"Old Knives"

Thanks for posting the Keen Kutter harness jack, Charlie, along with two more rare old beauties. I remember a discussion about the punch on a Keen Kutter harness jack posted by Duncan some time ago. I seem to remember you saying it looked like an Empire punch and wondering whether or not the knife was made by Empire, or if Empire sold their punches to other companies. Does this apply to all Keen Kutter punches? I have not seen many, but, all that I have seen are like the punch on your posted knife.

Augie, good find on the Buffalo jacks with the spey master blades, very nice! I have this Keen Kutter with a spey master blade, although it is not a regular jack. I believe Levine calls it a spey jack.

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Lovely Schrade made Buffaloes, Charlie and Duncan.
 
danno50 said:
Thanks for posting the Keen Kutter harness jack, Charlie, along with two more rare old beauties. I remember a discussion about the punch on a Keen Kutter harness jack posted by Duncan some time ago. I seem to remember you saying it looked like an Empire punch and wondering whether or not the knife was made by Empire, or if Empire sold their punches to other companies. Does this apply to all Keen Kutter punches? I have not seen many, but, all that I have seen are like the punch on your posted knife.

Augie, good find on the Buffalo jacks with the spey master blades, very nice! I have this Keen Kutter with a spey master blade, although it is not a regular jack. I believe Levine calls it a spey jack.

View attachment 2057940

Lovely Schrade made Buffaloes, Charlie and Duncan.
Click to expand...
Nice Spey Jack, Dan!!
My friend Tom in Winsted saw a letter in the archives of Winsted
(his Aunt was an archivist there!) that announced to various cutleries that Empire was going to "run punches", if anyone wanted to buy a quantity!! I'd love to find out more!!
 
Nice Spey Jack there Dan, - Man thats a Knife and a Half!

Oh yeah Charlie! many times I have wished to find some paper work / bills of sale - from one Cutler firm to another to supply Punches, having that would go extremely well in with researching and the collection 🧐🙃
 
danno50 said:
Thanks for posting the Keen Kutter harness jack, Charlie, along with two more rare old beauties. I remember a discussion about the punch on a Keen Kutter harness jack posted by Duncan some time ago. I seem to remember you saying it looked like an Empire punch and wondering whether or not the knife was made by Empire, or if Empire sold their punches to other companies. Does this apply to all Keen Kutter punches? I have not seen many, but, all that I have seen are like the punch on your posted knife.

Augie, good find on the Buffalo jacks with the spey master blades, very nice! I have this Keen Kutter with a spey master blade, although it is not a regular jack. I believe Levine calls it a spey jack.

View attachment 2057940

Lovely Schrade made Buffaloes, Charlie and Duncan.
Click to expand...


That's a beaut Dan, just don't see many 2 blade spey jacks, barlows are a little more common but still not an easy find.
 
Found an unusual Ulster Knife Co sheepsfoot jack, 3 3/8", ebony, curved frame and the sheepsfoot blade is a saber grind. I'm thinking of all my sheepsfoot jacks this is the only one with a saber grind.
Nice unmolested condition with close to full blades. Wonder where I've seen that saber sheepsfoot blade before.😁😁


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Thank you all for the nice comments.:thumbsup::thumbsup: Took a couple better pics today, yesterday was rainy and dark. Amazed at the condition of this knife as most likely it dates from the late 1800's. The ebony is very dark with very few checks and dents, I'm pretty sure the pen blade has factory edge.


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Stunning Ulster John, thanks for posting these photos, I havent come across a Sheepsfoot Jack - as in any form of an earlier one with that Grind - it is quite a remarkable Knife and it would be great to have a look throuh Ulster catalogs to find it.

Student asking here my friend, what is it that lends you to that era? are the Bolsters Integral? or simply the Iron on Iron construction throughout the Knife? The main reason I ask because I love looking at a knife and when we have one like this- I find myself asking many questions at which usually leads to investigations- so I am trying to "picture" your approach and you looking at this Knife and if it's anything like what I do.
It's a real REAL nice Knife matey - I am sitting here quite jealous but loving the fact your sharing this beauty with us, so Thank you kind Sir!
 
Campbellclanman said:
Stunning Ulster John, thanks for posting these photos, I havent come across a Sheepsfoot Jack - as in any form of an earlier one with that Grind - it is quite a remarkable Knife and it would be great to have a look throuh Ulster catalogs to find it.

Student asking here my friend, what is it that lends you to that era? are the Bolsters Integral? or simply the Iron on Iron construction throughout the Knife? The main reason I ask because I love looking at a knife and when we have one like this- I find myself asking many questions at which usually leads to investigations- so I am trying to "picture" your approach and you looking at this Knife and if it's anything like what I do.
It's a real REAL nice Knife matey - I am sitting here quite jealous but loving the fact your sharing this beauty with us, so Thank you kind Sir!
Click to expand...


Thank you Duncan, appreciated. It actually has a pattern number on back tang 26691, I don't know if there is any old Ulster references that may have the knife in them.

As far as dating there are several characteristics that lead me to believe late 1800's, the all iron construction, the curved frame and it being a sheepsfoot jack, most sheepsfoot jacks I've found appear to date from late 1800's to 1920 or so with a few exceptions. I come up with that based on characteristics such as bone type, most early ones have pick bone, type of pattern such as curved swell end, sometimes I'm lucky enough that they have an etch such as the Empire"For New England Whalers" which tends to point to an 1800's knife. And lastly just the time frame the company was in business, most of these started in the 1800's and went under in the 1920's.

Some rehashed pictures that illustrate what I'm trying to describe. Thanks again buddy.



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Augie said:
Thank you Duncan, appreciated. It actually has a pattern number on back tang 26691, I don't know if there is any old Ulster references that may have the knife in them.

As far as dating there are several characteristics that lead me to believe late 1800's, the all iron construction, the curved frame and it being a sheepsfoot jack, most sheepsfoot jacks I've found appear to date from late 1800's to 1920 or so with a few exceptions. I come up with that based on characteristics such as bone type, most early ones have pick bone, type of pattern such as curved swell end, sometimes I'm lucky enough that they have an etch such as the Empire"For New England Whalers" which tends to point to an 1800's knife. And lastly just the time frame the company was in business, most of these started in the 1800's and went under in the 1920's.

Some rehashed pictures that illustrate what I'm trying to describe. Thanks again buddy.



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Click to expand...
Ok - cool, thank you for that John 😊👍, sounds like I take a very similar path as you in the course of looking into a Knife.

I noticed the curve as well and thought that you don’t see the curvature too much. I too would have thought the Iron pins, liners and Bolsters would indicate earlier, it’s nice to have other similar rarer examples where you can form an opinion on the time frame as to indicate a possible era the pattern was in use more frequently 👍

Now my friend, all you have to do now is box it up and send it over my friend and you will have completed your duties for the day 👍

Well done 😂
 
Pick these all up today @ gun show All American made and I think carbon steel. Best part is $6.00 each. I have more than I can ever use, but I can’t let them sit on a table at a show. When I carry these old knives I think to myself if they could talk, I loved to know there stories. 71A1D422-6348-4CDE-A0A8-25167A71A6A7.jpeg6CFB9951-3D78-48FD-97E3-F38108D69E98.jpeg1DCBAB88-1500-4696-88BB-CCC4D113A35F.jpeg9DABC95D-04A8-4C24-B6EE-79310F2E7321.jpegC57ECF4E-0A4A-4CA2-A5F4-F695D8BFBABA.jpeg
 
holo07 said:
Pick these all up today @ gun show All American made and I think carbon steel. Best part is $6.00 each. I have more than I can ever use, but I can’t let them sit on a table at a show. When I carry these old knives I think to myself if they could talk, I loved to know there stories. View attachment 2062445View attachment 2062446View attachment 2062447View attachment 2062448View attachment 2062449
Click to expand...
No way I'd pass those up for $6 each. Great scores, especially the CAMCO cigar.
 
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