"Old Knives"

In the close up of Master blade tang it looks like something was above the arched stamping and has been ground ? off ??
However, i am always suspicious of old knives in good condition with arched stamping of an obscure brand name and Spearpoint master.
kj
 
Thanks,I agree about the gap. Funny thing is I never noticed it until I took the pictures, just looking at it in hand you don't even see it.
 
Kj, the blade has been heavily buffed and some grinding, the same grind marks are on both sides of the tang in roughly the same area, looks like someone got overly aggressive with a grinder/buffer. The opposite side of the tang has the number 29 stamped which matches 1 other example I was able to find
 
There is a guy who shows up at knife and knife and gun shows in Eastern USA who sells knives he has made from parts. These knives are very well made and he makes it clear that he has assembled these knives. They almost always have an arched stamp of some old relatively obscure USA brand, like Henckel & Joyce, etc., Master is a Spearpoint in all the ones i have seen.
This has been mentioned in a few old threads here in BF.
kj
 
BUD BRAND Winstead CT c.1922 pen knife with jigged bone. Not much info on this brand.
Charles

budbrand1.jpg


budbrand2.jpg
 
I guess this one belongs in this thread, too. Just picked it up on the big, evil auction site, for a song. This is my first Wadsworth, and won't be my last, that's for sure! Definitely a gem, this one is like the grand-daddy of the GEC #15. Killer swedges on the primary blade, cut on the mark side and drawn on the pile side. Main is nice and full, considering its age, and the pen blade shows why -- the previous owner used the pen much more than the main, and for that I'm very glad. The wooden handle covers are in great shape, and so deep and rich. The bolsters are steel, over brass scales, which I thought was kinda unusual; I've seen steel on steel, and nickel silver on brass, but not ordinarily steel on brass.
The pen blade and spring are both slightly thinner than the main. Both blades have nice, firm half stops, and both snap like little gators!
According to Bernard Levine, as posted on another forum and drawn from his book(s), A.W. Wadsworth turned out knives from 1905 - 1922, for Adolph Kastor & Bros of NYC, an ancestor of the Camillus Cutlery Co.
I had no idea it was that old, with that history behind it, when I picked it up. What a nice surprise! :thumbup:

d4182664-64fb-4000-abe7-067e71315311.jpg


debaa19d-250f-46b7-b8b2-862756ee70f7.jpg


Thanks for looking.
 
Last edited:
Puukkoman - Nice Wadsworth. Those cocobolo scales still show rich color; usually cocobolo this old is really dark.
 
Note that "Wadsworth" was not the name of a manufacturer. It was the name given by A. Kastor to a line of knives he was importing from Germany circa 1905 to ~ 1922. A British sounding name was chosen in fear that anti-German sentiment in U.S.A.might hurt sales if it was obvious that these knives were all made in either Germany or Austria.
"W.H.Morley & Sons" was another Kastor import line of knives made in Germany & Austria.
I have never read which German manufacturers were making these knives for Kastor, but as there were literally hundreds of small cutlery manufacturers in Germany in the early 1900's the manufacturers of these Kastor knives might never be known.
kj
 
kootenay joe said:
Note that "Wadsworth" was not the name of a manufacturer. It was the name given by A. Kastor to a line of knives he was importing from Germany circa 1905 to ~ 1922. A British sounding name was chosen in fear that anti-German sentiment in U.S.A.might hurt sales if it was obvious that these knives were all made in either Germany or Austria.
"W.H.Morley & Sons" was another Kastor import line of knives made in Germany & Austria.
I have never read which German manufacturers were making these knives for Kastor, but as there were literally hundreds of small cutlery manufacturers in Germany in the early 1900's the manufacturers of these Kastor knives might never be known.
kj
Click to expand...
Yes, that's correct, or at least that's the impression that I got as well. Thank you for clarifying.
 
O.K., i did not intend to insult you in any way. When i read "A.W. Wadsworth turned out knives from 1905 - 1922, for Adolph Kastor & Bros of NYC," i just wanted to point out that there never was a "A.W.Wadsworth", that it was a made up name for an import line of folding knives.
I think it's the same for "Uncle Ben" and "Betty Crocker", etc.
kj
 
kootenay joe said:
O.K., i did not intend to insult you in any way. When i read "A.W. Wadsworth turned out knives from 1905 - 1922, for Adolph Kastor & Bros of NYC," i just wanted to point out that there never was a "A.W.Wadsworth", that it was a made up name for an import line of folding knives.
I think it's the same for "Uncle Ben" and "Betty Crocker", etc.
kj
Click to expand...
No offense or insult taken, nor intended. :)
 
Here is my "oldest" knife...

A Waterville Cutlery Co pocket knife I found in my Dad's old tacklebox that he gave me about 6-7 years ago.

FullSizeRender_zps13dvhtwx.jpg

IMG_5426_zpsyz4lgmww.jpg


When I first found it, it was COVERED in rust. I couldn't read the blade stamps at all.
I started out with a brillo pad to remove the rust but ended up using finer and finer grit sandpaper to bring some life back into it.

The blades, particularly the little one, are sharp as hell! I cut myself a couple times... Doh! :p

The only thing is that I am really having a hard time figuring out it's vintage.
From what my Dad told me, it was his first wife's father's tackle box so it must have been put in there by him.
I've done some research but Waterville Cutlery Co went through a lot of changes and dating this thing has proven fairly difficult.

Anyways, I really like this little knife. I've taken to carrying it with me every day as it fits great into the coin pocket of my jeans and is nice to have around. It compliments my other assortment of EDC blades very well.
 
Very neat vintage Water/Ville Jack knife. It's at least 100 years old but could be a fair bit older than that. Very good clean up job too.
kj
 
Thanks, KJ!

I've done some research and it seems the stamp marks and the shields on the scales are all over the place with the way they were done.

This is what it looked like after I had already started working on it to figure out what kind of knife it was:

FullSizeRender1_zps3y2nbr4b.jpg


I figure it was used to gut a fish at one point and put back into the tackle box without being cleaned... :eek:

I'm just really glad I found it because my Dad was here last week and he was really surprised to see it which was cool. He hadn't seen it in probably 25-30 years.
 
Thanks for posting the Waterville Augie. The pick bone on it has the flavor of a much later style Sheffield jigged bone,nice one,and interesting.
 
Here are two schrades I recently picked up- A Cut Co 4" Pruner and a Schrade Walden 154 auto 4 7/8" fires very well with a little movement in the lock up position.
SchradeCutCo_Hawk_01_zpstnvjud1k.jpg


SchradeCutCo_Hawk_02_zpsvqoe6ef0.jpg


SchradeWalden_154_03_zpsx81mcpsb.jpg


SchradeWalden_154_01_zpsdvcnfiio.jpg


SchradeWalden_154_02_zpswyby7lof.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top