Brian.Evans
Registered Member
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- Aug 20, 2011
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I'd like to live in Otley so I can hear a fat sheep sing! Never heard that before!
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
The Otley Run - Giveaway (The Run is now done)
- Thread starter Jack Black
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2005
- Messages
- 69,794
Last night, England commemorated the anniversary of the famous ‘Gunpowder Plot’ and one of Yorkshire’s most infamous sons; Guy Fawkes, ‘The only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions’. As I arrived in Otley, there was still the feint whiff of gunpowder and bonfires in the air, and firework debris being swept from the pavements. Otherwise little had changed since my last visit, nor indeed from my first visit eleven years ago. I was eagerly anticipating some slipjoint finds in the junk shops, and hoping that I would find a worthy prize for the winner of the Otley Run Giveaway.
As it was still early, I stopped for a coffee in one of the town’s numerous small cafes. There I began to work out my plan of attack. Since everyone has different ideas about what they like in a knife, I had already decided that what I would do is just buy up every slipjoint I could find, and let the winner take his pick. As I pondered the route I would take around the town though, it began to rain, and rain quite heavily. Since it had previously looked as if it was going to be a nice day, I at first hoped that this was just a shower, but as it started pelting down, with the rain driven by the wind, I began to realise that it was probably here to stay. Down on the River Wharfe, I’m sure the ducks of Otley were waddling about happily.
Pulling my cap down and my collar up, I fled the warmth of the cafe, and headed for my first port-of-call. This was the shop I had got my ‘snake in a box’ from on my last visit, which I think I will get absolutely years of fun from. The shop mainly sells vintage records, but it does have a bit of bric-a-brac and suchlike. I spotted a tiny reproduction anvil in the window and thought it might be a good omen. I snapped it up. The bloke in the shop was quite chatty and we’d had a laugh about the snake-in-a-box, so I thought, since they had a couple on display, I might be able to broach the subject of crochet-hooks with him. I wondered aloud as to why Otley seemed to have so many crochet hooks for sale, but it seemed I had gone too far. Maybe it’s one of those things you just don’t mention in Otley.
I hastened on in the rain, crossing the high street, and entering the old arcade. As I did so, I noticed that the wooden ‘Indian’ was missing from the window of ‘Golden Girls’ Emporium’. “I see you’ve got rid of the feller that was in the window”, I said to a round, heavily whiskered lady, with eyes that went in both directions. She took a long time to understand what I was talking about, and I eventually had to explain at length while trying not to stare at her Santa-like beard. “Ooh”, she said eventually. “A lad come fer ‘im. Eee, i were ‘eavy.” She went on to tell me this several times. I supposed it was the wooden figure who’d been heavy, not whoever had purchased him. I said I’d admired the figure the last time I was there. “Ooo, i were grand,” the matriarch enthused. I bid her good day, and continued up the arcade.
In the ‘collector’s shop’, the batty woman was still wearing a crocheted cardigan, and was battier than ever. She was listening to 60’s pop songs again, and singing along cheerfully. I remarked that she didn’t have her desk anymore. “Nay, that were in April, it shows how long it is since you’ve been in t’shop,” she responded. I didn’t want to argue, she seemed in a good mood. I looked at some old tools, each had a small handwritten ticket giving a price and brief details about the item. The handwriting was strikingly similar to that I’d seen on tickets of the same kind in a shop of the same sort in Leeds. Crochet-Lady told me that different sections of the shop and different display cases belonged to different people. She chided me for being ignorant of that. “I do me packaging, that’s all I know about.” I remembered from my last visit.
I spotted several old slipjoints in one of the locked display cases and asked if I might have a look at them. In normal circumstances I’m not sure I’d have purchased any of them, particularly as I couldn’t get the blades open on most of them, but in view of the reason for my visit, I decided to buy them all anyway. Unfortunately, with these sort of shops, any sign of interest in a particular item seems to be seen as an invitation to inflate prices, but there’s no real way out of that. Good-naturedly suggesting that I had perhaps exploited her in some way, Crochet-Lady popped the knives in the thinnest of plastic bags, took my money, and I bid her farewell.
An antique shop at the top of the arcade had some lovely old watches and clocks, but no knives. A ‘Retro’ shop opposite appeared to mainly have jewellery on display, but I thought it might be worth asking in there. Unfortunately it was closed, and Crochet-Lady popped out to tell me,“There’s been illness in t’family”.
In the heavy rain, the small market in the centre of Otley was looking pretty miserable. I doubt there were half a dozen stalls, and they were selling sodden fruit and vegetables, not pocket-knives.
I continued onto a junk shop I’d visited the last time I was in Otley. They didn’t have any knives then though, and they didn’t today. I did pick up a crochet hook from there though, and made sure I didn’t ask too many questions.
Round the corner was a shop I’d got an old Sheffield knife from on my last visit, and I hoped they’d have more stock today. Unfortunately though, apart from a dilapidated Richards pipe-tool, identical to the dilapidated Richards pipe-tool I bought on my previous trip to the town, and a small German-made touristy sheath knife, with a handle made from a bit of Bambi, there was only one small Sheffield slip-joint, and it was stainless and overpriced at that. Having not exactly got a great haul in the arcade, I bought it anyway, together with a couple of Otley postcards. The proprietor told me she remembered me from my last visit. Indeed I was beginning to think Otley had seen me coming.
In the bookshop next door, which is just piled high with ageing tomes, I bought an old map and also a book of ‘pub walks’ for the local area. I asked the young chap who runs the shop about a box of leather-bound volumes he had stacked close to him. “Oh, those are only Shakespeare”, he told me.
“ONLY Shakespeare?” I replied. Fancy that.
I wondered around looking in a few tool shops and charity shops, even an army surplus store, but I knew there was little chance of finding anything else. Disappointed, I went for a pint at ‘The Old Cock’, it was exactly the same as when I was last there, I even carried on the conversation I’d been having with the same farmer.
Back in Leeds, I took out my haul, it was less impressive than I’d hoped for. After a quick photo on my kitchen table, I had to liberally apply WD40 to most of the knives before I could even get the blades open. Likely they came from the same source, and are dirty and not looked after, they’re going to need quite a bit of cleaning-up and TLC.
I’m sorry not to have found anything better, but I guess that’s the luck of the draw, sometimes you come home with a bargain, and occasionally you get fleeced.
I’ve numbered the knives to make things easier. I’m going to reserve my opinion on what my own choice would be for now, but I can take more pictures if required. Number 3 is made by Tompkin of Sheffield, not a company I’m familiar with. The ‘Fish Knife’, number 1, has a mark, but it’s going to need cleaning before I can read what it says, it may not even be made in Sheffield. The scout knife, number 5, is made by Richards of Sheffield. The two other knives are both made in Sheffield, but don’t carry a maker’s mark. Unfortunately, this is very common with Sheffield knives because they’re made by small cutlers who do work for the larger firms, and sometimes as they will tell you “For tax reasons” (ie they’re not paying any). While a mark is important to me, as it probably is for all of us, I do own decent quality ‘anonymous’ knives (in one case the knife was made by a very well-respected cutler). As for the small pen-knife though, it has quite a lot of blade-play. If the winner wants it, I’ll throw that in, together with whichever knife they choose from the others.
The runner-up gets the crochet-hook, which is also big enough for making rugs, which is perhaps part of the reason there are so many of these in Otley, surrounded as it was by textile mills. You’ll both get an Otley postcard
So, having fed the post numbers into Harry the Ramdom Number Generator, the winner (incredibly) with POST 17 is LAMBertiana! The runner-up with POST 59 is Eisman! Congratulations fellers. Lambertiana, let me know which knife you want, and (if required) if you want to clean and sharpen it yourself, or if you want me to have a go. Eisman, assuming you’d like an Otley crochet- hook, please e-mail me your address and I’ll get it off to you.
Many thanks to everyone who took part, and I hope you enjoyed the contest. Many of the entries really made me laugh. I wish I could take you all to ‘The Old Cock’ for a pint!
I might leave Otley for a bit now though!
As it was still early, I stopped for a coffee in one of the town’s numerous small cafes. There I began to work out my plan of attack. Since everyone has different ideas about what they like in a knife, I had already decided that what I would do is just buy up every slipjoint I could find, and let the winner take his pick. As I pondered the route I would take around the town though, it began to rain, and rain quite heavily. Since it had previously looked as if it was going to be a nice day, I at first hoped that this was just a shower, but as it started pelting down, with the rain driven by the wind, I began to realise that it was probably here to stay. Down on the River Wharfe, I’m sure the ducks of Otley were waddling about happily.
Pulling my cap down and my collar up, I fled the warmth of the cafe, and headed for my first port-of-call. This was the shop I had got my ‘snake in a box’ from on my last visit, which I think I will get absolutely years of fun from. The shop mainly sells vintage records, but it does have a bit of bric-a-brac and suchlike. I spotted a tiny reproduction anvil in the window and thought it might be a good omen. I snapped it up. The bloke in the shop was quite chatty and we’d had a laugh about the snake-in-a-box, so I thought, since they had a couple on display, I might be able to broach the subject of crochet-hooks with him. I wondered aloud as to why Otley seemed to have so many crochet hooks for sale, but it seemed I had gone too far. Maybe it’s one of those things you just don’t mention in Otley.
I hastened on in the rain, crossing the high street, and entering the old arcade. As I did so, I noticed that the wooden ‘Indian’ was missing from the window of ‘Golden Girls’ Emporium’. “I see you’ve got rid of the feller that was in the window”, I said to a round, heavily whiskered lady, with eyes that went in both directions. She took a long time to understand what I was talking about, and I eventually had to explain at length while trying not to stare at her Santa-like beard. “Ooh”, she said eventually. “A lad come fer ‘im. Eee, i were ‘eavy.” She went on to tell me this several times. I supposed it was the wooden figure who’d been heavy, not whoever had purchased him. I said I’d admired the figure the last time I was there. “Ooo, i were grand,” the matriarch enthused. I bid her good day, and continued up the arcade.
In the ‘collector’s shop’, the batty woman was still wearing a crocheted cardigan, and was battier than ever. She was listening to 60’s pop songs again, and singing along cheerfully. I remarked that she didn’t have her desk anymore. “Nay, that were in April, it shows how long it is since you’ve been in t’shop,” she responded. I didn’t want to argue, she seemed in a good mood. I looked at some old tools, each had a small handwritten ticket giving a price and brief details about the item. The handwriting was strikingly similar to that I’d seen on tickets of the same kind in a shop of the same sort in Leeds. Crochet-Lady told me that different sections of the shop and different display cases belonged to different people. She chided me for being ignorant of that. “I do me packaging, that’s all I know about.” I remembered from my last visit.
I spotted several old slipjoints in one of the locked display cases and asked if I might have a look at them. In normal circumstances I’m not sure I’d have purchased any of them, particularly as I couldn’t get the blades open on most of them, but in view of the reason for my visit, I decided to buy them all anyway. Unfortunately, with these sort of shops, any sign of interest in a particular item seems to be seen as an invitation to inflate prices, but there’s no real way out of that. Good-naturedly suggesting that I had perhaps exploited her in some way, Crochet-Lady popped the knives in the thinnest of plastic bags, took my money, and I bid her farewell.
An antique shop at the top of the arcade had some lovely old watches and clocks, but no knives. A ‘Retro’ shop opposite appeared to mainly have jewellery on display, but I thought it might be worth asking in there. Unfortunately it was closed, and Crochet-Lady popped out to tell me,“There’s been illness in t’family”.
In the heavy rain, the small market in the centre of Otley was looking pretty miserable. I doubt there were half a dozen stalls, and they were selling sodden fruit and vegetables, not pocket-knives.
I continued onto a junk shop I’d visited the last time I was in Otley. They didn’t have any knives then though, and they didn’t today. I did pick up a crochet hook from there though, and made sure I didn’t ask too many questions.
Round the corner was a shop I’d got an old Sheffield knife from on my last visit, and I hoped they’d have more stock today. Unfortunately though, apart from a dilapidated Richards pipe-tool, identical to the dilapidated Richards pipe-tool I bought on my previous trip to the town, and a small German-made touristy sheath knife, with a handle made from a bit of Bambi, there was only one small Sheffield slip-joint, and it was stainless and overpriced at that. Having not exactly got a great haul in the arcade, I bought it anyway, together with a couple of Otley postcards. The proprietor told me she remembered me from my last visit. Indeed I was beginning to think Otley had seen me coming.
In the bookshop next door, which is just piled high with ageing tomes, I bought an old map and also a book of ‘pub walks’ for the local area. I asked the young chap who runs the shop about a box of leather-bound volumes he had stacked close to him. “Oh, those are only Shakespeare”, he told me.
“ONLY Shakespeare?” I replied. Fancy that.
I wondered around looking in a few tool shops and charity shops, even an army surplus store, but I knew there was little chance of finding anything else. Disappointed, I went for a pint at ‘The Old Cock’, it was exactly the same as when I was last there, I even carried on the conversation I’d been having with the same farmer.
Back in Leeds, I took out my haul, it was less impressive than I’d hoped for. After a quick photo on my kitchen table, I had to liberally apply WD40 to most of the knives before I could even get the blades open. Likely they came from the same source, and are dirty and not looked after, they’re going to need quite a bit of cleaning-up and TLC.
I’m sorry not to have found anything better, but I guess that’s the luck of the draw, sometimes you come home with a bargain, and occasionally you get fleeced.
I’ve numbered the knives to make things easier. I’m going to reserve my opinion on what my own choice would be for now, but I can take more pictures if required. Number 3 is made by Tompkin of Sheffield, not a company I’m familiar with. The ‘Fish Knife’, number 1, has a mark, but it’s going to need cleaning before I can read what it says, it may not even be made in Sheffield. The scout knife, number 5, is made by Richards of Sheffield. The two other knives are both made in Sheffield, but don’t carry a maker’s mark. Unfortunately, this is very common with Sheffield knives because they’re made by small cutlers who do work for the larger firms, and sometimes as they will tell you “For tax reasons” (ie they’re not paying any). While a mark is important to me, as it probably is for all of us, I do own decent quality ‘anonymous’ knives (in one case the knife was made by a very well-respected cutler). As for the small pen-knife though, it has quite a lot of blade-play. If the winner wants it, I’ll throw that in, together with whichever knife they choose from the others.
The runner-up gets the crochet-hook, which is also big enough for making rugs, which is perhaps part of the reason there are so many of these in Otley, surrounded as it was by textile mills. You’ll both get an Otley postcard
So, having fed the post numbers into Harry the Ramdom Number Generator, the winner (incredibly) with POST 17 is LAMBertiana! The runner-up with POST 59 is Eisman! Congratulations fellers. Lambertiana, let me know which knife you want, and (if required) if you want to clean and sharpen it yourself, or if you want me to have a go. Eisman, assuming you’d like an Otley crochet- hook, please e-mail me your address and I’ll get it off to you.
Many thanks to everyone who took part, and I hope you enjoyed the contest. Many of the entries really made me laugh. I wish I could take you all to ‘The Old Cock’ for a pint!
I might leave Otley for a bit now though!
Last edited:
- Joined
- May 7, 2011
- Messages
- 3,426
Jack,
great giveaway, and great fun
Congrats to the lucky winners!!!!
Fausto
great giveaway, and great fun
Congrats to the lucky winners!!!!
Fausto
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2012
- Messages
- 1,336
...and a good time was had by all!
thanks!
thanks!
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2005
- Messages
- 69,794
Do you know, there could well have been Meako!
Thanks everyone. Those knives are cleaning up OK, amazing what a little WD40 and oil will do. I think the 'Fishknife' is actually made in Ireland.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2001
- Messages
- 32,359
Congrats to the winners and thanks for an unusual giveaway Jack.
screened porch
Basic Member
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- Feb 19, 2012
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- 18,710
The fish knife looks to me like an Ireland Imperial. Well done on the haul. I'd grab that 3-bladed Tompkin if it were my choice.
Are you sure that isn't a shoe-button hook?
Are you sure that isn't a shoe-button hook?
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2003
- Messages
- 1,362
Thanks for this one, Jack. I don't think I've ever come back to a giveaway thread and read it repeatedly.
lambertiana
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2000
- Messages
- 9,411
Wow, what a pleasant surprise!
I like that three-bladed Tompkin...I'll PM my info. Thanks!
I like that three-bladed Tompkin...I'll PM my info. Thanks!
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2005
- Messages
- 69,794
Great choice. it's an interesting knife. I'll post some more pics of it when I get a chance (better actually do some work!). Congratulations again
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2005
- Messages
- 69,794
Heres three of the knives I got yesterday, after a quick wipe-down.
First, Lambertinas Tompkins made from Cat Brand Steel , which would have been my own choice. I think its a very interesting knife, which I would be more than happy to own myself. Hope you like it too Lambertina and that youll post some pics for us when you get it.
The Richards Scout I think is probably from the 1950s, its lost a bail, but is otherwise very solid.
The Fish Knife with cracked ice scales is made by Jowika of Ireland. One of the scales moves a bit, but the blade is solid.
First, Lambertinas Tompkins made from Cat Brand Steel , which would have been my own choice. I think its a very interesting knife, which I would be more than happy to own myself. Hope you like it too Lambertina and that youll post some pics for us when you get it.
The Richards Scout I think is probably from the 1950s, its lost a bail, but is otherwise very solid.
The Fish Knife with cracked ice scales is made by Jowika of Ireland. One of the scales moves a bit, but the blade is solid.
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2007
- Messages
- 3,372
Congrats to the winners and thank you Jack.
Mike
Mike