John Premble

D

dkonopinski

Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
203
I've acquired a beautiful John Premble 3 spring whittler, BUT whereas the blade stamps say Manchester OH USA, the box says China. Do any of you knowledgable people know for certain where they're made? Cheers. David
 
They're made in China. The Manchester OH stamp is an old Primble mark. Sadly, it seems Bluegrass has moved a lot of their knife contracting overseas.
 
China:confused:, I remember when the remakes came out they shipped in bulk boxes, each knife in it's own plastic bag, I want to say twenty five to a box.

I can't believe they would farm those honey's out to China. Is the quality anything like the USA remakes?

Helle
 
I think it's 40's or 50's made by schrade, looks like schrade's bone on there anyways. I must confess though, that is'nt my knife. I stole the pic from some other guys site. But, I did buy these 2 primbles from that guy.
 
I bought one of those China Primbles what a piece of junk. I threw it in my tackle box.
 
Blue Grass Cutlery has had John Primble knives made in Manchester, OH and in China, the knife may very well be one of the Manchester OH contracts, put into a later Chinese contract knife box.

dkonopinski, can you post a picture of the knife?
 
The Last Confederate said:
Blue Grass Cutlery has had John Primble knives made in Manchester, OH and in China, the knife may very well be one of the Manchester OH contracts, put into a later Chinese contract knife box.

dkonopinski, can you post a picture of the knife?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, but whher my photography skills are any good is the question.

Here goes.

David

DSCF1116.jpg


DSCF1115.jpg
 
Yep, that is a Chinese one, judging by the jigging, blade, layout, etc...... but is actually rather nice looking from the picture.

Blue Grass has used Utica before as a contractor for the Primble line, but seems to be having a lot of the old Winchester, Primble, etc........ lines made in China now.

It seems that Eye Brand(maybe, I've heard they may go Chinese), Marble's, etc...... are all using the same Chinese factory as Blue Grass too, based on patterns.
 
Well it's certainly as good as it looks and matches the quality of Rough Rider, Marbles, etc. Pity though it has to go in the chinese drawer as opposed to the US drawer.

Out of interest, which US traditional production pocket knives are still made in the US and by whom? Queen seems to make a whole stack of brands, Case is Case, Bear is there. Canal Street is sweet. Gets confusing. David
 
Right now,

Totally U.S.

Queen, and by extension Robeson, Schatt/Morgan, and
Moore Maker.

Canal Street.

Case.

Northwoods.
---------------------------

Mixed:

Kabar.

Utica.

Marble's- certain fixed blades.

Maybe still Blue Grass?

Ontario.
-----------------------------

I'm not sure on Bear, I think they're a mix too.
 
Thanks Bob. Very helpful & much appreciated. The name I'm not familiar with is Northwoods. Today I shall investigate them and see what's to be seen. Cheers. David
 
Yep, that one sure does appear to be Chinese, that brown bone and blades look VERY much like a Rough Rider brand, and it's common to see them under other names. Is there perhaps a "China" very faintly stamped on any of the blades?

Sometimes it will not be on the main blade and so faint, it can be darn near impossible to read. I've seen other brands where it was just a sticker that could be pealed off (Smith and Wesson slipjoints by Taylor are notorious for this), not leaving any country of origin on the knife. I haven't yet caught Blue Grass Cutlery doing something like that, but they do not actually make any knives, ALL of theirs are contracted.

dkonopinski, Northwoods are another contract name, they are made by Queen and tend to be very nice.
 
Thanks for the information, LC. I've checked the knife carefully in good light under a lens. No "China" on any blade or anywhere else for that matter. It's still a good knife. David
 
One of the distributors buffs off the China etch, which is very faint to begin with.
 
saw a new kissing crane the other day it had a sticker on the blade said hand crafted in china used to be a great german made knife i hope eye brand dont go china
 
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