"Old Knives"

Those are some fine jacks posted!
-Vince
 
Gardener's knife with pruners

"5 1/2" oal, all steel including bail, nickle silver bolsters, composition handles. Glaze finished hawkbill, crocus polished pruners. A brute of a knife, 7/8" thick 1 " wide handle. Pruners are spring loaded as would be a pair of Felco's you use in the yard today. The spring on the pruner side simply bears against the pivoting handle and when it is released from the locked position the handle springs open to the battery position. The oval hole you see in the pruner handle snaps over a large " tooth" that protrudes from the inside edge of the liner on that side. To open the pruner, one engages the nail nick in the pruner handle but instead of pulling up on it as to open the blade, you push the pruner handle towards the blade until the oval slot in the handle clears the tooth on the liner and the pruners snap full open.To lock it closed you simply push the handle all the way down into the trough until a loud, satisfying click is heard. Another utilitarian tool of the period, most of these were heavily used and are all but worn out when found. This example is unused, unsharpened and was built between 1910-1936."

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Pretty cool,huh ?
-Vince
 
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Vince, I think I'd need an instruction manual to operate that gardener's knife ! :p

Here's a couple I got yesterday. From a little closer to home, and easy enough for me to figure out.

Fran
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Way cool pruner Vince!
Nice additions to your rapidly expanding collection Fran!!
 
Excellent knives guys. Thanks for sharing them

This is Wostenholm's version similar to Vince's pruner knife circa 1930s.

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This is an old one.
Quote,

"3 1/2 " closed, well used since birth up to and including today. Sheffield approx. 1875 - 1890 , perfect mechanics, smooth ivory,sunken joints, extremely pocket friendly, just disappears in there"

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This is an old one.
Quote,

"3 1/2 " closed, well used since birth up to and including today. Sheffield approx. 1875 - 1890 , perfect mechanics, smooth ivory,sunken joints, extremely pocket friendly, just disappears in there"

I'd say it was most likely made by the George Wostenholm company. From the quality and the finesse shown with swedges and graceful blade profiles it could be either Wostenholm or Joseph Rodgers and Sons, but the CONGRESS KNIFE stamp gives it away as George Wostenholm. I don't think Joseph Rodgers ever used this stamp -- they would sometimes use J. Rodgers & Sons or Joseph Rodgers & Sons on the master blade of their congress knives - but normally there was no stamp at all (they would often stamp a secondary sheepsfoot blade in a congress knife (usually shorter than the master sheepsfoot) as a TOBACCO BLADE). Actually, I might have seen it on a J. Rodgers knife once, but IIRC, it was quite a bit smaller (in relation to the blade size) and they put it inside a little "banner" outline.

-- Dwight
 
What an absolutely spectacular thread! I just read it from beginning to end: An Internet treasure trove, to be sure.

A few mint XXs:

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And a few I posted on the Bernard Levine board:

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Rick finest assortment I've seen in a long time, Congrats on them, and Thanks for posting them.....
 
Has anyone else seen this type of celluloid handle before? Any idea what it is called?

Um, "Hey! That doesn't go in that batch!" celluloid? Nope, never seen this sort of pattern. I'm fairly serious though that it may have been a batch that didn't turn out quite like planned -- maker probably got it on the cheap. I kinda like it though -- at least it's not garish, explosion in a carnival cel.
 
Six nice pieces i ran into this week

Is the smaller of the two doglegs 3" long (or just over)? I love 3" doglegs -- they're often called peanuts nowadays, but they're not - they're a bit heavier, a bit more solid, with a thicker, nicely swedged master blade - really sweet in the hand and in the pocket. They're precisely scaled down doglegs. They were made by a number of the old firms - there was even a Case Tested XX version - but none of them came thru into modern times. And no, a Case peanut is not really a good substitute for one IMO.
 
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