"Old Knives"

Jason - Nice Remington Cattle knife! When I looked at the first picture and saw the drawn swedge on the pile side of the master, I was expecting a standard nail nick with drawn swedge on the mark side. But that one has a cut swedge and long pull, interesting combination.
 
Nice, Jason, love the acorn shield on that one . . . just seems to set off the whole knife. Beautiful grain pattern on the scales, too.
 
This is an interesting old knife. I can make out Canton Ohio and USA on the blades.
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nightman said:
This is an interesting old knife. I can make out Canton Ohio and USA on the blades. Pal Cutlery possibly?
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No, this would be either made by Canton Cutlery Co or Novelty Cutlery Co (most likely the latter), both of Canton, OH -- both had licenses to the patented clear celluloid picture handles (patented by some Canton natives). When we see the word "novelty" we automatically think "piece of crap" -- but that was not so - Novelty Cutlery produced excellent quality knives - their sales hook was the handles. They had a number of independent jobbers traveling all over selling their wares - they'd take just about any photo or message and put it under their handles for a customized knife. An extremely unusual feature of Novelty Cutlery knives was that you could also order most of their patterns with custom blade configurations with a number of specialty blade types if desired. Unfortunately, the years have not been good to these knives -- the clear celluloid is pretty much pure with no fillers, so there is no buffering to retard chemical breakdown -- which means that most of them have degraded and outgassed down thru the years. It's unusual to see one in good condition like this. Don't store it with other knives and put it where it can get air (don't close it up or seal it in anything).

Novelty Cutlery was around from 1879-1948. Canton Cutlery from 1879-1930.
 
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I love those old picture handle knives, but I have steered clear of them because of the issues with the old clear celluloid. They often have very interesting pictures, logos, etc. I especially like the ones with pictures of people - perhaps loved ones or friends.
 
zerogee said:
No, this would be either made by Canton Cutlery Co or Novelty Cutlery Co (most likely the latter), both of Canton, OH -- both had licenses to the patented clear celluloid picture handles (patented by some Canton natives). When we see the word "novelty" we automatically think "piece of crap" -- but that was not so - Novelty Cutlery produced excellent quality knives - their sales hook was the handles. They had a number of independent jobbers traveling all over selling their wares - they'd take just about any photo or message and put it under their handles for a customized knife. An extremely unusual feature of Novelty Cutlery knives was that you could also order most of their patterns with custom blade configurations with a number of specialty blade types if desired. Unfortunately, the years have not been good to these knives -- the clear celluloid is pretty much pure with no fillers, so there is no buffering to retard chemical breakdown -- which means that most of them have degraded and outgassed down thru the years. It's unusual to see one in good condition like this. Don't store it with other knives and put it where it can get air (don't close it up or seal it in anything).

Novelty Cutlery was around from 1879-1948. Canton Cutlery from 1879-1930.
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Thank You for the information on this knife. I got it on ebay some years back and didn't really have any info regarding its manufacturer. It's also good to know about the handle material. Thanks again.
 
Hi guys,
hi nightman,

excuse that stupid question, please. But is that shown knife a whittler? Imo it could be, there´s a big main blade and two smaller ones on the other side...

Kind regards
Andi
 
Humppa said:
Hi guys,
hi nightman,

excuse that stupid question, please. But is that shown knife a whittler? Imo it could be, there´s a big main blade and two smaller ones on the other side...

Kind regards
Andi
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Yes, it is -- a whittler can be of pretty much any pattern, it's the basic construction that matters - main blade works on both springs, secondary blades each work on one spring at the other end.
 
My brother's Camillus. It was a gift from his mother in law. Belonged to her husband, who was a chopper pilot in Vietnam, then flew for a fire dept. in Hawaii, and then served with the Border Patrol here in San Diego. He was killed on duty shortly after my brother's wife was born.
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It's not very old, but it's older than me, and it's got a little history.
 
Here's a not real old, Case Loom Fixer (1974) My grandfather loved
these knives, He was a Head fixer for about 40+ years. He bought this
one when I was born (1974). It's a cool old pattern...imho
(Got got a little to close on the first pic).. sorry about that..lol

Jason


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Jason, that's a cool knife!
I would guess the autofocus of your camera caught the reflexion of you in the main blade and therefore it measured double the distance.
Or it was just as enthusiastic as I am :D

P.S.: Could you please give me a clue what a head fixer does?? Sorry, I have no idea whatsoever...
 
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Picture 3. - Picture 4. - Picture 5. - Before restoration.

Here is a recent purchase made by Griffon CW GERMANY, its 3" Closed, nickel silver bolsters and MOP scales. I really dont know anything else about it other than that company started in 1888 (might need to ask Mr Levine about a guess on age).

The before restoration pic shows how bad the blade was, I bought it to use so now it has that menefee recurve look going for it. :D It would barely open when I got it and there was no snap at all, now it has snap open and close after a little bath in mineral oil and a good wash.
 
Do you know anything about "Griffon CW GEMANY". I´ve never heard about that company... Nice knife, btw

Kind regards
Andi
 
Humppa said:
Do you know anything about "Griffon CW GEMANY". I´ve never heard about that company... Nice knife, btw

Kind regards
Andi
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I'm about to put a thread about this knife in the Levine forum and ask but I did find in an old auction listing a pair of vintage scissors made by Griffon so they must have been a varied cutler of the period. Will post back with some more info once I get it.

Thanks.
 
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Not making any reps about this knife because I question the full knife's authenticity (note striking resmeblance to Winchester's black series coffin jack), but I am posting it because the master blade is marked Griffon in the same script and beneath it is the mark Worcester. On the opposite side of the blade, it is marked "Carbo Magnetic" and the blades are indeed magnetic. I don't have a pic of the Griffon stamp, but I can take one tomorrow. However, it is identical to Jason's. Feel free to go googlin for the winchester knife...the master blades are definitely not the same, but the secondariness are similar. I'm not posting this to show off the knife, but instead posting it for reference to the Maker's Mark (which of course I don't have a picture of)

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If you post over in Levine's, feel free to swipe the links to these pictures and include them in your post (basically do "Reply with Quote" in this thread and copy and paste the photo bucket links. Might make his and other comments more interesting.
 
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@ robert.b: Well, thank you about taking a recherche about that company. I´m looking forward reading about this.

Kind regards
Andi
 
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