Winchester Knives from Blue Grass Cutlery Inc., Ohio

C

ChillerHR

Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Messages
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Guys, I'm having trouble finding anything here about traditional Winchester knives, and I found one that I like very much, but it is 200+ bucks so can you help me out with the decision?

I don't even know what blade steel is used, and do they have 90 degrees halflock that I like very much in traditional slipjoints...

I just wonder are they considered in the same ballpark with Case or Queen or GEC quality wise...I'm not into flipping bussines...

Thanks!
 
My grandfather owned over 70 of these when they first came out. He slowly sold off probably 1/2 of them, but still has many left. These knives were made by Queen Cutlery in the late 80's and 90's (except for the bronze handled knives, which were made by Utica Cutlery). Depends on the pattern, some have 1/2 stops and some don't. I'm not sure which knife you're referencing, but I don't believe any of the knives my grandfather sold were anywhere close to $200. Most I believe used a type of stainless steel for the blade material.

Quality wise, they were well made. Better than average for a Queen made knife of that era. However, be wary that any of the celluloid handled knives are known to outgas, and you should stay away from them. The handle material will slowly eat away at the blades, bolsters, shield, backsprings, and liners.
 
Rookie82; the vast majority were made of 1095 carbon. There may have been a few SS, but not many. I am referring to the Queen made Winchesters.
 
Well these new ones are not made by Queen, they are made by Blue Grass Cutlery Inc., Ohio, you can look it up if you like, and they are of the Cartrage Series...hope this helps!
 
ChillerHR said:
Well these new ones are not made by Queen, they are made by Blue Grass Cutlery Inc., Ohio, you can look it up if you like, and they are of the Cartrage Series...hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Chiller, I may be wrong (not the first time) but I'm under the impression Blue Grass Cutlery never made their own knives, they just jobbed them out.

Here's some links: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/502305-Opinions-on-Blue-Grass-Cutlery

https://www.collectorknives.net/brands/Winchester-Knives.html
 
ChillerHR said:
Guys, I'm having trouble finding anything here about traditional Winchester knives, and I found one that I like very much, but it is 200+ bucks so can you help me out with the decision?

I don't even know what blade steel is used, and do they have 90 degrees halflock that I like very much in traditional slipjoints...

I just wonder are they considered in the same ballpark with Case or Queen or GEC quality wise...I'm not into flipping bussines...

Thanks!
Click to expand...

There's a 24 page topic about Winchester "black box" knives here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/562111-quot-Black-Box-quot-Winchesters/page24








 
Bill Howard, the driving force behind GEC, was at the helm at Queen when they made the Blue Grass Winchesters. They're wonderful knives.
 
Chiller, I have four of the Blue Grass Winchesters, and they were all made by Queen Cutlery. What are typically referred to as "Black Box Winchesters" have 1095 carbon steel blades. The information I have is that the "White Box" Cartridge Series knives use 420HC stainless steel. I bought all four of them within the last three months off the secondary markets, and the most I paid for any of them was $70 (stag sowbelly). $200 sounds way too steep. Here they are with their mfg. dates.

1990 #2903 swell center double end jack
4210329b-75c4-4062-a9ad-c6bd6ebc6b02_zpsvjnfekb6.jpg~original


1991 #3949S sowbelly
c32faee8-b66f-4bb9-8c14-ba249662d1ef_zpseynwufab.jpg~original


1995 #W15 3948 Cartridge Series stockman
44d20df5-ad8c-4186-b7d5-8cf92a8d50f1_zpsnwqn1xn9.jpg~original


1998 #W18 49116 Cartridge Series sowbelly
a0e21505-fa16-4856-ac84-b2f2360b2ef9_zpsttamptlu.jpg~original
 
I'll let you know when mine arrives here in Europe, hopefully next week

I have a 3 5/8" Stockman on its way with carbon blades and some nice looking Rodgers type bone. Forum member mcgreg collected the whole series as far as I recall, with some very nice looking scarce ones such as Whittler and Pens. Made at the end of 80s early 90s .Some years back, I think they were more in vogue and prices were higher than now, but put it this way, I paid less than a quarter of your quoted price and that includes shipping to Europe. I have no massive expectations but I think they could be decent and the steel good, let's see..

Thanks, Will
 
cilohaefink said:
Rookie82; the vast majority were made of 1095 carbon. There may have been a few SS, but not many. I am referring to the Queen made Winchesters.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I wasn't 100% sure on that, as the sales flyers didn't specify.

ChillerHR said:
Well these new ones are not made by Queen, they are made by Blue Grass Cutlery Inc., Ohio, you can look it up if you like, and they are of the Cartrage Series...hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Yes, my understanding is that Blue Grass never made a knife. They hire other knife makers to make their knives as they order them. Queen made the knives in the 80's and 90's. But I don't know whom Blue Grass used after that, it may still be Queen, or could be another maker.
 
I have four of them and never paid that sum. All are great quality knives, though sharpening is not always easy. There are a few for sale at over $100, but they don't sell at all.Depending of the pattern and quality, for the black jigged bone IMHO around $50 is alaready a good deal for both seller and buyer.
Now, as always, a picture (even from the seller) would help us make our minds about it
 
We aren't supposed to discuss prices, especially to those without a paid membership. But $200 is high. At that price, the seller should definitely answer all of your questions... pick up your dry cleaning... and make you a sandwich. ;)

They were made over many years and even the same basic pattern like a sowbelly can have differences. For example, the 4 blade sowbelly has very thin blades. The 3 blade sowbelly has average blade thickness.

If you post up some photos, you'll get a lot better feedback.
 
Like many have already said they were VERY NICE knives, but not that nice!😜
 
Ok guys, here it is, never seen something as beautiful, I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but never the less...it's 4" Sunfish.

WN18280120P.jpg


Seller says that steel is listed as "stainless steel", and it does not have 1/2 stop...which is a sad thing...scales are Mother of Pearl of course...

What do you think?
 
Hi mod, thanks for the info, I do not expect price audit here,

as I explained in the post #1 - I'm asking for a help to make a decision quality wise, I didn't post actual price nor the retailer, but guys here, to whom I'm very thankful, wanted to see at least a picture of the knife...

Is this OK?
Thanks.
 
The ".45-70 Cartridge Shield Series" was from 1998. The date should be on the back of the main blade and underneath the model number. The pattern is a large sunfish and I believe that it was made by Queen. I don't know the steel. All of the Queen made Winchesters that I've seen had 1095 steel. I suspect that it's 1095 but I could be wrong. Queen has also made the sunfish pattern with both 1095 and 420HC and their own branding. You might also take a look at those knives.

I don't have first hand experience with this particular pattern. It's larger than I would use. Some general advice is to make sure the knife has good mechanics and there aren't any cracks in the pearl.
 
Well these are some good advices! Thanks so much man! I would have to ask the retailer to check it for me because there's no way that I could check it myself. Do you think that they would conduct honest and thorough check? And what would be considered good mechanics, no blade play in any direction or something else too?
 
If "walk and talk" are 1/2 stop then they are absent from this model...it does not have 90 degree stop, which is sad as I already mentioned, not sure what "spacing and rub" are?

I'm a n00b what can I say:..:(
 
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