Thrifty Thursday... Cheap Traditional Knives

[5K Qs]

Yes it is!!
Sanded it and gave it a half way patina!!
John

Thanks for the confirmation.
I just saw that you posted it in the current Loom Fixer thread, too. When I saw that Loom Fixer, I immediately thought of my RR Half Hawks.

- GT

 

[KentuckyBlackBird]

 

[Hickory n steel]

GT kindly gave me this little imperial a number of years ago and it wound up misplaced for awhile after I stopped wearing it as a neck pendant.

A couple days ago I found it , and decided to re-cover it in some scraps of stag.



I have never really looked into it, but these had to have originally been a prize of some kind.
I'm guessing it was in a Cracker jacks box, a gumball prize machine, or was a carnival prize if not all 3 at one time or another.

 

[afishhunter]

GT kindly gave me this little imperial a number of years ago and it wound up misplaced for awhile after I stopped wearing it as a neck pendant.
View attachment 3097442
A couple days ago I found it , and decided to re-cover it in some scraps of stag.
View attachment 3097446
View attachment 3097449

I have never really looked into it, but these had to have originally been a prize of some kind.
I'm guessing it was in a Cracker jacks box, a gumball prize machine, or was a carnival prize if not all 3 at one time or another.

Another possibility is it was commonly used on a Prince Albert pockwatch chain's off-side leg, on "not Church" days, back when men customarallly wore a waistcoat. Since it wasn't/isn't a clamshell knife, it may be from before c.1950-1955, when the waistcoat fell out of mens everyday wear fasion.
The two leg Prince Albert watch chain was popular among both blue collar tradesmen, laborers, and farmers and white collar workers.

It looks great wearing stag. Great job.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Another possibility is it was commonly used on a Prince Albert pockwatch chain's off-side leg, on "not Church" days, back when men customarallly wore a waistcoat. Since it wasn't/isn't a clamshell knife, it may be from before c.1950-1955, when the waistcoat fell out of mens everyday wear fasion.
The two leg Prince Albert watch chain was popular among both blue collar tradesmen, laborers, and farmers and white collar workers.

It looks great wearing stag. Great job.

Thanks, it definitely deserved better.

I think it's from the 50's but can't confirm because it doesn't have a conventional Imperial tang stamp , it's just marked with USA and the patent number for their shell handle construction.
It was obviously made after their shell construction was patented in 1942 even though it didn't utilize that construction, I'm guessing that's because there were little shell construction knives made with this blade.


I actually have 2 other mini Imperials with the same blade which are little tie clip knives made for Sears CRAFTSMAN in the 60's ( 60's era crown logo ), and those being from the 60's are why I believe this one is 50's.
They do actually use a stamped steel shell on the front and a bare liner with incorporated clip on the back.



Technically this could be as late as '74 when the crown logo was discontinued, but there was a later glittery gold version to come after these.

 

[KentuckyBlackBird]

GT kindly gave me this little imperial a number of years ago and it wound up misplaced for awhile after I stopped wearing it as a neck pendant.
View attachment 3097442
A couple days ago I found it , and decided to re-cover it in some scraps of stag.
View attachment 3097446
View attachment 3097449

I have never really looked into it, but these had to have originally been a prize of some kind.
I'm guessing it was in a Cracker jacks box, a gumball prize machine, or was a carnival prize if not all 3 at one time or another.

Very cool.

 

[5K Qs]

GT kindly gave me this little imperial a number of years ago and it wound up misplaced for awhile after I stopped wearing it as a neck pendant.
View attachment 3097442
A couple days ago I found it , and decided to re-cover it in some scraps of stag.
View attachment 3097446
View attachment 3097449

I have never really looked into it, but these had to have originally been a prize of some kind.
I'm guessing it was in a Cracker jacks box, a gumball prize machine, or was a carnival prize if not all 3 at one time or another.

That little guy looks sensational in stag!!
(If it had stag covers when I got it, I probably never would have sent it to you! )

...

I actually have 2 other mini Imperials with the same blade which are little tie clip knives made for Sears CRAFTSMAN in the 60's ( 60's era crown logo ), and those being from the 60's are why I believe this one is 50's.
They do actually use a stamped steel shell on the front and a bare liner with incorporated clip on the back.
View attachment 3097555
View attachment 3097556

Technically this could be as late as '74 when the crown logo was discontinued, but there was a later glittery gold version to come after these.

Those tie clip knives are VERY cool!
I used to look for ones like that when I was still working and would occasionally wear a tie (visits to local middle and high schools, tests in my own classes, weddings and funerals, etc.). I never found one, but I ended up using a Victorinox Money Clip model as a tie clasp.

- GT