Northfield Knife Co Visit

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LongBlade
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Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by LongBlade »

Recently I had the great pleasure as an invite from my good friend Joe (FRJ) to visit the remains of the old Northfield Knife Co site in Northfield CT. For those not familiar with CT, Northfield and the surrounding area which lays within the “Naugatuck Valley” was the location of multiple early CT makers – Northfield, Excelsior but also Thomaston, American Knife Plymouth, Conn Cutlery, Union Knife Co, etc…. No doubt we had a great time - Joe brought his old book that had photos of the original factory – see below and this gave some orientation as to where we were stepping on the foot steps of those old day workers and cutlers… way too cool – like Disney Land for folks who like old knives and history :wink:

I know Joe has posted some photos of the area in the past but wanted to share photos of our trip there – but also as you will see I took photos of some of our old Northfield and Excelsior knives on one of the only upright mortices left on the remains of what was no doubt a very old quality knife factory. A mortice that was originally chiseled out by hand to hold the anvils for hand forging. This was for me pretty cool – bringing the original knives back to the site in which they were made over 100 years ago and shooting photos of them at their birthplace ;-)… That is what I am calling the “money” shot :lol:

Some background before the photo visit. All these CT cutleries were in existence from the mid-1800s to about 1920-30 (in fact over 85 cutleries existed back in the 19th and early 20th century in CT)… Northfield Knife Co (UN-X-LD – a trademark adopted in 1876 but not on all their knives) was one of the early cutleries in CT (1858-1919) and actually bought at auction the Excelsior Knife Co which only existed from 1880-1884 in nearby Torrington CT.. Unfortunately Excelsior Knife Co was having financial woes after a short lived existence though their knives were indeed of nice quality . Accordingly Northfield Knife Co moved all the Excelsior equipment to the Northfield cutlery site where it was incorporated into the Northfield factory works. Northfield even used the blades (nothing was wasted in that day) from Excelsior for a period of time, and blades were still marked Excelsior Knife Co by Northfield. To me this adds some debate as to whether your Excelsior knife was made 1881-1884 or perhaps abit later at the Northfield site which basically continued with this stamp until approximately 1904 (and a few small variations of it – see Goins for details). Thus knives were made with both the Northfield and Excelsior stamps after the two cutleries merged into one.

Sheffield had a tremendous influence on CT cutleries particularly as many of the workers/cutlers emigrated to the USA from Sheffield during the 1800s. There is a street in the village where many of the workers from Sheffield lived and many of these original houses still exist though I am sure they have had some renovations over the years. Keep in mind all this was clearly within walking distance of the factory site. The name of the street to the shop - Knife Shop Rd - of course :D

One other note before I show a few photos of the old site. Northfield Knife Co was started by Abraham Turner who persuaded a number of cutlers from the nearby Waterville Knife Co to move and start their own knife company. Following a few different Heads of the Northfield Knife Co, Charles Platts who apprenticed in Sheffield and moved to the USA in 1864, became the Superintendent of the Northfield site in 1872. Northfield over the following years exhibited at many World’s Fairs and won numerous prizes for their fine pocket cutlery. The Platts family were all in the cutlery business and even after Charles died in 1900 the family continued in the business – eventually moving on to Cattaraugus Cutlery and to Boulder CO to start the Western States Cutlery.

Back to the visit but it needed some background especially for those not familiar with Northfield…

This first two photos which have been published in a few books including that on Western knives and Great Eastern Cutleries gives the view at the time the cutlery was operating. Note in the first photo the forges were in the buildings to the right and the second photo is the back of the Northfield Cutlery Factory… I will show you the wall and mortices still remaining from the building where the forging of the blades took place in my photo following…
Northfield Cutlery - Early Front View.jpg
Northfield Factory Backside Photo.jpg
Photo of Foundation wall and mortices that held the anvils – note these are now on their sides - this was the right hand side building holding the forges in first old photo:
Foundation Wall of Forge with Mortices DSCN8756.jpg
Pipe which fed the factory operations from a holding pond fed by the Northfield Brook (and unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of the holding pond – next trip ::nod:: ) :
Water Pipe for Factory from Northfield Brook Holding Pond DSCN8724.jpg
An upright mortice which was again hand chiseled to hold the anvil (all others in other photo had fallen over during the years) - this became the platform for some knife photos produced at this site about 100 years ago and more:
Mortice Upright for Photos DSCN8822.jpg
Photo of Northfield and Excelsior knives – the third knife down (Horn handled swell center pen) and Hawkbill to the right are stamped Excelsior Knife Co – all other knives are stamped Northfield Knife Co - interestingly our knives covered all handle materials except for stag and ivory - the "money" shot at their place of birth ;-):
Northfield-Excelsior Knives on Mortice DSCN8790.jpg
Charles Platts House today - exactly as it was pictured in an old photo right below it (basically this house was almost across the street from the factory):
Platts House Today DSCN8836.jpg
Original Platts Home in Northfield.jpg
Charles Platts and his wife, Sarah Platts - Grave Stone and Burial Site within the Platts family plot - all this was within a short distance of the remaining factory site:
Charles Platts (and Wife) Grave in Family Plot DSCN8851.jpg
This was a great time (and thanks again to my good buddy Joe ::tu:: ) and no doubt we will be going back for a few other photos I would like to capture…. And than Joe and I will be moving on to find the other old cutleries including a trip up to Lakeville to see the Holley site which pretty much has remained intact from my understanding….

Cheers
Lee
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by jmh58 »

KOOL!! Thanks for sharing!!! ::tu:: John :D
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by peanut740 »

Lee,I don`t think that is the Charles Platts of Northfield,Cattaraugus,and C Platts and Sons fame.I believe he died in 1900.Accrding to Goins he was superintendent of Northfield starting in 1872 for about 20 years before going to Cattaraugus(which started producing knives c.1886).Before starting his own company(C Platts and Sons) in 1896.I`ll check tonight in "The knife Makers Who Went West"to see if it has some dates etc in it. ::shrug::
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LongBlade
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by LongBlade »

Thanks John and Roger ::tu::

Roger - not sure as the stone was pretty worn but think it said he died on the stone in 1900 so we were assuming that was him (you can clearly see his wife died in 1920 on the stone)... I think it is him ::shrug:: but even if not he must be related :) ....
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by glennbad »

Great post, I love history like that. Sadly, a lot of that type of stuff gets over grown or just plowed under in the name of progress.
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by peanut740 »

LongBlade wrote:Thanks John and Roger ::tu::

Roger - not sure as the stone was pretty worn but think it said he died on the stone in 1900 so we were assuming that was him (you can clearly see his wife died in 1920 on the stone)... I think it is him ::shrug:: but even if not he must be related :) ....
If it said 1900 that's surely him.Your post stated 1880 that is where I got lost. ::tu::
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by LongBlade »

Yikes - thanks for catching that typo or error on my part Roger ::tu:: ::tu:: ...

Now edited above in my post - you know sometimes no matter how many times I read over what I have written my eye does not catch it - in this case I wasn't even thinking about dates and not even sure why I wrote 1880 ::facepalm:: ... thanks again!!

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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by FRJ »

Lee, great thread. We had a really nice day and a big knife show. Thanks for coming up. ::tu::
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by terryl308 »

::tu:: Lee, As you know I love history, thanks for sharing, very interesting. I believe Charlie's wife name was Sarah. I used to deliver steel from downtown Denver to the Western factory in Boulder in 1966-68, I worked for M.L. Foss who sold tool steel, brass, and etc. and machine tools. Again very interesting ::tu:: Terry
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by Lawrence »

Nice story and thanks for sharing LongBlade. It reminds me of visiting Sheffield. Someone at work found out I collected pocket knives and she told me her great grandfather owned a building in Sheffield and he used to rent space out to little mesters...Henry Leah & Sons Yard. When I was in Sheffield I visited Trevor Ablett and Ray Cooper at their shop and they confirmed they knew about the yard. I tracked it down, it was just a stone's throw away from the train station. It's guys like us that look at a building like that and dream of what went on inside. cheers
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wlf
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by wlf »

Her name appears to be Sarah A ?? I'm sure Charles would have wanted her noted,and I do if not.

Nice article Lee ,and thanks Joe.

Sorry Terry I didn't see that you had already identified his wife's name as Sarah Well I suppose she needed double recognition. I grin for her,(I think she had a sunny disposition).

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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by Rookie »

Awesome, thanks for taking the trip and sharing the story/photos. ::tu::
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LongBlade
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by LongBlade »

Thanks all ::tu:: ::tu::

Thanks Terry and Lyle ::tu:: - I have now edited the post to include his wife's name Sarah (which yes should have been duly noted but I couldn't make out the name on the stone as I first noted - but to that point and on Joe's recommendation I do have the Great Eastern Cutlery book coming in the mail which covers Northfield very well from my understanding and most likely her name is noted somewhere in the book.... though if I searched the internet it may also have been found)...

Very cool Lawrence and thanks for posting the photo of the Henry Leah & Sons Yard ::tu:: - my good mate from the fly fishing world (mate being friend to those not familiar with the British term :lol:) lives in Grimsby and promised my next trip over that we would make a day of it in Sheffield ::ds:: .... I agree with you though about the dreaming - when we were at the Northfield site I could hear the hammers banging off the anvils ::nod:: ... to that point when I stopped at what was the old Miller Bros building in Meriden (pics posted in another thread) I did the same thinking about the original photo of the building and imagining the factory as it was more than 100 years ago - my wife who was with me as we were passing through from another nearby town understood why I wanted to find the MB building but didn't quite see it the same as me - however she loves her garden and accordingly she has really taken to my old horticultural knives :D... I'll know where to look if any are missing :lol: ....
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by steve99f »

Great post, thanks for letting us peek over your shoulder.
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Re: Northfield Knife Co Visit

Post by Mason »

Wonderful post and pictures, but made better by a couple of guys getting together to share a great hobby in person.
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