Nice knives Roger, I think the 1920 KK is harder to find than the1920 Winchester. I have only seen one of the KK before. Nice old Winchesters in this post.peanut740 wrote:I don't know if Winchesters were made in the Walden plant,But Keen Kutters were made in the Winchester plant.
Thanks Harold.You are correct about the KK 1920 hunters.I`ve only seen 2 or 3 over the years including the one I have.1920 Winchesters are fairly common,but real good ones are not.I`m on the lookout for etched original Winchesters all the time,but has a whole they are hard to find.You can find at least a 100 etched Remingtons to every Winchester.stockman wrote:Nice knives Roger, I think the 1920 KK is harder to find than the1920 Winchester. I have only seen one of the KK before. Nice old Winchesters in this post.peanut740 wrote:I don't know if Winchesters were made in the Walden plant,But Keen Kutters were made in the Winchester plant.
Harold
...
... Yes Lee,both marked 1920.LongBlade wrote:Awesome knives Roger, Bill and Harold
Roger - The side by side of the Winchester with the Keen Kutter was very cool !! One question- I couldn’t quite read the Keen Kutter model # - was it also exactly the same??
Bill - That is one beauty from end to end !!
Harold - That coke bottle jack and serpentine pen with etch are awesome - the hunter is awful nice too but those other 2 patterns are very appealing !!! The bone is so nice on that pen knife too.. and on the hunter I quite like the jigging pattern the way it was angled from top and bottom from both sides to meet at the shield
Given the info that not many were etched I guess I got lucky on the Jr Stock Whittler as the etch was nice and clear (better seen if you click and enlarge that photo) - I’m not a big fan of celluloid (though this has remained stable since I bought it years back) but that knife was hard to resist when I found it at a little shop off the beaten track.
All I know is what is in the books e.g. Stewart and Ritchie, Goins et al. They say that Winchester gained control of Walden's plant in August 1922 and moved the equipment to New Haven in September of 1923, therefore there might have been Winchester knives produced in the Walden plant for about 13 months. The knives themselves tell the story more eloquently, regardless of the physical location of their production the fact that the knives were produced by the same people using the same equipment is apparent from a close examination (e.g. peanut's KK and Winchester folding hunters). Sort of a variation on Levines' dictum "read the knife not the tang stamp".JAMESC41001 wrote:I believe Winchester knives were made in the Walden plant but I have not found any supporting documentation to confirm this. Have you seen any such documentation you can direct me to or maybe shed some more light on this. I would much appreciate it as I am studying Honk Falls Knives and have been looking closely at Winchester, keen kutter, Walden and of course Napanoch. As you probably know Honks are a bit Tricky. Any info on this would be a great help.msteele6 wrote:One thing about Winchesters is that many of them were made by Walden, therefore many patterns are identical to Keen Kutter's and by studying Keen Kutter's, which are fairly well documented, you can learn something about Winchesters.
Jay
.... for me seeing the ephemera and the historical perspective is just as good as seeing any knife in my opinion!! Thanks for taking the time to share and post it!!! 
.... the history though in general as you allude to is quite convoluted for Winchester - between Napanoch, Eagle, Walden than merger with Simmons etc (connection with Keen Kutter) - In a way an interesting area for one to focus a collection just given connections and a collection of knives from those makers would be cool - all those company knives plus Honk Falls which was started by disgruntled old Napanoch employees at Winchester after 2 years in New Haven ... ... as I read those marked on both blades were higher end but the font on your secondary is interesting to me - differs than that on my bone jack secondary pen - and again not sure when that font was used ... Beautiful knife JohnR!!!JohnR wrote:A lot of good information posted recently, thank you all.
I only have 2 Winchesters in the collection, not an easy knife to find in good condition, this one is a nice bone dogleg without dash marks next to trademark and while both blades marked Winchester the pen uses a different font. If I'm reading the thread correctly this is possibly an earlier made knife.
Lee, I was pretty lucky to find that info. It is a small piece of the research I have been collecting for a collectors guide to Honk Falls Knives that I have been working on for sometime now. As you know there is very little information on this company so all the info has to be collected the old fashion way. I’ve made several trips to Napanoch and Walden visiting museums and libraries and also meeting wile historians and life long residents. Winchester and the associated companies are all studies unto themselves. Add to that the history of the Hudson River valley and edged cutting tool in general and you could fill libraries with the information. Honk Falls Knife had its roots in the industrial revolution. The D&H Canal, electrical power, advances in steel, tariffs, WW1 and the Great Depression all had an influence on these knife companies and how the story played out. It really is a fascinating study if your interested in these sort of things. So far I have been able to photograph 45 different patterns and variations of Honk Falls Knives and two tool kits and as someone posted earlier the knives tell the story. Seeing them and comparing them to Winchester, Keen Kutter, and thier Napanoch predecessors, along with a little background information a clearer picture emerges on this little know yet significant part of cutlery history.LongBlade wrote:Great info James
I had heard Eagle was no doubt into mass fast production of knives - I have an Eagle Co Boys knife as an example but don’t have photos (good example of stamp but blade has no snap
Awesome Winchester Jack John
This thread has been quite enlightening - great discussion on a company that we haven’t discussed much on AAPK
That is some great research JayJAMESC41001 wrote:Lee, I was pretty lucky to find that info. It is a small piece of the research I have been collecting for a collectors guide to Honk Falls Knives that I have been working on for sometime now. As you know there is very little information on this company so all the info has to be collected the old fashion way. I’ve made several trips to Napanoch and Walden visiting museums and libraries and also meeting wile historians and life long residents. Winchester and the associated companies are all studies unto themselves. Add to that the history of the Hudson River valley and edged cutting tool in general and you could fill libraries with the information. Honk Falls Knife had its roots in the industrial revolution. The D&H Canal, electrical power, advances in steel, tariffs, WW1 and the Great Depression all had an influence on these knife companies and how the story played out. It really is a fascinating study if your interested in these sort of things. So far I have been able to photograph 45 different patterns and variations of Honk Falls Knives and two tool kits and as someone posted earlier the knives tell the story. Seeing them and comparing them to Winchester, Keen Kutter, and thier Napanoch predecessors, along with a little background information a clearer picture emerges on this little know yet significant part of cutlery history.LongBlade wrote:Great info James
I had heard Eagle was no doubt into mass fast production of knives - I have an Eagle Co Boys knife as an example but don’t have photos (good example of stamp but blade has no snap
Awesome Winchester Jack John
This thread has been quite enlightening - great discussion on a company that we haven’t discussed much on AAPK
Jay
... I love doing that myself - it can take lots of time - a labor of love as they say - but the end result after lots of digging can be quite rewarding!!! Lots of history there as you note and many connections - the sorting when the pieces come together I also find to be quite enjoyable - Best of luck finishing the collectors guide on Honk Falls Look forward to seeing it someday - its nice to see folks like yourself providing more background & clarity on significant aspects of cutlery history that will become a useful resource for many!!
