All About Pocket Knives

The books all say the arched stamped Colonial was used from 1926 thru 1938 by
the Paolantonio brothers in there start of the Colonial Knife Company in Providence,
Rhode Island.

Let's see some of these old ones!

The camera doesn't do this one justice... the picture of the back of the knife is closer
to what the handle really looks like.

..... Joe

Wow Joe...that is a beeeeeeeeauty! Love it!
Here's my one and only arched stamp Colonial, doesn't compare to Joe's by a long shot, but it is an oldie...
And here it is resting in the sun with another oldie...the brown one is just marked "Made in USA" on main blade tang, but I have always suspected it to be an old Colonial. Bobby, whaddaya think? That brown one look familiar to ya?

That single blade jack is unusual as it is a SINGLE BLADE knife! You don't see them often -
especially from Colonial!! Nice, Mike!

The old cell handle knives with the tip bolsters that are stamped U.S.A. or unstamped are
difficult to pin down the maker. (the knives with integral tip bolsters)
The main culprits of these knives are Colonial, Imperial, and Prov. Cut Co.
I believe Imperial actually held the patent on the integral bolster/liners. (or so I was told)

To determine the maker, most of the time you'll need a knife that IS stamped with the company
name for comparison. There are several things to look at. Look at the distance from the end of
the pull to where the clip starts on the blade. Compare the shape of the tang kicks. And MEASURE
the distance from the rocker pin to the other pins; scale pins and pivot pins. Blade thickness also
tells a story - however it doesn't necessarily mean it is from a different company.


Here is a butter & molasses stockman "handle" I picked up in hopes of finding replacement blades for.
No reason to open the knife to show the blades cuz there's not much left. It DOES have the arched stamp.
My first shot was the 4" stockman. This knife came from a house in R.I.! The scales are beginning to gas
out - but the blades cleaned up nicely. I had no clue this was a 4" knife when I bought it and I DID buy
it just for the blades...
Second shot was the little 2 blade jack... turned out that the blades are the correct length BUT there
thinner than the blades I need...

Looks like "Goldie Locks" will have to wait for another knife with full blades to show up. I'd feel kinda
silly asking the sellers to mic the blade thicknesses.

...... Joe

Dam Joe!! I'm just starting to read some of these old post's! You got some nice old Colonials there! All 1930's!!

Dang Joe, that first one is a real beaut! You know I have a weakness for those handles!!

Bob

Boy Joe, you keep pullin' these baby's out! At first glance, I thought the first one was an Imperial but if you say it's stamped Colonial, I believe you! Your knife knowledge is very extensive buddy, I give you a lot of credit! Everything you said is completely accurate;, especially the "steel" bolster's but working on them way back, I was pretty sure the bolster's were IRON!! They used to fight the sanding belts and the grinding wheels back then and an old Italian in the factory said they were iron! Believe me, they were so HARD it was a bitch sanding and polishing them!! I'll show my old timers again here..why not??
Bobby P. CkCo...
(only the second pics are Frosolone knives, pre 1900..

All I have currently is this 2 blade -