"Old Knives"

leghog said:
It's a WW2 contract Kingston (wartime lash up between Imperial and Ulster so as to get more contracts). With the steel pins, it probably has steel liners thus mid-war.
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Thanks a lot! Indeed it is all steel like you asumed.
 
Here's a late war Kingston. Returned to brass pins and liners and the new model beak can opener. Stamped the same.

WW2%2520Kingston%2520Army%252017-170.JPG


My latest catch is mid-war Pal Blade Co. with left over Remington parts can opener. Brass ins. Steel liners.

17-170%2520%28PAL%2520with%2520Rem%2520Can%2520Opener%29.JPG


These are WW2 Pal Blade Co. too. Note this can opener was used my many WW2 manufacturers/contractors. The lower one was contracted for USN BuShips (the difference being the pen blade vs awl).

WW2%2520PAL%2520Army%252017-170%2520%2526%2520PAL%2520USN%252041-J-4b.JPG


U.S. WW2 knives, especially pocket knives intrigue me.
 
veitsi_poika said:
Gev, based on the little searching I did it sounds like the Crucible Knives were made for W.T. Grant stores which was originally a "nickel & dime" store in Lynn, Massachusetts. The store was founded in 1906 and went out of business in 1976. They became a fairly large department store chain competing with Kresge stores or ""K" Mart. Now as far as WHO made the Crucible knives I found this excerpt on the Boys Scout knives website showing a Crucible Scout:

View attachment 852450

After looking through several pictures of the other major knife makers "scout" knives with the long nail pull and similar looking can opener, cap lifter and punch I found this Seneca Scout knife which looks very similar to the Crucible Scout above with the exception of the bail location and can opener tool:

View attachment 852452

And I did find another Crucible with a similar can opener:

View attachment 852456

The Seneca roots have a but more information since they are known to be linked to Utica Cutlery who was known to be an avid provider of contract knives for hardware stores and other knife "manufacturer's". I don't think we would be surprised if the "quality" knife makers of Crucible Knife Co mentioned previously were in fact Utica cutlers. Just some food for thought :D

- Kevin
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Great stuff Kevin ! Interesting about the W. T. Grant stores link...I will try to find out more on that tract. I have seen a few of the celluloid scouts and you have an interesting take on it. Let us know if your mad research skills turn up anymore clues :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup::)
Thank you very much Kevin !!!! Oh where did you find the Grant connection ?
 
Gevonovich said:
Great stuff Kevin ! Interesting about the W. T. Grant stores link...I will try to find out more on that tract. I have seen a few of the celluloid scouts and you have an interesting take on it. Let us know if your mad research skills turn up anymore clues :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup::)
Thank you very much Kevin !!!! Oh where did you find the Grant connection ?
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The WT Grant connection I saw in several places but it is for sure mentioned in Goins, Shackleford Blade's Guide to Knives & Their Values 7th Edition and the Official Price Guide to Collector Knives 15th edition (excerpt below)

Crucible 1.JPG

- Kevin
 
Gevonovich said:
Great stuff Kevin ! Interesting about the W. T. Grant stores link...I will try to find out more on that tract. I have seen a few of the celluloid scouts and you have an interesting take on it. Let us know if your mad research skills turn up anymore clues :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup::)
Thank you very much Kevin !!!! Oh where did you find the Grant connection ?
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Gev, Or it could be as simple as Crucible Knife Co was a brand of pocket knives made by Crucible Steel Company which would have been located in Syracuse, NY in the late 1800's and early 1900's. If you read the entry on Wikipedia for Crucible Industries, you will see that the origin of the company has roots to Sheffield, England with the Naylor, Sanderson and Newbould families. Goins has "Sanderson Bros & Newbould Ltd" listed as active knife manufacturers from 1860-1953.

Capture.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucible_Industries

Some key points from the Wikipedia entry:

SB&C.JPG
Crucible.JPG
Knife Design.JPG
So was Crucible Knife Co an SFO or was it some Sheffield boys trying to establish their knife making skills here in the U.S. only to have it take a back seat to economic hard times or higher priorities?

After all of my reading the last two days... the latter of the two makes more sense. I'm searching for a link between W.T. Grant and the founders of Crucible Steel.

- Kevin
 
veitsi_poika said:
Gev, Or it could be as simple as Crucible Knife Co was a brand of pocket knives made by Crucible Steel Company which would have been located in Syracuse, NY in the late 1800's and early 1900's. If you read the entry on Wikipedia for Crucible Industries, you will see that the origin of the company has roots to Sheffield, England with the Naylor, Sanderson and Newbould families. Goins has "Sanderson Bros & Newbould Ltd" listed as active knife manufacturers from 1860-1953.

View attachment 852664

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucible_Industries

Some key points from the Wikipedia entry:

View attachment 852644
View attachment 852649
View attachment 852667
So was Crucible Knife Co an SFO or was it some Sheffield boys trying to establish their knife making skills here in the U.S. only to have it take a back seat to economic hard times or higher priorities?

After all of my reading the last two days... the latter of the two makes more sense. I'm searching for a link between W.T. Grant and the founders of Crucible Steel.

- Kevin
Click to expand...
Ok, I read the wiki and what a mine of information. I agree that Crucible Knife Co was probably a side company established by Crucible Steel execs / higher ups in conjunction with someone in the plant in Sheffield. Some further connection with someone in one of the families coupled with some Sheffield cutlers...as you say, were probably strategic . It would have been an natural course of events to showcase its steel alloys and start a profitable ancillary business.
Wilkinson probably had a hand in killing it.

Your good Kevin...wow !!
 
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Gevonovich said:
Ok, I read the wiki and what a mine of information. I agree that Crucible Knife Co was probably a side company established by Crucible Steel execs / higher ups in conjunction with someone in the plant in Sheffield. Some further connection with someone in one of the families coupled with some Sheffield cutlers...as you say, were probably strategic . It would have been an natural course of events to showcase its steel alloys and start a profitable ancillary business.
Wilkinson probably had a hand in killing it.

Your good Kevin...wow !!
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Oh I don't know about "good" but I am definitely persistent ;) We had ice storms in Wisconsin overnight so instead of challenging the roads this morning I took a "sick" day from work and did some fascinating reading/research :thumbsup: Now I can get back to taking some pictures of old knives :D

Edited in RED: Forgot a word
 
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veitsi_poika said:
Oh I don't about "good" but I am definitely persistent ;) We had ice storms in Wisconsin overnight so instead of challenging the roads this morning I took a "sick" day from work and did some fascinating reading/research :thumbsup: Now I can get back to taking some pictures of old knives :D
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We are getting close...we just need the nephew of one of the Crucible Steel founders to chime in ...lol
 
Some family knives to share:

Dad's knife - He also carried an SAK of some sort usually.

BrxMAMj.jpg


Papa's knife - quite "pocket-worn"

DJpm3xY.jpg


X8DMdVi.jpg


They're both still alive and kicking, but live quite far away and I only get home intermittently to see them.

It's hard for me to think of either my dad or my grandpa without also picturing their knives at the same time.
They were/are the constant objects that they carried and I would see them when they emptied their pockets at the end of the day or pulled one out to skin game or a fish all the time. I can honestly say that these two knives are responsible for making me the knife nut that I am today. I learned how they were to be respected and cared for and I wanted one very badly as a very young kid because of how I saw them use them and treat them with a sort of reverence... Both have been left on PA hillsides during hunting season, only to be retrieved the next day after it was discovered they were missing - once or twice with me in tow as a youngster to help look for them... try that after a good night of snow.

However both dad and grandpa would just wrinkle their noses at my current assortment and say "Why would you need more than one knife?"... even though they would never go anywhere without theirs.
 
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leghog said:
Here's a late war Kingston. Returned to brass pins and liners and the new model beak can opener. Stamped the same.

WW2%2520Kingston%2520Army%252017-170.JPG


My latest catch is mid-war Pal Blade Co. with left over Remington parts can opener. Brass ins. Steel liners.

17-170%2520%28PAL%2520with%2520Rem%2520Can%2520Opener%29.JPG


These are WW2 Pal Blade Co. too. Note this can opener was used my many WW2 manufacturers/contractors. The lower one was contracted for USN BuShips (the difference being the pen blade vs awl).

WW2%2520PAL%2520Army%252017-170%2520%2526%2520PAL%2520USN%252041-J-4b.JPG


U.S. WW2 knives, especially pocket knives intrigue me.
Click to expand...

Nice post Leghog
I really appreciate looking at the Scout/ Utility Knives.
Nice knives too by the way my friend. I like the Pal with the Remington opener.

Stokednbored- real neat post of a couple of special knives.
 
Kevin, THANK you so much for your time and "persistence". The information that you have gathered is eye-opening. At this point I am in agreement with Gevonovich and can see how it would very likely be an offspring of Crucible steel at that time. Great stuff Kevin!!!!!:)
 
Let me encourage you to keep on with your research efforts Kevin (v_p)!!:thumbsup:
Finding knife origin information requires persistence, and is much appreciated by luddites like me!!:rolleyes:

Nice 3-blade Lostball! Can you do close-ups of the tangs? Or quote them??
 
Amazing EW Augie. Great to see ! Like you say those early Sheffield lads knew how to do Stag - just like the early Solingen Companies!
Cool shot with the Cat by the way!
 
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