Snap! :(

Jack Black

Jack Black

Seize the Lambsfoot! Seize the Day!
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I was just looking for a particular clasp knife in my collection. Typically, on the British WW2 pattern, the makers name, and sometimes the date, is on the can-opener blade. These knives are generally bear-traps, and as I opened the can-opener blade on a Richards 1944 knife, I heard a fairly quiet 'snap', and knew immediately that it was the spring fracturing. I've seen many clasp knives with broken springs over the years, generally those made towards the end of the war (or after), but this is the first time I've actually witnessed one break, I was glad that the action was less violent than I might have imagined. A shame after all these years, this particular knife was one of my favourites in the pattern, and I've always given it as an example of Richards of Sheffield, who generally made cheap clam-shell knives, being able to make decent knives when they wanted to :rolleyes:



 
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Boo, that's a shame:( surprising how many people still pull one of those out of their pocket when you mention a pocket knife!

Sam
 
Sorry about that, Jack. Something we just never expect when we open a blade.
 
You can get a replacement knife if you want. These are on that auction site quite commonly.
Rich
 
Bummer, Jack.
My Queen BEM #9 did that twice all by itself. The first time I just found it broken when I picked it up. The second time I heard it go snap in my pocket. I loved that knife for its combination of bigness and compactness, though that looks like a contradiction as I read it.
 
I'm sorry for your loss, Jack. It's a shame in one way when an old knife gives unlike that. But yet in another way it's not. One can only wonder where that knife has traveled since 1944? Was it in the pocket of some Royal Navy petty officer running troops ashore at Sword Beach in 1944? Or maybe in the pocket of some Brit soldier during the Malaysian troubles?

Breaking a spring like that after all these years is sort of like a battle scarred old veteran passing in his sleep at a ripe old age. Still a shame though!
 
Ouch...that's definitely not the sound you want to hear.
 
Thanks a lot guys, appreciate the kind words, just one of those things unfortunately :thumbup:

scrteened porch said:
Bummer, Jack.
My Queen BEM #9 did that twice all by itself. The first time I just found it broken when I picked it up. The second time I heard it go snap in my pocket. I loved that knife for its combination of bigness and compactness, though that looks like a contradiction as I read it.
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Sorry to hear that pal, very strange :( I bought one of the Belgian late 50's clasp knives some years ago, and that snapped all by itself. With this one, I was a little surprised by how gentle it was.

jackknife said:
I'm sorry for your loss, Jack. It's a shame in one way when an old knife gives unlike that. But yet in another way it's not. One can only wonder where that knife has traveled since 1944? Was it in the pocket of some Royal Navy petty officer running troops ashore at Sword Beach in 1944? Or maybe in the pocket of some Brit soldier during the Malaysian troubles?

Breaking a spring like that after all these years is sort of like a battle scarred old veteran passing in his sleep at a ripe old age. Still a shame though!
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Thanks Carl, that's very nicely put. That knife was made the same year as Charlie C :eek: ;) :)
 
I think it's wonderful that folks here love and revere knives in this way.

With that said, my condolences on the loss of that historic knife's spring!!!! :(
 
Well, I suppose we could just pop these knives apart, trace the broken springs onto suitable stock, file to shape, drill, heat-treat, and pop the knives back together!
 
no fun Jack -- OTOH, now you have a perfectly reasonable excuse for another knife scouting/shopping trip!
 
I had the same happen to a 1969 Camillus army "demo" knife of mine, but Tom Williams (then alive) was able to swap in a new spring. Maybe some surgery can be done on yours?
 
Jack, sure you can't use that knife anymore, but the object himself remains, complete with his past history. Old knives never die...
 
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