ID Help?

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HKGuns

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Jan 28, 2019
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Does anyone know what this is? I can’t find any markings.

p3781827280-5.jpg
 
I am not an expert, I think it might be an imperial pocket knife though. It looks similar to there small tooth pick model. How long is it? Hopefully someone else more knowledgeable than I can come along to tell you for sure.
 
One blade.

The blade was ground short, so no way to tell the original length. I’m guessing, based on provenance, it is from the 40’s or 50’s.

Case length is 5”.
 
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Looks like "Clam Shell" construction. Are the handles held on by tabs on each end?

It is probably an old Imperial or Colonial. Both made a lot of Clam Shell knives. (a few other companies made them, too.)
It is a Toothpick pattern.
The blade is probably 1095 carbon steel. Clam Shell knives were inexpensive, but had the same high quality properly heat
treated blades of the higher end (and much more expensive) knives and/or "brands" the manufacturer may have had.
(or was a division of; as in the case of Imperial, which is one of the Schrade family of brands when that knife was made and still is today,
although the ownership of Schrade has changed over the years.)

@KenHash It is not a Case. Case made the pattern, (I think they still do) but they
have never (that I know of anyway) made a clam shell knife.
 
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Yes the scales are fastened with tabs. Also based on the provenance, my guess would be it was an inexpensive plumbers knife.

The blade rusted and sharpened very much like 1095 steel.

Thanks very much for Everyone’s help.
 
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afishhunter said:
Looks like "Clam Shell" construction. Are the handles held on by tabs on each end?
@KenHash It is not a Case. Case made the pattern, (I think they still do) but they
have never (that I know of anyway) made a clam shell knife.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I didn't even notice the clamshell thinking it was part of the photo due to the speckled background. lol
 
HKGuns said:
Does anyone know what this is? I can’t find any markings.

p3781827280-5.jpg
Click to expand...
It's an inexpensive clam shell construction toothpick pattern.
It's not an imperial I don't think, they used a one piece side shell that attached at either end with bent tabs and had a thin celluloid sheet folded on to form the faux scales.
This appears to have a tab at each bolster to hold on the " scales ".
Could be a Colonial, or one of the firms from England or Ireland who also made shell construction knives, I've really only had imperials though so I couldn't say which may have made it.
 
Could be an Imperial Sportsmaster model. They were toothpick styles meant to be general purpose knives. Colonial didn't really make toothpick styles in single blade after a certain point, meanwhile Imperial loved them.
 
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