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"Old Knives"
- Thread starter VCM3
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2005
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- 17,125
Check this one out.....
IXL 3 Blade Pruner
From it's owner,
" 4" closed, all steel construction, fluted bolsters with integral liners, heavy use and sharpening, cleaned at some point, 6 pins through each stag haft, graduated ( extended ) springs. Approx 1850 - 1870. Single blade pruners like this are fairly common. Two blade versions with saw exist but are much more difficult to find. These three wide knives are very scarce in almost any condition at all. In spite of the usage and past cleaning, the blades remain mostly full and near full length, as can be evidenced by how closely and uniformly each approaches it's respective spring. The clip blade is a bonus on this knife. I have only seen one other like this and it too was a very early knife. A three blade pruner does not even appear in the Wostenholm catalog dated 1885. "
IXL 3 Blade Pruner
From it's owner,
" 4" closed, all steel construction, fluted bolsters with integral liners, heavy use and sharpening, cleaned at some point, 6 pins through each stag haft, graduated ( extended ) springs. Approx 1850 - 1870. Single blade pruners like this are fairly common. Two blade versions with saw exist but are much more difficult to find. These three wide knives are very scarce in almost any condition at all. In spite of the usage and past cleaning, the blades remain mostly full and near full length, as can be evidenced by how closely and uniformly each approaches it's respective spring. The clip blade is a bonus on this knife. I have only seen one other like this and it too was a very early knife. A three blade pruner does not even appear in the Wostenholm catalog dated 1885. "
Will Power
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2007
- Messages
- 33,621
Must have been very expensive when new, a personal commission perhaps for some wealthy horticulturalist?
Stag, bolsters and construction are highly impressive and have they lasted!
Could somebody explain why cleaning an old knife is so looked down on? Is it like cleaning coins? Where's the line between cleaning up a knife after use and cleaning then?
Stag, bolsters and construction are highly impressive and have they lasted!
Could somebody explain why cleaning an old knife is so looked down on? Is it like cleaning coins? Where's the line between cleaning up a knife after use and cleaning then?
Because "cleaning" a knife doesn't mean simply getting the dirt off them, and maintaining and oiling them -- "cleaning" typically means regrinding/sanding/buffing the blades, springs, and bolsters - and generally buffing everything in sight to death on a soft buff -- until all trace of the original finishes, swedging, grinds, patina of time, etc are entirely gone. It's like taking an orbital sander to a fine piece of antique hand scraped and french polished furniture and then spraying a bunch of polyurethane on it and calling it "restored". Or using a bunch of Brasso and elbow grease on an original Tiffany lamp so it'll be "shiny" (a woman on Antique Road Show one time actually did this -- that was the sickest looking appraiser I've ever seen).
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Will Power
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2007
- Messages
- 33,621
Right, thank you:thumbup: I didn't imagine people would take buffing wheels to an old knife,horror
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2005
- Messages
- 17,125
Hafted in M.O.P.
Here's what the owner says,
" 3 5/16" closed, these trademarks were used fron 1882 - 1931. Unused, uncleaned, uncarried, 100% original finish throughout. A few scratches and blade rubs. The blemish in the pearl at the top rear bolster is not a chip, it is a natural in the pearl haft. In the image that is looking down into the knife with the blades closed, the knife is unsupported. It is perfectly stable resting only on the flat spine of the main blade. Near impossible to scan well. This is how you'd like to find them all. "
Here's what the owner says,
" 3 5/16" closed, these trademarks were used fron 1882 - 1931. Unused, uncleaned, uncarried, 100% original finish throughout. A few scratches and blade rubs. The blemish in the pearl at the top rear bolster is not a chip, it is a natural in the pearl haft. In the image that is looking down into the knife with the blades closed, the knife is unsupported. It is perfectly stable resting only on the flat spine of the main blade. Near impossible to scan well. This is how you'd like to find them all. "
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2001
- Messages
- 3,741
Couple of cool Catts. there Campbell.
Holy smokes on the NYC Co. pearl.
Holy smokes on the NYC Co. pearl.
KnifeHead
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2006
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- 5,574
It doesn't look like wood but we'll assemble our panel of CE&CF experts and get an answer on that later this evening.
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2006
- Messages
- 418
Charlie I put a serious CE with the aid of a glass on this Eureka and can say that it is indeed black horn. Is that rare in Empires? This knife is a dandy.