LETS SEE THOSE MAGNIFICENT HARNESS JACKS

waynorth said:
Cattaraugus already chose the disc/circle! Robeson stamped the letters "BP" (for Belt Punch - referring to industrial belting) on a shield. The acorn implies the strength of an Oak; but I suspect also a bit of whimsy!! 😁 :cool:
The companies weren't always consistent but here are examples;
Cattaraugus:
View attachment 2642331
2 Robesons - one with a "BP" shield:View attachment 2642333
Click to expand...

Someone on FB is posting some fantastic old knives photos including CJs and HJs (NFS) its not you is it Charlie?

Whoever it is he is making me drool. 😁
 
Apologies if I posted this here before but you know what they say about the mind, it's a terrible thing to waste;):D
4ONyaX.jpg
 
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Keen Kutter Harness Jack knife.
E.C Simmons purchased Walden in 1911, in comparing these knives with many others, it comes down to this period of Simmons purchased Walden, then in 1922 E.C. Simmons merged with Winchester.
During this time of E.C.Simmons owning Walden, Walden seemed to be the principle manufacturer of Keen Kutter Knives, from memory our good friend danno50 danno50 shared with us an print of an old add of Walden advertising this fact some time ago.


1, Two Ebony Harness Jacks with Keen Kutter stamped on the Tang, NO stampings on the Punch. I used to confuse this Punch with the Empire Punch ( not to be confused with the Alvord Punch ), photographs during the study of this Punch weren't always clear to show the Nail Nick placed right in the internal concaved crease of the Side Wall of this Punch, and the Empire Punch does not have a Nail Nick tucked away.

2, One dark Cocobolo Harness Jack Knife shown here as well, when compared to the above mentioned knives, this one has different pin positions, Larger Shield as well as a different Punch - this punch being Empires' Alvord Punch. , they also used the two different shields (one smaller). Same Bolster treatment.
Keen Kutter themselves used these different off-set pins in the middle, as well used these two different shield sizes as well.
At some different stage of manufacturing would Keen Kutter had this slightly different one made by Empire- or did Walden make use of the Alvord at some stage?

3, A lovely Jigged Bone E.C.Simmons Harness Jack Knife came along.
A nice swell center pattern with what some people call "Stabber Jack", I think Sabre ground is a better term? either way it's a heavily ground Main.
I have only seen one other like this and that is a Ebony handled Harness Jack like this out there in internet land- a Zentih Marshall Wells ( who were a wholesaler / retailer and not a manufacturer), so I am sure that Walden would have made that one that I have seen out there.
I am certain that these three Harness Jack Knives all came from that period between 1911 and 1922.

The two Walden Keen Kutter Ebony Harness Jack Knives:

qBsXSG4.jpg


The three together with the Alvord Punch example in the middle of it's siblings.

0qv7ava.jpg


Alvord Punch Keen Kutter:

35Erh99.jpg


The Jigged Bone is stunning on this gorgeous Keen Kutter.

QECg703.jpg


W4pJMSy.jpg


f3zUp8x.jpg
 
Campbellclanman said:
Keen Kutter Harness Jack knife.
E.C Simmons purchased Walden in 1911, in comparing these knives with many others, it comes down to this period of Simmons purchased Walden, then in 1922 E.C. Simmons merged with Winchester.
During this time of E.C.Simmons owning Walden, Walden seemed to be the principle manufacturer of Keen Kutter Knives, from memory our good friend danno50 danno50 shared with us an print of an old add of Walden advertising this fact some time ago.


1, Two Ebony Harness Jacks with Keen Kutter stamped on the Tang, NO stampings on the Punch. I used to confuse this Punch with the Empire Punch ( not to be confused with the Alvord Punch ), photographs during the study of this Punch weren't always clear to show the Nail Nick placed right in the internal concaved crease of the Side Wall of this Punch, and the Empire Punch does not have a Nail Nick tucked away.

2, One dark Cocobolo Harness Jack Knife shown here as well, when compared to the above mentioned knives, this one has different pin positions, Larger Shield as well as a different Punch - this punch being Empires' Alvord Punch. , they also used the two different shields (one smaller). Same Bolster treatment.
Keen Kutter themselves used these different off-set pins in the middle, as well used these two different shield sizes as well.
At some different stage of manufacturing would Keen Kutter had this slightly different one made by Empire- or did Walden make use of the Alvord at some stage?

3, A lovely Jigged Bone E.C.Simmons Harness Jack Knife came along.
A nice swell center pattern with what some people call "Stabber Jack", I think Sabre ground is a better term? either way it's a heavily ground Main.
I have only seen one other like this and that is a Ebony handled Harness Jack like this out there in internet land- a Zentih Marshall Wells ( who were a wholesaler / retailer and not a manufacturer), so I am sure that Walden would have made that one that I have seen out there.
I am certain that these three Harness Jack Knives all came from that period between 1911 and 1922.

The two Walden Keen Kutter Ebony Harness Jack Knives:

qBsXSG4.jpg


The three together with the Alvord Punch example in the middle of it's siblings.

0qv7ava.jpg


Alvord Punch Keen Kutter:

35Erh99.jpg


The Jigged Bone is stunning on this gorgeous Keen Kutter.

QECg703.jpg


W4pJMSy.jpg


f3zUp8x.jpg
Click to expand...
Wow!!! What a collection... Just my eye, but sure love a harness jack dressed in ebony!
 
Love those Keen Kutter harness jacks, Duncan! E.C.Simmons actually gained controlling interest in the Walden Knife Co. in 1902.
Looking in the guide to Keen Kutter pocket knives, by Sellens, the ebony handled knives appear to be pattern K72086, which Sellens say was in the Simmons catalogs from 1905 through to 1911. The bone handled knife with the great sabre ground spear blade is a K72498, which Sellens says was in the Simmons catalogs from 1917 through to 1929. With the lack of a stamped pattern number, I would think that it dates to the earlier part of this period. I would agree that all of the Keen Kutters were made by the Walden Knife Co., maybe with the exception of the one with the Alvord punch. Whether or not it was made by Empire or Walden was, I believe, briefly discussed at some point earlier in this thread?? Not sure if the discussion was on this particular knife, or centred around whether Empire ever supplied punches to other manufacturers?

Here is a poor resolution of the K72498 from a 1917 catalog I found online at Schrades-R-Us. I had asked the owner of the site for permission to post images from the site on Blade Forums. I cannot find any Keen Kutter catalogs online that date earlier than 1912.

kk2333.jpg
 
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L lithicus , thank you kind Sir :) :thumbsup:

danno50 danno50 Dan, Thanks for the correction on the purchase date my friend, as well many thanks for the Catalogue pic of the Sabre ground :):thumbsup: It would be great to see the Ebony examples in a Catalogue as well, its always a shame when that can't be found.
There is always the question mark when you see that Empire Punch in a knife like the Keen Kutter example, having some sort of paper work from the Cutler Manufacturers would be fantastic, but if we imagine just how much went on with those places!!- incredible.

Dan, does Sallen mention about the production rate of Keen Kutter Knives once Simmons / Walden merged with Winchester in 1922 up to 1929?
 
The only statements that Sellens makes regarding production:

Simmons, at one point, boasted that over 1 million Keen Kutter pocket knives were sold each year
E.C. Simmons stated, in a letter to salesman, that our factory in Walden is producing over 500 dozen pocket knives per day.

There are no comments concerning production during the Winchester era.

There is a reproduction of a catalog cut of the ebony handles knives in Sellens, however, I do not like to post from a copyrighted book.
 
Hey Dan!
Yes I remember reading that in Walden days the production was huge! It would be really interesting to see the production numbers in Keen Kutter compared to post merging with Winchester, reading on all the changes that Cutlery Companies went through- it was a pretty tough and competitive time!
Forgive the spelling mistake on Sellen, I must hunt down a copy of his Book on Keen Kutter Knives- there's so many books I want to purchase, this is just one of them.

We mentioned Winchester briefly in the above post, and so I thought I would group together my earlier Winchesters after an arrival a wee while ago, this arrival was a Winchester Harness Jack Knife with the earlier Napanoch Punch ( Carmen Punch), I remember posting my latest one of these in bone earlier on here, so I though a group shot together - all be it a very small group :)
Charlie with his rebirth of this Punch on his SFO's really woke a lot of people up to the existence of this punch - myself included.

With Winchester Purchasing Napanoch in 1919 so its nice to see a knife that has a "blend" of the two companies.

Both the Jigged Bone examples shown here are featured in a 1926 Catalogue, the two Ebony examples are shown within the same catalog with the same number (2660) but with the later Punch - where these have the Napanoch Punch, all I can gather from this is that perhaps these two Ebony examples here may be a couple years or so earlier- but very safe to say all within that relative time frame of mid to late 1920's.

xeqFPJF.jpg


Gccdpkq.jpg


I hope that everyone's New year is treating you all very well 🙂




,
 
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Campbellclanman said:
Keen Kutter Harness Jack knife.
E.C Simmons purchased Walden in 1911, in comparing these knives with many others, it comes down to this period of Simmons purchased Walden, then in 1922 E.C. Simmons merged with Winchester.
During this time of E.C.Simmons owning Walden, Walden seemed to be the principle manufacturer of Keen Kutter Knives, from memory our good friend danno50 danno50 shared with us an print of an old add of Walden advertising this fact some time ago.


1, Two Ebony Harness Jacks with Keen Kutter stamped on the Tang, NO stampings on the Punch. I used to confuse this Punch with the Empire Punch ( not to be confused with the Alvord Punch ), photographs during the study of this Punch weren't always clear to show the Nail Nick placed right in the internal concaved crease of the Side Wall of this Punch, and the Empire Punch does not have a Nail Nick tucked away.

2, One dark Cocobolo Harness Jack Knife shown here as well, when compared to the above mentioned knives, this one has different pin positions, Larger Shield as well as a different Punch - this punch being Empires' Alvord Punch. , they also used the two different shields (one smaller). Same Bolster treatment.
Keen Kutter themselves used these different off-set pins in the middle, as well used these two different shield sizes as well.
At some different stage of manufacturing would Keen Kutter had this slightly different one made by Empire- or did Walden make use of the Alvord at some stage?

3, A lovely Jigged Bone E.C.Simmons Harness Jack Knife came along.
A nice swell center pattern with what some people call "Stabber Jack", I think Sabre ground is a better term? either way it's a heavily ground Main.
I have only seen one other like this and that is a Ebony handled Harness Jack like this out there in internet land- a Zentih Marshall Wells ( who were a wholesaler / retailer and not a manufacturer), so I am sure that Walden would have made that one that I have seen out there.
I am certain that these three Harness Jack Knives all came from that period between 1911 and 1922.

The two Walden Keen Kutter Ebony Harness Jack Knives:

qBsXSG4.jpg


The three together with the Alvord Punch example in the middle of it's siblings.

0qv7ava.jpg


Alvord Punch Keen Kutter:

35Erh99.jpg
Click to expand...

Those are some black beauties !

Campbellclanman said:
The Jigged Bone is stunning on this gorgeous Keen Kutter.

QECg703.jpg


W4pJMSy.jpg


f3zUp8x.jpg
Click to expand...

What a stunner ! 😍👍
 
danno50 danno50 , Campbellclanman Campbellclanman

Tom from Winsted, Connecticut told me about an archived notice from Empire Knife he saw!! They were running punches (in the 10s of thousands!), and the notice was soliciting orders for those punches. That gives one a strong impression that they supplied other cutleries!!
Tom's family was connected to Empire somehow, and his aunt was an archivist in Winsted!!
 
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