Taking on the Taylor Twins

Jack Black

Jack Black

Seize the Lambsfoot! Seize the Day!
Platinum Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
69,972
As if things weren’t bad enough with my kitchen table, I’m now getting tag-teamed! :eek: I spent several hard rounds wrestling with the Taylor Twins, struggling with one, and then the other. As I slumped in my corner between rounds, catching my breath, and wondering what tactics I could try next, I appealed for help from my grizzled old corner-man ‘SP’, hoping for an ‘eye of the tiger’ type narrative, or some old-fashioned advice from an experienced pro. Regarding me with some disdain, the old pugilist bent low, and growled into my ear, “Pack 'em all up and send 'em to me! I can't bear to see you suffer!” (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...amp-Vignettes-quot-)?p=16545195#post16545195) :D





The Taylor Twins are these matching Taylor’s Eye Witness Pruners. By a staggering coincidence, I picked them both up the very same week, in completely different parts of Yorkshire. They both had a LOT of rust, with the blade of one of them really gouged out by it. So far, I’ve spent several days on them...They might be an ongoing project :rolleyes:



I’m not entirely sure where all this stuff on my table came from, I’ve barely had any free time to go out hunting recently. What can I say?! :o

The Twins aside, got to start somewhere, so...













This John Watts Coachman’s or Horseman’s Knife is quite interesting I think. I come across very few of them, and they’re invariably worn, abused, or massively overpriced. At 3 ¾”, it’s quite small compared to the other one I have, and actually quite pocketable. It’s a real shame about the cracked bone on the mark side, which is precisely where the channel for the pin or pricker was. Looking at the careless way the knife had been cleaned initially, it wouldn’t surprise me if the dealer didn’t do the damage trying to free the pin, which I know from experience can be rusted into near immovability. I’ll probably just fill in the gap with epoxy to help stop any of the other bone from breaking away, though it doesn’t feel fragile. The hoof-pick has also been loosened where it should fit at the end, but that should be easy enough to fix. There’s enough blade left to still make this a useful knife.









I’ve posted about Lewis Barnascone, a Swiss immigrant to Sheffield, before here. I like the grasshopper mark :) The company operated from 1820 to the early 1930’s.



















There’s more MOP on these three Sheffield-made silver fruit knives, something I don’t usually buy. Hard to believe that anyone would be so stupid as to use something so fine and delicate for prying, but two of them had blades which were bent into ‘S’ shapes! The top knife dates from 1924 I think, and bears the FH mark of Francis Howard. The middle knife is from 1918 I think, and by Alexander Scott. A shame about the crack in the MOP next to the shield. The bottom knife is the most interesting, and damage aside, is a fine example of the pearl-cutters art I believe. The wrap-around spring is silver like the blade, and worked on the inside, as well as the outside. The raised blade shows the common flaw of these knives, when the soft metal tangs wear. It’s a shame that the pile side MOP is split. I make this one 1893. It also has an ‘FH’ stamp, but slightly different to the other.
 




This Harrison Brothers & Howson Letter-Opener Knife bears advertising for a firm I haven’t yet researched. The Alpha trademark on the tang is Harrison Brothers’ own, and the building of the Alpha Works still stands in Sheffield city centre.





A couple of humble Sheffield Sleeveboards, by Wright Brothers, and by John Petty.





A sibling of the notorious Taylor Twins is this Lambsfoot, which bears its provenance very lightly.



Also humble and Sheffield-made is this Button-Hook Lobster, I have another one somewhere.












Several members of my family worked for the Chesterman company, and the Rule Knife is a pattern I collect. I think this example by Joseph Westby is one of the best I’ve found so far. The back plate was very rusty, but the rust didn’t extend beyond that fortunately.



Pruner by Joseph Rodgers, with advertising for ‘Gardens Illustrated’.













I was happy to find this Ibberson’s knife, but couldn’t resist chuckling when I compared its uncleaned condition with the stamp, as seen in the first two photos above. The rust cleaned off very easily, but the marlin spike has some pitting. Small clasp knives like this, generally in carbon-steel, were once carried by the Girl Guides, and they are usually referred to as Girl Guide Knives here. The company named on the blade still exist, supplying chandlery and boating supplies. I think H.S.C. stands for Hampton Sailing Club. The date of manufacture INSIDE the scales of the knife is 1951.
 


Somewhere in between those two dates, there was a bit of a shindig down in Westminster! Certainly not the first Richards Coronation knife I’ve found, but it’s in unusually good condition.



Similarly patriotic is this wee key-ring penknife, also by Richards.



For the more discreet, there’s always Cracked Ice ;)







An older Sheffield knife is this Marples in ivory. I like the Beehive stamp :)



This Thomas Turner with nickel silver covers has seen some poor sharpening.



Some SAKs. All I have to do now is find a Clark! :D







Not sure who Rita was, but this is a simple well-made penknife.

I should mention the backgrounds in many of these pics. Just as South Yorkshire was once a centre for steel and cutlery production, West Yorkshire, where I live now, was once famous for its woollen cloth. These are some old samples of Yorkshire cloth I picked up. There’s probably enough cloth there to make a suit for a small dog or something! :D



A Jowika ‘Prime Stockman’.





I presume this knife is marked for a Manchester factor, or Bruce Springsteen ;)

What else?







Here’s some old Sheffield table knives, the stainless ones gifted to me by ADEE, the older Joseph Rodgers knife is from the first decade of the 20th century.



Also two thirds of a Joseph Rodgers carving set. I have my grandmother’s in the kitchen drawer, but this is older still.



This ivory-hafted steel measures 16”, not including the shackle. A shame the nickel silver ferrule has got squashed a bit. I used it on a kitchen knife before preparing my tea tonight :)





Still in the box.



Huge pair of tailor’s shears by W Morton & Sons.



Couple of old tin-openers.



I’ve had the same Silva compass for most of my life, and we’ve travelled thousands of miles together. I always snap them up when I see them on market stalls, so as to be able to give them to the kids of friends. We all need a moral compass afterall ;)





ScruffUK gave me a couple of these beautiful hand-forged sail-cloth needles recently. The company are still making them, but Scruff has a vintage packet of them :)



Couple of old corkscrews and a pipe reamer.



I have cutler’s hammers no larger than this, but I think these tools were made for a child. I expect they’ll be going in someone’s Christmas stocking :thumbup:



Lastly, a couple of old files for Stan Shaw. They’re not as old as the last one I gave him, or as nice, but I’m sure he’ll put them to good use.

Right, I’ve got somewhere to eat my tea now – for the moment at least – and contemplate a re-match with the Taylor Twins! :D

Thanks for looking :thumbup:

Jack
 
Great post as always Jack! All the knives and tools would have a good story behind them, shame they cant talk:eek:

Best wishes mate

Paul
 
Another table load of interesting goodies Jack. That John Watts Horseman's knife seems quite interesting. Can you take pics of the Safety Razor? I have quite a few Safety Razors. I worked at Gillette for many years until I got sick recently.
 
BigBiscuit said:
Another table load of interesting goodies Jack. That John Watts Horseman's knife seems quite interesting. Can you take pics of the Safety Razor? I have quite a few Safety Razors. I worked at Gillette for many years until I got sick recently.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob, I didn't know you worked at Gillette :) My first razor was a Techmatic! :D The razor needs cleaning, but I'll be sure to get round to it soon. I have a Rolls Razor somewhere too :thumbup:
 
The Techmatic was actually a very good razor. A few years ago, we found boxes of them in the basement. I'll bet a lot of folks would love to be able to get their hands on some of the old products.
 
"Winds on like the film in a camera..." :D :thumbup:

I actually saw one on sale, boxed, in my local flea-market last week Bob. The replacement heads were expensive here, and when I first started shaving, my cheap-skate father gave me his, with one strip of blade left! :rolleyes: I quickly went out and bought myself another razor! :D

Did you see the Wardonia travel razor I posted a couple of tables back?







 
Last edited:
Jack Black;16562649 I appealed for help from my grizzled old corner-man ‘SP’ said:
Pack 'em all up and send 'em to me![/B] I can't bear to see you suffer!” .
Click to expand...

Still good advice. (Never any disdain intended.)
I love those ruler knives and the QEII coronation stuff. "May she defend our laws, and always give us cause, to sing with heart and jaws, etc." I'm sorry, but "voice" just doesn't rhyme with "cause". "Maws", maybe.
 
scrteened porch said:
Still good advice. (Never any disdain intended.)
I love those ruler knives and the QEII coronation stuff. "May she defend our laws, and always give us cause, to sing with heart and jaws, etc." I'm sorry, but "voice" just doesn't rhyme with "cause". "Maws", maybe.
Click to expand...

LOL! :D :thumbup: I confess to using some 'dramatic license'! ;) :D :thumbup:

Yeah, I think poets have an expression for that kind of thing, forget what it's called, 'crap rhyme' maybe! :D :thumbup:

BigBiscuit said:
Very nice Jack. Thank you. :cool::thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob, one of my great grandfathers was a foreman at Tommy Ward's factory prior to WW1 :thumbup:
 
rocky.gif

:D
 
ding ding
Another Knock Out victory to Nino Nero.
I do know a guy called Clark- he was my mechanic until he put the wrong oil filter on my car and I had my own mini gusher all down the street.
I don't go there anymore.
 
Jack, you have some amazing artifacts. So many exceptional pieces I can't even choose a favorite. The fabric samples are really interesting, too. I imagine by now you must be close to having a museum's worth of historic Sheffield cutlery. :thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top