Prune Big, or Go Home!

[Misplaced Hillbilly]

Thankfully after hearing my Dads stories I never really got into going to bars/clubs. After almost die'n of alcohol poisoning twice in my early 20s I realized I was better off leaving it alone.

 

[Campbellclanman]

I bought a Fairly early- yet not too old G Ibberson Pruner the other day, I totally blame our good friend Mr. Jack Black for getting me hooked into the Ibbersons by providing me with my first ever Ibberson- and with the meeting of Stan Shaw - what an absolutely lovely guy Stan is......
So This Ibberson had a slightly unusual stamp--- well to me anyway as I have never seen the Ibberson Name- with the Violin Stamp, and then a - U.K
Every other Ibberson Knife I own either has Ibberson, Sheffield. or Ibberson Sheffield, England. ( never seen the - UK ).
Not that the stamp is a big deal- in fact I suspect it may even denote a later model Knife?

The thing is, it was an Ebony Handled Pruner- fairly roughly sharpened and nothing special- upon receiving it in the mail at work, while I was catching up on my e-mails as I am away from my office most times, I opened up the package, - I thought "Oh yeah...ok ...I will clean up the edge etc... I noticed the Joints were pretty gunky - which is most typical and I left the Knife on my desk....oh I might add- this Knife did not have a half stop.........
I left the knife on my desk and I got into my work on the Computer, left the Knife in a half open position as you would if the Knife did have a half stop....

It must have been 10 minutes into my work when I heard a very sharp "PING" I looked all around because it honestly sounded like a BB gun pellet hitting my Filing Cabinet!!

Once sitting back down after looking around my office, I notice the new arrival not looking so hot...the Spring had blown out and snapped in two!!! ! I have had a couple of Springs go on me- but never to the magnitude of noise this guy did, I suspect heavily that if I immediately cleaned the knife out and oiled the Joints up - this would never had happened, and yes....yes.... I do know that perhaps I should not have left the spring under tension - but in reality you should be able to do this for this short amount of time.

Lessons learnt- if I ever ( which I think will happen ) get another Vintage Knife, I will never repeat this and clean it out if it feeld Gunky before I do anything else to it.

Havent got photos yet- but will update soon.

 

[Jack Black]

Peach Pruners to date.
From the bottom, over ten years old I think, my first one, also seen above. The middle one, Jack found for me as I was trying to build a Horn handle display, maybe a year ago. Note the great Horn, both sides!! Finally, slightly finer in size, a hair shorter and a very slightly narrower bolster, this nice Stag knife!! Fresh from the home of Mr. Black!!
Note the bottom, oldest one has a Brass pivot pin!!
The oily fingerprint on the middle one proves I take good care of my knives - ahem.
The Walk and Talk is very consistent across all three, though the Fit is improved over the decade or so. All three could use a little honing, but I am not convinced to carry one yet.
View attachment 925686 View attachment 925687 View attachment 925688

Great to see those together Charlie

I bought a Fairly early- yet not too old G Ibberson Pruner the other day, I totally blame our good friend Mr. Jack Black for getting me hooked into the Ibbersons by providing me with my first ever Ibberson- and with the meeting of Stan Shaw - what an absolutely lovely guy Stan is......
So This Ibberson had a slightly unusual stamp--- well to me anyway as I have never seen the Ibberson Name- with the Violin Stamp, and then a - U.K
Every other Ibberson Knife I own either has Ibberson, Sheffield. or Ibberson Sheffield, England. ( never seen the - UK ).
Not that the stamp is a big deal- in fact I suspect it may even denote a later model Knife?

The thing is, it was an Ebony Handled Pruner- fairly roughly sharpened and nothing special- upon receiving it in the mail at work, while I was catching up on my e-mails as I am away from my office most times, I opened up the package, - I thought "Oh yeah...ok ...I will clean up the edge etc... I noticed the Joints were pretty gunky - which is most typical and I left the Knife on my desk....oh I might add- this Knife did not have a half stop.........
I left the knife on my desk and I got into my work on the Computer, left the Knife in a half open position as you would if the Knife did have a half stop....

It must have been 10 minutes into my work when I heard a very sharp "PING" I looked all around because it honestly sounded like a BB gun pellet hitting my Filing Cabinet!!

Once sitting back down after looking around my office, I notice the new arrival not looking so hot...the Spring had blown out and snapped in two!!! ! I have had a couple of Springs go on me- but never to the magnitude of noise this guy did, I suspect heavily that if I immediately cleaned the knife out and oiled the Joints up - this would never had happened, and yes....yes.... I do know that perhaps I should not have left the spring under tension - but in reality you should be able to do this for this short amount of time.

Lessons learnt- if I ever ( which I think will happen ) get another Vintage Knife, I will never repeat this and clean it out if it feeld Gunky before I do anything else to it.

Havent got photos yet- but will update soon.

Ouch Duncan! That's an unusual tang-stamp for sure, off hand I don't recall seeing 'UK' on ANY Sheffield knife. You have just broke my dream with your mention of Stan Shaw (see my post in the Lambsfoot thread)!

 

[Bartleby]

Back in my Dads wild and wooly days (b4 my time) they was used in some rougher places in bar fights apparently liner locking types were preferred for that

When my sweet little 91 year old mom gave me my grandfather's pruner, I remarked that it was in surprisingly good shape for a work knife. She explained that it was mostly carried by her older sister, my aunt who passed away back in the 70's, as protection when retrieving my uncle from the bars in NY back in the day!

 

[Bartleby]

It must have been 10 minutes into my work when I heard a very sharp "PING" I looked all around because it honestly sounded like a BB gun pellet hitting my Filing Cabinet!!

Once sitting back down after looking around my office, I notice the new arrival not looking so hot...the Spring had blown out and snapped in two!!! ! I have had a couple of Springs go on me- but never to the magnitude of noise this guy did, I suspect heavily that if I immediately cleaned the knife out and oiled the Joints up - this would never had happened, and yes....yes.... I do know that perhaps I should not have left the spring under tension - but in reality you should be able to do this for this short amount of time.

I have had the Ping of Doom occur with clean well lubed new knives, as well as well maintained daily users after years of use. Blame not yourself, but fate. We can know not the hour in which the Ping of Doom will come.

 

[waynorth]

If you hear the "Ping of Doom", you can bet there was already a flaw or crack in the spring, ready to "Ping"!
I had a pre-WWII Schrade Jack, well-oiled, pull the same stunt!!

 

[Bartleby]

you can bet there was already a flaw or crack in the spring, ready to "Ping"!

Yep!

 

[Campbellclanman]

The Ping Of Doom....I like that , Thank you Gentleman for the follow up

 

[Campbellclanman]

Ping Of Doom Part two:
I finally got round to taking some photo's of the Doomed Ibberson.
As I stated before, the Knife is far from spectacular- hey....give it some Stag Covers- different story....anyway, the Stamp is something I have seen very little of before- if ever from memory...this is why I bought the Knife....The Stamps reads :
( Violin Trademark stamp ) over G. Ibberson & Co over Sheffield - UK
I havent seen UK in place of England ever before.
Also shown is the broken Spring

 

[Campbellclanman]

Here is a Pruner that I havent seen before, I have owned a Stunning Ibberson that had these fold out clippers that I gifted to Robin, but I have never seen a Joseph Rodgers like this, and this example is nothing anywhere like the Knife the Ibberson is /was.

This example is not exactly pretty folks- but intriguing none the less.

The seller was selling this as a Military knife , but this is nothing like that, this is a simple Gardening Pruner with a neat set of wee Garden Clippers to boot.
I have owned a nice example of the Joseph Rodgers OSS SOE Escape Knife, the Clippers were quite hardy, and didnt rely on a slim Bolster Pin as Jaws, where as this Knife shown relies on the Bolster Pin as the Clippers Jaw pin and would not be able to be tested under brute force of trying to cut a Wire, I knew this was a Pruner and was interested in it because I found it to be quite different ....even though it was not a prime example- and being the only one I have seen of this kind.....I took it away! if you have one like this- please share it with us!

The locking mechanism is quite simple - a protruding tag that slips into the Slot that you see at the end of the Handle of the Snips- and when you want to ope the Snips- you simply push the Handle sideways towards the closed Pruner Blade to release the Handle from the tag.

The Stamping / Etching on the Blade is extremely hard to see, I can only see under magnification what resembles a small crown- but cannot identify whether it's a V ( crown ) R etc..
Also the stamping wears out just on the "Cutlers for H ..." (cant make out if it's His or Her ), but it does have England very slightly seen after the Sheffield.

a photo- be it a very poor one shows inside the right hand rear Liner a Tag punched out of the Liner for the Slot in the Handle to lock into upon the Handle of the Clippers being closed.

Like I say, not a pretty Knife, but one I found very interesting, hope you have

 

[waynorth]

Sorry about your Ping of Doom, Duncan - and such a rare stamp too! Sigh. . . . .at least it is an interesting relic!
And, as far as that pruner knife, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Great knife!!!

 

[herder]

Here is a Pruner that I havent seen before, I have owned a Stunning Ibberson that had these fold out clippers that I gifted to Robin, but I have never seen a Joseph Rodgers like this, and this example is nothing anywhere like the Knife the Ibberson is /was.

This example is not exactly pretty folks- but intriguing none the less.

The seller was selling this as a Military knife , but this is nothing like that, this is a simple Gardening Pruner with a neat set of wee Garden Clippers to boot.
I have owned a nice example of the Joseph Rodgers OSS SOE Escape Knife, the Clippers were quite hardy, and didnt rely on a slim Bolster Pin as Jaws, where as this Knife shown relies on the Bolster Pin as the Clippers Jaw pin and would not be able to be tested under brute force of trying to cut a Wire, I knew this was a Pruner and was interested in it because I found it to be quite different ....even though it was not a prime example- and being the only one I have seen of this kind.....I took it away! if you have one like this- please share it with us!

The locking mechanism is quite simple - a protruding tag that slips into the Slot that you see at the end of the Handle of the Snips- and when you want to ope the Snips- you simply push the Handle sideways towards the closed Pruner Blade to release the Handle from the tag.

The Stamping / Etching on the Blade is extremely hard to see, I can only see under magnification what resembles a small crown- but cannot identify whether it's a V ( crown ) R etc..
Also the stamping wears out just on the "Cutlers for H ..." (cant make out if it's His or Her ), but it does have England very slightly seen after the Sheffield.

a photo- be it a very poor one shows inside the right hand rear Liner a Tag punched out of the Liner for the Slot in the Handle to lock into upon the Handle of the Clippers being closed.

Like I say, not a pretty Knife, but one I found very interesting, hope you have

Very neat old Joseph Rodgers pruning knife, Campbellclanman.
Wostenholm offered a similar model, the "AMGAR", in the 1930s, but I have never seen a Rodgers model before.
Unfortunately, there isn't much information on the Joseph Rodgers company between the two world wars, which is probably where this interesting model dates to.
I do not see this pruning folder in catalogs or paperwork before WWI or after WWII, so I believe it dates to around the same era as the Wostenholm model.
Enclosed is a catalog illustration from 1930 for a similar Wostenholm pruner.

Good find on an uncommon model.View attachment 935543

 

[Gevonovich]

Here is a Pruner that I havent seen before, I have owned a Stunning Ibberson that had these fold out clippers that I gifted to Robin, but I have never seen a Joseph Rodgers like this, and this example is nothing anywhere like the Knife the Ibberson is /was.

This example is not exactly pretty folks- but intriguing none the less.

The seller was selling this as a Military knife , but this is nothing like that, this is a simple Gardening Pruner with a neat set of wee Garden Clippers to boot.
I have owned a nice example of the Joseph Rodgers OSS SOE Escape Knife, the Clippers were quite hardy, and didnt rely on a slim Bolster Pin as Jaws, where as this Knife shown relies on the Bolster Pin as the Clippers Jaw pin and would not be able to be tested under brute force of trying to cut a Wire, I knew this was a Pruner and was interested in it because I found it to be quite different ....even though it was not a prime example- and being the only one I have seen of this kind.....I took it away! if you have one like this- please share it with us!

The locking mechanism is quite simple - a protruding tag that slips into the Slot that you see at the end of the Handle of the Snips- and when you want to ope the Snips- you simply push the Handle sideways towards the closed Pruner Blade to release the Handle from the tag.

The Stamping / Etching on the Blade is extremely hard to see, I can only see under magnification what resembles a small crown- but cannot identify whether it's a V ( crown ) R etc..
Also the stamping wears out just on the "Cutlers for H ..." (cant make out if it's His or Her ), but it does have England very slightly seen after the Sheffield.

a photo- be it a very poor one shows inside the right hand rear Liner a Tag punched out of the Liner for the Slot in the Handle to lock into upon the Handle of the Clippers being closed.

Like I say, not a pretty Knife, but one I found very interesting, hope you have

A smashing knife indeed, Duncan !! It's just a perfect knife for a gardener and I love the old relic !! Thanks for sharing it and the great photographs...what a treat

Thanks for the cut, H herder !!

Duncan, I still see the knife you gifted to Robin in my mind....man what a knife

 

[Campbellclanman]

Thank you my three friends! Charlie, Herder and Gev!

Charlie- many thanks my friend.

Herder - thank you so much for providing that I*XL Amgar Pruner Catalogue my friend - That is awesome ! I haven’t seen the I *XL version at all either - extremely interesting.
I just wish the Knife scales were in better condition!

Gev! Thank you matey- it took a lot for me to hand that Knife over to Robin - but it seemed more in his line and at that time Robin and I were in touch a lot as he was making me some Puukko styled Knives.

 

[Augie]

Time to bring this great thread back to the top. Received the knife today and it is just amazing, fat stag, good snap, no play, close to full blade, hasn't been ground on or buffed, did I mention FAT stag. gave it a mineral oil bath and took some pics
Not able to find a whole lot on Shirley's Celebrated OIO Cutlery, found reference to 1865 or so and the majority of knives I can find are Bowie's. Wonder what OIO stands for? Jack, hoping you can help me on this.
Can't wait to get it on a buffer and shine it up

 

[willard0341]

Time to bring this great thread back to the top. Received the knife today and it is just amazing, fat stag, good snap, no play, close to full blade, hasn't been ground on or buffed, did I mention FAT stag. gave it a mineral oil bath and took some pics
Not able to find a whole lot on Shirley's Celebrated OIO Cutlery, found reference to 1865 or so and the majority of knives I can find are Bowie's. Wonder what OIO stands for? Jack, hoping you can help me on this.
Can't wait to get it on a buffer and shine it up


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Beautiful piece of history Augie, nice find and thanks for sharing

 

[Campbellclanman]

Augie- Now tha'ts some Stellar Stag right There my friend!
Most unusual to see huge slabs of Stag that wide compared to the Bolster on those ol' Pruners- thats the widest I have seen yet!
Man....Hammered Pins, Stovepipe Kick, Huge Rats Tail and Stag to-die-for!!! What a find my friend, what a find!
I could get lost staring at that Stag for such a long time- Beautiful stuff!

 

[Misplaced Hillbilly]

Covers are a tad proud of the bolsters, better file those down before you hit it with the buffer
Kidding aside, that's a beautiful old work horse right there. To think that back in the day that's the kinda stag they put on a working knife.

 

[waynorth]

What an amazing example of an old pruner!! Are the bolsters integral, Augie? Tapered/forged spring??
19th century for sure!!

 

[Rusty1]

Wow, that is a chubby beast, who delivered that, the US Air Force Another great find

Russell