LF&C Folder quality as good as kitchen knives? See photo

[scotchleaf]

I have been working on an old LF&C chef knife and was very favorably impressed by the ebony, the tapered tang and, most importantly, how sharp it gets. Are their folders just as good? Here is the "before" photo.

 

[mike Berkovitch]

I have no experience with LF&C but this chef knife looks fantastic.
Mike

 

[scotchleaf]

It's giant, and cuts like a razor. Hard to clean off the deep scratches without removing the inscription.

 

[Primble]

I have been working on an old LF&C chef knife and was very favorably impressed by the ebony, the tapered tang and, most importantly, how sharp it gets. Are their folders just as good? Here is the "before" photo.

I have been an antique consumer for many a year and Landers, Frary, & Clark is a name that always gets my attention. The name is synonymous with the words "high quality" and many of their items are very desirable. I don't have any of their cutlery, but, do have some of their other products.

Your knife is very high quality and a beautiful old knife - thank you for showing it here!!! :thumbup:

A short history of LF&C:

Landers, Frary & Clark traces its start to the time George Landers, age sixteen, arrived in New Britain, Connecticut in 1829 looking for a job. He soon went to work for Josiah Dewey who, seven years earlier, had started a small foundry making cupboard latches and other hardware. After Dewey's death, it became Landers & Smith Manufacturing Company in 1853. As president, Landers' salary was seven hundred dollars a year.

In 1862 the small but prosperous company made another of the many acquisitions that were to mark its history and growth in future years. It acquired the firm of Frary, Clark & Company, of Meriden Connecticut, the company name changed to Landers, Frary & Clark, which it retained for the next full century of its existence.

The number of products manufactured by Landers over the years was enormous and their scope amazing. They made stainless steel bull-nose rings and electric ranges, kitchen scales and vacuum bottles, window hardware and ice skates, mouse traps and percolators, can openers, cutlery and aluminum cookware, and thousands of other products. And somehow, almost until the very end, it seemed to work out profitably.


In 1965 though, this great company, once one of the best known and most prestigious in the housewares and hardware business, closed its doors permanently.

The last picture is an old coffee grinder that is situated on my kitchen counter - for a long time now.

I had to use flash on the iPhone for this and it is not really shiny - a duller satin wax finish.

Notice the ball bearings in the crank housing?


To answer your question - yes the folders would be high quality - but - the condition might be the biggest challenge.

 

[Primble]

It's giant, and cuts like a razor. Hard to clean off the deep scratches without removing the inscription.

You will lose all of the antique value if you do that to this old knife - I would leave it in it's most beautiful "as found" condition. The patina is too good to bother, on this one, just my opinion.

 

[MercyfulfateXX]

I agree with Primble on that.

 

[scotchleaf]

too late! I want it as a user, and it was already deeply scarred by a bad attempt to sharpen (by a former owner)

 

[scotchleaf]

Here is the "after" photo

 

[lambertiana]

I only have one small pearl handled LF&C folder, and it is good quality. Their folders were made (at least initially, I don't know if it changed later) in the H&B factory, which LF&C bought in 1912.