything in between. Thanks!

Carl.

 

[Hammer67]

Great show. Really well done. I also noticed the Cullen was sporting a nice bone-handled Natchez Bowie in the earlier episodes.

 

[jkulysses]

Love that show I started watching it on Netflix a couple months ago and blew through Seasons 1 and 2 in about 4 days lol. Where can I read more about those knives pulled up from the sunken riverboat? There are some very nice blades in there and depending on how long they were under water some of them appear to be in pretty good condition.

 

[knarfeng]

This is a knife forum. Comment on knives, not the show.

 

[comoha]

I'm a fan of the show too. Yet I swear I've seen full tang knives with slab handles (the full tang being fully visible down to the end of the handle) on several occasions.

I was of the mind that the fixed blade knives of the era were more hidden stick tang than modern full tang style handles?

 

[screened porch]

Yes, that's it. They seem to have the full spectrum there, from small congress knives to large pruners, and everything in between. Thanks!

Carl.

That picture makes me crazy every time I see it! Why can't I ever find a sunken riverboat like that?

 

[brownshoe]

"Why can't I ever find a sunken riverboat like that?" This one was buried for about 100 years under a corn field. The boat sunk and then the river moved.

 

[midnight flyer]

I'm a fan of the show too. Yet I swear I've seen full tang knives with slab handles (the full tang being fully visible down to the end of the handle) on several occasions.

I was of the mind that the fixed blade knives of the era were more hidden stick tang than modern full tang style handles?

We have several full time cowboy museums in our area and many, many displays of western life down here in S. Texas. We love 'em, and the tourists love 'em. There are plenty of examples of hidden tang, but for our area, the full tang seems to dominate our local history books.

All the ranchers, cowboys and farmers carried fixed knives that weren't that big by today's standards, probably 8 to 10 inches overall. A great deal were smaller. Most look like the Kephardt designs and patch knives in profile. They were simply flat pieces of sharpened metal with slabs of material riveted to them. In fact, they looked an awful lot like the knife that Ezra carries, a kind of mix if a traditional Nessmuk and butcher knife.

While they are certainly out there, the only time I have ever routinely seen the large knives that Cullen carries in the show is at the Texas Rangers museum. Law enforcement and bad guys really liked big, showy, fancy knives that they carried as part of their kit. Those guys seemed to favor an intimidating knife where size was important, due no doubt to their chosen profession.

When I was a kid I had seen so many stag handled (NO stags in Texas), ivory handled, inlaid handled, and engraved "cowboy" and "rancher" knives I thought I knew what they all looked like. When they opened different Texas themed museums either dedicated to or showing Texas cutlery as part of a display I was disappointed. The presentation stuff looked "right", in other words if a lawman, mayor or bank president received a knife it looked like my conception of a period knife. This perception was apparently built around too many 30s - 60s television shows and movies.

When I have gone to the museums (one is about 6 miles from my house, the other 12 or so) after they change their displays I always think "man, that knife he is showing looks just like one of my Chicago Cutlery knives". Nothing fancy about them.

Robert

 

[comoha]

Cool. Thanks for the local history!