Robesons I got at a garage sale today.

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Dec 3, 2012
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I found these two Robesons at a garage sale today. I'm pretty familiar with Case knives but I know nothing at all about Robeson. I tried to do some research and I think the red one is from the 50's maybe and I couldn't find anything about the stag but it says frozen heat on the blade etch so I assume its fairly modern. Any thing would be helpfull. All I know is I got a really great deal!
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Paul, both are very nice:thumbup:

Paul

Thanks Paul, she had some Case that I told her to raise the price on, she sold me these two for twenty bucks apiece I tried to tell her they had to be worth more. But she wouldn't take more. The stag one has the box. The red had a paper with Robeson Perry NY and sharpening instructions.
 
The Robeson is a Queen made knife, some were D2 (it'll say "tool steel" if is D2), i think some were 1095, but i may be wrong on that. Either way, excellent deal you got there!
 
You did good, both with the score and being fair about it - drives me nuts when I see people take advantage of people who don't know what they're selling.
 
Wow, those are great knives, and you got them for a steal - and kudos to you for trying to give more for them, an honest buyer!
I too have a frozen heat Robeson-but mines a swing-guard Folder-neat knives-I wonder if Charlie Noyes will come in here?
 
Yeah me too. I talked to her for a little while. Her husband had passed about six months ago and she was moving in with her daughter and downsizing. The money didn't seem to matter much. She was more interested in someone appreciating something her late husband had. And to know it would be taken care of..
 
Those are nice. You don't often come across Robeson knives, especially at a garage sale
 
Beautiful knives.
If you google "history of the Robeson Cutlery Company" you'll get an article from a different knife forum. Their chart puts the one with the all-caps SHUREDGE at 1940-1964. They don't seem to cover the frozen heat etch but ice quenching was invented a little before 1950?
 
Nice finds!

I don't know how you guys always find such good stuff at garage sales, flee markets and antique stores!
Anytime I find pocket knives, they are usually beat to hell and falling apart, or they are asking more than they are worth. Or both, lol.
Maybe I just need a rabbits foot or something...
 
There are more modern Queen made Robesons, but I think those two were actually made by Robeson.
 
There are more modern Queen made Robesons, but I think those two were actually made by Robeson.

I have two of the Queen made Robeson's and both have a "Mastercraft Limited Edition" blade etch. The originals I've seen usually have some sort of 'SureEdge" etch (if one).

While two is far from many, you may have scored some originals !!
 
Nice knives!

And a classy move to make sure the seller wasn't being cheated out.
I'm sure she is glad someone that would appreciate it bought it.

KG
 
Nice! I use to have the medium stockman version of that! My buddy from church was really admiring it one day so I gave it to him.
 
Super, what a deal, and two really great nice knives. The Robesons are favorites of mine.
 
You did really well with those two.

The strawberry Delrin 612407 toothpick was made by Robeson in Perry. New York, between about 1959 and 1965. They went from genuine strawberry bone to the Delrin about 1959, some say 1960. They went out of business and closed up shop in 1965.

Robeson introduced the "Frozen Heat" cold quenching process sometime after Emerson Case came to run the company. He was hired shortly after 1940, but I think the process was introduced after he became president in 1948.

Mr. Levine has documentation on that, as He has written about it previously in his KnifeWorld column.

Robeson produced several patterns, indeed sets, of kitchen knives with the "Frozen Heat" process, but the only folding knives I'm aware of that were treated with it were the post WWII 872 swing guard folding hunters. They were made with stag, bone and yellow composition.

Your stag folder, however, was produced by Queen, most likely sometime in the 1990's. Actually, it should be dated with either a two digit or four digit year date on one of the blades.

I don't think Robeson ever produced a stag handled serpentine knife. And I suspect Queen did not actually follow the original Frozen Heat technique when they made that knife. They simply applied an old Robeson blade etch.

Robeson simply etched their blades, "FROZEN HEAT".

Queen produced Robeson reproduction MasterCraft knives don't actually have a bronze bearing on the ends of the blade tangs and some of their so called PocketEze knives don't have flush to the frame blade backs.

Regardless, the two knives you have are worth significantly more than you paid.
 
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Comprehensive information from you CN, many thanks for that.

I think the OP's ethical stance was impressive, but I also think that most of us would also like our hoard of knives to go to interested and appreciative people too. all round victory I'd say!
 
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