Schrade IXL Knives?

[belljs3]

Was snooping around on the big auction site and found a nice looking stag canoe that is stamped Schrade IXL Wostenholm. Just curious about these knives, were they a partnership between George Wostenholm and Sons and Schrade?

 

[Codger_64]

More than a partnership, Imperial Schrade bought the company. It was not, in the long run, a successful enterprise. IIRC, the knives in this particular set were shipped to Camillus for finishing. And even this did not go as planned.

In 1977, Schrade bought Richards holdings in Sheffield, England which included:
Richards on Moore Street, a 180,000 sf factory making scissors, pocket knives and kitchen cutlery.

Rogers Wostenholm on Guernsey Road making two famous brands, the Jas. Rogers “Star and Cross“, and the I*XL brand.Schrade IXL products produced at Morse Street factory until 1982.

Also the Richards hollow ware factory “Satinsteel”. Mr. Tony Gibbs was given the managing directorship of these factories.

According to member Sebago, The Schrade/I*XL knives were made at the Richards of Sheffield, factory, Moore Street in 1980/81. Five patterns were made and the bolsters were stamped (hallmark fashion) S W (head device) 0. The zero would indicate 1980 production. The S W would indicate Schrade / Wostenholm. According to Phil Gibbs, the lock backs were made at Camillus, sent as skeletons to Sheffield where they were hallmarked on the bolsters, the handles were added, & the knives were finished. The patterns were; Three different size lockbacks (White micarta. Stag and Red Bone, as well as a three blade stockman in Red bone and a three blade* canoe in Stag. The knives were sold singly and in serial numbered sets with a display case. The faces of the blades were etched with a "Schrade Wostenholm" banner. Many were later sold without a serial number.

The factories were sold by Imperial in August of 1982 to a British firm, Western Knives. It closed in October of 1983. The late James Parker leased the I*XL trademark from the people that held it for a short while (c.1983/4). The Egginton Group purchased both the Rodgers and the I*XL trade marks in 1986. I noted with interest that Joseph Rogers knives are currently advertised in the Australian collector's magazine Knives Australia.

Michael

PS- Here is the thread where the convoluted history of the marks are discussed in the Levine forum here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=477491&highlight=Wostenholm

 

[tongueriver]

I followed out and read all the old links suggested above and found part of it really sickening. I will not elaborate. The only Schrade Wostenholm knives I own are four of the jumbo stockmans, two in the original ebony, one with stag of unknown origin, and one re-handled in red-dyed stag by Herman Williams. The fit and finish of all of them was very good at the very least, and probably better.

 

[Codger_64]

It was, all in all, a failed venture. But a few really nice knives did come out of it as you note. To this day, collectors are finding their carefully preserved and properly stored IXL sets' handles detaching in the box. I'm not sure what to conclude from this except that in England, as in most of the rest of the world, the quality of pocket cutlery work was continuing to decline.