My mysterious boy's knife, help needed

Tilley Knife said:
Thanks Jody. I didn't see any sign of out gassing on the inside of the steel liners but it may have been preemptive. Thanks again and I look forward to what you find out.
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Tilley Knife said:
Thanks Jody. I didn't see any sign of out gassing on the inside of the steel liners but it may have been preemptive. Thanks again and I look forward to what you find out.
Click to expand...

Theres a couple of things that make think -scales were changed because they outgassed.
The pattern of corrosion on the blades -much worse where they are exposed and as has been mentioned they have been rigorously polished perhaps to clean them up as much as possible.
what the heck? if its a good user its good buy.
A couple of my best little users I got for nothing or next to nothing.
Hope you find out more.:)
 
Nice fine old knife. To my eye it only shows some cleaning. Why do you call it a boys knife as opposed to an easy open jack? In my mind a boys knife is a single spear point blade with metal covers/bolster and bail. Do you call it that because of the knife GEC has given that name?
 
Thanks. I refer to it as a boy's knife because it's a basic jack knife in a smaller 3.25 frame. I believe the EO notch was added by someone due to the strong pull on the main. It is rather shallow compared to what the mfgs did. An EO knife, in my mind, generally has more of a teardrop or bullet frame with exception to the WWII era Rodgers bone EOs produced by Pal, Utica, etc. They typically feature a bail. It's all subjective at this point. Who knows what it really was ;)
 
I got to thinking about your knife again. I remembered this Catt that I did. It's not an exact match, but the pattern is very close, and has the same blade types.







I thought it might add some more to the discussion...
 
My LF&C pattern # is 52125
Moving, so a ruler and books are not available.
Will try to get some pics up, I know one of Voyles books
has a great section on LF&C(that book is somewhere)
 
Philbird said:
One of the most prolific knife brands based in Canada was Premier Lifetime Cutlery. They were around from roughly 1920 to 1950, and are pretty obscure in the US, but common around here. The knives were made in Germany, Italy, England, and, later, Japan. Your knife could be one of the earlier European Premiers with the stamp worn off due to cleaning. All the examples I have are of generally good fit and finish, and yours looks like a pretty good one, it that is indeed it's origin.
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Premier was around for quite a while after 1950. I saw a lot of their displays in hardware stores in Canada in the 60s and bought a Muskrat about 61 or 2 that I carried until I traded it for a Premier stockman in 64. I carried that, and used it a lot (only one knife in those days), untill I broke the pin splitting some stakes on a construction job in 1968. I went into the little city of Estevan Saskatchewan, and bought a Boker Tree Brand stockman that was my only pocketknife for the next several years. I whittled a LOT of stuff with that one until the spey was worn down to a sliver, and I finally lost it coming home from a canoe trip in Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, somewhere around 1976.
 
glennbad said:
I got to thinking about your knife again. I remembered this Catt that I did. It's not an exact match, but the pattern is very close, and has the same blade types.







I thought it might add some more to the discussion...
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Glenn, you may be on to something. The pin placement looks very similiar. The more I look at the EO notch the more I believe it was added by a previous owner. It is barely pinchable because of how shallow the notch is. I have never seen a notch this small from a factory. Perhaps it was done for young boy.

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I love the looks of the grind on that main blade, and I'm not usually into spears...

Have you asked Charlie (waynorth)? His knowledge of old knives seems to be encyclopedic. Barry (gunstock) or Mike (knifeswapper of CK.net) might know something, too.
 
traumkommode said:
I love the looks of the grind on that main blade, and I'm not usually into spears...

Have you asked Charlie (waynorth)? His knowledge of old knives seems to be encyclopedic. Barry (gunstock) or Mike (knifeswapper of CK.net) might know something, too.
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Thanks guys, it's definitely a keeper. I spoke with Charlie and he agrees it's American. He's packing up for rendezvous but will check up on it afterwards. I'm thinking it's a pretty solid match for the Cattaraugus that Glenn posted provided the eo notch isn't factory. Thanks for all of input guys!
 
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My LF&C 52125 is the exact size of my GEC 15 HJ, the tangs appear to be cut like yours. Will have to unpack book to see about smaller size....
 
Jody744 said:
My LF&C 52125 is the exact size of my GEC 15 HJ, the tangs appear to be cut like yours. Will have to unpack book to see about smaller size....
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I just found this one. No model number and the liners are brass instead of steel. Pin placement looks right. Described as: L.F. & C. Landers, Frary, & Clark 3 1/4" Jack Knife, made from 1914-30's in New Britain, CT,

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This one has a shallow EO too.
Look at this [Link to Live eBay auction removed]
 
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Do not link to live eBay auctions.
 
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