Nostalgia at the Gun & Knife Show

[5K Qs]

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours at the local gun & knife show. It was a rainy day, and I don't know if that held down attendance, but there were certainly fewer people at the show than at previous ones I've visited. There were also fewer tables for vendors, and noticeably fewer knife-related tables than in the past. I wonder if it's a question of overexposure; last year, I think there were shows in town every 4 months, but this year I think it's been every other month.

Anyway, I was happy to be able to locate a knife to take home with me, a knife that reminded me of many of the knives I used to see when I was a kid 50+ years ago. It's an Imperial equal-end 2-blade jack with a long pull spear main and a pen secondary. It's a shell knife with the clip-on bolsters and some kind of plastic/celluloid covers. The handle reminds me of yellowish/whitish/ivory Formica that used to be used for kitchen tables, kitchen and bathroom counters, and we even had vinyl "upholstery" on our kitchen chairs that had the same kind of pattern and color. I think on old knives it was sometimes called "cracked ice", especially if it was quite white in color. The knife is in great shape, except it's too dull to cut butter!

Here are some photos. First pic is in cloudy outdoor light and shows what I consider the true color of the handles; second is indoors with artificial light and better displays the "pattern" worked into the covers.

Here's a shot showing the blades:

Lots of memories for a $5 investment!!

- GT

 

[screened porch]

And you know it will sharpen up just fine. Nice knife.

 

[Jack Black]

Nice GT :thumbup:

 

[RDaneel]

Neat knife, GT. Seems like there were a lot of knives with that cracked ice back in the day.

 

[swaybacksteve]

Nabbed a nice one GT! Looks like a good peanut butter spreader, even after you get it sharp.

 

[jackknife]

Nice one, GT. And you're right, lots of memories in that old pattern.:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[leghog]

I like equal end jacks, and I like Imperials. Great find.

 

[MercyfulfateXX]

love the cracked ice! great score and very clean!

 

[Blake the Blade]

Reminds me of the Richard's knives we had as kids GT. I guess these were the British versions of the Imperials, shell construction etc. Nostalgia certainly is the key word here. :thumbup:

Untitled by Mark Saunders, on Flickr

 

[Sonnydaze]

I'm glad you found a nice one. It's a good knife, no matter how old the design...
I like my Trapper...

 

[Augie]

Nice find GT, I've also had good luck at small gun shows, never know what you might find.

 

[markv]

i li,e to call them "old hardware store countertop" knives. cracked ice i believe so.
excellent story.
i enjoy hearing about these old knives and the exeprience that goes with them.
thanks for posting
i remember the linoleum kitchen table tops and vinyl seat covers.

buzz

 

[iSaur]

. The handle reminds me of yellowish/whitish/ivory Formica that used to be used for kitchen tables, kitchen and bathroom counters, and we even had vinyl "upholstery" on our kitchen chairs that had the same kind of pattern and color. I think on old knives it was sometimes called "cracked ice", especially if it was quite white in color. - GT

Nice find. It looks almost unused.
Here's a Richards:


Cracked ice is the official name. Bernard Levine refers to it as "Mother of Toilet Seat."

 

[5K Qs]

Thanks for the interest and compliments, everyone! Yesterday, I found the Imperial tang stamp chart that indicates the knife is from the 1936-1952 era. I was born in 1951, so it's likely the knife is older than I am; I always find that a surprising situation!! The gun show guy had another knife almost identical to the one I bought, but with a Hammer Brand tang stamp. I passed on that one because the pen blade had a VERY stiff pull, but now I sort of regret not investing the additional five bucks; I'm sure I could have made someone here happy by sending it on to her/him.

I like equal end jacks, and I like Imperials. Great find.

leghog, that succinctly describes my opinion, too. :thumbup::thumbup:

Reminds me of the Richard's knives we had as kids GT. I guess these were the British versions of the Imperials, shell construction etc. Nostalgia certainly is the key word here. :thumbup:
...

Nice find. It looks almost unused.
Here's a Richards:
...
Cracked ice is the official name. Bernard Levine refers to it as "Mother of Toilet Seat."

The gun show guy also had a Richards scout pattern there that I considered purchasing. It was very similar to the one iSaur displayed, except instead of cracked ice handles, it had a color picture of a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman and the acronym RCMP. But the main blade was quite severely recurved, so I thought his price was too high for me.

I deliberately avoided describing the handles on my knife as MOTS in the original post! I didn't realize that was a technical term from BRL!!

- GT

 

[Catherine_Montana]

5KQ,

You bought a cool and pretty knife!

Cate

 

[Catherine_Montana]

Reminds me of the Richard's knives we had as kids GT. I guess these were the British versions of the Imperials, shell construction etc. Nostalgia certainly is the key word here. :thumbup:

Untitled by Mark Saunders, on Flickr

This is very pretty too!

Cate

 

[r redden]

Great looking knife GT. I really love the old stuff.