All About Pocket Knives

gmusic wrote:There is a definite deference between what some refer to as true 1st generation knives and second run 1st generation knives.
Compare the two 1985 knives below. The top one is a 1st generation knife. The pulls have more serrations, the shield is pointed, the stag is finished quite differently.
Was there a change up in tooling half way through the run? Why are they so different?
Many would argue the point and it’s never been proved when the knives were actually made……………..thus the mystery.

My own opinion is that the North Carolina Tobacco King is not a true first generation knife. I am also of the opinion that it is not a second generation and that it is not a "Gronauer retirement vault Knife". I believe that they were not made at the same time. This is not the only series of stag Bulldog knives where questionable knives have been made. I see them on the bay all the time with Buy It Now and inflated prices.

Here's why - look at the picture of the 8 stag knives - the 4 knives on the right are correct - those on the left are not - some of those that are not correct came with papers (COA) that the knives were guaranteed to be first generation. Well, the STAG is different (appears to be a different species than Sambar and is hafted a bit differently, the shield is different, the blades have different pulls (different serrations on all 4 knives - on all 3 blades), and what you can't see but I can feel is that the knives have less walk and talk - the true first generations also have a better fit/finish. Some of the first generation knives also have 4 pins showing rather than 3 pins. There is more but that is enough for me to be of the opinion that these knives were made at different times - other than 1984.

In Jim Parker's book Pocket Knife Trader's Price Guide vol. 3 (copyright 1997) There is a picture of one of the Tobacco King sowbellies on page 42 (a Virginia Tobacco King, BKC 282). It is like the Ohio Tobacco King that is pictured above by gmusic. It has a nice pointed leaf like the first generation stag knives should - first generation celluloid tobacco Kings have the rounded leaf with second generation knives having an acorn shield.

In Jim Parker's book Pocket Knife Trader's Price Guide vol. 7 (copyright 2004) There is a picture of all 4 of the stag of the Tobacco King sowbellies on page 46 (an Ohio Tobacco King BKC 279, a Virginia Tobacco King-BKC 282, a North Carolina Tobacco King-BKC 280, and a Kentucky Tobacco King-BKC 281 ) and all have the wrong shield for a first generation Tobacco King - they changed the picture to a knife that is not correct!

The same picture with incorrect first generation Tobacco King knives is in vol. 8 on page 30.

Check out the pictures. Also, here is a link to Bernard Levine's comments at bladeforums on Jim Parker. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... p?t=570955 You probably have to log in before reading.

Hi Hukk I had to log in just to say you still got it... got to go find a stag bulldog picture now....

Red stag Anglo Saxon Bulldogs... sold them years ago ...

Here's my current favorite Stag Dog.

There's some beautiful knives here. Thanks for sharing the pics.

This Wharnecliffe Whittler is the only Bulldog I own. If anyone can tell me a bit about it in terms of date I would be grateful.



Cheers

David

I can just make out the double dog head ( I think ) tang stamp. If that is right, then the knife was made between 2000 & 2004. In 2000 the standing dog stamp was phased out and the double dog head started. Both stamps were used in 2000. In 2004, I think, the knives went back to the fighting dogs stamp. I don't know if the two head stamp carried over into 2004. By the way, that is a good looking knife. They are getting hard to find now, especially in stag.

Rustle47 wrote:I can just make out the double dog head ( I think ) tang stamp. If that is right, then the knife was made between 2000 & 2004. In 2000 the standing dog stamp was phased out and the double dog head started. Both stamps were used in 2000. In 2004, I think, the knives went back to the fighting dogs stamp. I don't know if the two head stamp carried over into 2004. By the way, that is a good looking knife. They are getting hard to find now, especially in stag.

Thanks for the info, Rustle47. Yes it is the Double Dog Head tang stamp so you've answered my query with some extra info thrown in for free. Thank you also for your comment on the knife itself. My only issue with it is that the spring is a bit wimpy. In spite of that I love it.

David

Ain't seen any pillbusters in the bunch. Here's a 96, an 97.