I-XL George Wostenholm Sheffield England - pocket knife from my grandfather details

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DeviantAJ

Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Messages
6
Hi Everyone,

Sorry I first posted this in the multitool section but was advised by a more experienced member to try here:

I love knives and have a small but growing collection of swiss army knives, survival knives and kitchen knives.

My father gave me the only item he had from his dad, a George Wostenholm pocket knife that my grandfather used to use in Sri Lanka when working on the plantations budding trees.

I don't know anything about it and its pretty beat up. I wanted to get some information from some experts as to what model I have, and also whats the best way to get this back to the best condition I can. I don't want to ruin it, but I don't want it to get any worse. If I could bring it back to full functionality that would be awesome. The tools are all pretty sharp, but have some spots of rust or strong patina.

photo 4 by DeviantAJ, on Flickr
photo 3 by DeviantAJ, on Flickr
photo 3 by DeviantAJ, on Flickr
photo 2 by DeviantAJ, on Flickr

Thanks Everyone!
 
That's a Scout Knife from the famous Sheffield cutlers. What period would your grandfather have been using it, I ask because I don't think it's that old (by the standards of many of the knives here)? The slanted bolsters are unusual, nice bail too, similar to the early pattern British Army Clasp knives. Someone might even have a catologue with this in. Have you tried doing an image search?
 
Nice knife and looks to be in good condition. I think it dates from the 1950s-60s. Here is a similar one in an early 1960s catalogue.

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I didn't try an image search I think I will give it a go !

My dad was born in 1950 so I'm guessing it could potentially be from around that time +- 10 years possibly. My grandfather used to work in the estates and used this knife for budding trees.


I oiled the joints and the knife is so much smoother. Is there anything I should do to remove the rust ? Or leave it as is ?
 
I usually oil well then use a toothpick/scrap piece of hardwood to scape off any loosened rust and don't worry too much about it. The amount on your knife isn't much, and will probably not progress further at this stage. If you wanted to there is nothing wrong with taking steel wool/very high grit sand paper (1000+) and lightly sanding off the rust. It's not like the knife is a sought after collectible, it's a good used knife that looks like it! If you are unsure what to do my suggestion is stick with just oiling for now, and if the small amounts of rust bother you after carrying/using/playing with it at your desk for a while, then try some other methods, but if it doesn't bother you, then you know you found the sweet spot between refurbishing and too much cleaning! After all you do not have to decide right away!


I have the farmer knife in the bottom of the illustration and it is one of my favourites, despite the plastic covers. Cuts like a dream and great fit and attention to detail where it matters. I'm sure if yours is anything like mine (and why wouldn't it be) then you have a fine knife that can live a couple more lifetimes!!

Thank you for telling your story, my family said they will send me my paternal grandfathers pocket knife soon as he passed away this year, I have no idea what it looks like as I only heard him talk about it a couple of times when critiquing my fixed blade designs ( 1/8" was waaayyyyy to thick to make a knife out of!!), but I am the only knife lover in the family, so I eagerly look at every body's grandfathers knife posts with a bit of wonderment of how much his will match yours!
 
What a great family heirloom and remembrance of your grandfather.
This model with slant bolsters was originally offered prior to WW II but with a clip main blade and a slightly different (older) style can opener and was labeled the model B-202. Shortly after the war, your model was again offered in either a clip or spear point main blade variation and with the "new" style can opener which is present on your knife. The post war models were labeled as the B-154 (spear point) and B-154C (clip blade). These (including yours) model types remained virtually unchanged from the 1940s through the 1960s.
I would gently clean off the surface rust as others have suggested and enjoy a fine old knife.
 
smiling-knife said:
Nice knife and looks to be in good condition. I think it dates from the 1950s-60s. Here is a similar one in an early 1960s catalogue.

scan0003-3.jpg
Click to expand...
Hi to all..! And wishing everybody well,
I also have a very similar type penknife, looks almost identical to the model 204 in the above 1950’s catalogue, only different from what I can see, is that my can opener is slightly different to the pictured above. Mine has a lesser rounded angle to the cutting blade. And also has an unusual top shoulder, that is right angles off to the tip, may well have been previously bent like this, I’m honestly not too sure, but definitely a different can opener in general I’d say.
 
smoothrunner said:
Hi to all..! And wishing everybody well,
I also have a very similar type penknife, looks almost identical to the model 204 in the above 1950’s catalogue, only different from what I can see, is that my can opener is slightly different to the pictured above. Mine has a lesser rounded angle to the cutting blade. And also has an unusual top shoulder, that is right angles off to the tip, may well have been previously bent like this, I’m honestly not too sure, but definitely a different can opener in general I’d say.
Click to expand...
 
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Hi Rik,
Amd thanks for the helpful comment, this helps me an awful lot, quite a nice little knife, the spring and snap/click is really good on it, and it’s heavy and feels of pretty good quality, dam shame the company though decided to use fake stag horn and not the real thing, but I suppose as it was probably mass produced it kinda’ made sense. I’m guessing the knife is from around the 1940’s, possibly late 30’s…?
Thanks once again 👍🏻
 
smoothrunner said:
Hi Rik,
Amd thanks for the helpful comment, this helps me an awful lot, quite a nice little knife, the spring and snap/click is really good on it, and it’s heavy and feels of pretty good quality, dam shame the company though decided to use fake stag horn and not the real thing, but I suppose as it was probably mass produced it kinda’ made sense. I’m guessing the knife is from around the 1940’s, possibly late 30’s…?
Thanks once again 👍🏻OPs knifeOPs
OPs knife
14982413785_e052b3cf26_o.jpg

Second knife from the link
7146c722676971e417ecbc9555e90414.jpg
Click to expand...




That safety can opener design was invented by Michael Mirando and patented ( US Patent 2,391,732) by Imperial in 1945. I doubt that that knife was made any earlier than 1950.
The second knife is pre WW2.
 
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