"Old Knives"

Looks like you've been using that knife, Vince! Cool!
 
A good old boy, many of us know and admire, sent me this purty passel of knives to display for your ogling pleasure. I will post 3 group shots, then put up separate pics as we go along.
Here are the SWEET SIXTEEN!
Sweet161.jpg

Sweet162.jpg

Sweet163.jpg
 
MAN O MAN !!!

Charlie, why dont you stop in today for a beer? And bring your knives. :thumbup:

One of the knives that jumps out at me is the Empire eureka jack. Second from the top. Look at how far the swedge comes back, about half way. I cant wait until you start posting these one at a time.

Ken

PS, This picture alone could keep my busy for next 5 years! Thanks for sharing.
 
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Thanks for the offer Ken. I wish they were mine. It's hard to pick a favorite.
I am going to see if I can strike up a little discussion about some of them. Here is a pair that struck me right away;
Sweet164.jpg

This pair of Eurekas represents a moment in history. As you can see both have Winsted CT. markings. Empire and American Knife Companies.
When the Alvord family sold Empire ca.1919, it appears some employees of Empire went across town, and revived the American name, on a new cutlery. They seem to have brought with them knife patterns they spent years making for Empire. These Eurekas look to me like classic representations of this process. Another pattern that seems to have gone the same route is the becoming-famous-again Arkansas Hunter!!
Beautiful knives, these Eurekas show the flair these mysterious knifemakers had for design. I can imagine some starry-eyed young feller ogling these knives in a hardware store, trying to figure out how to raise the money for one!
 
Thank for sharing Charlie, keep it up. If you have time, do you mind changing your will to include an ole Southern Boy?
Thanks
Jim
 
To me its obvious that both Eureka jacks share the same pedigree and at the same time I marvel at how both knives have their own identity. The American having wider blades, both the master and the pen. The nail pulls on the Empire to me seem to be more refined. The long pull has a thinner cut as does the standard pull on the pen. The "foot" end bolster (did I get it right Charlie and Elliott?) on the American has a bit more of angle cut to it.

Charlie, would you say that the blade thickness's of both knives are similar?

Ken
 
I don't contribute in here much and rather lurk 99.% of the time, but by far this is my all time favorite thread in this sub-forum. I just wanted to say Thanks to all of you who keep it alive and well!
 
Thanks for posting them and thanks to the feller that sent them to you for CEing and CFing.

I really like the Eureka jacks too.

I haven't seen a shield like that one second from the bottom in the first set.
 
Ken, I thought I'd post some blowups for you to look closer. The American blade (and its tang!) are both a little wider, so stamped with different dies. The Empire is slightly thicker though; .0945 vs. .1095, both measured where the tang is full as it exits the knife. The edge shots are 205%.
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Thanks for the extra scans from the top Charlie.

Two very nice vintage knifes. Looking forward following this thread.

Ken
 
Dang Charlie !

I take a friend out for dinner for a couple of hours and you come up with these.

Both great knives, but I do favor the Empire. I like the way the spines of both blades are paralel when open, but I especially like the end cap on the Empire. It's square with the bolster and is a compound curve, instead of the usual single radius. The long pull comes back into the tang a bit too. Were the Alvords English trained cutlers ? It's little details like that, that just aren't found on modern factory knives. Those old cutlers were artists.

I'm gonna take my Wolfies and Schatts and hide for the rest of the week.

BTW Ken, Change my vote for a eureka on your poll to one like THAT.

Fran
 
Sauconian said:
Dang Charlie !

I take a friend out for dinner for a couple of hours and you come up with these.

Both great knives, but I do favor the Empire. I like the way the spines of both blades are paralel when open, but I especially like the end cap on the Empire. It's square with the bolster and is a compound curve, instead of the usual single radius. The long pull comes back into the tang a bit too. Were the Alvords English trained cutlers ? It's little details like that, that just aren't found on modern factory knives. Those old cutlers were artists.

I'm gonna take my Wolfies and Schatts and hide for the rest of the week.

BTW Ken, Change my vote for a eureka on your poll to one like THAT.

Fran
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Interesting observation Fran! Empire was started by 2 English cutlers, Thompson and Gascoigne, in Winsted ca.1852. Their financiers took it over in 1856 and named it Empire Knife Co. Their knives are very Sheffield-influenced, in my opinion. The older ones with stag are beautifully fitted, just like they came from the "Little Mesters" of Sheffield. Check out these Stag Empires!
BlackenedStagMark.jpg
 
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Judging from the number of readers, this thread is still of interest so I'll post a few more shots of this nice little collection.
Here are two of the equal end knives, a Miller Bros. HJ and an OVB Cattle knife. I love that little peek at history you get when a knife has a punch blade. The OVB has some wear on the main blade but is a nice example nonetheless, and the punch points strongly to NYK as the maker. The tang lamination is a characteristic of NYK punches, and I have yet to see one on a knife made by someone else.
The Miller HJ on top is another story. It's in about as good a condition as an old knife can be! The punch is the ubiquitous Alvord design of the Empire knife company. I see that punch on so many knives, I wonder if A) Empire was bigger than anyone imagined, making knives for nearly everyone, or B) they sold their punches to other cutleries, or C) everyone copied them because it was such a good design??? Will we ever know???
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Them are two very good lookin' knives Charlie. :thumbup:
Only the clip on the Cattle knife strikes me as odd, I just cant quite put a finger on what it is about it.:confused:

Peter
 
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The tang lamination is a characteristic of NYK punches

Charlie,

Can you explain further on the construction of the punch blade?

Comments may taper off but I am sure that I am like lots of other folks around here. I REALLY REALLY like this thread and everyone that has made a contribution. Named and not named;) , that has made it possible to be able to see such fine examples of these knives.

Ken
 
stockman242 said:
Them are two very good lookin' knives Charlie. :thumbup:
Only the clip on the Cattle knife strikes me as odd, I just cant quite put a finger on what it is about it.:confused:

Peter
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Peter,

I agree with you on the clip blade. I think maybe the tip comes to a point lower than the center line of the blade. In other words, very little up-sweep to the cutting edge. I also think the clip is short. The point were the clip meets the top spine normally is a bit farther back.

Ken
 
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