UTICA !!!

[edgy46]

Thanks for the replies to my question. Sometimes I think I've got Rogers bone sorted out, then sometimes it I feel it is a very broad category

[upnorth]

Nice collection of Rodger bone, Dale. And a beauty of a Utica, JKB!!

Here is a scout knife, branded KeenKutter that likely was made by Utica. Does anyone know for sure??

[Owd Wullie]

I don't know anything about that except that it is DEAD SEXY!!!!

[Miller Bro's]

CC,

Check out these two, both KK knives.

Can you tell the different between the two..........real easy!

I will tell you what you cannot see.

KK on left hand side of picture:
Is just like your knife has the same markings and pattern number on the back of the blade.
It has a thick steel center spacer/liner with brass outer liners.
The shield has two pins.

Scout knife on right hand side of picture below:
No pattern number and has a thick brass center spacer/liner and brass outers.
One pin in the shield.

Both can opener blades are unmarked and both punch blades are identical.

[upnorth]

Dimitri, the spring pin is brass on the right (brass liner) knife. The jigging looks different, but I can't see it well enough to tell why. Are the shields marked or plain??

[jerryd6818]

The company that made Rogers Bone was Rogers Mfg. Co. of Rockfall, CT. They made bone fertilizer and other bone items as early as 1891. They started making bone knife handles about 1900. About WWI, they traded their fertilizer operation to Rogers & Hibbard for Rogers & Hibbard’s bone products business, including their bone handle making business. From then on Rogers Mfg. Co. was the biggest manufacturer of bone products in the USA, They also made toothbrush handles, combs, baby pacifiers, and bits for corncob pipes.

The Rogers Mfg. Co. name for what we today call “Rogers Bone” was believe it or not “Rogers Stag.” They made small quantities of other jigging styles as well.

Rogers Mfg. Co. stopped selling bone knife handles in 1962. As you might imagine the plastics industry had pretty much eliminated the need for many of their bone products. When was the last time you went to the store and bought a new toothbrush with a bone handle, or a bone comb or baby pacifier?

*Info gleaned from an article by Bernard Levine. Knife World, November 1987.

Below are some examples of what I have heard called Rogers Bone.
You will note considerable difference in depth of jigging, which makes some patterns appear to be different from others. Keep in mind that these are all 50+ years old, some closer to 75+ years old. A lot of pocket wear can take place in that length of time. I believe this accounts for the different appearance of the bone.

Dale

Wow! Dale, those are some fine examples of jigged bone handles. No wonder they called it "Rogers Stag". That's just gorgeous. It's a dirty shame those jigging machines are not still in use today.

[Miller Bro's]

The jigging looks different, but I can't see it well enough to tell why. Are the shields marked or plain??

Yes, different jigging pattern.

Both shields are plain, no embossing.

I have had lots of these and have yet to see the shields embossed

[edgy46]

Hit the jackpot Saturday Kutmaster four blade stockman. Bone handles,nickel silver milled liners. It must have been milled after the liners and bolsters were assembled as the bolsters show some milling. Love nickel silver liners, they just set off a knife and I never can part with them. Unless someone has way way too much money. After taking pictures I was inspecting (fondling) my new treasure I noticed a v at the bottom of the tang stamp, does anyone have any info on this mark. edit for more info the v that i mentioned above is on the reverse of the other three blades?

[Ramrod]

Edgy,
I agree with ya, and really like knives with n/s liners. I also think the milled liners are great and add alot to a knife. You've got both there!!
Mark

[Paul M]

It's been a while since I posted some new (old) Knives. I have been on a Utica streak of late. Here are 4 of my latest, these old Utica's are hard to find!
Top 2 Jacks have the Arched Stamp with Serifs, the Toothpick is also Arched sans serif and the Jack on the bottom has the Strait Line Stamp and is all steel only brass pins.
I love the old bone on these.

[jerryd6818]

Paul, I'm not an old knife guy but the WOW factor on those Uticas is over the moon. Thanks for showing them.

[Paul M]

Thanks Jerry, my pleasure. Utica made beautiful knives back in the day.

[tjmurphy]

Here's my Utica

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[cattaraugus57]

wow nice stuff guys!
Saw a really nice Utica at the show but by then was out of cash

[galvanic1882]

This is one of the first Utica's that I bought years ago before I bought all the knives from the Factory collection. It is one of the oldest ones I own. Note the UTK stamping on he back tang which is the earliest mark. I love the Utica etch that is on old Utica's, really classy to me. It's only 3" closed but a real beefy knife.

[jerryd6818]

Uticas seem to range from really, really good to really, really bad. This is the Utica Premium Stockman my daughter gave me for Christmas. You can't appreciate what a well made knife this is until you hold it in your hand.

The only other Utica I owned, I sent off in the POS roundtable. Maybe I should have kept it so I would have one from each end of the spectrum.

[Paul M]

This is one of the first Utica's that I bought years ago before I bought all the knives from the Factory collection. It is one of the oldest ones I own. Note the UTK stamping on he back tang which is the earliest mark. I love the Utica etch that is on old Utica's, really classy to me. It's only 3" closed but a real beefy knife.

Wow! that is a beauty galvanic1882!! love that etch also but that bone is something else.

[orvet]

I found a couple Uticas at the OKCA show this weekend.
This is a Kutmaster fish knife. It has been used.
The master blade is abut 1/4" short from sharpening.
The secondary blade has the hook remove/fish scaler/caplifter.
This is the first Utica or Kutmaster fish knife I have seen.
Not that they are rare, I have just not seen one before.

I will post more pics later.

[jerryd6818]

Dale, that looks like solid bolsters and celluloid handles. Are you going to re-handle it? Maybe something in a nice red Micarta?

[orvet]

Micarta would look nice Jerry, but I think bone would look better (just my personal preference). I picked up so many knives at the show this weekend that it will be a while before I get around to doing anything with the fish knife.

Here is another Kutmaster that I found at the show.
What interests me is the handles are stainless steel, but the blades & springs are carbon steel.
I wonder what the purpose in that was?

[knifeaholic]

These celluloid handled knives all have the older arched UTICA tang stamping.

I collected these metallic flake celluloid knives for a long time, and I believe that the pattern of horizontal red and gold stripes is unique to Utica...I have only seen these handles on knives marked UTICA or on knives that I believe were mad on contract by UTICA.

[edgy46]

My latest Utica Kutmaster. Three and seven eighths closed with bone handles and nickle silver liners.
This one has a T below the tang stamp. Anyone have any info, or want to take a guess about the T?

[paulsvintage]

nice old one you got edgy ! maybe tungsten steel

[edgy46]

Thanks Paul.

[trutemper]

Some of the nicest Uticas I`ve ever seen here and I been around a day or 2.... Thanks for the photos guys!
Bob