The Silence of The Lambsfoot

waynorth said:
John_Slider sent me these pictures asking if I could read or interpret the stampings. We all, of course, want to know who made that interesting Sheepfoot knife!
The knife, goggles etc. were found with the remains of George Mallory 75 years after he was lost trying to conquer Everest!
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I first found the Seattle-based photographer whose name is tagged onto the photos; a pleasant fellow who no longer had the photos, but who gave me the names of the people who commissioned the pictures. They in turn provided better pictures, after I explained our semi-formal mission here to find out as much about traditional cutlery as we can!!
The two men I contacted, along with a third partner, authored the book "Ghosts of Everest", which is the story of finding the remains of that ill-fated 1924 expedition of George Mallory.
Here are the detail pictures:
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Thanks to Jim Fagiolo the photograper, and to Jochen Hemmleb and Eric Simonson the authors and mountaineers!

"Dear Eric & Charlie,



please find attached three images of the knife - maybe these are helpful.

The knife maker appears to be W.E. Oates of Sheffield.



The knife itself should be located at the Royal Geographical Society in London.



Best,

Jochen"
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What a neat bit of history! Thank you for researching it and sharing with us!
 
Amazing detective work Charlie, well done, really exceptional :thumbup:

Thanks also to Jochen for his help, and to Jim and Eric :thumbup:
 
Breathtaking! What interests me is that I always assumed the knife was Stag (when looking at distant shots plus all the encrusted rust) but now you can see jigged bone, or is it jigged Stag? The knife obviously hasn't had much use it's just the corrosion of time and elements. Really interesting work, who cannot but be impressed by a knife like this with all its connexions!?? I wish somebody would make a quality replica for the knife masses...........:cool::D
 
I've been thinking about trying to get one of the Sheffield manufacturers to do a run of these for a while, but have been concerned about them getting it right (and working with them), and also about potential legal issues with the Mallory Estate.
 
The AOT mark was granted, in 1855, to Albert Oates, who had a workshop on St Philip's Road. According to Tweedale, after Albert's death in 1896, his son Frederick William Oates continued the firm. There is no mention of W.E. Oates in Tweedale, but elsewhere, I have found a W.E.Oates listed along with F.W. Oates at St Philip's Road.
 
I think GEC would baulk at doing it, with the markings identical to the original. It might be possible - some day - to get him to do that pattern though! Maybe call it the Everest Pattern!?:rolleyes:
 
waynorth said:
I think GEC would baulk at doing it, with the markings identical to the original. It might be possible - some day - to get him to do that pattern though! Maybe call it the Everest Pattern!?:rolleyes:
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Yes, I don't think you could reproduce it exactly, but it would be lovely to see something similar wouldn't it? :) :thumbup:
 
Somewhere in the pile of papers next to my computer, there's some short Mallory quotes I thought might look good as a blade etch (can't ever find anything)!

Here's the other pics I have of the knife :thumbup:





 
The Blade Etch is interesting.
It says "REAL xxx LAMBFOOT".
the xxx is actually three letters on their sides.

A O T

They might be an attempt at the guild stamp symbols using replacement images???:confused:
 
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Jack Black said:
I've been thinking about trying to get one of the Sheffield manufacturers to do a run of these for a while, but have been concerned about them getting it right (and working with them), and also about potential legal issues with the Mallory Estate.
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Maybe the Mallory estate would go in on it. Might have to have it made in China, though.
 
Making it in China would be a huge mistake! Half of the appreciation is the Sheffield quality, never mind the heritage factor.
 
waynorth said:
The Blade Etch is interesting.
It says "REAL xxx LAMBFOOT".
the xxx is actually three letters on their sides.

A O T

They might be an attempt at the guild stamp symbols using replacement images???:confused:
Click to expand...

Jack Black said:
The AOT mark was granted, in 1855, to Albert Oates, who had a workshop on St Philip's Road. According to Tweedale, after Albert's death in 1896, his son Frederick William Oates continued the firm. There is no mention of W.E. Oates in Tweedale, but elsewhere, I have found a W.E.Oates listed along with F.W. Oates at St Philip's Road.
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;) :thumbup:
 
I'll play. Here's one I made recently, I had been calling a hawkbill, but I guess it's more of a lambsfoot now that I'm seeing this thread. I didn't base this off any pattern, just wanted to come up with a swayback in my style, in fact, I'd never seen a "lambsfoot" knife before. Rust blued W2, integral wrought iron bolsters/liners, amber stag, texture left on peened pins, back square hidden in all positions. Sorry, camera phone photos suck. I'll definitely grind a clip of the style of these knives on the next one.

lambs1.jpg

lambs2.jpg
 
waynorth said:
Making it in China would be a huge mistake! Half of the appreciation is the Sheffield quality, never mind the heritage factor.
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I should have used a :D. I was responding to what I perceived as Jack's statement of reservations as to the quality of current Sheffield manufacture.
 
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