Pawn shop find.... Imperial fish knife

G

gman2304

Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Messages
17
I picked this old knife up yesterday, and it's my first pawn shop find. I am quite a newbie ' just registered here last month' and am wondering if anybody might know how old it might be. It has Imperial USA Prov RI on the tang. I actually had no idea what sort of knife it was until I brought it home and researched it a bit. I'm hoping this is in the right forum. Thanks
IMG
 
I'm not sure on age. I'll leave that to an expert in this forum, but I can tell you a little about the Imperial fish knife. The blade is carbon steel and will take and hold an edge. The hook disgorger blade is a must when fishing for bullheads or panfish or anything while using live bait or little jigs. The two pronged end will easily pop a deeply swallowed hook out of a fish. It will fit right into the little mouth of a bluegill and remove the hook without damage to the fish. I carry mine every fishing trip! As you can see, it also has the bottle opener and a scaler. My favorite fish knife is by Case. I bought a bunch of them and gave them all away as gifts. Now, I wish I had one, lol!

Joe
 
I think the stamp is circa 1956-88. Someone else might be able to narrow it down even further. They are sometimes referred to as "shell handle" knives because of the cost saving construction. Joe covered the rest. By the way, I have a few from my grandfather.
 
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Not sure I'd use that bottle opener after it's been down a fishes throat...!
 
W.M.B. said:
If it's that far down the fishes throat, you're probably doing it wrong!

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Oh I wouldn't jump to conclusions. If the fish is big enough to swallow a bottle, you're probably doing it right!
 
Oh I've slept on the bump long enough before that it was way down in the stomach.
 
At that point I think the other blade is probably the one you need

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SVTFreak said:
You'd be surprised at how much that lake (or river) water can clean off. At least in your own mind anyway hah
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It's my go-to knife cleaning method when fishing. Use your knife to clean a fish or cut up some bait, whoosh the blade around in the water, wipe it dry on your pants, stick it back in your pocket. Later that day, use it to slice cheese and summer sausage for a snack. :D
 
Your knife has the 1956-1988 tang stamp, though I believe it's probably 70's or later.
They had been using plastic on the sides of the knife ( I believe it was likely heat shrunk on ) and on the earlier ones they had a patent number which was not for the knife itself.

The scale area on the sides of your knife is actually just a thin film of white plastic which is painted with some coating over that. You can easily pull it off and this is what it will look like underneath.

Here's what the white plastic film looks like after the paint and clear coating flakes or peels off.( before I decided to just tear it off )
 
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