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"Old Knives"
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Will Power
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Here are a couple of Jacks. The first is a Miller Bros. Harness Jack, with an Empire style punch. I suspect Empire made the knife for M.B.
The second knife is a Hoffritz Jack, with nice Peachseed bone handles, and looking very much like a product of the Schrade Cutlery Co.
This knife suffers from PDD (post Dremelization Disorder), which is infinitely uglier than a little heavy patina.You know, they shouldn't sell Dremel tools to just anyone!:grumpy:
Still, the scars are fortunately not too deep, and the blade is near full profile.
THAT IS SOME BONE! Looks like treacle! Magnificent knife that Miller:thumbup:
lambertiana
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No one else wanted this well-loved little "jack knife marbelized grip" on eBay, so it came to me for the price of a shiny new Rough Rider.A 3" pen knife by Walden Knife Co. NY, 1870-1923, tortoise shell scales. Back spring is flush in open, half stop and closed positions.
Every once in a while you get lucky and find a nice one with history that gets by most people and doesn't cost much. Good find!
Charlie - That Axel Nilsson was probably targeted toward the scandinavian population of the upper midwest. It is marked Swedish Steel on both tangs.
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- Oct 26, 2005
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This is a Joeseph Rodgers Ivory folding spatula,w/ pen blade
Here's what the owner wrote :
"3 5/8" closed, used by doctors for paste mixing, pill counting, etc. Very sadly, once a board knife which accounts for it's remarkable condition as well as the huge hole through its handle. A scarce knife so I bought it anyway. I can't imagine being the fellow whose job it was to drill holes through these things for a living after everyone else in the factory took such skill and trouble to make sure the knife was as perfect as it could be after it left their hands. Two parallel blades on a single spring, no crinking as on many knives of this general type. Clearance for blade pass is provided on the pen blade by adding an extra liner bit on one side to space the half spring thickness blade over to it's side. On the spatula end, spacing was instead provided for by pinning an extra tang bit to the extremely thinly ground spatula blade to arrive at the half spring dimension. Sort of like a New York Knife two piece punch. I assume it was done this way for ease of grinding the spatula to it's thin parallel final dimension. Once finished, the blade and it's extra tang are fastened together with two tiny pins which I tried to show in the one image. You can just barely see them next to the round handle end. This tang then becomes part of the spatula and rotates with it, unlike the extra bit of liner added to the pen end which is pinned to the handle and does not rotate. The spatula starts out at . 040 " near the tang and tapers down to . 008" at the tip, sort of like a feeler gauge. These can easily be bent 45 degrees and spring right back every time. A well built knife made between 1901 and 1936 with no blade rub"
Here's a bunch of scans,this is so cool,you gotta see it
-Vince
I'll post more on the next posts...............
Here's what the owner wrote :
"3 5/8" closed, used by doctors for paste mixing, pill counting, etc. Very sadly, once a board knife which accounts for it's remarkable condition as well as the huge hole through its handle. A scarce knife so I bought it anyway. I can't imagine being the fellow whose job it was to drill holes through these things for a living after everyone else in the factory took such skill and trouble to make sure the knife was as perfect as it could be after it left their hands. Two parallel blades on a single spring, no crinking as on many knives of this general type. Clearance for blade pass is provided on the pen blade by adding an extra liner bit on one side to space the half spring thickness blade over to it's side. On the spatula end, spacing was instead provided for by pinning an extra tang bit to the extremely thinly ground spatula blade to arrive at the half spring dimension. Sort of like a New York Knife two piece punch. I assume it was done this way for ease of grinding the spatula to it's thin parallel final dimension. Once finished, the blade and it's extra tang are fastened together with two tiny pins which I tried to show in the one image. You can just barely see them next to the round handle end. This tang then becomes part of the spatula and rotates with it, unlike the extra bit of liner added to the pen end which is pinned to the handle and does not rotate. The spatula starts out at . 040 " near the tang and tapers down to . 008" at the tip, sort of like a feeler gauge. These can easily be bent 45 degrees and spring right back every time. A well built knife made between 1901 and 1936 with no blade rub"
Here's a bunch of scans,this is so cool,you gotta see it
-Vince
I'll post more on the next posts...............
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lambertiana
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Vince - love that spatula!
Today I will get Charlie worked up - Ulster harness jack
Today I will get Charlie worked up - Ulster harness jack
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- Nov 27, 1998
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- 2,602
Urrr - I love that thing! I'd derive a perverse tactile joy from gently flexing the finely tapering spatula - which now sounds mighty strange when I see those words in print
. A Beautiful glimpse into the past. Even the board hole tells a story, and the pinned tang is wonderful. Not only do they not make things like that anymore, they don't even think that way anymore.
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- Oct 26, 2005
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Rick & all,Thanks for your additions & posts It's the enthusiasm that keeps this thread going :thumbup:
Here's a jack & what the owner says....
Happy Fathers Day to ya' guys...
"Pacific Steel & Hardware was an early San Francisco hardware retailer that opened it's doors around 1850
or so. By around 1900 the name had changed to Baker, Hamilton & Pacific. They sold a lot of knives on the West coast, Stiletto being their largest selling " House Brand ", but most manufacturers knives were represented in their huge catalog. This well used and heavily sharpened example is 3 1/2" closed, all steel
construction with one exception. Most of the early knife manufacturers were willing to add features or options such as a bail, a shield, left hand opening etc., to standard catalog patterns for a small fee if the buyer was willing to order the knife and wait for delivery to his dealer. This otherwise ordinary example has
a gold shield pinned through the liner. It also has some of the nicest bone of any knife I own, but sadly, the scanner will not allow me to show the depth and texture of the jigging that extends down almost to the bottom of the scales in many places. The springs are still virtually flush in all three positions on both blades and the blade fall remains dead center to this day, even all the use this knife has seen. I carry this knife a lot "
Here's a jack & what the owner says....
Happy Fathers Day to ya' guys...
"Pacific Steel & Hardware was an early San Francisco hardware retailer that opened it's doors around 1850
or so. By around 1900 the name had changed to Baker, Hamilton & Pacific. They sold a lot of knives on the West coast, Stiletto being their largest selling " House Brand ", but most manufacturers knives were represented in their huge catalog. This well used and heavily sharpened example is 3 1/2" closed, all steel
construction with one exception. Most of the early knife manufacturers were willing to add features or options such as a bail, a shield, left hand opening etc., to standard catalog patterns for a small fee if the buyer was willing to order the knife and wait for delivery to his dealer. This otherwise ordinary example has
a gold shield pinned through the liner. It also has some of the nicest bone of any knife I own, but sadly, the scanner will not allow me to show the depth and texture of the jigging that extends down almost to the bottom of the scales in many places. The springs are still virtually flush in all three positions on both blades and the blade fall remains dead center to this day, even all the use this knife has seen. I carry this knife a lot "
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:thumbup:Vince that is truley a gem VERY nice!!!
Thanks for sharing.
Shawn
Thanks for sharing.
Shawn
lambertiana
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I like that Baker, Hamilton, and Pacific. Vince, I used to live in SF, and I still don't have an SF brand in my collection, so I think you should do the right thing and send that one to me....
Empire jack
Empire jack
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spam removed
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Ok, let's talk about some *old* knives. This is the best image I've yet seen of some of the knives recovered from the Steamboat Arabia which sank in the Missouri River in 1856. It sank quickly and mud and silt quickly filled everything, preserving most items quite well. These knives were in a barrel on their way to some general store or stores on the frontier.
It's interesting to see a snapshot in time like this and realize how people can so badly screw up figuring out when something was actually made. Take a look at the barlows in this image - they look just like the very first ones ever to come out of the forges of Sheffield -- now take a look at the rest of the knives - say that very fine black horn or ebony handled congress with two quill blades on the upper left side of the image (probably a George Wostenholm). The barlows are crude and "primitive" because they were made to be as cheap as they could make them and still be effective pocket knives (which meant fast and crude "smack it hard and slap it together" manufacture) -- which was quite in contrast to the skill and quality applied to all the other knives shown here.
-- Dwight
It's interesting to see a snapshot in time like this and realize how people can so badly screw up figuring out when something was actually made. Take a look at the barlows in this image - they look just like the very first ones ever to come out of the forges of Sheffield -- now take a look at the rest of the knives - say that very fine black horn or ebony handled congress with two quill blades on the upper left side of the image (probably a George Wostenholm). The barlows are crude and "primitive" because they were made to be as cheap as they could make them and still be effective pocket knives (which meant fast and crude "smack it hard and slap it together" manufacture) -- which was quite in contrast to the skill and quality applied to all the other knives shown here.
-- Dwight
KnifeHead
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This is another rare original 4 5/8" Diamond Edge Arkansas Hunter lockback w/bail. This old knife has a story; It was purchased in 1970 at an Indian Reservation flea market in Lawton Oklahoma. It belonged to the mother of a Kiowa Indian.The guy bought it along with some skinning knives the mother used to skin buffalo. He thinks the AH was probably used for the same purpose. That would put the usage somewhere around 1900-1915.
I guess, as Robuck pointed out, except for the American Bison almost being wiped out during the mid 19th century..that's a pretty good story
I guess, as Robuck pointed out, except for the American Bison almost being wiped out during the mid 19th century..that's a pretty good story
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waynorth
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Great story! Great knife!! An experienced Arkansas Hunter, from Oklahoma.
I like the fact that it still has the bail. We've seen some that have the hole drilled in the bone, and which looks oddly placed when the bail is missing, but it makes sense when you see it intact. When you drill the hole right next to the bolster, it isn't likely to crack out from the pull on it.
I like the fact that it still has the bail. We've seen some that have the hole drilled in the bone, and which looks oddly placed when the bail is missing, but it makes sense when you see it intact. When you drill the hole right next to the bolster, it isn't likely to crack out from the pull on it.
