"Old Knives"

Nate I have another. Something to ponder.
I think the knife blades were made for a bigger knife reground at the factory. In the olden days knives were tools and people didn't waste material. The nicks are far forward and look funny but the nicks were punched before hardening. I get a kick out of the guys that over analyze how they use to do it. They made it work. knife - collectors were not the big consumer.
 
That's very true. Blades that might be considered mismatched or imperfect in some way to us would still make a perfectly functional knife. I didn't even notice the nicks until you mentioned it but they definitely do look off in terms of position. Perhaps they were originally spear points reshaped to a crude clip.
 
Here's a one you don't see every day. Pine Knot (made for Belknap) toenail recently acquired by Tony Bose. Pictures by Kerry Hampton.

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Thats one horse of a knife Mike!-Thank you both Tony and yourself for sharing, I love the Bone and the style of Jigging by the way, very attractive, and the placement of the Nick is slightly different - as if struck slightly off - going over the Swedge edge!
 
It has a single backspring with a catch bit on the pen blade Charlie. Blades are full, works really good. Got any idea who made it. I don't think these guys realize how rare any pine knot is.
 
I asked about the spring vs springs, as Robeson has been reported as a maker of some Pine Knot knives.

Robeson made a two backspring toenail with the master bearing on both and the pen on one.

The bone on that Pine Knot is not very suggestive of Robeson and I've never seen a Robeson with that nail pull configuration, but if the knife had two springs, that would have been fairly suggestive to me.

I don't know enough about old knives, in general, to even venture a guess as to who made the knife.
 
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Now Tony ,if I had that knife ,we might have talked a little more about that J Rodgers farmers jack.:)

Great knife,congratulations.Thanks Mike for showing.
 
wlfryjr said:
Now Tony ,if I had that knife ,we might have talked a little more about that J Rodgers farmers jack.:)

Great knife,congratulations.Thanks Mike for showing.
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Lyle, if you had this knife you would probably own that farmers jack. Good to meet you in Lexington. The master blade is .180 thick and the pen is .095 thick The iron bolsters and hammered iron pins suggest it an early knife to me. Probably before 1920.
 
This is a pic of some very old knives that I have. Both have mother of pearl covers. The top knife belonged to my 86 year old mother-in-law's mother when she was a young girl. The knife belonged to her doctor, who was himself an old man at the time. She always admired his pocket knife for it's beauty so he gave it to her as a gift. His initials are engraved on the shield. I estimate the knife is well over 100 years old.

The bottom knife I found in the wall of a wealthy persons house we were remolding. I have no idea how old it is, but it was an old house. The walls were made of black walnut and done when carpenters still used hand tools not power tools. The only thing I can make out on the master blade is "Walden, NY. I'm assuming the knife belonged to the carpenter that built the house.:)

 
saltaire said:
This is a pic of some very old knives that I have. Both have mother of pearl covers. The top knife belonged to my 86 year old mother-in-law's mother when she was a young girl. The knife belonged to her doctor, who was himself an old man at the time. She always admired his pocket knife for it's beauty so he gave it to her as a gift. His initials are engraved on the shield. I estimate the knife is well over 100 years old.

The bottom knife I found in the wall of a wealthy persons house we were remolding. I have no idea how old it is, but it was an old house. The walls were made of black walnut and done when carpenters still used hand tools not power tools. The only thing I can make out on the master blade is "Walden, NY. I'm assuming the knife belonged to the carpenter that built the house.:)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the picture, and the write-up!

I appreciate your wanting to share your knives with us.

If you take some time to read this forum and see what others have shared (and where), you will often discover several existing, current threads into which your posts will fit well, and a conversation ready for you to join.

For example, this post would go well in Old Knives, a stickied (permanently-fixed-in-place) thread at the top of the page.

Have fun. :)

~ P.
 
Thanks Sarah. I'll move it there now.
Thanks for sharing those Jim.
 
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