Old Hawkbill Pruner

VCM3 said:
Here it is ... Nice wood!

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can you scan other sides of it ? TIA,
-Vince
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Thanks Vince. Actually the wood is much darker (very rich) & nicer than the scan shows. The scan does it no justice at all.
I'll take some pics today with my camera & send them to you. Thanks again guys for contacting me.
Bruce
 
Mick57 said:
Thanks Vince. Actually the wood is much darker (very rich) & nicer than the scan shows. The scan does it no justice at all.
I'll take some pics today with my camera & send them to you. Thanks again guys for contacting me.
Bruce
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Does anyone have any information on the Holley Mfg Co Lakeville & any idea how old this knife is?
 
Mick, that's a fine old Holley! Holley's are very sought after knives. They were manufactured from the mid 1800's up to the 1930's, but in very low numbers after 1904, so they're quite hard to find. They never modernized their production methods, pretty much everything was done by hand. Here's a 1915 catalog page with what appears to be your knife:

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Vince, that's a FINE old Maher and Grosh!!

Eric
 
Great info Eric. Thanks very much.....I appreciate it.
I stumbled across it at a antique shop I visit from time to time about a year ago.
I'm not into pruners by any stretch, but it really caught my eye when I saw it.
Thanks again.
Bruce
 
BL's guide IV says 1844 to 1930's

Here are 5 shots of Mick57's hawkbill

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That's a great looking prunner. The wood scales are really nice. What type of wood are they? Thanks for posting your knife Mick57
 
It certainly is a fine pruner.

Notice the quality of construction and material for a mere agricultural/horticultural tool. Most impressive.
 
zerogee said:
I think you're fine there -- I'd guess in the 1930s. The thick almost round butt with the flat cap is a very common shape for pruner handles, except that normally scales like this are usually stag. Makes for great grip on the pull stroke. I have wondered why a lot of the old pruners (Sheffield was more typical than American) had this sort of thick, flat capped butt -- and usually it appears to have been used. A quick way to hammer in marking stakes maybe?
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Interesting observation. A metal end might well have been used to drive lead nails in. In those days(18th-early 20th century) a lot of fruit trees would have been fan or espalier tied on an old brick wall, the same for vines and figs. Lead headed nails were often used to hold down wires or parts of the branch to train it to a system. They would be driven in through the soft mortar and the knife itself could've been used. Another use may to have been to pulverize the end of cuttings prior to shaping them for rooting-they kept better that way.
 
Man, there are some really cool knives in this thread. Once again, another pattern I love but don't own!

Thank you so much for sharing these photos folks. When you're too broke to buy `em all, this is the next best thing!

:D
 
smiling-knife said:
That's a great looking prunner. The wood scales are really nice. What type of wood are they? Thanks for posting your knife Mick57
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Thank you s-k. I'm guessing either ironwood or cocobolo, but I really don't know for sure. Maybe someone here could give a definitive answer to that, as I've wondered myself.
Many thanks again to Vince (VCM3) for posting the pics for me.
 
Bruce, that's cocobola, the only other option on that model was jigged bone, or as Holley called it: "India Machine Stag Horn". Note how the butt piece is actually cast in one piece, NOBODY does that anymore. There's a pin through the side that holds it to the handles, and a notch on the bottom that the spring rests on. The upward force of the spring acts as a pseudo pin itself, holding everything firmly in place.

Eric
 
Thanks Eric, I was leaning towards it being cocobolo.
And thank you again for your input....very informative. :thumbup:
Bruce
 
That is a great old pruner Bruce. Glad we all get to see it. Great info Eric. Thanks!
 
No problem guys, it's a learning experience for me too, I had never really checked that Holley hawk out before, it's great to see an actual model.

Eric
 
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