"Old Knives"

jnevill said:
AWESOME, I was wondering if the tweezers and pick were original to the knife, apparently they are! Do you know the name of the pattern?
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I don't, Jim; I have it cataloged as a curved regular jack. The early sportsmans knives had integral tooth picks and tweezers, but usually several other tools, too, like a saw, punch, etc. The blades on my knife confuse me, as they seem to be two speys, or spey and semi-spear. Odd.
- Stuart
 
Duckdog said:
I don't, Jim; I have it cataloged as a curved regular jack. The early sportsmans knives had integral tooth picks and tweezers, but usually several other tools, too, like a saw, punch, etc. The blades on my knife confuse me, as they seem to be two speys, or spey and semi-spear. Odd.
- Stuart
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Yours could be a 'Western Castrator' or some other pattern made for the Australian market.
 
jnevill said:
AWESOME, I was wondering if the tweezers and pick were original to the knife, apparently they are! Do you know the name of the pattern?

Jim
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Some early (pre WWII) catalogs called these models a "Veterinarian's" knife, but they were more commonly called a "Castrating" knife. Earlier models generally had a main spey blade along with a secondary pen blade or a secondary sheepfoot blade. I have not seen a reference for a model with two spey blades??? Early models had horn handles, where later post war models had black synthetic handles as the two shown examples within the thread appear to have. Enclosed is a post war catalog illustration showing the model in question. Note that is was also offered in a single blade configuration.

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I was certain I saw this knife in an add before. Turns out I didn't. Not quite. Like herder said, it seems to be some kind of vet knife. The two blade western castrator has 2 speys but the frame's off ...

baker1924-p03-01bw.jpg
 
First let me say how much I have enjoyed the past weeks worth of posts from everyone. Just absolutely stunning examples. To say that I am envious would be putting it mildly. I so wish that I could come across the opportunities that some of you have. With that being said, here's one that for some reason I just couldn't resist. I know it's not as grand as some that have been recently posted but this little knife just begged me to buy it. An ebony covered A.Field and Co. Progress Boys Knife that is 3-3/8" lg. It's got a few bumps and bruises on it but is still a very nice knife with excellent walk and talk. Has almost as nice a snap as the GEC SS 15 pictured. Which I think GEC got high praise for on this run. It has steel bolsters and liners. I'm almost positive it wasn't cleaned before because when I received it it had rust in the bolsters of which I removed. I'm not absolutely certain that it's a carbon steel blade. Even though it's quite magnetic, upon sharpening it seemed harder and more difficult to sharpen then some of the carbon steel knives that I have of that vintage. And it sure is still quite shiny for its age. With no pitting of any kind. I found limited information on A Field. I know they were an importer and dealer and not a producer. And I read a little bit of there history in the GEC book that was printed a couple years ago. I know they used several manufacturers for their knives. Can anyone please give me an educated guess of who may have made this particular knife? And perhaps when. In my limited experience it doesn't resemble anything I've seen before. With its dimensions it reminds me of the recent Canal Street boys knives. Of which I am awaiting the arrival of a Cocobolo example.IMG_4865.JPG IMG_4866.JPG
 
Lostball said:
Can anyone please give me an educated guess of who may have made this particular knife?
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Great knife LB! Unfortunately I think it will be tough to figure out the actual manufacturer since Alfred Field & Co brought in knives from many different cutlers from all over Sheffield and Solingen. They graded them by quality and gave them names like Continental Cutlery, Progress, etc. I've seen some A Field Progress tang stamps with USA on them so it is possible that some were manufactured here. I've also seen some that say Prussia LoL. It's a riddle inside an enigma wrapped in a Chalupa served with hot sauce o_O Anyway you look at it, they generally had some very nice knives :D:thumbsup:
 
Thanks Kevin, I greatly appreciate your input. The more I study the blade the more I am thinking SS. I think I will introduce it to an apple and see what happens.
 
Treasure right there Charlie.
Very interesting seeing the difference between the two Punches. That Punch on the Black handled worm trail Composite one seems to be quite different? Is this the earlier of the two?
Here are my two Robesons - Charlie you may recognize the bottom one? both the punches the same as your stunning Bone Handled example.

7YCt0mH.jpg
 
I can't say definitively which punch is older Duncan. The one on the composite handle was "hollowed" by a broader tool for sure. I suspect it is a more effective punch. Maybe I'll compare them some day, but it would require fine honing, which I am not quite ready to do, yet.
:rolleyes:
 
V.P., Great old Robeson with beautiful handles.

waynorth and Campbellclanman, wonderful Robeson examples with all the right bells and whistles. :)

Lostball, I did quite a bit of research into the Alfred Field company some time back for an article. While Alfred Field never produced any of their own knives they did carry quite a line up of their own brands and were the United States reps for Joseph Rodgers from 1891 to WWII. Alfred Field hosted at least nine different cutlery company brands which included, Alfred Field & Co., Parker & Field, Progress, Criterion, Branford Cut. Co., Continental Cut. Co., Waltham Cut. Co., Alex Fraser & Co., and Jones & Co. While Alfred Field did contract out to various German cutlery companies for many of their house brands, they also contacted out to American companies. It appears that they used Schrade Cut. Co. mostly and I believe your single blade ebony jack was made by Schrade. Enclosed is a Schrade catalog cut from 1928 showing what I believe is your model. Note that the the cut shows a spear blade but the description also offers the knife with a clip blade and ebony handles.

View attachment 989278
 
ISKRA said:
I was certain I saw this knife in an add before. Turns out I didn't. Not quite. Like herder said, it seems to be some kind of vet knife. The two blade western castrator has 2 speys but the frame's off ...

baker1924-p03-01bw.jpg
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ISKRA, thanks for adding the nice catalog illustration.
 
herder said:
V.P., Great old Robeson with beautiful handles.

waynorth and Campbellclanman, wonderful Robeson examples with all the right bells and whistles. :)

Lostball, I did quite a bit of research into the Alfred Field company some time back for an article. While Alfred Field never produced any of their own knives they did carry quite a line up of their own brands and were the United States reps for Joseph Rodgers from 1891 to WWII. Alfred Field hosted at least nine different cutlery company brands which included, Alfred Field & Co., Parker & Field, Progress, Criterion, Branford Cut. Co., Continental Cut. Co., Waltham Cut. Co., Alex Fraser & Co., and Jones & Co. While Alfred Field did contract out to various German cutlery companies for many of their house brands, they also contacted out to American companies. It appears that they used Schrade Cut. Co. mostly and I believe your single blade ebony jack was made by Schrade. Enclosed is a Schrade catalog cut from 1928 showing what I believe is your model. Note that the the cut shows a spear blade but the description also offers the knife with a clip blade and ebony handles.

View attachment 989278
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Herder, thank you so much for the great information. I was not aware of most of this. Very enlightening and will have me looking for the other brands. I believe you hit the nail on the head with the manufacturer. Everything appears to match, even for the "black inside" described in the ad that had me puzzled at first. What I thought was rust on the interior of the backspring appeared instead to be a black glazing after a good oil bath. Never seen or heard of this before. Again, thank you for the great information and putting to rest alot of questions.
 
herder said:
V.P., Great old Robeson with beautiful handles.

waynorth and Campbellclanman, wonderful Robeson examples with all the right bells and whistles. :)

Lostball, I did quite a bit of research into the Alfred Field company some time back for an article. While Alfred Field never produced any of their own knives they did carry quite a line up of their own brands and were the United States reps for Joseph Rodgers from 1891 to WWII. Alfred Field hosted at least nine different cutlery company brands which included, Alfred Field & Co., Parker & Field, Progress, Criterion, Branford Cut. Co., Continental Cut. Co., Waltham Cut. Co., Alex Fraser & Co., and Jones & Co. While Alfred Field did contract out to various German cutlery companies for many of their house brands, they also contacted out to American companies. It appears that they used Schrade Cut. Co. mostly and I believe your single blade ebony jack was made by Schrade. Enclosed is a Schrade catalog cut from 1928 showing what I believe is your model. Note that the the cut shows a spear blade but the description also offers the knife with a clip blade and ebony handles.

View attachment 989278
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Lostball Lostball

Great digging herder :):thumbsup: I was coming to the same conclusion and from a different route... I found some pictures online that had A Fields & Co "Progress" tang stamps and blade etch on what has to be a Schrade Cut Co Scout knife. I know I have a ebony single blade Schrade Cut Co that is in the 3-3/8" range so I will search for that and see if it resembles Jerome's sweet Progress knife.

SCOUT1.JPG SCOUT2.jpeg SCOUT3.jpeg
 
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waynorth said:
Robeson Teardrop HJs. I think BP on the shield stands for Belt Punch.
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Campbellclanman said:
Treasure right there Charlie.
Very interesting seeing the difference between the two Punches. That Punch on the Black handled worm trail Composite one seems to be quite different? Is this the earlier of the two?
Here are my two Robesons - Charlie you may recognize the bottom one? both the punches the same as your stunning Bone Handled example.

7YCt0mH.jpg
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Gorgeous HJ's Charlie and Duncan. I love the jigging on all of them. Especially the bone with the BP shield. Here is the punch from my Robeson with the same patent date as another comparison. Sorry for the poor photos as I was in a rush. IMG_4900.JPG IMG_4898.PNG IMG_4897.PNG
 
veitsi_poika said:
Lostball Lostball

Great digging herder :):thumbsup: I was coming to the same conclusion and from a different route... I found some pictures online that had A Fields & Co "Progress" tang stamps and blade etch on what has to be a Schrade Cut Co Scout knife. I know I have a ebony single blade Schrade Cut Co that is in the 3-3/8" range so I will search for that and see if it resembles Jerome's sweet Progress knife.

View attachment 989438 View attachment 989439 View attachment 989440
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Thanks and yes, certainly made by Schrade. I had seen this Progress Scout knife before and what a fantastic example with a full blade etch.
Interesting that the bolsters on the Field's Scout model don't have ring grooves.
I have some other A. Fields models made by Schrade that I will shoot and post.
And your Schrade Cut. Co. Scout model is very nice as well.
 
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