What Happened to the Rejects?

wolfeknives

wolfeknives

Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
482
I posted this in the "Relics" thread, but it may be interesting under its own topic. I read about this many years ago in a Knife Digest. I have always intrigued by the thought of thousands of knives buried on manufacturers properties. I wonder how other manufacturers disposed of their unwanted knives?

Wolfgang





 
My guess is defective blades and other parts, like liners, are sent back to the foundry to be recycled.
Considering the EPA restrictions now days, it might be illegal to bury them.
 
They called them 'wasters' in Sheffield. Richards threw them out (probably not a lot to salvage), and their dustbins were intermittently raided by local kids!
 
I'd say that the steel is recycled at this point as scrap. Steel from other industries is scraped.

I also have wondered about the seconds with regard to the forum knives and other GEC stuff. The only seconds I have noticed for sale have been KSF Northwoods.
 
Not directly related to traditional but an interesting disposal method. Spyderco had a mess up with one of the knives they were manufacturing and put them in a block of concrete. I can't recall which model but that's one way of insuring it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
 
The Kabar story reminds me of the story about the E.T. the Extra Terrestrial Atari video game, which was such a poor seller that they ended up burying (reportedly) hundreds of thousands of copies in a landfill in New Mexico back in the '80s. The burial became a bit of an urban legend, and a few years ago there was an excavation of sorts that recovered a small number of the game cartridges.
 
Lovely story, it would be interesting to check other cutlery manufacturers sites, extant or defunct for similar types of fill. Any cutlery dustbins by you, Jack Black, when growing up?
Thanks, Neal
 
neal70 said:
Lovely story, it would be interesting to check other cutlery manufacturers sites, extant or defunct for similar types of fill. Any cutlery dustbins by you, Jack Black, when growing up?
Click to expand...

I'm afraid not Neal, but the whole city was awash with cutlery and penknives. When I was older, I was given a couple of the reject Schrade-Wostenholm knives by a cutler in the family, the only flaw was that you could see the pivot pins after they had been polished :thumbsup:
 
Most of you know I worked at Canal Street Cutlery, which was actually located on the second floor (and a portion of the first) of one of the original Ulster Knife Company buildings. The rest of the property was owned by a window manufacturing company. About three years ago they decided to build a large storage building on the front parking lot, which was probably paved over in the 1950's, maybe even sooner. Previous to that it was soil and a very large garden plot owned by Dwight Divine, who also owned Ulster Knife Co. The company excavated a large trench where the footings were to be poured, and one day while walking out of the building I noticed something glinting in the heap of soil excavated from the trench. It was a broken steak knife blade, and on closer examination I found that the pile was peppered with old knife hafts and broken blades. Everything was well caked with dirt and stones, and the carbon steel was all but gone, but I took a few pieces up to the shop to see if I could clean them up a bit, and these are the results. It had to have been a dumping pile for Mr Divine since all the parts were Ulster with their trademark jigged bone. Dave Swinden told me of another reject pile that was located in a cistern in the floor of the old grinding room. He said it was about seven feet deep by fifteen square and filled with old broken parts. They had it all carted to the dump when the building was demolished. I have no idea how far these parts go back, could be any time from the late 1800's to the 1930's.

dniu6t.jpg


2nusufs.jpg


1079o48.jpg


Eric
 
ea42 said:
Most of you know I worked at Canal Street Cutlery, which was actually located on the second floor (and a portion of the first) of one of the original Ulster Knife Company buildings. The rest of the property was owned by a window manufacturing company. About three years ago they decided to build a large storage building on the front parking lot, which was probably paved over in the 1950's, maybe even sooner. Previous to that it was soil and a very large garden plot owned by Dwight Divine, who also owned Ulster Knife Co. The company excavated a large trench where the footings were to be poured, and one day while walking out of the building I noticed something glinting in the heap of soil excavated from the trench. It was a broken steak knife blade, and on closer examination I found that the pile was peppered with old knife hafts and broken blades. Everything was well caked with dirt and stones, and the carbon steel was all but gone, but I took a few pieces up to the shop to see if I could clean them up a bit, and these are the results. It had to have been a dumping pile for Mr Divine since all the parts were Ulster with their trademark jigged bone. Dave Swinden told me of another reject pile that was located in a cistern in the floor of the old grinding room. He said it was about seven feet deep by fifteen square and filled with old broken parts. They had it all carted to the dump when the building was demolished. I have no idea how far these parts go back, could be any time from the late 1800's to the 1930's.

dniu6t.jpg


2nusufs.jpg


1079o48.jpg


Eric
Click to expand...
How are you getting along since Canal Street closed? Hope well... Interesting about the old blades and it is no surprise to me. That's how things used to be done as the scrap metal had little value and there were no environmental regulations. All that began to change in the 1970's.
 
Good post, Eric. That's quite a story and some cool old pieces.
 
My dad has a reject. Not a knife, but a window from the Orion project. When you're sending people to another planet, everything's gotta be perfect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top