All About Pocket Knives

I recently picked up my first Southington made knife and after some searching I was able to find some great posts about them around, but couldn't find any definitive thread about the company.

The company was organized in Southington, Connecticut in October 1867 with Amon Bradley as president. Wheaton Plumb became superintendent of the company in 1868 having previously worked for Waterville Knife Co and the Co-operative Knife Company. By the 1870's the successful company had begun to expand to manufacturing a number of hardware items and tools, eventually ending the production of pocket knives in 1905 to concentrate elsewhere and becoming Southington Hardware Company in 1908.

My knife is a small genuine tortoise shell handle congress marked:

SOUTH-
INGTON
CUT CO

Now let's see yours!

Sweet Southington knife!!! I'll get some photos of my few Southingtons and post them soon...

What an elegant little Congress that is.

Here's three of mine.

And mine

Gorgeous knives Joe - an ivory (?) handled quill, nice jack and a wharncliffe whittler too

WLF - that is one nice Farmer's jack with sweet jigged bone ... is that second blade a coping blade?

Here's a few of mine -

Southington smooth bone jack:
Southington "Stabber" - 4" closed and one big blade, about 1/8" thick and double swedge... if I am right the "stabber" was considered a poor man's dirk but quite frankly probably was used as a hunter as well... check out that huge spring as well - snaps like a bear trap
A few things I have noticed with Southington knives - lots of their blades had a double swedge and the tang stamps were either straight line or curved... also lots of them were barehead just from my own observations which are probably somewhat limited compared to others...

Southington - another good old quality CT maker .....

Great looking knives, Lee. Really nice.

The tang on the jack looks rough although still has a very readable stamp.

Beautiful Farmers Jack, Lyle.

Thanks Joe.... that jack is what I call "as found condition" - just as I like them .... funny I have seen more often than not worn and rough tang stamps on Southingtons, and have only seen a few (if that many) where the whole tang stamp was completely legible... think the old Southington craftsmen really made those blades tight in the pivots based on the wearing of the stamps

LB it's a spey,typical shape and one of the characteristics identifying early farmers jacks.

I have a couple smaller ones but this is my favorite. The stamp is a bit unusual in that it is done in two lines.

Nice knife k7Knut!! And an old lockback as well - lovely jigged bone on that one as too!! I have seen both straight-line stamps and the curved stamps as well for Southington - I know Another Knife Collector's was also a straight line stamp such as yours when I enlarged the photo - not sure about Joe's knives posted but mine had the curved stamp on both... as with some other knives I guess hard to date them based on the stamps... but I always wonder if both stamps were available (for this maker and others as well where multiple stamps existed) and they used what they felt best fit the tang... Nothing new to you guys but other makers were more easily dated based on the stamps to a certain degree (Remington as just one example)...

WLF - I must have been half asleep while drinking my coffee looking at your farmer's jack - don't know why coping blade came to my mind especially on a farmer's jack ... guess I thought I was seeing a squared off corner ... but no doubt probably the nicest farmer's jack I have ever seen

This old thread should be put back in service.
Another Knife Collector started it off with good information and a beautiful knife.

Here is a fine little (3 5/16") equal end jack with Ebony covers and half stop on both blades.
Except for that crack above the shield and some blade loss, this knife is a good as the day it left the bench.
What a honey!

Thanks for looking.

Boy that’s nice

Nice Southington Joe ...

Great knife.

Thank you, James and Lee and David.

Nice knife Joe, Southington is another of those old companies that made very high quality knives. They are not easy to find in good condition.

It is very true, John.
I'm always glad to find one.
Thanks for the nice comment.

Clear stamp Joe.

FRJ wrote:This old thread should be put back in service.
Another Knife Collector started it off with good information and a beautiful knife.

Here is a fine little (3 5/16") equal end jack with Ebony covers and half stop on both blades.
Except for that crack above the shield and some blade loss, this knife is a good as the day it left the bench.
What a honey!

Thanks for looking.

This town is busy with plazas now and a popular gunstore and Smith. I have knever seen this brand and that one is kneat. As good as knew.

These are the only 2 Southington's I have, both unusual, one is a large jack with bone on one side and stag on the other with 2 different tang stamps and the other is a baby Barlow that unfortunately was cleaned but still a very nice knife, the last pic shows it in comparison to a standard Barlow and a 14 TC Barlow which is a small one.

John, that is pretty cool old Southington jack, saved from one week to the next.

That little Barlow is a great knife.

Thanks, John.

FRJ wrote:John, that is pretty cool old Southington jack, saved from one week to the next.

That little Barlow is a great knife.

Thanks, John.

Thanks Joe, appreciate it. I found that Jack at a junker flea market in PA, quite a surprise to come across that. The Barlow fooled me as I bought it online and was expecting a full size Barlow with The SC Co bolster stamp, imagine my surprise when that little knife came out of the box, have never come across another like it.

Nice one Joe.

Thanks, Lyle.

Missed your nice little collection John. You have amassed quite an overall antique collection.