Old Cutlery towns

smiling-knife said:
Oh sorry. I might be limited by the size of files I can upload to the host site. I'll try to scan in higher res and upload again. Won't be able to do this until Sunday though. Cheers.
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Yes, I've had the same problem myself. If it's not too much trouble that would be great, thanks. I'll look forward to it :)

Jack
 
buckthorn said:
Regarding Schrade: If I missed this in the timeline I apologize, but I'm fairly sure that, for a while in the Twentieth century, Schrade also had a factory in Middletown (Orange County, same as Walden) New York. Can anyone verify that?
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Yes, from around 1917 to sometime in the mid 1930's.

Eric
 
Thanks Eric. By the way, if we're considering places that had only a single company, my home town of Warwick (also in Orange County) was home for the Warwick Knife company for some time in the early Twentieth century.
 
Western, in Boulder Colorado. I believe the oldest Western I own was made in 1931, but research goes on. Western was bought out by Coleman, and went completely out of business in the late 1970s early 80s. Westerns were of somewhat lower quality than Case or Marble of the same time period. Sheaths were poor. Western patented a double tang, basically the tang is split lengthwise. So you have a stacked leather handle but can see the full tang on each side.
 
not a specific city, but Jim Bowie was born in Logan County Kentucky. John Primble knives were made for Belknap in Louisville, KY.
 
Is there any history of cutleries in Oregon? I ask because of the current location of Al Mar, Benchmade, Gerber, Kershaw, and William Henry are all in Oregon, though many are modern manufacturers.

>edit< I think I found the reason why, according to the Benchmade article in Wikipedia:

"One of the reasons Benchmade is located in Oregon, as are many other knife makers, is because Oregon has very relaxed laws toward knives in general and switchblades or butterfly knives in particular; there are no restrictions against selling a switchblade-style knife to an Oregon resident."

Never mind :D
 
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As for Italy...
Maniago (in the Northeast) is probably the most known cutlery town of the whole country. Born in the 15th century as blacksmith activity, in 18th century the whole activity turned towards smaller metal tools, like scissors and knives, made in more than 20 small factories. The first real factory to start production knifemaking is Maniago was born in the beginning of the 20th century, founded by a German who had already invested in Solingen. Maniago is now home of various cutlery factories, mostly oriented towards modern hunters/FB and single bladed folders of various styles (from modern OHO to gent's knives).
Scarperia (in Tuscany) has a very old history in knifemaking, also beginning back in the 15th century, as the town was in a strategical location between Florence and the Appennini mountains: here the knifemaking activity went on for centuries, until changes in knife laws and in transportation roads lead to a difficult time for the whole city, cutlery included. In the 20th century, a few knifemaking factories have been restored, and now provide for the majority of vast production as much as the smaller niche of Italian regional patterns.
A honorable mention to Frosolone, small town in Molise (in the Southeast), which also has a long tradition for both knives and scissors.
Next episode...Sardinia :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
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