Thanks for sharing all your Russell photos
in photo number One of the 11 knives with straight line Russells there are several knives that catch my attention.
1. blades
starting on the lower left and counting up, knife #1 has an unusual Clip point blade. Compare it to the #3 knife that has a different nail nick and the angle of the clip point is different. Note that Knife #5 has a similar nail nick and profile as #3. I suspect the #1 is the oldest, and to me, the #5 is particularly nice looking. #10 has a nice full blade, its a nice one.
2. handles
the handle on knife #2 is unusually rounded, it bothers me, but might just be something that an individual reshaped. On #8 there is a non standard pin placement, could be a repair, or an unusual batch. I like the handle shape on #8, #9, and #11, they are sort of flat slab saw cut, not rounded. But rounded is also original, #10 being a good example.
3. Blade pivots
#10 is an excellent example of where a Russell blade pivot pin is placed. Slightly to the side of the point of the arrow on the bolster. This is a good feature to look for. Replacement blades sometimes have the blade pivot further forward of the arrow head, and more centered. I will come back to this in other photos.
In photo number Two, showing 6 knives with curved line Russells
1. blades
starting left to right, #1 has a different nail nick than #2 whose nick is very deep. I would be curious to see close ups of those two tang stamps. #2 stands out as unusual.
2. handles
there are some nice looking rounded light yellow handles, #1 is nice, as well as #5. knife #3 has the middle handle pin not in the center, what I call a Camillus style handle.
3. Blade pivots
#2 pivot is very visible. Sometimes this is because it was a blade replacement, but the blade is still a Russell Harrington blade I think, because the pivot pin is in the correct location.
photo number Three, the 2 knives with blades stamped with diamonds
1. blades
#1 is possibly the fullest blade of your group of knives. I would like to see a photo of the tang stamps of #1. I believe it may be a 1950's Russell Dexter blade replacement. #2 is very unusual and may be an old blade from a Russell Jack knife, not originally a barlow, not sure.
2. handles
#1 excellent looking smooth yellow, possibly a well loved knife that was sent in for blade replacement.
3. Blade pivot pins
both #1 and #2 have visible pins, most likely from blade replacement. The tang stamp on #2 is rather unusual, it combines a straight stamp with the use of the R and USA stamps. Could be older than the curved stamp series. Curved stamps started in 1933 with the merger of Russell with Harrington.
photo number Four of 3 knives whose middle handle pins are not centered
1. Blades
#1 has an unusual 3 line tang stamp, I can't quite read it, but it does not appear to be Russell, Im curious if you can make out what it says. #2 looks like a Camillus blade to me, is the swedge only on the mark side? Please post a photo of this knife showing the blade from both sides. Long nick Russells are not original, in my opinion. I believe some are Camillus.
2. Handles
all 3 knives are good example of non Russell handles, based on the middle pin position.
3. Blade pivots
the pins on all 3 knives are further forward than on original russels. Those are good examples of a feature to look for as non original.
Photo Five of 7 knives whose tang stamps are not legible
1. Blades
#5 looks like a very full blade with a shallow nail nick, I think it is a nice one original. #6 and #7 with the long pulls I believe are not original.
2. handles
#4 bothers me, it is unusually rounded, but could have been modified by an owner. #5 and #6 have very nice handles. #7 has an extra pin in the handle, likely a repair.
3. Blade pivots
#6 pivot looks like a pin replacement with a non Russell blade. #7 pivot seems too far forward, looks like a repair with a non original blade.
One of my goals is to determine if any long pull bladed knives are non original. You have 3 long pull blades. The #2 knife in photo group 3 has a camillus style handle with the middle handle pin not in the center, so clearly not original. The #7 knife in photo group 4 is heavily modified with the blade pivot not in original position. The #6 knife shows what appears to be a blade pivot pin replacement, I don't think the blade is original.
I hope my comments are useful. Disclaimer, I am not an expert, these are just my observations, and I encourage you to get other opinions.
thanks for taking the time to share your photos, they make an excellent study tutorial of the variations in Russells from the Straight tang stamp era, 1876-1933, the curved stamp era 1933-1941, and you even have some very interesting blades with diamonds on the tang stamp that I believe are from after WW2, but I could be mistaken.
here btw is a picture of a knife dragunski linked to above, it has diamonds on the tang stamp, but the nail nick and the shape of the clip portion of the blade are different than on your yellow handled clip blade with the diamonds stamp, which is why I suggested the blade could be from a 1968 set built by Colonial, for which Russell also provided blades.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZQAo ... E60_57.JPG
and here is a Camillus of mine,
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-R3-f ... G_7148.JPG
I think your long pull knife #2 in photo Four, pictured also here
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3YOB ... /image.jpg
with non centered middle handle pin, may have the same blade
Wow now that's a Russell for sure royal0014. I think I have a couple of Russells. Real and fake. I'll try to dig 'em out over the weekend and post some photos.
