Round Yorkshire With A Knife: The Wizard’s Quest Part 16 – The Week That Was

[Jack Black]

Background: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...-to-Jack-Black

Previous instalments -

Part 1: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...-Knaresborough

Part 2: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...s-Quest-Part-2

Part 3: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...s-Quest-Part-3

Part 4: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...s-Quest-Part-4

Part 5: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...s-Quest-Part-5

Part 6: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...s-Quest-Part-6

Part 7: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...s-Quest-Part-7

Part 8: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...re-Be-Monsters

Part 9: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...t-in-Yorkshire

Part 10: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...hieving-Varlet

Part 11: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...-Quest-Part-11

Part 12: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...99t-Tell-Titus!

Part 13: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...nife-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-13-–-Settle-Down

Part 14: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-The-Wizard’s-Quest-Part-14-Withering-Heights

Part 15: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Wizard’s-Quest-Part-15-–-The-Marmalade-Barlow!

I think it’s fair to say that the effect of the Quest on my work schedule has been pretty devastating, but as time marches on, I’m keener than ever to capture a worthy prize. So this week I’ve put more time into searching, travelling to Otley, Knaresborough, Skipton, Castleford, and to the local market in Leeds.

OTLEY

On Tuesday’s trip to Otley, I saw a lot of slipjoints on sale, including what looked like a whole collection some dealer had bought at auction, but prices were close to $100 a knife. I’ll monitor the situation and see if those prices come down. The lady who was selling the old Sheffield Bowie for £100 the last time I was there, told me she’d taken my advice and put the price down to less than half of that. It’d sold for £40.

KNARESBOROUGH

On Wednesday I went to Knaresborough, the pretty North Yorkshire market town with the impressive railway viaduct. I managed to get a snap of Madame GiGi, but she was not in full Brian May mode at the time.




In the market square the idiot town crier, his suspension for allegedly racially abusing the German team in the town’s annual ‘Bed Race’ competition lifted (see http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Knife-quot-Tales-amp-Vignettes-quot-)/page145 ), was in full flow. Not content with the few brief announcements the role calls for, the man rambles away for half an hour at a time, without either wit or reason. No wonder the strutting peacock seems so universally disliked by the other townsfolk. Even the nearby statue of ‘Blind Jack’ seemed to cast a scornful glance.



There was some point to my trip in that I came across a Taylor’s Eye Witness Stockman, though sadly it’s synthetic covers disqualify it as a potential Quest prize.





LEEDS

I made another early start on Thursday, but for some reason many of the regular stalls in the local market were not there, and there was not a knife in sight. The previous week I had presented Ray, who deals in such things, with several pub ashtrays, with an invitation to reimburse me with slipjoints. Unfortunately, I overestimated Ray’s cutlery knowledge, and had to suppress a whince as he presented me with the objects below. I did get a piece of his wife’s home-baked ‘Rocky Road’ though.



SKIPTON

Friday saw yet another early start, as I ventured to the historic North Yorkshire market town of Skipton, a two hour bus ride away. The day was bright and sunny, and while it is overly long, the bus route goes through some spectacular Yorkshire scenery, driving through attractive towns and villages and through some truly stunning countryside before arriving in the thriving town of Skipton itself.



Skipton is larger and busier than Settle, which is just across the hills, but it is just as attractive. Squatting over the town is the ancient castle, and Settle has two canals, and a bustling market which lines both sides of the high street. The market is a good general market, but it was for Settle’s antique shops and to visit an antique and collectors market which was the main reason for my trip.









I had been tipped off to the presence of a dealer with a stock of slipjoints in the collectors market, and sure enough the chap was there. He specialises in advertising knives, which were displayed in a glass case along with various medals, coins, pocket watches, and historic badges (pins). Outside the case, there were various other items of interest, such as old tools, and I purchased a folding steel ruler for Scruff, who has admired my own. In purchasing this, I mentioned to the trader that my grandmother and great grandmother had both worked at Chesterman’s in Sheffield. In consequence, he turned over one of the advertising knives on display to reveal that it contained a Chesterman’s ruler. The knife, made by Ibberson’s, had considerable wear to both blades, and was rather pricey, but I could not resist snapping it up.







I next set out in search of an antiques centre I’ve not visited before, bypassing the narrow pensioner-packed streets by walking alongside the canal. I passed Skipton’s ‘Celebrated Pork Pie Shop’. On my last visit to the town, I had got talking to one of the butchers and asked him about the wooden bench outside, inscribed ‘Marl’s Bench’. I’d taken Marl to be an old customer, now passed away, but he was actually an apprentice butcher who had worked at the shop, got into a drunken fight one night, and fell victim to a simple punch, as sometimes happens.



In blazing sunshine, I stopped to eat a sandwich in a pleasant spot next to the canal, regretting bringing the raincoat I was now having to carry. When I walked on, I came across a small antiques shop and went inside to look around. They had a smashing old WW2 fireman’s axe on the wall, just up the Wizard’s street I thought, but probably not popular with the Post Office. I asked about pocket-knives, and the proprietor told me he had a couple, but then couldn’t lay his hands on them. I said I’d call back another time.







Not too far away, I found the large antiques centre I had been looking for, spread out over three labyrinthine floors. I spotted four small slipjoints in a cabinet, all priced the same, despite wide variance in quality, and none of them up to much or worth anything like the asking price. There were a few silver fruit knives with MOP handles. I had a look at a stainless British forces clasp knife, made by John Watts of Sheffield in 1943, before I thought this pattern had been made. The price was fair, but the spring was gone along with most of the blade, so I passed. Then I spotted a nice advertising penknife, still with the original box, and clearly unused. It advertised a scrap yard which used to be very close to where my grandparents lived, and I bought it despite quite a high price. I also bought one of those Indian carving sets, perhaps unwisely, but mainly because it was very inexpensive. Sadly, there were no other knives to be had, which would qualify as Quest knives.





(Continues below)

 

[Jack Black]

CASTLEFORD & DISTRICT

On Saturday, the weather was disappointingly dull, and unseasonably cool, but I was up early yet again, and boarded a bus for Castleford, to the south east of Leeds. I’ve previously written about Castleford here http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1116545-Round-Yorkshire-With-A-Knife-Viva-Cas-Vegas!, and since it hasn’t changed since then, I’ll not repeat myself describing the town. While the Saturday market was busy, there were no stalls of interest to me, but I checked out an army surplus shop, a hardware store, and several shooting and fishing shops, without really coming across anything of interest. I had two antique shops to look in at, but these too proved fruitless, with the only knives on sale being small silver fruit knives. In the second shop, the owner said he had a pocket knife somewhere, but then as had happened in Skipton, he failed to find it.











Despite the gloomy weather, I decided to go for a walk and visit one of the nearby villages I’d not been to before, and so walked along the canal through a post-industrial landscape and terrain reclaimed from the mining industry, to the small village of Fairburn. As I neared Fairburn, I was confronted with imposing mansions, recently built. Most of the trappings of a village were now gone unfortunately, there was the ancient village pump and horse-trough, an ancient village lock-up, hewn by hand out of a limestone crag, and other entries on the Fairburn Heritage Trail, but there was no shop, the post office had closed, the pub had become a fancy restaurant, and there was no bus route. There was a church, and I spoke to a lady who had been tending one of the graves, she told me that I might be able to get a bus up on the main road half a mile or so away. I walked up the hill and found bus-shelters on either side of the ‘A1’, which were served by a bus-service running from nearby Pontefract to Tadcaster in North Yorkshire. Unfortunately, there was not a Pontefract bus due for nearly 2 hours, and the situation was not much better with the bus going in the other direction. There was a pub across the road though, so I thought I’d go for a pint.

The Waggon & Horses is a friendly Sam Smiths pub, where the people who don’t live in the newly-built mansions go to drink and socialise, and despite being a complete stranger I received a warm welcome. The barmaid was originally from Calgary in Canada, and had lived locally for eleven years. I told her I had a good friend who lived in Canada. While I was drinking my second pint, I got talking to an old feller called Brian, who asked where I’d been for a walk. When I told him I’d walked up from Castleford, he remarked that he’d been born in Castleford, as if it was a faraway town, and not just four miles away. As I was leaving to get the bus, Brian told me that he didn’t “get on” with buses. “They either don’t turn up or don’t turn up on time, or they take you somewhere you don’t want to go.” Telling him that I hoped that the bus turned up this time, I thanked Brian for his company, bid farewell to the Calgary barmaid and the other drinkers, and slipped out of the door.

I re-crossed the road and stood at the bus-stop, watching the Tadcaster-bound bus pass the bus-stop opposite. Shortly after, the Pontefract bus came, and since it was a full ten minutes ahead of schedule, I was glad I had got to the bus-stop early. The bus set off heading for Pontefract, winding its way through tiny hamlets as it went. When we first began to turn away from Pontefract, I assumed it was on account of the meandering route, but I soon became aware that we were heading further and further away from the destination that had been on the front of the bus. We passed through quaint old Yorkshire settlements with ancient names; Sherburn in Elmet , Monk Freiston, Church Fenton, Uleskelfe, Elmete, South Melford, Stutton. I drank in the view and soaked up the history of an area I am only barely familiar with, while being glad I was snug on the inside of the bus and not standing in the rain in the middle of nowhere. An hour after I boarded the bus, we arrived in Tadcaster, and I alighted none the wiser as to what had happened, but relieved to at least be somewhere I could get a connecting bus home, and with a new-found respect for Brian’s views on public transport.

The following day, Sunday, I was due to reluctantly attend another arms and militaria fair in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, with Russian Alex. However, I received a minor reprieve when Alex texted me to say he wouldn’t be able to attend. So Sunday was spent doing housework, catching up on some of the work I’ve neglected this week, and writing up this report.

Another week has passed without the Wizard’s Quest succeeding, but I remain confident that more fruitful days lay ahead.

The Hunt Continues!

Jack

 

[Jack Black]

I thought this map might be useful.

 

[hunter s thompson]

Great addition to the quest Jack. That Taylor Eye Witness stockman sure is a great looking knife. The wizard may want to consider that one, they don't come much nicer than that

 

[SAK Guy]

Again...thank you Jack! I love these travelogs you post and will be sorry to lose them at quest's end!

 

[Jack Black]

Great addition to the quest Jack. That Taylor Eye Witness stockman sure is a great looking knife. The wizard may want to consider that one, they don't come much nicer than that

Thank you sir, when I first spotted the Stockman, I did think my Quest might be at an end, but sadly the synthetic covers disqualify it. Hopefully, something with some nice wood or bone, or stag even, will come my way soon

Again...thank you Jack! I love these travelogs you post and will be sorry to lose them at quest's end!

Don't worry my friend, I'm sure I'll occasionally write about my travels still, as I did before the Quest started, though any posts will rely on my finding some knives worth posting about :thumbup:

 

[hunter s thompson]

Thank you sir, when I first spotted the Stockman, I did think my Quest might be at an end, but sadly the synthetic covers disqualify it. Hopefully, something with some nice wood or bone, or stag even, will come my way soon



Don't worry my friend, I'm sure I'll occasionally write about my travels still, as I did before the Quest started, though any posts will rely on my finding some knives worth posting about :thumbup:

For what it's worth Jack I enjoy your writing style, the knife content is great and keeps everything legal for this forum but is usually completely unnecessary for my enjoyment. Have you ever considered writing some sort of blog? Written in this style with your excellent photos included it would be wildly entertaining.

 

[Jack Black]

For what it's worth Jack I enjoy your writing style, the knife content is great and keeps everything legal for this forum but is usually completely unnecessary for my enjoyment. Have you ever considered writing some sort of blog? Written in this style with your excellent photos included it would be wildly entertaining.

Thank you for the kind words. Maybe when I've recovered from the Quest! Writing is my bread and butter, and if it takes up much more of my time, bread and butter is all I'll be living on!

 

[hunter s thompson]

Thank you for the kind words. Maybe when I've recovered from the Quest! Writing is my bread and butter, and if it takes up much more of my time, bread and butter is all I'll be living on!

I understand Jack while bread and butter is delicious, man must have certain other thing for example an occasional pint and meat pie come to mind.

 

[Jack Black]

I understand Jack while bread and butter is delicious, man must have certain other thing for example an occasional pint and meat pie come to mind.

:thumbup:

 

[pertinux]

Fantastic piece, the combination of owl with a man's bearded visage.

Pertinux Approved®, despite concerns regarding the foot thingy.

~ P.

 

[Jack Black]

Fantastic piece, the combination of owl with a man's bearded visage.

Pertinux Approved®, despite concerns regarding the foot thingy.

Thought you'd like that one!

 

[Old & In The Way]

Another interesting installment. Great pictures, and the Taylor's Eye Witness Stockman looks terrific... shame that it doesn't qualify. Thanks again for another enjoyable read.

 

[N.E.Tim]

Jack,
Thank You for the story and photos, along with the map.
I am glad to see at least three nice finds with the stockman, Ibberson, and the advertising penknife.

 

[Woodrow F Call]

Thanks for the update Jack! What are the handles on that advertising knife?

 

[meako]

I understand Jack while bread and butter is delicious, man must have certain other thing for example an occasional pint and meat pie come to mind.

And don't forget the alcoholic choccys he was gronking a couple of weeks ago!
An excellent foray. I'm starting to think that the Guild of Ancient Knife Vendors and Purveyors of Antique Stuff (GAKVAPAS) are trained to say "Oohh Aye .I've got one somewhere" during their apprenticeship.
Jack I must say again how much I enjoy the pics of the industrial revolution relics. the mills ,factories and most of all canals and waterways.
Canals have fascinated me since I was young.
One of my earliest memories is of my self and my mate Jeremy who lived down the road roaming the West Bridgford (Notts.) neighbourhood and venturing as far as the canal.This was in the winter with snow all over and it was frozen solid.Or was it? Of course our mums had noooo idea where we were. Things were different back then as we all know. Although we would have been no older than 6 or 7 around 1970 71 and neither of us could swim Jez and I decided to test the ice by jumping onto the frozen surface from the bank. I will never forget thinking that if you can see the water slushing around beneath the ice it might be too thin. That didn't stop us from attempting to use our bodies to break through the ice. When Jez put his leg through into the freezing water and the freezing mud up to his thigh I had to use all my strength and fear of death to haul him out.I used to have to disentangle him from the blackberry canes in our garden as well.
The fear of death came not from the fact that we both could have disappeared under the ice forever(which tragically happens to several children and adults every year) but from what our mums would do to us when we got home all covered in filthy stinky canal goop.

 

[KYenglish]

thanks again, always fun to go along with you while at least,

good luck on your travels

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Another great read! I am glad the local lass treated you well(I live a couple of hours away from Calgary and will be there next weekend for Easter). I just wonder at her accent after so long over there!! I know I'm not alone in hoping that the quest lasts another seven or eight months!!

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement fellers :thumbup:

What are the handles on that advertising knife?

A later form of 'French Ivory', more 'plasticky' than the earlier stuff. The spring is worked at the back. It's a very common Sheffield pattern, still a staple today. I don't know if knives were ever produced for the Kelvin Scrap & Salvage Co. or if this was a sample, but I suspect the latter.

And don't forget the alcoholic choccys he was gronking a couple of weeks ago!
An excellent foray. I'm starting to think that the Guild of Ancient Knife Vendors and Purveyors of Antique Stuff (GAKVAPAS) are trained to say "Oohh Aye .I've got one somewhere" during their apprenticeship.
Jack I must say again how much I enjoy the pics of the industrial revolution relics. the mills ,factories and most of all canals and waterways.
Canals have fascinated me since I was young.
One of my earliest memories is of my self and my mate Jeremy who lived down the road roaming the West Bridgford (Notts.) neighbourhood and venturing as far as the canal.This was in the winter with snow all over and it was frozen solid.Or was it? Of course our mums had noooo idea where we were. Things were different back then as we all know. Although we would have been no older than 6 or 7 around 1970 71 and neither of us could swim Jez and I decided to test the ice by jumping onto the frozen surface from the bank. I will never forget thinking that if you can see the water slushing around beneath the ice it might be too thin. That didn't stop us from attempting to use our bodies to break through the ice. When Jez put his leg through into the freezing water and the freezing mud up to his thigh I had to use all my strength and fear of death to haul him out.I used to have to disentangle him from the blackberry canes in our garden as well.
The fear of death came not from the fact that we both could have disappeared under the ice forever(which tragically happens to several children and adults every year) but from what our mums would do to us when we got home all covered in filthy stinky canal goop.

Sounds familiar! I'll try to post more canal pics as and when I come across them. I had a week on the canal at Trent Lock the other year and thoroughly enjoyed it

Another great read! I am glad the local lass treated you well(I live a couple of hours away from Calgary and will be there next weekend for Easter). I just wonder at her accent after so long over there!! I know I'm not alone in hoping that the quest lasts another seven or eight months!!

Thanks Kris, it's a small world isn't it? The accent of the Calgary lass might have changed a bit, but it was still recogniseable as a Canadian accent. I suspect that living where she now does, she'll have picked up a lot dialect words though, and I'm sure that if she ever goes back to Calgary, people will wonder where on earth she's been living!

 

[screened porch]

I've got an advertizing Barlow that says "YOUR COPY HERE".
Ihat Taylor's is a good find, and the ruler knife is very cool. Great foray!