Old Historical knives (title edited)

cbach8tw · Mar 21, 2020

Can we start a thread showing knives from history? I was hoping to see knives from the early part of colonial days, Frontier days, mountainman / trapper era, Civil War, and Western expansion all the way to the beginning of the the 20th century? And a little after. It does not have to be just old knives, but modern interpretation of knives in the same theme as well. I also really wanted to see Cowboy Action knives too!! Please, please share your pics!!!! Let me see what I have......I know, I know, it is mostly just my collection, but I see some historical themes in them that I like. Folders too....

cbach8tw · Mar 21, 2020

cbach8tw · Mar 21, 2020

cbach8tw · Mar 21, 2020

Delete, double post.

cbach8tw · Mar 21, 2020

Horsewright , in your experiences, have you come across any old knives or tools from a bygone era? I like Hudson Bay knives or what is called a Buffalo or Chief knives, or the knives with eyes because of the large washers. Mountain man stuff. The simple ones seem to catch my eyes, homely butcher types or something made at a forge on a ranch. Then I like French ball end knives, as well roach belly and other skinners....a Dadley knife? Any mule skinners out there? Let me find some more.

cbach8tw · Mar 21, 2020

cbach8tw · Mar 21, 2020

In the first pic, the ball end knife was my first GL Drew, then I found the mule Skinner by him, the long upswept with semi-coffin handle is an early AA Forge, and the stag Nessmuk is by Mike Mann of Idaho Knifeworks. I show the Nessmuk again in re last pic to show the tanned sheath.

Horsewright · Mar 22, 2020

This is my interpretation of a large Green River butcher. I call it the Competition Carver. I had two orders for this knife and both guys were into the competition BBQing deal, hence the name:

My interpretation of a Dadley. The customer was in Sweden and had some specific ideals and modifications to the original so I call this knife the Scandinavian Dadley:

I do make the occasional Bowie:

Years ago I made a pretty good trade. I got a box of Green River blades. They were old in the 70s when they were wrapped in cosomolene and stuck in a safe. I make em up now and then and only have a few blades left:

Here's a Sheffield Bowie, my wife's grandfather carried this shipboard during WW2 (USN):

cbach8tw · Mar 22, 2020

Horsewright said:
This is my interpretation of a large Green River butcher. I call it the Competition Carver. I had two orders for this knife and both guys were into the competition BBQing deal, hence the name:

My interpretation of a Dadley. The customer was in Sweden and had some specific ideals and modifications to the original so I call this knife the Scandinavian Dadley:

I do make the occasional Bowie:

Years ago I made a pretty good trade. I got a box of Green River blades. They were old in the 70s when they were wrapped in cosomolene and stuck in a safe. I make em up now and then and only have a few blades left:

Here's a Sheffield Bowie, my wife's grandfather carried this shipboard during WW2 (USN):

Wow, really nice. Wonder if you thought of adding a new of handle on the old Sheffield Bowie? Probably more sentimental to leave as is. Thanks for sharing.

Horsewright · Mar 25, 2020

No I'd leave it as is.

cbach8tw · Mar 25, 2020

Moderators, can we move this thread to the Traditional forums to increase traffic? Much appreciated.

Henry Beige · Mar 25, 2020

NOthing old here, but most of these knives fit your bill. I have been binging on Green River and Old Hickory, including a couple of Dadleys and a Green River pig sticker. Some of these knives are completely unmolested so far, others have been breathed on a little bit.

One knife keeps showing up in these photos, which is probably a giveaway that it is my favorite: the Green River 5” fish knife.

waynorth · Mar 25, 2020

How about folders?? The only Hudson's Bay I've ever seen - a Harness Jack!!!

cbach8tw · Mar 25, 2020

waynorth said:
How about folders?? The only Hudson's Bay I've ever seen - a Harness Jack!!!
View attachment 1309319

Thanks for sharing, I was not expecting to see a Hudson's Bay Co. folder. And yes, folders welcome.

Hickory n steel · Mar 25, 2020

Here's a 100 or so years old AC.co 6" butcher I bought from a forum member a couple years ago.

I now just use it in my kitchen, but whoever owned it originally carried it in this sheath they made.
The sheath is no more as it stunk very badly like mold / mildew and was deteriorating.

cbach8tw · Mar 26, 2020

Nice, keep them coming.

waynorth · Mar 26, 2020

Many knives used to settle the west came from Sheffield!! A previous operator of A.Wright & Sons revived this butcher's pattern several years ago!
Our friend Jack Black revived the old logo used here, on a great run of Lambfoot Bladed Barlow knives in recent times!!

Please excuse my mediocre cellphone pics! I'm a scanner by trade!!

afishhunter · Mar 26, 2020

Title made me think you were referring to knives made by Colonial, Frontier, and Western.

All I have is a Old Hickory "sheath knife" kit that needs a handle put on. One of these days/weeks/months/years/decades I'll probably get around to putting one on.
I have to figure out what I want to put on it first.
I'm thinking bone or horn/stag.
Wood would be "everybody and their extended family has it" boring.

Bone/Stag would still be "historically accurate" and "period correct" if I ever go to a Rendezvous with it.
I'm sure at least one mountain man changed a damaged wood handle to some sort of bone or horn/antler, one frigid day in the tent.

not2sharp · Mar 27, 2020

A couple of interesting knives for you.

These two American knives most likely date from before WWI, and perhaps from the last quarter of the 19th Century. Both feature tapered tang construction. The top knife is a Lamb splitter made by Village Blacksmith of Watertown, Wisconsin. It has a lot of wear which is why the hole is so close to the edge. The Watertown manufacturing plant appears to have opened around 1906.

The bottom knife is marked Smith Biggs & Co./Kansas City Mo. It looks to be the earlier of the two and unlike the Village Blacksmith knife, it has a false edge at the clip point. As far as I can tell Smith Bigg was a retailer that opened around 1880 and catered to the fur trade. I am not familiar with this trademark.

n2s

cbach8tw · Mar 28, 2020

Really nice, I can imagine some work done with these work horses. I can see where one would change out the original scales if the old one crack or split.