Help identifying a knife please

H

HamburgerHill

Joined
Feb 5, 2015
Messages
86
I can't find a tang stamp or brand anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated.












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It looks like an Imperial to me, but I don't think I have seen one without a tang stamp before... Does it have any markings or numbers at all, maybe inside the liners?

By the way-Welcome!!
 
Ernie1980 said:
It looks like an Imperial to me, but I don't think I have seen one without a tang stamp before... Does it have any markings or numbers at all, maybe inside the liners?

By the way-Welcome!!
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Thanks Ernie! Unfortunately I can't find any numbers on this thing. That's why I'm so intrigued!


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Any thing visible on the large blade's tang when half way open? It may be an older well-repaired knife, the back spring pin seems to be brass while the handle pins seem to be NS or steel.
 
Nothing on the tang at half stop either. Good eye on the brass back spring pin varying from the others. Have you ever seen anything like that before? Thanks for your help!


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Whats that on the nail nick side of the secondary blade. Looks like something and than a &K or a &H. It could just be patina but it looks stamped.
 
Guitarist7.62 said:
Whats that on the nail nick side of the secondary blade. Looks like something and than a &K or a &H. It could just be patina but it looks stamped.
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Unfortunately it's patina. I looked very closely to see if maybe there was something lightly stamped and maybe it wore away from use, but nothing.


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HamburgerHill said:
Nothing on the tang at half stop either. Good eye on the brass back spring pin varying from the others. Have you ever seen anything like that before? Thanks for your help!


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No telling who made it at this point. It could have been any maker that did outside contracts (most of them did) using up over-run parts, a repair, or an error.
 
Bartleby said:
No telling who made it at this point. It could have been any maker that did outside contracts (most of them did) using up over-run parts, a repair, or an error.
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Or a lunch box knife, parts taken home from the factory by a worker to build his own. Would explain the lack of markings if he grabbed the blades before they got stamped, and the pins not matching.
 
I would say Kingston. I have an identical knife, no tang stamping, but a Kingston U.S.A etch on the master blade. Knife was given to me by Charlie (Waynorth) at the OKCA April show last year. Goins says Kingston USA was a trademark used by D.Devine and Ulster between 1915 and 1947. Also says the Kingston Cutlery Co. was founded during World War II by the Ulster and Imperial Knife companies. I will try to get some photos of my knife posted.
Dan
 
Thanks for all the info everyone! Really looking forward to seeing if we have a match Dan!


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danno50 said:
I would say Kingston. I have an identical knife, no tang stamping, but a Kingston U.S.A etch on the master blade. Knife was given to me by Charlie (Waynorth) at the OKCA April show last year. Goins says Kingston USA was a trademark used by D.Devine and Ulster between 1915 and 1947. Also says the Kingston Cutlery Co. was founded during World War II by the Ulster and Imperial Knife companies. I will try to get some photos of my knife posted.
Dan
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Kingston either late wartime production or right after the war sure makes sense, I was hoping USA was on the tang to confirm it. If it was near the end of Kingston's manufacture (1945-47) it is likely that there would be some mixed small parts (as Schrade and Camillus did at the end more recently). I was not aware of their use of etching for the blades without the tang stamp, but that makes sense. The Kingston 4 blade stainless military utility knife is unmarked on the tang (or anywhere else, except on the bail).
 
It looks very much like an imperial. it could be a knock of one that has no tank stamp. I have seen those before...
 
Aaron_Jones said:
It looks very much like an imperial. it could be a knock of one that has no tank stamp. I have seen those before...
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Absolutely right, of course. Kingston was a temporary joint company that combined Ulster and Imperial to make knives for Government war effort during WWII. They dissolved Kingston after the war, but it took a few years to use up the parts that were left over.
 
I've got one just like that with a CAMCO U.S.A. etch - no tang stamp.. it was a budget line made sold by Camillus

also has the same steel pivot pin and brass spring pin



I would take a pic but my camera been broken for a while
 
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Wow, you guys are a wealth of knowledge! Thanks for all your feedback, this is great. I have many traditional, ranging from new gecs, cases, to the full range of vintage folders. For some reason I've found myself carrying this "unknown" knife instead of all of the others lately. Considering it's well built and unknown really intrigues me for some reason.


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george65 said:
I've got one just like that with a CAMCO etch - no tang stamp.. it was a budget line made by Camillus

I would take a pic but my camera been broken for a while
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It may well be Camillus or Camco as well. Just about every manufacturer was turning out this pattern mid-century, no telling for certain who made this one.
 
HamburgerHill said:
Wow, you guys are a wealth of knowledge! Thanks for all your feedback, this is great. I have many traditional, ranging from new gecs, cases, to the full range of vintage folders. For some reason I've found myself carrying this "unknown" knife instead of all of the others lately. Considering it's well built and unknown really intrigues me for some reason.


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Click to expand...

It is kinda fun just trying to figure it out, thanks for sharing!
 
Can't add anything as to its origins although I had a Ka-Bar Jack that was similar.

What's also interesting is the quality of construction, sunk-joints and what might be tapered back springs from the photo? And yet it has tough utility composite jigged handle slabs. Might be a candidate for re-handling with some nice bone too. Likeable knife all round.

Thanks, Will
 
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