The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

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peanut740
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by peanut740 »

Made by Union Cutlery for the later Napanoch Company in the 1930`s after Winchester bought the original.I have a toenail made by Union with a Napanoch stamp.I have seen a few toenails,so a folding hunter wouldn`t be out of the question.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

Interesting piece. I believe it was made by Nap. Early.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by peanut740 »

Looks nothing like an early Napanoch.Without question made by Union.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by Slab »

Nice! Thanks for the info. Gonna throw it on ebay sometime in the near future if anyones interested. It's personally a little too big for practical use. I'm more of lawn mower blade machete guy for the bush. Nice forum, like most of you guys, I have boxes of these things. This one was just so big, I had to do some research.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by Slab »

pretty sure it's this..
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

This is from Rhett Stidham’s book. Far as I know Union started using the dogs head shield late teens to about 1923. 1920 seems about right. In the 30’s John Cushner was making Napanoch Knives(and maybe Honks) in a barn behind his house, after a fire in 1929 burnt the Honk Falls/ Napanoch factory down. This knife wasn’t made after the Winchester acquisition. I doubt it was made in the K-Bar factory. Nap was contracted to make knives for different companies but not the other way around from my understanding. Could be wrong. Anything is possible. Great piece. The jigging sure don’t look like Nap. Could be an early sample. I’m still thinking early Nap
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by peanut740 »

Winchester bought Napanoch right after WWI. Winchester 1920 and the Napanoch were made on the same tooling,they're the same.The early Napanoch did a lot of contracting for others.The reformed Napanoch started ca.1930.I doubt they had tooling for very many patterns,especially at start up.They would not have made a Knife with a dogshead shield exacting like a Union unless Union made it for them.Then toenail I have is exactly like a Union toenail,even has a Nap.pattern#.Looks nothing like the original Napanoch toenail.It is somewhat less hefty and has a single pull instead of double like the early Naps.Knife companies sometimes had another do contract work when they got behind.But It's believed Union started using the dogshead shield in the 20's so that would rule out that since they sold out in 1919.
The original Napanoch made knives for Wilbert,early W.R.Case and many others.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

this pick is from a listing on an auction site. The seller acquired Rhett’s collection and has been selling to for some time. Rhett himself acquired many Napanoch knives, pictures, parts ect from John Cushners daughters. This made his book possible. The interesting thing to me is he lists the covers as wood??? Seemed odd to me but looking closely at the knife presented here sure looks like wood around the shield. Just an observation. Anyway these are very likely to be from the Nap factory given where they probably came from. If so this knife was also very likely made in the Nap factory.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

Great conversation. I’ve been looking closely at Naps and their history since I have been collecting honk falls for a while now. Funny you mention tooling. If you take some time to look http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/ ... Walden.pdf this is a link to the 1928 Walden auction. Look at the last page you will see John Cushners name hand written. Safe to say he was there buying stuff. This was a year before the fire that ended Honk Falls operating in the old Nap building. Within a year and a half he was up and running in the barn. In that time frame was the NYK Co. auction. I’m going to go out on a limb and say he aquired some equipment there. I don’t have proof of that of coarse but I am working on it.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by Slab »

Yeah. I came to the right place. You guys are the authority on these things. Not sure what the policy on selling is on this forum, but I’d rather one of you guys get it since you were so helpful. I’m a vintage guitar guy, so you’d get much more enjoyment than I. Again I apologize if selling is inappropriate. So... who wants it?
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by Slab »

on ebay... 2/26/18
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by AB_Brodie18 »

Would love to know some information and history on this piece if anyone could helo... thank you kindly
Would love to know some information and history on this piece if anyone could helo... thank you kindly
Would love to know some information and history on this piece if anyone could helo... thank you kindly
Would love to know some information and history on this piece if anyone could helo... thank you kindly
received_657442501306693.jpeg
Would love to know some information and history on this piece if anyone could helo... thank you kindly
Would love to know some information and history on this piece if anyone could helo... thank you kindly
Miller Bro's wrote:This company made high quality knives at the turn of the 20th century. They did not last a long time in business, about 20 years, but they did make some nice knives that are coveted by collectors today.

According to Goins they started in 1900 and then the business was sold to Winchester and all the equipment was moved to Connecticut. So you have hard core Winchester knife and gun collectors seeking knives made by Napanoch as well.

Napanoch made knives for several other companies and retailers, some of which are Ulery, W.R. Case, Sears & Roebuck, and Keene Cutlery Co.

This is one that is marked Keene Cut. Co. and on the reverse tang it is marked Napanoch.

I would like to see your old Napanoch knives in this thread ::nod::
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

peanut740 wrote:Winchester bought Napanoch right after WWI. Winchester 1920 and the Napanoch were made on the same tooling,they're the same.The early Napanoch did a lot of contracting for others.The reformed Napanoch started ca.1930.I doubt they had tooling for very many patterns,especially at start up.They would not have made a Knife with a dogshead shield exacting like a Union unless Union made it for them.Then toenail I have is exactly like a Union toenail,even has a Nap.pattern#.Looks nothing like the original Napanoch toenail.It is somewhat less hefty and has a single pull instead of double like the early Naps.Knife companies sometimes had another do contract work when they got behind.But It's believed Union started using the dogshead shield in the 20's so that would rule out that since they sold out in 1919.
The original Napanoch made knives for Wilbert,early W.R.Case and many others.
Rodger, I found these two Honks, the toenail has different jigged bone then any other honks I’ve seen and looks like it may have been made in the union factory. The other knife looks to have ka bar stlyle bolsters. If they were both Knives made in the union factory this would pretty much validate your point about some post 1930 Naps made by union. Like to hear your thoughts on these two.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by RalphAlsip »

James, the Honk Falls Gunboat is super nice. ::tu:: ::tu::
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

Thanks but these two are not mine. The toenail belongs to a friend and the gunboat is a pic from a previous auction. It is sweet though.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by peanut740 »

James,the toenail I believe is a picture I took of a Challenge sunfish I have. ::shrug::
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

Oops sorry, this is the Honk
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

I have another pic on my computer at work. I took it myself while visiting a fellow collector. The jigging looks very similar to your challenge. I will post it when I can. I’m not sure if it has a double pull but it should have a handle! Hardest pull I have ever felt.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by peanut740 »

James ,I've seen a couple Honk toes and if memory serves they look similar to back one.Original Napanoch toes were double pulls and the Union made later Napanoch's had nail nick pulls. ::tu::
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

Rodger, here is a pic of a Honk toenail. A little out of focus. To me the jigging on this and your challenge look similar. And they both seem different than the typical jigging used by both companies.
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by JAMESC41001 »

I took a photo of this nap recently. Not my knife (unfortunately)
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by RobesonsRme.com »

That’s a beautiful and exquisitely preserved knife.

First class.

Who, of us here, wouldn’t love to own that?

Covetousness inducing item right there.

Charlie Noyes
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by BWT »

I can't say it any better than Charlie did. Beautiful knife Jay!!!
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by RescueRestoreReveal »

Great thread with much appreciated information
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My Nap story starts as I was on the lookout for a hawkbill or pruning knife design to be used when im outside pruning (i know crazy right?)
I visited a once in a blue moon antique store a few towns over and saw a fair collection of slipjoints. Including 2 wood handled pruners(hawkbills i learned later) one was really rusted , the other not as bad.
I couldnt see any maker marks on the tang through the "patina" aka decades of surface rust and human hand oils and grime but, the price was right to take a chance on it.
A week later I had time to violate it er ahem restore /clean it ...i degreased it then into evaporust it went 1hour wasnt enough so a second course then rinsed and cleaned off the residues.I used a wire wheel then oiled it in the springs working it back and forth until no residue seeped out around tang. The wood handle was razorblade scrapped to removed paintflecks,grime,and dirt then oiled with mineral oil at this point the name napanoch was revealed and google led me here. Realizing the age of the knife i decided not to do anything drastic to the knife like putting a mirror polish on it (not that i had planned that initially)
What i thought was just a vintage knife turns out to be over a hundred years old hopefully now it can be used for another century..
G
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Re: The Napanoch Knife Company Napanoch N.Y.

Post by doglegg »

That is a fine looking Hawk bill. Cleaned up nicely. ::tu::
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