One of My Favourite Haunts: Knives on the High Street.

The last small knife shop I remember was in Fort Mill, SC. A small town, that in the 50's and 60's would be called a "mill village". Home of Springs (Mills back in the 70's), a textile company that had been in business since the 1880's. Owned by an older gent as more of a hobby than a business, it had mostly Case knives with a smattering of SAK's, Queen, a few others I don't recall. A tiny shop on Main Street that was nearby a local sandwich and ice cream shop. He had enough traffic to stay in business for a few years, the closing of the two weaving mills finished the shop. It was out of the ordinary as hardware or feed and seed stores were the primary knife sellers in the South.
 
JB in SC said:
The last small knife shop I remember was in Fort Mill, SC. A small town, that in the 50's and 60's would be called a "mill village". Home of Springs (Mills back in the 70's), a textile company that had been in business since the 1880's. Owned by an older gent as more of a hobby than a business, it had mostly Case knives with a smattering of SAK's, Queen, a few others I don't recall. A tiny shop on Main Street that was nearby a local sandwich and ice cream shop. He had enough traffic to stay in business for a few years, the closing of the two weaving mills finishezd the shop. It was out of the ordinary as hardware or feed and seed stores were the primary knife sellers in the South.
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sounds like an interesting little place. Again can only imagine what it was like, what it's history was etc. Sort of place you'd naturally take for granted at the time I'd expect. Interesting that SAK'S took their place alongside their American cousins. Thanks for the back story and for taking us back there Jerry. :thumbup:
 
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Very envious... Great knife shops there, though clearly an endangered species.

Here (big city Midwest US), the best bet is antique malls (which may be in a muti-story building in an old part of town). Yard sales are thin, mostly badly rusted common tools and fishing tackle boxes. These sales usually look their best at 35 mph as you go by — at that speed, any yard sale might well have everything you've ever been looking for. But if you stop, it quickly transforms into baby clothes, faded jigsaw puzzles, and old game cassettes.
 
Blake the Blade said:
sounds like an interesting little place. Again can only imagine what it was like, what it's history was etc. Sort of place you'd naturally take for granted at the time I'd expect. Interesting that SAK'S took their place alongside their American cousins. Thanks for the back story and for taking us back there Jerry. :thumbup:
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Actually it wasn't too long ago, mid 1980's. It seemed to pop up one day without fanfare. Reminded me of an old cobbler's shop no more than ten or fifteen feet wide.

A real oddity for that time. In my many visits during my lunch hour (I worked at one of the local weaving plants) I surmised it was obviously a dream of his to own a knife shop.
 
great story, excellent photos. you Brits are living the good life.
funny thing, we, my daughter and i drove over to the local Army Surplus store today to have a look see. knives were on my radar. the store had a few Mora and Opinel, not nearly the selection you show in the picture.
thanks for the great read.

buzz
 
great story, excellent photos. you Brits are living the good life.
funny thing, we, my daughter and i drove over to the local Army Surplus store today to have a look see. knives were on my radar. the store had a few Mora and Opinel, not nearly the selection you show in the picture.
thanks for the great read.
the German Army Knife is a strange bird!

buzz
 
great story, excellent photos. you Brits are living the good life.
funny thing, we, my daughter and i drove over to the local Army Surplus store today to have a look see. knives were on my radar. the store had a few Mora and Opinel, not nearly the selection you show in the picture.
thanks for the great read.
the German Army Knife is a strange bird!
one thing is disturbing. not unlike the junk programs on TEEVEE, there are a bunch of Chinese made knives in the case nobody really in their right mind wants. wouldn't it be grand if the case was full of good 'ol Empire made or wonderful old American made knives or honest to goodness Swiss made or French made knives 😍😀
buzz
 
You're not wrong buzz, that would be truly wonderful. I've got a feeling one of the owners is a bit of a collector, I sense a kindred spirit, and every now and then he let's a few go (knives that is), but I reckon he keeps the best ones. As for the Chinese thing, Well I suppose that's a sign of the times too, everything seems to come from there now. They keep the brand names so you think you're getting something of an original item. The 'Remington' I purchased is a case in point, though to be fair it is a good quality knife for a very low price. American knives, if you can find them, are prohibitively expensive here, though it sounds as though there cheep enough where they're made. It's all to do with market forces and import duty I guess, It's no wonder we buy on - line is it. Still think it's a poor experience compared to going into town like in the good old days. :o :thumbup:
 
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Blake the Blade said:
Better luck next time my friend. It would be interesting to see some photos of these places, you conjure up quite a picture. Love French knives also, so please show us anything interesting you may manage to find.
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That's a good idea, when back to la big city I'll manage to ramble around knife shops and post pictures.
A tout seigneur, tout honneur : Kindal (story & pictures taken from the website)
One of the oldest shops dedicated to cutlery. Founded in 1898 by Magnus Kindal, a son of a Swedish book seller, who came to Paris for health reasons. Back from a journey in Sweden where he had bought some knives, he started selling them among other Swedish curios in his scandinavian bookshop, avenue de l'Opéra, finally specializing in knives with a lot of illustrious customers, the most famous being a certain Hemingway Ernest, for which a special knife was designed. They still are the sole place where you'll find it.
Sadly , the still family operated business had to move to a more modest shop and leave the wooden, full of scent, old France shop of the prestigous avenue de l'Opéra.
But they still have an impressive array of knives from all over the world.

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Blake the Blade said:
American knives, if you can find them, are prohibitively expensive here, though it sounds as though there cheep enough where they're made. It's all to do with market forces I guess, It's no wonder we buy on - line is it. Still think it's a poor experience compared to going into town like in the good old days. :o :thumbup:
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You're right about the price differential between USA and Europe, and I don't speak of most shipping rates (I was asked $92 -yes!nine then two!- for a Case SFO confederate knife)
There's just one exception here, a website selling most American brands at reasonable price, ie quite the same as you'd pay in USA plus reasonable shipping price. They have some NOS (understand unsold) with the old (#favorable) exchange rate.
 
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Jolipapa said:
You're right about the price differential between USA and Europe, and I don't speak of most shipping rates (I was asked $92 -yes!nine then two!- for a Case SFO confederate knife)
There's just one exception here, a website selling most American brands at reasonable price, ie quite the same as you'd pay in USA plus reasonable shipping price. They have some NOS (understand unsold) with the old (#favorable) exchange rate.
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Most interesting. What site would that be Jolipapa?
 
Jack Black said:
I thought I'd throw in this link to a visit to The Famous Sheffield Shop :thumbup:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-A-Knife-A-Visit-To-The-Famous-Sheffield-Shop
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Great Jack. My original inspiration for this thread. Check out the very last post on page four of yours. It's taken this long to get there and it's only down the road. :p

Jack, I've see photos in the past of hardware stores of the Victoria and Edwardian periods with packed front window displays including hundreds of penknives, but they're never taken close enough to see any real detail. These were clearly the days to go to the high street for a penknife. Do you have any photos or information relating to this?
 
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Jolipapa said:
I mp you the address.
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Many thanks, much appreciated. :thumbup: :)

That's a great story about the Swedish bookseller and his shops, I didn't notice that earlier. That's a great looking little shop in the photo and I would have loved a look around the old 'scented' one. That Hemingway knife is absolutely beautiful, carries a nice price tag too. I look forward to hearing more about your haunts as and when you revisit them. Really interesting, thanks. :thumbup:
 
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Thank you, I'll have to resist getting in!
The shop was not far from the Harry's Bar, a place renowned for the cocktails, also often visited (and now haunted?) by Hemingway.
 
Blake the Blade said:
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Great Jack. My original inspiration for this thread. Check out the very last post on page four of yours. It's taken this long to get there and it's only down the road. :p

Jack, I've see photos in the past of hardware stores of the Victoria and Edwardian periods with packed front window displays including hundreds of penknives, but they're never taken close enough to see any real detail. These were clearly the days to go to the high street for a penknife. Do you have any photos or information relating to this?
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My apologies my friend, for missing this before:

Blake the Blade said:
Great Jack. We have a great little army surplus store in Bognor Regis run by two characterful brothers. They often have a few oldies in with the newer folders and I've picked up a few interesting knives there in the past. They're always cheep and nicely oiled and sharpened. Think I'll pay them a visit and if there's anything good I'll do a Jack-esque report on the place, its contents and some past purchases. Most enjoyable!
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Undoubtedly the most famous was the showroom of Joseph Rodgers & Sons, what a place that must have been to visit :)

Joseph_Rodgers_showroom_Large.jpg


AreBeeBee said:
Thanks for this -- on an everyday basis, knife shops are all but nonexistent over here. Thin gruel, indeed.
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So sad that in the past few decades we have lost so much :(
 
Jack Black said:
My apologies my friend, for missing this before:



Undoubtedly the most famous was the showroom of Joseph Rodgers & Sons, what a place that must have been to visit :)

Joseph_Rodgers_showroom_Large.jpg




So sad that in the past few decades we have lost so much :(
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Absolutely fantastic Jack, a veritable aladin's cave for sure. Anyone got a time machine? Obviously this is a prestigious cutler's emporium of the highest order. What interests me is how their products, and in particular their knives, made their way into the shopfronts on the high street. I would imagine their were sales Rep's involved for example, would this have been on a sale or return basis I wonder?. Also in the pictures I have eluded to the knives were often arranged in elaborate displays and cases, would this have been the business of the retailer or the company producing them?
 
I hope this is not out of subject.
This is the Victorinox official Paris shop. They have nearly everything Victorinox makes, suitcases, kitchen knives (some with Japanese steel), and the left wall (>6m) is covered with SAKS.
Sorry for the poor picture I took it from the opposite street with my m/cycle gloveson my way home from Burgundy.
Victorinox.jpg
 
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