Old Cutler/Rap Cutler

[Kyui Su Kim]

I had been perusing the local antique shops here in town, as I usually do when I get bored, checking to see what they have for older knives. I came across a knife with Old Cutler stamped on the handle. I had to take a look at it. It was an older looking knife and the blade was showing much of it. I decided that I would wait until I could do some research on the company that made it before making a decision to get it or not.

Low and behold another member(Danke ickkey ) had some to let go of, and they were fairing much better. I am loving them, and have already pocketed the barlow for some time riding around the offices.

Now with all my knives, I like to know alittle about the companies that made them. I looked up about the Colonial Knife Co and was saddened to see they have gone the way of Schrade. Now what got me was that one of the blades on the stockman has RAP CUTLERY stamped to it. When I tried doing a search on google, I only get rappers and Rat Cutlery So my question is, who or what was RAP Cutlery?

PS-Sorry for the long stories, guess I felt the need to rant

 

[tomcrx]

RAP was a Colonial Knife branding, usually carbon steel, better handle materials from the 80's. Do not know what was the history behind the term though,

 

[DennisStrickland]

this line of colonial knives were marketed around 90 or 95 . one of the founders [palotino] grandsons tried to upgrade the companys inexpensive blister pack mainstream product. they were italian decent i believe [name is probably misspelled]. there was a total of 6 patterns--2 4 in. stocks--2 small stocks-- 2 barlows. initial ads were fairly large in Knife World. it was an attempt to move their products into a higher end consumer end knife. R.A.P. was the initials on back of tang & were the grandson's .the knives went in stag --one barlow & small & reg. stock. with the sequence repeated in some stabalized wood. 1095 was the steel at 57r.r. if i remember correctly.although the knives were decent quality the offering was a failure. a local dist. mentioned to me that because the knives had only be put out in blister pack lower end for such a long time the general public had no interest in the higher quality knives.
dennis

 

[tomcrx]

Thank Dennis. It would be great if we had a wiki to store all this great info

 

[Kyui Su Kim]

Wow, thank you very much for the information. Seems sad they could'nt stick around. I read somewhere that the Old Cutler line up was an attempt to compete with Old Timers and such.

 

[DennisStrickland]

actually i used several & thought the edge holding was better than the majority of the schrade offerings at the time. some came with a pretty good polish & i did'nt think the f&f was near as good as case.they were offered in a case with all 6 models displayed also.
dennis

 

[silenthunterstudios]

I believe that in a recent issue of Blade or Knife World, Colonial had been bought out, and was coming back with a tactical line for first responders, and a traditional line for collectors. I believe they are being imported, with a few being made in the US.

 

[Kyui Su Kim]

I believe that in a recent issue of Blade or Knife World, Colonial had been bought out, and was coming back with a tactical line for first responders, and a traditional line for collectors. I believe they are being imported, with a few being made in the US.

I looked it up and as far as I can tell, it's all imported.

actually i used several & thought the edge holding was better than the majority of the schrade offerings at the time. some came with a pretty good polish & i did'nt think the f&f was near as good as case.they were offered in a case with all 6 models displayed also.
dennis

It's nice to hear that the 1090 will be holding up well. Just a pain that I may have to keep an eye out for the corrosion. Hopefully wiping it down at the end of the day will keep all that at bay.

 

[Arathol]

RAP is Robert A Paolantonio, third generation of the family that founded both Colonial and Providence Cutlery. I bought two of the larger stockman knives from Robert in 1997. Heres one of them, with mammoth ivory scales, filework and scrimshaw by Joe Luiz

According to the documentation from Robert that came with the two knives, RAP marked knives have been made since sometime in the 1970s, and continued at least to the late 90s.

 

[Kyui Su Kim]

RAP is Robert A Paolantonio, third generation of the family that founded both Colonial and Providence Cutlery. I bought two of the larger stockman knives from Robert in 1997. Heres one of them, with mammoth ivory scales, filework and scrimshaw by Joe Luiz

According to the documentation from Robert that came with the two knives, RAP marked knives have been made since sometime in the 1970s, and continued at least to the late 90s.

That is a gorgeous knife. The three I got had the paperwork like that with them as well.