"Old Knives"

[Fodderwing]

Thought I better try this upgrade and see if I'm smart enough to post pictures

Crystal clear pics Rob of some gorgeous knives. The pruner bone!!!!!!!!

Cal and Lloyd what a feast to behold!

 

[Un-Chained]

This one is an interesting find. Knowing it was a Franken, I plunged as I had a return agreement with the seller matched with a fair price. It’s a Hartford Cutlery Co. with a long ago, and well transplanted Brantford Cutlery Co. main. Wonderful action, still snappy and quite tight. The wooden covers are used hard and darker on one side. Great feel in hand.

**some more of my filler.

 

[Augie]

Some very nice knives being posted everyone, good show.

Second knife I picked up from the same seller as the Camillus swing guard I posted last week. This one is a Camillus toe that has had the tang stamps ground and suffered some from poor storage. Looks to have had little use and has great bone. Story I got was both knives came from the estate of a family that had a grandfather or great grandfather that was a German immigrant that worked at Camillus and the knives were gifts.

 

[Un-Chained]

Augie
That bone’s Delish’ and I luv that double pull main. Very nice addition there John!!

 

[waynorth]

Augie , that "Toe" has a lot to tell us - nice scoop!!

 

[Campbellclanman]

Camillus at times ( a lot ) absolutely aced it in the Bone Jigging department, there's your proof!

 

[Campbellclanman]

This one is an interesting find. Knowing it was a Franken, I plunged as I had a return agreement with the seller matched with a fair price. It’s a Hartford Cutlery Co. with a long ago, and well transplanted Brantford Cutlery Co. main. Wonderful action, still snappy and quite tight. The wooden covers are used hard and darker on one side. Great feel in hand.

**some more of my filler.

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Unchained my friend, first of all I want to say thank you- ever since you have come in- your posts are great, your interest is great and you have some great Knives - its always nice seeing your posts
I kinda am on the thought wave that perhaps your Main is the original, check out a Brantford HJ- Charlie gifted me this incredible Knife- not only do I love it because of the Knife it is, but because its a gift from a friend - but - check the Shield, Check the Bolsters - they are the same as your Knife, maybe the Pen blade was the add in from a broken Punch Blade? The pin pattern is the same as well, so I do think yours may be a Brantford.
What does the Spine of the Main look like to the Spring- is it a good match?
heres mine..

 

[Un-Chained]

Campbellclanman
You know what Duncan....
Looking at my pictures again, I began to notice the exact same thing, as opposed to what I had originally thought. I believe (especially with Charlie’s gifted example shown) that you are correct! I can see grind marks on the Hartford’s tang stamp, much more so than on the Brantford’s tang, which looks almost untouched. My rat tail bolsters, shield and pin placements look identical to yours and I thank you for your knowledgeable sleuthing!! You’ve definitely convinced me.
The main’s tang and spring do look like a better match than the pen’s parts. As you may be able to see, they’ve both been slightly ground down on the ends (left of pic side)
By the way, the main’s half stop is flush and the pen’s is just a hair countersunk. Another piece of evidence to consider, that points to your conclusion.

You are very kind my good man!!
I’m quite grateful being here, with all of you knaf-heads and am inspired to seek out as many oldies as I can. The hunt and mystery associated with them is the draw, I just luv it.
What better place than here to educate and observe some of the finest examples one may ever lay eyes on. I thank you ALL for your participation and passion shared herein.
Cheers,
Gus

 

[Augie]

Campbellclanman
You know what Duncan....
Looking at my pictures again, I began to notice the exact same thing, as opposed to what I had originally thought. I believe (especially with Charlie’s gifted example shown) that you are correct! I can see grind marks on the Hartford’s tang stamp, much more so than on the Brantford’s tang, which looks almost untouched. My rat tail bolsters, shield and pin placements look identical to yours and I thank you for your knowledgeable sleuthing!! You’ve definitely convinced me.
The main’s tang and spring do look like a better match than the pen’s parts. As you may be able to see, they’ve both been slightly ground down on the ends (left of pic side)
By the way, the main’s half stop is flush and the pen’s is just a hair countersunk. Another piece of evidence to consider, that points to your conclusion.
View attachment 1555204
You are very kind my good man!!
I’m quite grateful being here, with all of you knaf-heads and am inspired to seek out as many oldies as I can. The hunt and mystery associated with them is the draw, I just luv it.
What better place than here to educate and observe some of the finest examples one may ever lay eyes on. I thank you ALL for your participation and passion shared herein.
Cheers,
Gus

Gus, give us that same pic but with the blades open showing how the blades and spring meet up, that may be telling.

 

[Un-Chained]

Augie
Here you go John.

 

[Augie]

Augie
Here you go John.
View attachment 1555224

Interesting, I expected to see squared off joints, not quite sure what to make of this, lets see what others think.

 

[Un-Chained]

Check this pic out John, more light shed...

Both springs’ ends are quite rounded off, for lack of a better term. I have the main’s spring 1mm higher than the pen’s.



This pic shows the bolsters are quite different as well.
A comparison with Duncan’s may provide more answers.

 

[Augie]

Check this pic out John, more light shed...
View attachment 1555474
Both springs’ ends are quite rounded off, for lack of a better term. I have the main’s spring 1mm higher than the pen’s.


View attachment 1555479
This pic shows the bolsters are quite different as well.
A comparison with Duncan’s may provide more answers.

That helps Gus, my opinion is the knife is cobbled together from parts, the rat tail bolsters are hand ground, not so sure any of the parts are original to each other. Looks like a good decent carry and use knife that someone did a pretty good job of assembling, probably better than I could do.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Gus, the Springs and Blades don’t 100% sit even when the Blades are open because of the way the knife is.
The Springs may be rounded because of the Knife isn’t built so that the Blades sit “top flat flush “ against the spring as you can clearly see and the rounding off is to go with the shape of the liners and Bolsters ( I hope I am coming across clear ).

The Bolsters that Augie has mentioned - he is correct the front Bolster has been ground but the tail Bolster looks untouched - the Brantford Bolster Rat tails are far from “ sharp” like we see on some knives - from your Photos the tail Bolster Looks good.
Look very carefully at the photos of my HJ and see how subtle the edges are of the Rats Tail - they are very rounded and subtle - your tail Bolster looks a 100% match to mine as does the shield also the pin pattern and that main Blade as well, also your pin Bolster too ( bar the rough finishing).

That knife looks to be a perfect match of the HJ - The difference in the Pin Bolster is that ( as Augie said as well ) someone didn’t finish it off so well after re-pinning the Knife.
I am very sure the knife is all good apart from the pen having been replaced.
I wouldn’t call a Knife a Frankenstein if it had a pen replaced. This was done an awful lot.
Maybe your knife was a Brantford Jack or a HJ ? But it’s not the freak you first thought it was.
I’m think your perfectly correct with the Tang on the Pen and the Main looks to be a good match to the Spring.

Please don’t get me wrong - I’m certainly not arguing here with you my friend - it’s a great thing to explore Knives and discuss this, in the end I think you have a knife where the Pen was replaced and quite simply the Bolster was finished off not so nicely after the Pin being peened.

 

[Augie]

So going back and looking at Duncan‘s and your pictures and reading his explanation I would tend to agree with him it is entirely possible that just the pen was replaced and everything else is correct. Many times it is difficult to determine originality from pictures and really helps to have the knife in hand.

 

[Un-Chained]

Campbellclanman
Augie
Thanks guys, I see the differences with Duncan’s HJ and that’s what I’m feeling. Not so much a Franken’ and just made to work. The blades do have decent snap and I’m not put off in the slightest with what we see. It’s a nice carry, just not a purdy one.
Great conversation pieces are as nice as the dandies sometimes aren’t they lol.

 

[r8shell]

Some very nice knives being posted everyone, good show.

Second knife I picked up from the same seller as the Camillus swing guard I posted last week. This one is a Camillus toe that has had the tang stamps ground and suffered some from poor storage. Looks to have had little use and has great bone. Story I got was both knives came from the estate of a family that had a grandfather or great grandfather that was a German immigrant that worked at Camillus and the knives were gifts.


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Wow, that's a beautiful hunk of bone!

 

[r8shell]

I couldn't tell from the seller's pics if this was ivory or bone. In hand, I'm pretty sure it's very smooth bone, and I like it.
I could fill in the missing chip with some epoxy, but haven't decided yet. It's not like it's in pristine condition. In fact, the liners are a little smushed, so there's lots of gap underneath the bone covers. The blade still snaps nicely enough, though.

Germania Cutlery Works:

 

[SteveC]

Some great knives being posted !

 

[waynorth]

Germania Cutlery Works:

I like those old plain, bone knives, Rachel!! Sometimes I wonder if they had some color at one time!!? Your knife reminds me of the Sfilato in the middle, below, that you graciously sent to me!! It even has a matching crack!!