Walden tang stamp

K

know what i mean

Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
194
Enjoy the coversation and sharing on this site, so I have a question for you all. I picked up a nice little pen knife recently. The stamp on the tang say's, "Walden knife Co. Walden N.Y.". What little I can dig up on it claims that this stamp makes the knife a bit of a rarity and was wondering if this is actually so. I enjoy history and like doing background searches on these old manufacturers. What little I find on Walden Knife co., They weren't in existence very long before Schrade bought them, thus Schrade Walden for quite some time. Any input would be appreciated and thank you all in advance. Dale H.
 
Dale, the story is just a bit different from that. In 1870, a split in New York Knife lead to the formation of Walden Knife Co. Circa 1902, the E.C. Simmons Hardware Company took over the company and continued making both their own tang stamped knives as well as the Simmons Keen Kutter stampings. When Simmons merged with the Winchester Arms Company in 1922, Winchester took control of the plant. They decided to produce the Winchester and Keen Kutter brands both in their New Haven plant and in 1923 closed the plant in Walden.

ngwxzo.jpg

2j4dmyq.jpg
 
Walden had a good number of knife companies during the early 1900's. New York Knife Co, Walden Knife Co, Wallkill River Works, and Schrade Cut. Co were the major players. You can thank NYK Co. for most of the spinoffs :thumbup: . At one time the Walden Knife Co. plant produced, under Simmon's control, over 500 dozen pocket knives per day!!! The buildings encompassed over 100,000 square feet and employed 700 people. It would be interesting to know how many knives in total the cutleries in that town produced annually.

Eric
 
Thanks for thr info. Given those kind of production numbers, i would guess there's still quite a number with that tang stamp floating throughout the countryside. Thanks for the info though, it was interesting. Dale H.
 
They're still very collectable Dale. Although they made a lot, people used the heck out of those knives, so finding one in decent shape is still a challenge. Happy hunting!

Eric
 
......yeah about as nostalgic as my mother in law's Sunday visits...ugly enough...I mean oddly enough!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top