Farmer's Jacks

[#goldpan]

Man I love these farmer's jacks! You guys have some very cool knives! Someday I'm going to get one for my self! Thanks for sharing fellas.

Randy

[carrmillus]

Latest.

A Western States Boulder Colo. I believe it is Utica made?

.......wlf, that one is beautiful!!!!............. ..................

[dcgm4]

Awesome, Lyle!

[ScoutKnives]

Very nice !

[djknife13]

A lot of my focus in collecting has been Westerns, and I love farmer jacks. I have never seen a western farmer jack until now. There can't have been many of them made. Awesome knife.___Dave

[wlf]

Thanks Randy and Tommy and Dave and SKs (sorry I forgot your name,I met you and your son last year in Lakeland ).

Dave I said somewhere ,some dealers don't even know what one is.

I also met a guy named Gary ? from Canada in Lakeland last year. A dealer had told me he was a large collector of Western,and he had a table and a Western display( maybe just books ?). I asked him if he had ever seen a Western farmers jack.

He said he didn't think they made one. I told him I had a catalog cut of one,I don't know if he believed me, but one of the days after he told me I was right. He had found the cut in one of his catalogs.

[wlf]

A new one.Here we have an anomaly. This A Fields Progress is not the typical approximate 4" farmers jack,being only 3 3/4". Another atypical characteristic is the solid bolsters( no rat tails),which are seen sometimes,but not often.The Holley I have is 3 3/4" .I have no idea who made it.I can't remember if it was John K,Mike L,Roger R,Wade,or someone I missed that alerted me to this one. I have been blessed with a lot of friends looking out for me.I missed out on the S Norvell that just sold on eBay.

[wlf]

Sterling Cutlery Co Germany.I've found no information on this mark except Goins says F Sterling Company was German and McIllwaine,Linn ,and Hughes had this trademark in NY. So??

[btrwtr]

A handsome addition Lyle.

[Mumbleypeg]

I really like the stag and the bolsters on that one Lyle! Wonder how old the knife is?

Ken

[wlf]

100 years would be very close Ken, and thanks again for your concern.

Thanks Wayne,missed you at Blade.

[1967redrider]

More beauties, Lyle!

[LongBlade]

Awesome additions Lyle!! Especially that Sterling Cut Germany - just some lovely stag on that one and looks like pretty full blades... would love to see all your FJs up close and personal someday... I've only seen a few FJs to date in hand and that was at one show & one dealer who had 2 to sell - but they were not within my focus so let them go.... someday I'll add one.. patience is a virtue here

[Dinadan]

Those are a pair of old beauties, Lyle. The stag on that Sterling really is fine. Thanks for posting those!

[wlf]

I am excited to have purchased two new to me farmers jacks although both are redundant in their own way.

Here is the first.A Schrade S 7309F double spring (The only legitimate farmers jack I have found with 2 springs). I have posted another on this thread,which for some reason I can't find the post, that was given me by David Anthony.

It had lost it's handles,as the Fibestos (Schrade's trademark name for these handles) was not hardy, and was rehandled in walnut,which I stained black. This one has it's original handles and seems almost full blades,except for the kinda unusual small belly in the modified pruning blade,which is a Wharncliffe blade. as explained in Scrades catalog cut below.

The handles are badly shrunk and pulled up on the pins.This post from 4/5/2006 by Rich Langston explains more about it:

" Rescue and return of Farmer Jack

As I have said in the past Rarity and condition are two of the biggest factors to be considered by the collector. Often times if a knife is very rare the condition is not as important as it would be on a model or pattern not as unusual or as difficult to obtain. Once in a while you will find a knife which is both rare and in excellent condition. Even more rare is to find an example to which you can validate with a history or provanance. In the past this was not as difficult to do as it is today. In the past people did not know what they had. In todays market the public is much more informed and growing more so each day. The exception to this is when a knife is so rare that people do not recognize it or you know something about that is not generally known or understood. Then once in a while a knife will ( so to speak ) fly under the radar.

I recently received a knife that I purchased on ebay. It is a S7309F (see pic catalogue ref) which is a 4,1/8" Budding and Pruning knife. These were also called farmers jacks, farmer knives, and Wharncliff jacks. These knives had an unusual patterned budding blade with a bark loosener and a pruning blade. This model was handled in Fibestos. This was a very early step up from celluloid and more stable. They also made this knife in a bolstered, shielded bone stag version # S7303 as well as an imi ivory cell version #S7304W. While celluloid and jigged bone can be replaced the original Fibestos is and never will be available again. The fact is that ( relatively ) very few of these were made, as well as this materials property of getting brittle over the years ( it was a form of early plastic) and breaking, means that very few examples in good condition even exist and most of those are in more common patterns that these materials were used on.

While years ago I did own a jigged bone version. I was forced to trade it to another collector as part of 8 knives I traded for a Press Button Guardian. I needed the knife for a book I was writing and really had no other choice. Since then I have seen a couple they were part of the Schrade collection. The only one I have ever seen in fibestos was the one in this collection and it was in pristene condition. When it was announced that Schrade would be selling its collection piece by piece at auction upon liquidation. A 30 page individual listing of these knives was put out. I still have that copy and on page 6 it lists the knife to which I refer. I had noted it to bid on it. ( see pic actual listing from originaly listed pieces ) . As we all know the auction never happened Smokey cut a deal bought it all and has been selling it.

I remembered seeing the knife and it was listed on page 6 of 30 on panel #7B. Because of my affialiation with Schrade I had taken pictures of these panels but since Smokey was on the way to pick them up at the time I was a bit rushed and did not number the panels. Now looking through I cannot find the exact knife however I included a pic of the bone version in the collection which was also on a panel just to show how they were displayed. ( see pic). Schrade made many variations of budding knives most were quite common this model was not.

This knife was apparently sold to a ( well known dealer ) who put it on ebay. He lists it as coming from the Schrade collection and having been bought from Smokey. A couple of well known names bid on it and i sniped it . Sniping is about the only way I seem to be able to bid anything since as soon as I bid early usually other bidders jump in ( from all over). I do not know if it is because of me or everyone has that problem but sniping is fair as far as I am concerned. In this case I paid 130 plus shipping. I was amazed and would have gone much higher ( higher than any sane person would have). The knife is perfect it is like holding a piece of living history. A truly rare pattern in a rare material in Near mint condition. To me this is a treasure.

I have related this story only to show that these items are out there, and present, to the modern collector one of the last opportunitys to save these bits of history and in some cases find items at flea markets and garage sales worth many time what they pay for them. It like any field requires study and determination. I would strongly suggest any reference books available. References aside from informing the reader whet the appetite. This old farmer is back home surrounded by its contemporarys, in a 80 year old Schrade Cutlery display case ( the way it should be ). "

[wlf]

Next comes farmer jack royalty. I had asked Charlie C if he would bring his Ken Erickson to GEC to allow me to examine it's beauty firsthand. You know I'm kinda interested in all farmers jacks! I grin

Upon setting up Charlie told me to place it along side it's sister for display, which I gladly did. When packing up, Charlie said he had thought about it and that knife probably belonged with it's sister in the farmers jack collection,would I like to purchase it. Would I!

I had bit my tongue all the time Charlie owned it,as I know he admires his Ken Erickson knives as much or more than any knife he owns.Luckily I had purchased a Ken rendition of a Remington jack that I could include in the deal to get the farmers jack, so I didn't feel too opportunistic.

Thanks again my friend. Here they are:

[LongBlade]

Love the Schrade Lyle but those Erickson Farmers jacks are spectacular ... the stag is beautiful but the bone (or is it ivory) is awesome!! Nice as always Lyle!!

[wlf]

Thanks Lee, it's elephant's tooth.

[peanut740]

Lyle that is a fine pair!
You know Fibestos sound like an awful disease.

[olderdogs1]

Nice ones' Lyle

Tom

[Mason]

Next comes farmer jack royalty. I had asked Charlie C if he would bring his Ken Erickson to GEC to allow me to examine it's beauty firsthand. You know I'm kinda interested in all farmers jacks! I grin

Upon setting up Charlie told me to place it along side it's sister for display, which I gladly did. When packing up, Charlie said he had thought about it and that knife probably belonged with it's sister in the farmers jack collection,would I like to purchase it. Would I!

I had bit my tongue all the time Charlie owned it,as I know he admires his Ken Erickson knives as much or more than any knife he owns.Luckily I had purchased a Ken rendition of a Remington jack that I could include in the deal to get the farmers jack, so I didn't feel too opportunistic.

Thanks again my friend. Here they are:

Incredibly beautiful knives!!!
I had the pleasure to meet Ken Erickson at a show a few years back. Aside from being a wonderfully talented knife maker, he is also a heck of a nice guy.

[wlf]

Thanks Friends of mine.

I thought it interesting how the part of the ivory on the white one, that I grasp with my thumb to get it out of the folder; has yellowed much more than the rest.

[peanut740]

Lyle you need to wash your hands.

[wlf]

Thanks for the friendly advice ole buddy.

An old man once told me a little dirt won't hurt ya, you're made out of mud.....

[thegreedygulo]

Handsome pair of knives Lyle. Congratulations!