If you could bring back one cutlery company

For me, it would be the historic Joseph Rodgers company, but that would involve transporting large numbers of highly skilled workmen, and a vast amount of materials, which are no longer available, forward in time more than a hundred years. The changes which have happened since then, would obviously come as a considerable shock to the old cutlers, and they would no doubt turn to drink! :eek: :rolleyes: ;)
 
Jack Black said:
For me, it would be the historic Joseph Rodgers company, but that would involve transporting large numbers of highly skilled workmen, and a vast amount of materials, which are no longer available, forward in time more than a hundred years. The changes which have happened since then, would obviously come as a considerable shock to the old cutlers, and they would no doubt turn to drink! :eek: :rolleyes: ;)
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Jack, Joseph Rodgers would definitely be up near the top of the list, one of the reasons I like Challenge so much is their ties to Sheffield.


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A lot of good suggestions. Picking one company is like picking which of your kids you like best.

After seeing some super nice examples recently in the Old Knives thread, I would choose Ulster. Some might call them a bump in the cutlery history road between the early Hudson Valley companies and outfits like Schrade, but they made some very interesting stuff.
 
I'll nominate the "Made in USA" knife company. I've had a few of their knives, all were good except for the gassy Celluloid covers..
If nominations are closed, I'll second Cattaraugus and NYKC .... though I'd not be able to afford one ....

Honestly, there are too many to choose from that were lost during the "Great" Depression (from all I've read about it, it don't sound so "great" to I. "Horrible" and "horrific", yes. "Great" not so much. I'm glad I missed it.) and after, for I to pick just one: Russell, the maker of the World's finest Barlow, Ulster, Robeson, PAL, Camillus, Case Bros., Schrade Walden, Western, Hammer Brand, Cattaraugus, NYKC and, Marbles, just to name a few...
 
Lots of great companies have been mentioned. Throwing out the bad working conditions at most of the companies (grinders inhaling dust all day), I'll cast my vote for Henckels. Its pre-WW II catalogs had thousand of cutlery items, and some of its work rivals Sheffield companies.

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I would love to get the springer in the middle:
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A day in the life of Henckels grinders:
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Hammer time!
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I'd like to see Imperial-Schrade Corp. back as a USA based knife producer. In my early years as a building materials salesman all of the lumberyards I sold to had hardware stores in the front, and as I remember most had Schrade Old Timer and Uncle Henry counter displays in them (either small or medium size) some even had the large floor displays and a gunshop too. I bought a couple Schrade's from my customers that I carried for years before losing the last one (an Old Timer) in 2005. What seemed so common place and unremarkable at the time is now lost to the ages. OH
 
Augie said:
There were many great companies back in the day but the one that I would like to bring back would be Challenge, they really do it for me, both esthetically pleasing and wonderfully made knives.

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I particularly like this picture of your knife Augie Augie . Your knife is very nice but it's the acorn hull just below the knife that got my attention. When I was a kid, we used to hold those hulls between our fingers under our thumbs and blow into them. They made excellent whistles. Although not intended by you, thanks for the reminder.
 
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