TL-29 Electricians Knives

[rmeron]

i picked this one up recently ive never seen one made by queen and i have never seen this stamp with the usa on it some im thinking it is a military contract knife,plus queen seemed to put there own touch to it they used those nice fat nail nicks and sunk the screwdriver blade deeper it to the well and had to make a notch to get at screwdriver blade anyone else seen one of these ive had many tl 29 types and this is the first one ive seen or had in 30 years of hoarding queen knives

I have one that is your twin except for a little more wear on the USA stamp. Do you have any idea when it was made?

[orvet]

I am not sure of the years, but I know from Tom Williams that Camillus made the TL-29s for most US knife brands, including Case, Schrade, M Klein, Imperial (not the shell versions), Kabar, Powr Kraft, (Wards), Sears and other companies.
I guess it was cheaper to have one company that was tooled up for the pattern to make them than to spend 10s of thousands of dollars to tool up for a pattern that was not a huge money maker.

[garddogg56]

I picked up a new too me Holub Sycamore Ill.gut her cheap.Made by Schrade.

[orvet]

I picked up a three blade M. Klein electricians knife.
Technically I guess it isn't a TL-29 because of the extra blade.
It is sure a brute! I don't think it has been used much. It has some dirt & oil on it and I have not cleaned it yet.

I like the addition of the sheepfoot blade.

You got one of these TJ?

[tjmurphy]

Nope, no Klein in my pile.

[tjmurphy]

Here's a couple I've not posted yet.

CASE Tested XX 1920-1940

XELA - 1910-1932 A trademark used by M.Klein

[tjmurphy]

CAMILLUS It looks like CAMILLUS made the XELA in the above post, XELA being a M.Klein trademark.

[tjmurphy]

Last week I added a knife to my TL-29/Electrician Knife collection.

The knife is a Red Devil, screwdriver blade only and no knife blade.
Instead of having a liner lock for the screwdriver blade like the modern TL-29, or the internal lock released by pressing down the closed spear blade on the WWI era TL-29; the Red Devil is a lock back! It is one of the only ones in my TL-29/Electrician Knife collection.

The Red Devil is definitely an interesting variation; a long sought and welcome addition to my collection!

Hey Dale, a pretty strong guess is that your Red Devil was made by CAMILLUS based on the pin placement and number of pins. Of the knives of this pattern that I have, CAMILLUS is the only one to use the two pins on the end opposite the bolsters. Here's a CAMILLUS that just came in:

vs your Red Devil

[tjmurphy]

In the mail this morning. Schrade/Cut.Co./Walden,N.Y. 3 3/4" closed, cocabolo handles. Based on the old catalogs, I'm calling this one c.1936

[garddogg56]

TJ;is that missing a shield?nice old Schrade.

[orvet]

That knife looks like it got so much pocket time the shield plum wore off it.
It's in really good shape for a knife it's been carried that much!

[tjmurphy]

Yep, the shield's AWOL, but the pins are still there. When I first looked at the knife I couldn't figure why so many pins. I looked a little closer and could see the outline of the shield. The shield should look like this one:

[tjmurphy]

Here's one that I bought on Ebay and should have on Thursday. M.Klein & Sons/Chicago/Made in U.S.A. I don't normally buy Klein knives because I have trouble getting past those faux wood handles. This one on the other hand has cocobolo handles which were typical for the WWII era knives. This is the first Klein I've seen with these type handles. I am guessing that this knife was made by UTICA Cutlery. Is this Klein rare??

[orvet]

I have some Camillus records that Tom Williams sent me that indicate Camillus made 416 2/3 dozen TL-29s for M Klein in 1948 followed by a 2nd order of 500 dozen also in 1948.

In 1950 M Klein ordered another 500 dozen TL-29s from Camillus.
The records I have do not indicate the handle material but I would imagine they were wood.

There was also 1952 order for TL-29s. This is the actual S card used in production.

The S-card indicates the handles are rosewood.
Cocobolo is a member of the rosewood family, so that would be correct for your knife.
Your knife may be from the 1948 through 1952 production era.

[tjmurphy]

Thanks for that information, Dale. I am thinking though, that this knife, at least the body of the knife, is made by UTICA, based only on the "chicken foot" application to the bail. I have several CAMILLUS knives with bails and they don't have the stamping. I have several UTICA's that do. I know, one-point data "Blades Guide to Knives and Their Values" lists UTICA as a maker of Klein electrician's knives. Who knows?? It is still the only rosewood/cocobolo handled M.Klein & Sons that I've seen. Maybe repurposed these blades to this frame and handle assembly? Could be.

[orvet]

I will have to check, but I think I have several older Camillus TL-29s that have the same stamping on the bail. I think that goes back to the 50s and before.

[tjmurphy]

I'd appreciate that, Dale. Thanks a lot

[orvet]

Well TJ, after doing a little checking I think you may be right.

This picture is 2 Camillus four-line tang stamp TL-29s (top and bottom) and the Utica in the middle.

The Utica has the stamping on the bail. I know some of the older Camillus life raft knives had a similar stamping on their bail.

While I was looking for the Utica and the Camillus TL-29s I started noticing other fancy bails in my collection of TL-29s.
I have 3 Pal Blade TL-29s that have this fancy work on their bails.

This is a Kabar TL-29. Not really what I would call fancy work, but the flat spot above the end of the bail seems to be unique to Kabar.

While this is not a TL-29, obviously not made on government contract, it is nonetheless and electricians knife.
I have it stored with my TL-29 collection and I noticed it had fancy work on its bail. I think this is the most unique fancy work I have seen on any factory electricians knife.
It's pretty cool, IMHO.

[tjmurphy]

Thanks a lot for going to that trouble, Dale. But you did find some variances in your TL-29's from this exercise.

But now you have me a little esscared. I feel I may be morphing from an accumulator to a collector

[orvet]

But now you have me a little esscared. I feel I may be morphing from an accumulator to a collector

The collector is always the last to know!

[tjmurphy]

Well, I've got the knife in hand. I'm going to go out on a limb (a fat one but a limb just the same) and say that this knife is probably post WWII, and made up of left-over parts. The handles are cocobolo, bolsters are nickel-silver, pins and liners are brass, blade pivot pin and bail are steel and a good guess is that the pin attaching the bail is nickel-silver. A lot of different materials.

Dale, what are the materials of construction on the UTICA TL-29 that you show in your picture? It appears to be steel through and through.

[garddogg56]

Gut me a Camillus electrician with an Ideal etched blade.She cleaned up well.

[orvet]

Well, I've got the knife in hand. I'm going to go out on a limb (a fat one but a limb just the same) and say that this knife is probably post WWII, and made up of left-over parts. The handles are cocobolo, bolsters are nickel-silver, pins and liners are brass, blade pivot pin and bail are steel and a good guess is that the pin attaching the bail is nickel-silver. A lot of different materials.

Dale, what are the materials of construction on the UTICA TL-29 that you show in your picture? It appears to be steel through and through.

Brass liners, steel bolsters & bail.
The pins are brass, including the rocker pin. Note in the picture I posted that it has an extra pin at the upper edge of the handle, slightly behind the rocker pin.
This is the only TL-29 I recall seeing that has 3 handle pins.

[tjmurphy]

Brass liners, steel bolsters & bail.
The pins are brass, including the rocker pin. Note in the picture I posted that it has an extra pin at the upper edge of the handle, slightly behind the rocker pin.
This is the only TL-29 I recall seeing that has 3 handle pins.

Are you referring to the UTICA that you posted?? I don't see any of that in the picture. The three handle pins and the rocker all appear to be steel and the lock, being part of the liner, also appears to be steel. The pin configuration appears to be the same for all three knives.

[orvet]

Are you referring to the UTICA that you posted?? I don't see any of that in the picture. The three handle pins and the rocker all appear to be steel and the lock, being part of the liner, also appears to be steel. The pin configuration appears to be the same for all three knives.

Maybe this will help, I polished up the handle and liner a bit so you can see they are brass-

Note the pin at the top of the handles. I have not seen this pin on other versions of a knife stamped TL-29.

A view of the back so you can see the brass liners-

I would postulate this knife was made shortly before WWII or very early on in the war, before the brass was all being used for shell casings.