Marbles folders

B

barrelsmith

Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
2
Hello all,
I'm new here. To give you a little background I'm more into old guns. repair and refinish, specializing in rust bluing, damascus refinishing, that type of thing. It was the damascus side of things that got me further into knives than I had been. I've made a small handfull of fixed blades. Material removal method with exotic wood scales and intend to perfect my workmanship now that I've got a small furnace to help with annealing, hardening processes. I'm currently fond of custom made damascus blades, Boker folding hunters, and old Schrades with high carbon steel blades.
Now to a question or two I've got on a knife I've recently aquired. It's an American made Marbles "Congress Buffalo", four blades marked MSA with an 01 on the blades. I am well aware that a value related question is not allowed, so be aware that I'm not fishing for such. What I am curious about is exactly when Marbles went to having their folders made in China and approximately how old an "01" marked folder may be. I picked this up in an estate sale, it looks brand new, and I'm completely uneducated as to this brand of knife. My initial thoughts are that it seems well made, I'm not particularly fond of the highly polished blades, but beyond that, I like it well enough. I guess it's the gun guy in me that wants more detail.
Thanks,
Jim
 
I'm not an expert on Marbles branded knives , but over the last 10 years or so I noticed a transition from mostly US contract knives over to imports.

I'm pretty sure the last US contract knives were made by Queen or Camilus , the new ones look like Rough Rider knives.

The company that licensed the name for cutlery was supposed to stop, but I see plenty of new offeriings with the Marbles name. I got a Damascus fixed blade last year that is a beauty ( an import).

A few years ago the US made fixed blade knives were on closeout all over the web, I should have picked some up.
 
Hello Barrelsmith, and welcome to BF. Though you have not gotten a lot of info just as yet, it is out there, along with every other question you could possibly have concerning knives! This place is just a treasure trove of information.

With that said, you might get more answers and more knowledge in the Traditional forum. You could email a moderator and ask to have this thread moved to Traditional, and then sit back and wait for the info to come rolling in!!


Well let me back up. Didn't see JPD's post and it looks like he gave you some good info there.
 
Good knife made in 2001 by queen cutlery for MSA corp-not Marbles.

Dave Shirley at that time owned the rights to use the MSA (marbles safety axe company) name from Marbles and had the knives made by Queen. These were the only folders offered by marbles during this time period, everything after 2001 folders wise was China.

Very high quality, mirror polished carbon steel blades. Not cheap I believe the blades are D2.

Dave was also the owner of the Custom Shop, and co owner or Bowie Corporation at the time, he later started Northwoods knives and produced knives under that name.

Dave also owned the rights to use the Scagel name and produced high quality replicas of Scagel folding knives and fixed blades in stag handles and 1095 carbon steel blades.

During the Marbles 1997-2001 Mike Stewart (owner of bark river knives) era, Dave Shirley and his custom shop did a lot of handling and finishing work for Marbles.

Bowie Corporation had special patterns made for them by Marbles and Bowie Corporation was the biggest distributor at that time of Marbles knives.

Marbles went to shit after 2001 thanks to a new production manager and Stewart left to form Bark River Knives.

Marbles made their classic series fixed blades in the USA but outsourced for the blades until they went bankrupt a few years ago. Everything besides the classic series was China or Pakistan. After the bankruptcy Marbles name was purchased by SMK and There are no more US made knives at all now-just Junk-quite a shame.
 
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However, The 2001 Marble's folders were originally commissioned by Marble's when Mike Stewart was there and Dave continued them after , you can find U.S. made folders marked Marbles (made by Queen) up to 2005, and the Blades will be marked M.S.A 02,03,04 and ,05 ,Gladstone ,Mi, many patterns ,with many different type handles were made over those five years, including safety Knives but they are all stamped on blade M.S.A and Gladstone,Mi, once Dave gave up lease to M.S.A, his pocket knives were either Scagel , Northwoods ,and some Robeson(prototypes) and the Chinese folders and safety knives started.
 
I just received from SMKW a Chinese made Marbles Cattleman and it's a quality piece. Good steel, holds a good edge, well crafted, etc. I've no problem with them. Same with the SMKW Colt folders (whittler, swell end, etc) good well made knives. While I hate to see the US cutlery industry go down the drain, I understand when you can get a knife like these for $20 and US folders of the same qualtiy cost 2-4 times as much. I've collected, used, made knives for 60 years, so I do know a little about knife quality.

BTW, what's the story on Queen/Schatt & Morgan? Still US made? The price would make me think so.

Rich
 
Agreed, yes.

Any folders with the marbles name not of this MSA series (marked M.S.A.) with the date and Gladstone, Mi USA) made after 2001 were China.
 
Rich S said:
BTW, what's the story on Queen/Schatt & Morgan? Still US made? The price would make me think so.
Rich
Click to expand...

Queen / Schatt & Morgan are still US made.
 
OK so does anyone know where i can buy the 2001 and earlier models i've looked for a long time with no luck............
 
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