Shapleigh reproduction cattle knife

texasflyfisher

texasflyfisher

Joined
Aug 17, 2007
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I recently ran across a little cattle knife that caught my eye at a dealer website. It was a Shapleigh brand three blade equal end cattle knife in green bone. It is about 3 3/8" long closed with a main spear point blade, sheepsfoot with long pull and a little pen blade. It looked fairly well made so I bought it for about the price of a new Case knife to give it a try. It was the only one in bone they had (I think there was another in some sort of horn).

The knife was said to have been assembled in the Friedrich Olbertz factory in Solingen, Germany in the 1990s or thereabout. I believe this is one of those Parker knifes that were "supposedly" put together from some old "discovered" parts from the closed Krusius Bros. knife factory. Who knows.

Anyways, I bought it because I liked it and it had carbon blades. That's all. This is also my first German made knife. I'll have to say it is very well made. No gaps between the brass liners and springs. No blade wobble at all with good walk and talk. It has nickel silver pins and the the same shield on both sides that appears to be pinned. A first look it reminds me of some of the Schatt & Morgan knives I have picked up in the past. The bone jigging and color is done very well. Fit and finish is really high with just a couple exceptions I will mention next.

It did have a couple of minor QC issues. One pin is a bit proud but not sharp or uncomfortable and the swedge on the sheepsfoot was ground a bit rough. I was thinking of mailing it off to someone to fix these couple of things but I may try sanding the swedge myself since this will be a user. The main blade has an etch that says Shapleigh on it that I will remove so when the blade patinas you don't see it anymore. I think it would have been more attractive without the etch.

All in all, I am very pleased with this little cattle knife. I am wondering if any other folks have any of these Shapleigh reproduction knives since I really have not noticed them before. I am sure someone here does have one or more.

shapleigh_closed.jpg
 
I saw one a while back at a gunshow. I agree, it seemed well made although the main blade was a bit lazy for my tastes. I didn't get it though and I regret that; it's a nice and pocketable and would've been a good sized knife for my daughter.

- Christian
 
Nice Luciano! Like that bone.
Do I see excessive amounts of buffing compound stuck in the jigged bone recesses or am I imagining things?
 
Hi Christian,

The springs on this one are around a 5, firm but fairly easy to open and snap closed. Maybe the Sham Wow guy was right when he said, "You know the Germans always make good stuff."

Hi Corey,

I don't know. I did apply a little bit of Kiwi neutral boot wax on the bone to protect it and give it a little grip so maybe I left some on there when I buffed it.
 
I forgot one other thing. All three blades were as dull as safety scissors. A few swipes on a diamond stone and strops on leather belt and they were nice and sharp.
 
Good looking Equal End. You said, " . . . the same shield on both sides that appears to be pinned." That's a first for me!
 
I had one I traded for an Amhearst Trapper. I liked it alot. It was a well made knife. My sheepsfoot blades swedge was ground funny also. The swedge was almost sharp.

P1010005-2.jpg
 
black mamba said:
Good looking Equal End. You said, " . . . the same shield on both sides that appears to be pinned." That's a first for me!
Click to expand...

Yep, a first for me, too. It's a bit confusing sometimes which way I am holding it to open a blade since it is an equal end AND the same shield is on both sides.

navihawk said:
I had one I traded for an Amhearst Trapper. I liked it alot. It was a well made knife. My sheepsfoot blades swedge was ground funny also. The swedge was almost sharp.
Click to expand...

That's the one! Cool!
 
At lunch I took out some 3M sanding sponges (medium and fine) and softened the swedge and then put a satin finish on the blades as they were just to shiny for me. Feels better. I'm sure the collector's out there are wondering what I just did. :eek: But, once again it's going to be a user.

shapleigh_blades.jpg
 
Looks good to me too Luciano. I always prefeered a satin finish or glaze finish on my blades, with the exception of 1095.
 
A lot of those cattle knives were "assembled" in the Olbertz factory some years ago. I think I have two with horn handles. Seem to be sturdy knives with some typical production flaws seen in Parker's wham bam outpourings. Kudos to Olbertz for not producing junk, brickbats to Parker for his shameful stories and promotions.
Decent steel - a perfect user!!!
 
Well what else are ya gonna do with all those parts from a "Warehouse Find" ?
Greg:D
 
Picked up a couple of these from SMKW about 7 or 8 years ago. Said to be a rare warehouse find and came with a guarantee from Col. Parker to buy them back at a higher price.

Appears that they are not so rare after all considering that you have just picked your's up.

There was a mention in a few posts here a number of years ago about Col. Parker's "creative" advertising and these knives were mentioned.

But after all is said and done, these are decent enough for their price.
 
Damn!..this place is just making me sick!
This is like being in Lake Como in the summertime...soooooo much to look at..but no touchy :(
 
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