America's "Little Sheffield"

[FRJ]

Nice knives, Roger, Ken and Dan.

[FRJ]

Looks like the Ulster brand doesn't hold the interest like the others....

Now hold on thar just a dadgum minute there ..............

Here's one that's interesting ..............

[danno50]

very nice pearly Ulster, Joe! Very classy when the backspring fills part of the void in the blade well of the pen blade.
Dan

[FRJ]

Thank you, Dan.
The old ones always seem to be classy don't they.

[tongueriver]

Saw this today.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-WALLKILL- ... 1438.l2649

[FRJ]

Here's a nice old horticulture knife.

[danno50]

Very nice, Joe! Ken, the originator of this thread, seems to have abandoned us?
Dan

[FRJ]

Thank you, Dan.
Ken posted last time on December 19. I hope he comes back. I liked his posts and he had a lot of information to share.
This is a good thread. I didn't want it to get lost.

[danno50]

Ken posted last time on December 19. I hope he comes back. I liked his posts and he had a lot of information to share.
This is a good thread. I didn't want it to get lost.

Agreed!

[wlf]

Good catch Joe. Those knives seemed to have nice snap and lovely handles.

[JAMESC41001]

This is a great thread. Hopefully we can keep it going. I collect Hudson Valley marks and recently have been collecting/studying Honk Falls and the history of the company. This is a very interesting company and it ties together some of the giants in the industry. Here are a couple of my Honks. Please post any if you have them.
Happy Easter
Jay

[FRJ]

Those are fine old knives, Jay.

[JAMESC41001]

Thanx Joe, glad you like them.

[BWT]

Very nice Jay, beautiful examples of American knife history!!!

[danno50]

Lovely pair of knives, James!

[JAMESC41001]

Thanks guys. There is an interesting knife on eBay
202276878371 What makes thes interesting is the seller describes the jigging as similar to early Winchester.
Winchester squired the Walden knife co when they merged with EC simmons in 1919. The auction of the Walden factory equipment did not take place until Oct 1928. More then one source has said that Winchester moves all the equipment to Connecticut when they acquired the company. In his book “Old Walden” String Cooper says that work continued in the factory until 1927. This makes sense when you look at the two other acquisitions, Napanoch (know for quality and skilled workers) and Eagle knife co. ( who had unique production line modern equipment) it’s not hard to see what the business model was. If you look at the type of equipment in the Walden auction it would make sense to leave it right where it was. Pretty heavy stuff. Of course there is a lot more to the story and I am not sure if the knife listed is ligit or not but I would love to hear some thoughts on the subject. Thanks again.
Jay

[JAMESC41001]

This is an early pic of the Napanoch knife factory. Notice the power lines. The honk falls power house is right up the road. It opened in 1898. An article in the American Cutler states that the Nap factory was one of its first customers. If you follow the lines down past the factory they head toward the axe factory and the tabacco knife factory.

[danno50]

Great old factory pics, Jay! Below is a link to the auction and a few pictures from the auction. Most of what I have read places the date of the Simmons/Winchester merger closer to 1922 or 1923?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202276878371?_ ... 1758.m4703

I have a few doubts about this one. The jigging doesn't look anything like old Winchester or Walden to me. If you look at the third and fifth pictures I have attached, the hafting is blocky (ie. there is a flat side adjacent to the liners, both spring and well side). An old Walden knife would be hafted more rounded than this. I also think a Walden knife would have left the factory with a tang stamp, not just a blade etch? Just my opinion, I could be full of pickled porcupine poop.

[JAMESC41001]

Thanks Dan, with this one I just don’t know. I have heard of some Walden’s not having tang stamps and after reaching out to the seller he sounds like a stand up guy to me. He certainly deals in very nice knives. The etch does not seem right to me. Does not look like other awalden etch’s but I have never seen one that mint that close up. I appreciate your take on hefting. I did not notice that. I guess whoever buys it will have take a little bit of a leap of faith. I hope it is a ligit Walden from the factory. That would be an outstanding pocket knife.

[JAMESC41001]

I have noticed different types of bone and jigging patterns on some honk falls knives. At least two or three. Not surprising given all the volitility at the time. The Walden auction happened, New York knife co closeted their doors and auctioned of everything. The Nap factory burnt down. So you would think that the different bone and or jigging would give some clues to when and where some pieces were made. I know that some knives were recovered after the fire and finished. I’m wondering if the Honk falls mark was used after that. Just wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts or could shed some light on the matter. Hear is a pic of what looks to be the most common jigging I’ve seen.

[FRJ]

I notice, too, that the hafting is flat at the spring on the larger knife.
Are these Honk Falls knives?
Is this a way Honk Falls would have hafted their knives?

[JAMESC41001]

These are both honks Joe in this case the farmers jack is meant to have the squared bolsters.

[JAMESC41001]

This is a catalog pic of a farmers jack that Napanoch made for Hickory. It is similar to Honk Falls farmer jack. I have seen two. The person who sold me mine and the owner of the other one both say they were recovered from the fire and auctioned off with other salvaged contents. 4-5 of these were at all be auction. Not sure how many were made.
Jay

[wlf]

The Honk Falls and Napanoch are not farmers jacks, but typical of a wharncliff pattern, with a Wharncliff blade. The typical farmers jack has a primary pruning blade and a secondary spey blade.

Those are lovely knives though.

[JAMESC41001]

Sounds about right Lyle. To me it looks like a Wharncliff blade on a farmers jack frame so I just took to calling it it a farmers jack. Here is a big old ebony hack honk. It’handfull in pretty nice shape.
Jay