I picked this Primble Barlow up from eBay recently. The blades and bolsters both appear to be stainless. The handles are very nice bone, although they have had some sort of varnish applied to them. The fit and finish is very good.
The blade says:
John Primble
Maysville, KY.
U.S.A.
I have several questions
1. Who made this knife for Bluegrass? Hard to know - not much info given by the company making these products.
2. Is there a way to tell the approximate date of manufacture? After 1985.
3. Was this knife produced in the USA or contracted out to a foreign manufacturer? Again hard to know - could be USA and could be China.
4. Is there any significance to the "First Production Run" etching on the main blade? It was the first run of that model made by the manufacturer.
Duncan's post seemed very accurate to me and you cannot go wrong trusting Waynorth's opinion. I found nothing wrong with any opinion given above. .
If you are interested in the knives that made John Primble knives famous - more reading below:
Search “ John Primble “ anywhere and you will probably find the name Maysville, KY. However, John Primble pocket knives were never made in Maysville. Here’s the scoop:
John Primble is the longest continuous cutlery line in America. Over 145 continuous years.
John Primble ("Goods of Honour")is a Belknap Hardware (and Manufacturing Co) house brand knife. Some other Belknap Brands were Cyclone, Crusader, Belmont, Old Kentucky Home, Pride of Kentucky and Pine Knot.
Primble knives (not those stamped Prussia or Germany) were manufactured under contract by Camillus, Boker, Schrade, Utica and Case.
A business consortium in Maysville, Kentucky purchased the Primble India Steel Works trademark. This group also operates the Blue Grass Cutlery Corporation in Manchester, Ohio. In the late 1980's they released new knives bearing John Primble- India Steel Works with the date of manufacture. (Note: The new cutlery company has continued the pocket knife traditions of the old. Blue Grass Cutlery makes brand new pocket knives, etc. that includes the John Primble, Blue Grass and Winchester brands) Belknap while obviously a hardware and manufacturing leader, is also remembered for its pocket knives. By the 1800's, pocket knives were its primary lines of merchandise. The company carried Russell, I*XL and LF & C, then introduced its own brands; Blue Grass, Pine Knot, Jas. W. Price and most noteworthy, the John Primble brand.
An email responding to an inquiry made by Bear Claw Chris Lappe, back in 2004, from Bluegrass Cutlery:
From:
bluegrasscutlery/s-denterprises <sa>
To: Jeff Mandrell (Bear Claw Chris Lappe)
Date: Sunday, August 1, 2004, 1:03:45 PM
Subject: Primble Knives?
Files: <none>
--====----====----====----====----====----====----====----====----====----===--
----- Original Message -----
Since Blue Grass Cutlery has acquired John Primble knives from the bankruptcy court in 1985,
we have produced John Primble knives under:
John Primble, Louisville, Ky,
John Primble knives, Maysville, Ky.,
and John Primble knives, Manchester, Ohio.
We are presently introducing a line of John Primble knives, known as the
American Legend Series.
Some of this series will be made here in Manchester, Ohio, and also as John Primble over the years before we have acquired it, John Primbles were made overseas for a while and Germany was one of the countries of which made some of the John Primbles.
Some of the legend series will be made in the Orient, however, we made all new tooling and they are of the highest quality at a price that anyone can afford.
However,
part of that series will be made here in Manchester, Ohio.
As most people do shop for price, an awful lot of the American companies
are really being hit hard with the pressure of the low cost of wages in the Orient. We at the present time are expanding our ability and resources to make the knives here in the USA, however, as with anything that this is done, the price of the end product will be higher, however, once you see it , the product will justify the difference.
Hope this information is of some value to you.
Thanks for your interest in John Primble knives and Blue Grass Cutlery.
Blue Grass Cutlery, Inc., Manchester, Ohio 45144
END OF MESSAGE
_______________________________________________________________
For what's it's worth, I have one Red Bone Jack from the Maysville production run,and got to examine about a dozen Green & Red Bone knives when I bought it....the quality was some of the worst I have ever seen on an American made slipjoint.
Here are my feelings regarding the old John Primble knives:
Belknap Hardware had John Primble knives manufactured and sold them until the 1980's, when they went out of business. The rights to the name were subsequently purchased by other investors, to continue to sell knives with the famous Primble name. At the time Belknap Hardware went out of business, my feelings are that John Primble knives perished, as well.
The Belknap Hardware tang stamps, which I desire to purchase for my collection are John Primble - India Steel Works, John Primble - Belknap HDW. & MFG. Co and John Primble - Belknap Inc.
The older India Steel Works knives are usually the most desirable, however, there were many fine Belknap stamped knives.
I do have one of the John Primble, Louisville, KY. tang stamps and it is a very nice knife. It is a special knife to me and I proudly added it to my collection.
I avoid buying anything after the Belknap Inc. tang stamp and that is not to say the knives made after that time are not good, they are just not Belknap knives. They are legally made products, in another era, made by a completely different entity, with completely different business practices, using the Primble name to drive sales.
Belknap Hardware was John Primble and John Primble was Belknap hardware knives, plain and simple. In my opinion, it was the business philosophy that made the Primble "Goods of Honour" knives so popular and those knives were contracted with some of the most famous old quality cutlery companies of that era.
