2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

The Queen Cutlery Company manufactured knives in Titusville Pennsylvania for 96 years. The company opened its only factory there in 1919 and commenced to make some of the best US crafted cutlery you will find. Unfortunately, the Titusville manufacturing plant closed down in 2018.
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robbobus
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2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by robbobus »

I've had this knife for a number of years, always admired through glass.
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Roland (Kootenay Joe) and I were chatting over the holidays and he mentioned having had wired up display knives which had lost their snap :shock: . Not wanting that to happen, I got around to doing something about the enclocked whittler.
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The staples holding this clock to the frame are tight. Had to bend them right up and carefully removed the clock from the frame.
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They really wired this on tight, no choice but to cut the wires as I wasn't keen on marring the pearl.
robbobus
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by robbobus »

Freedom! The whittler took a deep breath, free of its clockfinement.
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Carefully I pulled it off the clock. At this point I decided to make a little YouTube video for posterity. Thankfully, it walks and talks like it just left the factory. Fit and finish are first rate, pearl is AAA+ - it really is. French Polynesian Black Pearl its called. I have 3 or 4 other black pearl handled knives and this one takes first prize. Colour and depth off the charts. Blade steel is D2 I believe. I took the pics holding it in hand with indirect natural lighting in my basement. Videos are called
2005 Schatt President's Whittler part 1 and 2.
They aren't professional whatsoever, but I wanted to capture what was going to happen after sitting in the half open position for going on 14 years. No deletirious effects in my observation.
I bought this some years ago from traditionalpocketknives.com, they still have some at a great price. This is one of Bill Howard's last Queen knives before he left to start GEC. If it had Northfield on the tang, I wouldn't be able to afford it and everyone would want one.
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Mumbleypeg
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by Mumbleypeg »

robbobus wrote:Freedom! The whittler took a deep breath, free of its clockfinement.
MVIMG_20190101_131507.jpg
Carefully I pulled it off the clock. At this point I decided to make a little YouTube video for posterity. Thankfully, it walks and talks like it just left the factory.
They aren't professional whatsoever, but I wanted to capture what was going to happen after sitting in the half open position for going on 14 years. No deletirious effects in my observation.
Beautiful knife.

I've read occassional posts about knives losing their snap after being confined on display boards in a partially open position. But I've never actually witnessed it first hand. My observations are limited to a sample of maybe 200+/- knives, mostly Case but a few others over the years, that I have removed from boards. Most them having been mounted on a display for at least 20 to 40 years. I've seen the effects of light (faded handle covers) and air (oxidation), wire marks, and glue from labels. But I have never seen one that lost its walk-and-talk. Not gonna say it never has happened but let's just say I'm a skeptic. ::skeptic::

If I had a clock like yours or other display with a knife mounted partially open, I wouldn't worry about it.

Ken
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edge213
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by edge213 »

Did you put it back where it belongs?
David
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Dinadan
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by Dinadan »

Very interesting post, robbobus. I would not hove worried about the springs, but if I had a knife like that I would want to fondle it a bit! That clock is such a nice display case that I would try to figure out a way to put maybe four Schatt and Morgan knives into it, maybe with just the main blade fully open.
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by kootenay joe »

According to steel experts a piece of steel properly tempered to have 'spring' in it, should not loose the 'spring' even if left under tension for many years. If you go back to 1970's ( & '80's ?) many new knives were packaged with blades open, rigid plastic holding knife to printed cardboard back. Schrade did this and other manufacturers as well. You still see these 'trapped' knives on ebay and i have bought a few all of which i removed from the packaging right away. A couple had no snap and the others weak snap. None had crisp snaps and all were very easy to open.
Maybe they were just made with weak springs ? No way to know. But certainly it is not good for a knife to sit with all blades open which is why i suggested Rob free the lovely S&M whittler. It is not possible to appreciate a knife that is wired to a board even if the board is a fancy clock.
Silly idea that i bet slowed sales to very low. We are not clock collectors and our knives already take up too much space without having to find a spot for a big clock. It has made this knife be under appreciated, until now that someone, Rob, has finally taken a close look at it.
We need to "Free The 2005 Queen".
kj
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by robbobus »

[. It is not possible to appreciate a knife that is wired to a board even if the board is a fancy clock.
Silly idea that i bet slowed sales to very low. We are not clock collectors and our knives already take up too much space without having to find a spot for a big clock. It has made this knife be under appreciated, until now that someone, Rob, has finally taken a close look at it.
We need to "Free The 2005 Queen".
kj[/quote]

My sentiments exactly. It felt as if I received the knife new all over again today. Looking at it under glass without any touching was like looking at a nice picture on AAPK. It is a nice display piece but I want to be able to study and appreciate my knives.

I have the 1st through 7th President's Choice knives and would like to come up with some way to show them together. The boxes are ok, but take up alot of space.
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FarSide
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by FarSide »

Very beautiful & well made knife. Glad you freed that one to enjoy it. Thanks for sharing.
-Tim
robbobus
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Re: 2005 President's Whittler Un-Clocking

Post by robbobus »

Just wanted to post up some pics of the whittler with an identical frame but in a pen configuration. Another fine S&M, the mammoth handled Office Knife.
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ki
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