"Old Knives"

Just found this Ulster Jack knife. Any further information greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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S-K, that Equal End Jack looks like an old one, least old by N.A. standards. Tang is likely marked "Ulster Knife Co." which would put it as pre 1941. It looks circa WW I, but maybe an Ulster expert could verify this.
kj
 
Old Ulsters were very well made knives Steve. Yours looks to be WWI era or in the early 20s,but that is a guess.Steel bolsters ?,hammered pins.

Excellent HSB SM,primo.
 
Guys, what do I have here? Picked it up last week while visiting an antique store in my hometown. Also got a super nice CASE XX 6392 but we all know what that is. I don't know alot about vintage knives and I've never seen one in this configuration. It's a very well made knife by Valley Forge Cutlery from Newark NJ. It has great snap and both blades are marked with the same stamp but on opposite sides. It's 3 and 7/8 inches long and had a lot of "sludge" on it as did the CASE so I took a little MO and superfine SW to it and it cleaned up nice. Got it for $15 and the CASE was $30.





 
Utah, that Valley Forge is interesting. I assume both nail nicks are on the pile side, I haven't ever seen that configuration.
 
VF was purchased ca. 1890 by Boker USA which continued to use this brand till ca. 1950. The golden age of VF was before WW2 when they produced quality knives. I am not an expert on VF knives but I think this is pre WW2 knife.
Mike
 
Got a "new" old knife recently from my Mother-in-Law...

It was her father's knife or father's father or something. Not a particularly impressive specimen, but I think it's pretty cool:

Craftsman USA 9507
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The tip was broken off so I decided to "fix" it on my KO Work Sharp...

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It's not the best job but I definitely like it better than what it looked like before.

My best guess is this is possibly a pre WWII blade bought from a Sears catalog. Schrade is almost certainly the maker, but I could be wrong as I'm just getting started with my interest in old knives.
 
The Valley Forge tang stamping does not look right to me & i agree odd never seen before pattern. It could be 'home made' rather than factory original. There are lots of vintage USA folders 'out there' that are an assembly of various knife parts +/- faked tang stamping.
But the knife world is also full of exceptions, so i could be wrong. Would like to hear from Valley Forge/Boker U.S.A. collector on this one.
kj
 
The Valley Forge tang stamping does not look right to me & i agree odd never seen before pattern. It could be 'home made' rather than factory original. There are lots of vintage USA folders 'out there' that are an assembly of various knife parts +/- faked tang stamping.
But the knife world is also full of exceptions, so i could be wrong. Would like to hear from Valley Forge/Boker U.S.A. collector on this one.
kj

Hey KJ,
can you explain what do you thing is wrong with tang stamp? I agree that the pattern is not so common and may look suspicious
Mike
 
Hey KJ,
can you explain what do you thing is wrong with tang stamp? I agree that the pattern is not so common and may look suspicious
Mike

Me too. The stamp on the subject knife is exactly like several on the bay now. What's interesting to me is the blade shape and the stamp being on each blade but on opposite sides. Of course, maybe that was common. I'm a novice on these older knives. Here's a pic from the top showing how the blades nest, and they fit perfectly. The shield looks like it was cobbled on as its not set into the scale. Interesting..............

 
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I don't know if it helps, but here is the tang stamp on mine:

 
I don't know if it helps, but here is the tang stamp on mine:


Interesting. Shield and jigging match but the bolster is a bit different. Here's a pic of the other side of my knife and the jigging is really worn and the center pin was repaired. Makes me wonder if my knife was cobbled.........? Cobbled or not, it's tight, slim, sharp and has great snap. :D

 
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