All About Pocket Knives

Thank you Phil.
Yes, the perfect Sunday knife.

That MOP is a beauty Joe, carry her in good health my friend!

Just recently acquired this Robeson rare unique shield Pocket Eze Jack. Has dark chocolate brown jigged bone handles and is 3.625" closed. In very high end near mint never sharpened post factory condition. Clean inside and out with no corrosion or discoloring. It is pattern no. 623698.

Special shout-out to Charlie N. who advised and helped me evaluate this specimen prior to purchase. His input gave me the confidence to proceed with the purchase. The knife had some kind of clear coat on the blades that Charlie had seen before and thought this one might also. He was right and advised me on how to get it off. I will let Charlie elaborate more on that if he cares to. Apparently Robeson did this on some of their display knives. Anyway, it cleaned right up and the blades are near mint to mint. Thanks and much appreciated Charlie!!

I have posted a photo of the usually seen Pocket Eze shield most common and frequently encountered if you can even say Pocket Eze folders are frequently encountered especially in high grade condition Lloyd

A beautiful knife and a beautiful shield, Lloyd.

You probably already know that Robeson called that shield a "double bomb shield", according to my Robeson book.

Congratulations on a great knife. Great of Charlie to help you.

Lloyd, that came out better than I thought.

We should show them the auction photos.

Robeson used to put a clear coating on the blades of their display board knives. When encountered now, it has begun to peel or flake off and looks like rust damage. It will clean off with a little naptha or finger nail polish remover, but don't use that on celluloid handled knives unless you are really careful.

Charlie

Lloyd, your Robeson is beautiful!

That is a fine looking acquisition.

Lloyd, congratulations on acquiring that knife. It's a jewel.

You couldn't find a better mentor when it comes to Robesons but I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know.

Thank you very much Joe, Charlie, Ralph, QS and Phil--your kind comments are much appreciated!!

Joe thanks for reminding me about the double bomb shield. I had not remembered that so thank you!

Best, Lloyd

Here's a little pen with Abalone shield.
Thanks for looking.

.............. and I was wondering ..... does anybody know when Robeson used Abalone shields?

Thank you.

I don't believe they did.

Your knife dates from the 1950's and 1960's. During that time, shields were glued on, not pinned. I think your shield fell off and it has been replaced with abalone.

Charlie Noyes

Thank you, Charlie.
So, the glue that didn't stick. There must be a lot of shields from a lot of knife makers littering the country.
Well, it's a nice little knife anyway.

I don't usually buy very small knives unless they have an important name. An important name to me.
Here's a little 2 1/2" Robeson. It behaves like a bigger knife, sunk joints and all.
It even has a clip to make it think its big.

Very nice. I don't think I've ever seen that pattern before.

Charlie

I've never noticed until now but Robeson knives have a very unique flow between the body, and the blades.
I don't know how to explain it but there is something they do in the geometry that makes the knives appear slick, and flowing rather than the sort of bulky/blocky feel of many other brands. Even in similar patterns.

Is this just me on a good day seeing this?

Probably what you are seeing is the flush blades. The backs of the blades on a great many Robeson knives do not project above the frame, hence the name "PocketEze".

Not all Robeson knives were built that way, though.

Charlie

Here is a fine little Robeson. 3 inches closed.
Very finely made knife here. Strong spring.
No pattern number on the back of the tang.
Would this be a pen knife?
Would this be one of Millard Robeson's early imports?
Not mother of pearl covers.

That was Robeson's contribution to a bicentennial celebration of George Washington.

Other manufacturers made similar knives the same year, 1932, the two-hundreth anniversary of Washington's birth.

Apparently, the knives were meant to be a replica of a knife that Washington once owned and still exists and is in the possession of the Masonic Lodge to which he belonged.

I have personally never seen a photo of the actual knife, but I suspect it has genuine pearl handles.

Here is the one I have and the wrapper that came with the knives from Robeson.

Ignore the date on the card, it is not correct.

Charlie

Thank you, Charlie, for that information.
It really is a nice knife.
I posted it elsewhere and TJ Murphy has a George Washington Camillus at 2 1/2" .

I'm surprised Washington hung on to it for all those years.

Nice knives Joe and Charlie! Thanks for keeping all of us drooling over all your posts! First thing I do when I get home from work is check the Robeson site! It's a nice place to go after a hard days work and you both put great knives on display for all of us. Have a great evening!

Thank you for the nice comments, woodwalker.

Joe that old trapper you carried the other day "very careful" was also very beautiful. Thomaston maybea. I meant to comment on it. Two I keep in velvet pouches in my sock drawer are my beautiful Robeson pearl mini barlow from Charlie and a waterville warcliff half whitler that I bought off aapk. Those two are my pride and joys! I break them out every so often and smile! I love the old ones. I started out buying new case knives and then a few new queen knives and then joined aapk and seen all the vintage knives and now that's what I look for at antique stores and such. They are few and far between but the hunt sure is gratifying.

Are the handles on the Robeson cracked ice celluloid ? They don't look like typical Cracked Ice but you say they are not pearl so i don't know what else they could be.
kj

They aren't mother of pearl.