Photos UNIDENTIFIABLE - William Rodger’s Vintage Knife *Very sentimental* - help please!

H

HY:LY

Joined
Aug 30, 2022
Messages
11
Hello! First time user here, last resort as I’ve researched for months.

NEED HELP WITH THIS KNIFE (ID-ing/restoration) ⬇️PICS BELOW⬇️

My Dad who is in his 70s has kept his fathers old knife all his life as a hugely sentimental item.

I thought I’d restore it for his birthday; clean and repair whatever wood the handle is made out of but keep the old charm on the blade. Not change it too much but give it life again.

KNIFE INFO:
Stamped with “I cut my way, William Rodgers, Sheffield, England” stamped horizontally, halfway down the blade on one side.

Blade: 3.5” (9cm)
Handle: 3.75” (8cm)
Material: Wood unknown (2 pieces)
3 Brass pins (2mm)
Total: 6.75” (17cm)


I looked online for details as to how old it might be, and although I could find many knives by William Rodgers, I couldn’t find a single one that resembled this one. Nor the shape of the blade. I’ve absolutely exhausted my search. Would love to know it’s origin!

P.S
Current restoration I’ve just taken it apart to clean with WD40.

Wood gently getting the black hand oils out with white spirit (mineral spirit)

Going to clean brass pins with Brasso and replace the missing 3rd pin.

Handle is broken at the bottom. (Might somehow fill with seaglass as we live by the beach?)

Any pointers on how to correctly reassemble / finish I’d love to hear. :)


My Dad is a humble man with a lot of love and few interests. I think this will mean the world to him. Thanks !!:)





https://imgur.com/a/FkSzkCl


g4kBVhx.jpg

J9MTF63.jpg

https://imgur.com/BhKCNg2

https://imgur.com/VWxBJFp
 
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I don't have any insight into the age of the knife, and I am not much of a modder either, to have good advice on the repairs, but I love knives with a family history. Thank you for sharing this one. And hopefully, other members with expertise more relevant to you will come by soon :)
 
abbydaddy said:
I don't have any insight into the age of the knife, and I am not much of a modder either, to have good advice on the repairs, but I love knives with a family history. Thank you for sharing this one. And hopefully, other members with expertise more relevant to you will come by soon :)
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Thank you ^^ I really want to know more about the knife… all I know is it was his fathers. And my dad is in his 70s so who knows how old it is…

I can’t ask for more of the story (YET) seeing as I currently have it tucked away (would look suspicious!) plus I’m not sure if he’s noticed it was missing… 😅 he’d be too polite to say.
 
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Good morning,

That's an interesting family heirloom. Please don't clean it anymore, those hand oils are part of its history, as was any patina it had on the blade.

The handle scales are probably Rosewood. Usually, they are held in place with an animal-based glue, or in more recent years with epoxy. The pins are actually short lengths of brass wire, which are cut to shape, and then peened (the ends are flattened slightly with a hammer). Since the blade has been cleaned so thoroughly, it's hard to tell from your photos if the blade is stainless or carbon steel, was there any active rust on the blade?

The William Rodgers mark was used on tens of thousands, possibly millions, of knives, of all types, from Penknives to kitchen cutlery, and from British Army and Navy Clasp Knives to Boy Scout Sheath Knives. Possibly, your dad's knife originally looked something like this (below), made by another Sheffield firm, Joseph Rodgers. There is no connection between the two firms.

DjVfZLq.jpg


It may have been a Sailor's Knife, there are various patterns, including one much like the knife above, or it may be a worn kitchen knife. A brief image search on the internet produced this pattern, it is one of numerous patterns produced with the William Rodgers mark:

8787827_1.jpg


'William Rodgers' was actually a concocted name used by Sheffield cutlers, John Clarke & Son, a piece of sharp practice aimed at confusing the name with the more illustrious Joseph Rodgers mark. Nonetheless, knives with the William Rodgers mark were well made.

Clarke's were founded in 1848, acquiring the William Rodgers mark, and the 'I CUT MY WAY' mark (originally registered by another Sheffield cutler Thomas Hobson), in 1910. The firm were liquidated in 1964, though some William Rodgers knives were still being sold in Sheffield into the 1970's. The William Rodgers mark was acquired in the 1980's by the Eggington group of companies, and is still seen on knives produced in Sheffield today. I'd provide a link to their website, but they seem to be experiencing some problems with it.

I hope that's helpful, and that your father has a Happy Birthday.
 
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Jack Black said:
Good morning,

That's an interesting family heirloom. Please don't clean it anymore, those hand oils are part of its history, as was any patina it had on the blade.

The handle scales are probably Rosewood. Usually, they are held in place with an animal-based glue, or in more recent years with epoxy. The pins are actually short lengths of brass wire, which are cut to shape, and then peened (the ends are flattened slightly with a hammer). Since the blade has been cleaned so thoroughly, it's hard to tell from your photos if the blade is stainless or carbon steel, was there any active rust on the blade?

The William Rodgers mark was used on tens of thousands, possibly millions, of knives, of all types, from Penknives to kitchen cutlery, and from British Army and Navy Clasp Knives to Boy Scout Sheath Knives. Possibly, your dad's knife originally looked something like this (below), made by another Sheffield firm, Joseph Rodgers. There is no connection between the two firms.

DjVfZLq.jpg


It may have been a Sailor's Knife, there are various patterns, including one much like the knife above, or it may be a worn kitchen knife. A brief image search on the internet produced this pattern, it is one of numerous patterns produced with the William Rodgers mark:

8787827_1.jpg


'William Rodgers' was actually a concocted name used by Sheffield cutlers, John Clarke & Son, a piece of sharp practice aimed at confusing the name with the more illustrious Joseph Rodgers mark. Nonetheless, knives with the William Rodgers mark were well made.

Clarke's were founded in 1848, acquiring the William Rodgers mark, and the 'I CUT MY WAY' mark (originally registered by another Sheffield cutler Thomas Hobson), in 1910. The firm were liquidated in 1964, though some William Rodgers knives were still being sold in Sheffield into the 1970's. The William Rodgers mark was acquired in the 1980's by the Eggington group of companies, and is still seen on knives produced in Sheffield today. I'd provide a link to their website, but they seem to be experiencing some problems with it.

I hope that's helpful, and that your father has a Happy Birthday.
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Funny I didn’t clean the blare at all, it’s just very very worn. I had to use a macro lens to even decipher the text on it!

It is stainless steel :)

So hard to find the one with the same shaped handle…

Yes I plan on keeping the patina for sure. Not going to buff or sharpen the blade. Had to clean the oils off as they were sticky and the wood was vulnerable underneath where dirt had gotten between the wood and steel.

Do you think I should use teak oil to freshen the wood?
 
Do as little as possible to the knife. The value of this item doesn’t stem from its bright new shine; it is the genuine age that matters. Every mark on that blade was added by either your father or his dad. That and the related memories are what matters.

n2s
 
HY:LY said:
(Might somehow fill with seaglass as we live by the beach?)
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I like the idea of keeping the original handle and replacing the missing piece with some distinctly different material. It reminds me of how they use plaster to fill in the missing parts of dinosaur skeletons in museums.

They sell acrylic blanks used for turning pen barrels and such in a wide array of colors and patterns which might work if sea glass doesn’t. Don’t take this as expert advice, though - I’m just a hack when it comes to knife modding, and I am not a man of particularly refined tastes…

Edit:
Have you out any thought into making a sheath for it? You could put a lot of love and effort into one, and it might add new life to the whole thing without altering the original piece too much.
 
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HY:LY said:
Funny I didn’t clean the blare at all, it’s just very very worn. I had to use a macro lens to even decipher the text on it!

It is stainless steel :)

So hard to find the one with the same shaped handle…

Yes I plan on keeping the patina for sure. Not going to buff or sharpen the blade. Had to clean the oils off as they were sticky and the wood was vulnerable underneath where dirt had gotten between the wood and steel.

Do you think I should use teak oil to freshen the wood?
Click to expand...

Stainless was invented in 1913, and while a few Sheffield cutlers took to it quite readily, mainly for flatware (table cutlery), and a few used it for pocket knives in the 1920's, most didn't start using it until the 1930's, or later. The fact that it is stainless may indicate that it was one of the firm's Sailor's Knives. It could also be from the meat industry. I could write at length about why dating Sheffield knives is always problematic, much more than most people realise, (partly because they are used to seeing the outright lies of antique dealers). It would be advantageous for you to ask your father how long he has had the knife, what, if anything, his father told him about it, what your grandfather's profession was, and when your father first recalls his father carrying it. By the standards of the Sheffield knives we discuss here, it's not an old knife, its value is in its place in your family's history.

not2sharp not2sharp has given you very good advice :)
 
not2sharp said:
Do as little as possible to the knife. The value of this item doesn’t stem from its bright new shine; it is the genuine age that matters. Every mark on that blade was added by either your father or his dad. That and the related memories are what matters.

n2s
Click to expand...
Yep I intend to keep it that way. Just cleaned off the grime where the pieces had separate over time 👍🏻
 
Just Tom. said:
I like the idea of keeping the original handle and replacing the missing piece with some distinctly different material. It reminds me of how they use plaster to fill in the missing parts of dinosaur skeletons in museums.

They sell acrylic blanks used for turning pen barrels and such in a wide array of colors and patterns which might work if sea glass doesn’t. Don’t take this as expert advice, though - I’m just a hack when it comes to knife modding, and I am not a man of particularly refined tastes…

Edit:
Have you out any thought into making a sheath for it? You could put a lot of love and effort into one, and it might add new life to the whole thing without altering the original piece too much.
Click to expand...
That’s an excellent idea!! Definitely want to put it into something special after.

I havnt carved seaglass before but have the diamond bits to. Will defiantly do a few dummy practices 😂
 
There's not much I would add to the advice already given. I like the idea of just adding a piece of sea glass, acrylic, or wood to patch the missing piece. Is there any old wood at your dad's place, maybe something he's held onto for years if he had a workshop? Or anything he owned that you could repurpose for material, an old pipe or something sentimental? Get creative.

Teak oil would work nice. I've also used mineral oil (sparingly) in the past to add some moisture back to wood. Lemon oil and almond oil are recommended for wood.

I would be super careful when re-attaching the wood covers and pins. Not sure how you will be doing that or how much experience you have with this type of thing, but it's easy to crack wood like that when it's dry and brittle.

We look forward to seeing what you come up with. Knives that belonged to our family members are very special to us.
 
I might be going against the grain here but I'm not sure it was a good idea to take those handles off at all. If that knife has so much sentimental value then the condition would make no difference to your father. In fact it's the condition and wear on the knife that makes it so special to begin with. Altering it in any way ruins that magic. I wouldn't touch it and especially wouldn't alter or fill it without asking him first. He might be extremely upset if it's been messed with.

Eric
 
ea42 said:
I might be going against the grain here but I'm not sure it was a good idea to take those handles off at all. If that knife has so much sentimental value then the condition would make no difference to your father. In fact it's the condition and wear on the knife that makes it so special to begin with. Altering it in any way ruins that magic. I wouldn't touch it and especially wouldn't alter or fill it without asking him first. He might be extremely upset if it's been messed with.

Eric
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The thing was literally held together by those 2 elastic bands as you can see :) I’m lucky the other 2 pins didn’t fall out! So all good on that end. The thing was on deaths door.

There was damp under it too so all off and dried, old rotten adhesive sanded off.

I know my Dad will love that it has love put back into it.
 
HY:LY said:
The thing was literally held together by those 2 elastic bands as you can see :) I’m lucky the other 2 pins didn’t fall out! So all good on that end. The thing was on deaths door.

There was damp under it too so all off and dried, old rotten adhesive sanded off.

I know my Dad will love that it has love put back into it.
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Ohhh, I had thought you put the rubber bands on after you had taken it apart. Well in that case I take it back. Rubber bands are definitely not a good handle adhesive LOL.

If you run into trouble with that broken side and would like a new piece put on I'd be happy to do it for you, just shoot me a PM.

Eric
 
ea42 said:
Ohhh, I had thought you put the rubber bands on after you had taken it apart. Well in that case I take it back. Rubber bands are definitely not a good handle adhesive LOL.

If you run into trouble with that broken side and would like a new piece put on I'd be happy to do it for you, just shoot me a PM.

Eric
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Hey you don’t think my rubber bands look ✨ avant-garde✨ 👀

Haha. Mate that’s so kind of you! Honestly this forum has been so lovely
 
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