Pocket Knives of the 1920's

[zerogee]

It was a KleenCut Barlow, so inexpensive it has steel bolsters. The scales are still sawcut bone, but they are worn almost smooth by two generations of pocket wear.

According to my Dad, Grandad wouldn't have paid more than a buck for any kind of work knife, so I would guess it's price at the time was somewhere around that.

Robert

Actually the bolsters would be pretty much pure malleable iron, not steel -- pure iron has very little carbon - which means it is far less susceptible to rust than steel (which has significant amounts of carbon), along with being easy to stamp and form (often, the liners are iron also). The original Sheffield barlows from over 150 years earlier had iron liners and bolsters forged as one piece (Sheffield continued to make them like that well up into the mid-1800s). Iron bolsters were THE way to build barlows up until modern times (I think you can find Case barlows with iron bolsters even after the 1960s).

IIRC, standard size Russell barlows were no more than 75 cents retail for many years.

 

[midnight flyer]

Actually the bolsters would be pretty much pure malleable iron, not steel -- pure iron has very little carbon - which means it is far less susceptible to rust than steel (which has significant amounts of carbon), along with being easy to stamp and form (often, the liners are iron also). The original Sheffield barlows from over 150 years earlier had iron liners and bolsters forged as one piece (Sheffield continued to make them like that well up into the mid-1800s). Iron bolsters were THE way to build barlows up until modern times (I think you can find Case barlows with iron bolsters even after the 1960s).

IIRC, standard size Russell barlows were no more than 75 cents retail for many years.

Wow.... thanks for the info!

That dark gray metal is probably indeed iron. A quick check of the knife shows that the liners are brass, but the spacer between the springs/blade is that same gray metal.

I'll see my Dad in the next few days and tell him about this. When I tell him his Dad probably spent .75 cents or so on the knife, he will get a helluva charge out of it.

My grandfather was an avid hunter and fisherman. He spent a lot of time and money on both things and had a booming business during the late 20's, 30's, and through the war. But he never had an expensive knife or even a nice one until my Dad was stationed in Germany in '52/'53 and bought him a couple of great hunting knives and a couple of Boker folders.

I have the hunting knives, but where the folders went, no one seems to know.

Thanks again for the info.

Robert

 

[supratentorial]

Those are some really beautiful examples from the period. If you were a bicyclist or automobile owner in the 1920s you might have one of these in your pocket:

True, but everything is relative. A Colt Peacemaker back then cost about $15, and the per capita income in the U.S. was only $500.
In 2010 the per capita income was over $24,000, making that $36/dozen cost $1,730 today.

P.S. -- And for you youngsters, my first Big Mac cost 49¢ + tax.

You would have made a killing if you had stocked up on Big Macs back then.

 

[chuko]

here are a few that were available for gentlemen to carry in the 1920's
American Knife and Shear

New York Knife Co.

Hickory (made by Napanoch)

Remington

 

[InTheSticks]

True, but everything is relative. A Colt Peacemaker back then cost about $15, and the per capita income in the U.S. was only $500.
In 2010 the per capita income was over $24,000, making that $36/dozen cost $1,730 today.

P.S. -- And for you youngsters, my first Big Mac cost 49¢ + tax.

you are right on track. Of course there are several ways to figure inflation and I tend to use the cpi but it only goes back to 1913. using it we get 865.09 per dozen or $72 per knife. and this was wholesale so there would have been a considerable mark up to the consumer. So anyway you want to figure it that would have been the equivilent of over $100 per knife to the consumer. How much over is open for debate but these were not cheap knives.

Don

 

[kamagong]

They'd still be relatively inexpensive compared to what you'd have to spend today. There are no American companies making 4-bladed knives with pearl covers. If you want something like that you'd have to go custom and be willing to spend $1k+.

- Christian