Wooden scales jack knife help please

[Miller Bro's]

Gerry,

I like a good mystery.

I think I have figured it out.

Top line: R.C. Cutlery

Below: Wazirabad

The knife was made in Wazirabad Pakistan, which would be the equivalent of Sheffield England to knife making in Pakistan.

[GerryD]

Brilliant but where did you get R C Cutlery from out of C. Works? Not saying you are wrong, were RC Cutlery a listed company?
The BB site is up and running and Zorro has suggested its Indian (not native US) and could have been made between 1920-1940 .
Pakistan was formed in 1947 and before that it was part of India so I suspect this is a knife made for the Indian army (part of the British army then) to a British military pattern.
I like the thought process to the "abad".
I didn't know about the Pakistan knife industry but of course I've seen lots of modern lock knives from there. I've Googled for info but its early days.
So the learning curve has just got steeper and as "Forest" said AGAIN!!!!!
Thanks

Gerry

[Miller Bro's]

Gerry,

I posted that reply in the early morning before going to sleep, I am more rested now so let me clarify my response.

R. C. (Cutlery) Works

The "C" is what I was referring to. To my eye I see the letter "R" before the "C" and over the years I have seen a knife marked R.C. Works that was clearly made in Pakistan/ India.

I think with this information you should be on your way to finding out more about your knife

[kootenay joe]

Interesting thread, sort of "Forensic Knifeology".
Most of us probably get a feeling of disappointment when discovering one of our old knives was made in Pakistan or India. I am trying to become more objective regarding knives from these 2 countries; i.e. examine it before deciding it is 'no good'. I am sure that some of the vintage India and Pakistan knives are decent usable knives (& Kukris).
kj

[GerryD]

The BB site is up and running again and "Zorro" has indicated that he thinks it's an Indian Army issue. He says that the army often ordered knives to be made but did not aways get stamped with WD.
I quote from BB Zorro "India pre independence was under British rule for many years, so much so that even to this day the English language both spoken and written is still dominant in bureaucracy and industry. Before independence virtually every engineering concern would have had British directors, so the word "works" stamped on a domestically produced blade would not be unusual."
Date wise could be between early 1920 -- 1940 .
As for the maker the jury is still out but if you have any ideas post away.
Again it looks like 40 span is as good as it gets so thanks to all the contributions i have others i know little about.

gerry

[Miller Bro's]

I don't agree with everything he said. The Indian cutler's learned their trade in England and copied many of the English knife patterns when they returned to their home country and started a cottage knife industry. They knew what patterns were popular and made those often times stamping them with very similar English trademarks to capitalize on their popularity.

I think knives like these were made to be sold to English sailors who were docked there and were looking for a particular pocket knife but did not want to pay the price for the genuine article made in England, the same thing goes on today except China is selling them.