The Bigler Knife

[just bob]

Part of the fun of repairing knives is taking things apart to see how they work. This is an unusual knife that I thought would interest knife mechanics. It's operation is very similar to the Case 6110 pattern. The knife has no center pin or backspring. I won't take the time to post pictures of the Case knife but here is a link from an AAPK store with really good pictures of one.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/ca ... order=DESC

Let me say at the start that Mr. Bigler has passed away. His son is going through his items and listing things on ebay that the family no longer wishes to keep. His son describes his father as a knife maker and a hobbyist. I bought this incomplete knife on ebay and intend to finish it out. It was easy to pry apart. I hope my pictures and words do justice to the craftsmanship of Mr. Bigler. His knife does have a backspring but the spring is not held in place with pins, it is glued in. I assume this is 5 minute epoxy? The spring provides strength for the frame and creates a stop for the blade when closing or else the blade would fall on through. The tail piece in the Case 6110 serves the same purpose. The blade on Mr. Bigler's knife operates above the spring and at no point does the spring support the blade like it does on a conventional folding knife. When the blade is fully open it rests against the lower pin and the liner lock helps to hold it in position. When the blade is fully closed it rests upon the spring and tension from the liner lock helps keep it from flopping about. This is a small knife and only about 3" long and suited for light duty and not bear skinning. The Case 6110 is a similar sized knife. I hope you enjoy the pics and have an admiration for the work of a deceased knife maker that no doubt spent hours of enjoyment creating his knives.

[Meridian_Mike]

Hmmmmm..........
That is interesting... I bet that knife will finish out to be a beauty!

[MaryJayn Bigler]

Such a delight to find this. Often when I put knives up for sale I do so knowing that they will need some TLC. And I can see that this one is getting it. Thank you for the work that you are putting into it... and the respect for my dad and the kind words. I do have one correction, however -- I'm his daughter, not his son.

[just bob]

Such a delight to find this. Often when I put knives up for sale I do so knowing that they will need some TLC. And I can see that this one is getting it. Thank you for the work that you are putting into it... and the respect for my dad and the kind words. I do have one correction, however -- I'm his daughter, not his son.

Let me apologize to you for my blunder. I'm old enough to know what happens when you assume. It must be very comforting for you to have the knives your dad created. I have some of my dads and they hold very special memories. Welcome to AAPK. We love to see pics and if you have some please share them.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

No worries about the son/daughter thing. When Dad passed, he left a legacy of about 300 knives (very possibly more than that -- I have found stashes of his knives all over the house and his shop since his passing in 2016) still in his possession. That's in addition to a map chest that held the bulk of them. Countless others -- his best work through the years -- had already gone to friends and family, as donations to fundraisers and had been sold occasionally to collectors, for gifts, and some commission work. I have lots and lots of photographs. I shall post some of them here, but they can also be viewed through ebay and in a private fb group that I created to showcase Dad's work. I am not sure about what the rules are here, so I don't know if I can post links to those. I did provide a link to your comments and pictures on this forum for the Jay Bigler Knife Collection group members to check out if they want to. Most of those folks, however, aren't collectors as much as they are friends and family who just want to see his work.

(I don't see a way to post photographs here. Can you advise on how to do that?)

[MaryJayn Bigler]

Here are a couple of Dad's knives. The black one is an early folder when he was just beginning to make those. The one with the aluminum handle now belongs to my cousin, who plans to give it to her son when he is a little bit older.

[Meridian_Mike]

It is an honor to have you come by and visit us here on the forum Mary Jayn.

I personally would love to see some more of your Dad's knives!
(I am sure others would too!)

Thanks for showing the ones above!

[jerryd6818]

Welcome to AAPK. The forum doesn't have a lot of rules and regulations. We depend on our great membership to be self regulating and because we have such a great bunch of folks, most of the time it works. There are no rules against posting links or mentioning other forums. The one rule we have on AAPK is keep it clean (however, at times, you will see members flirting around the edges of that one).

Get out and explore. You can't break the forum and if you get lost you can always go to the home page and start over. If you're confused about how to do something, may I suggest AAPK Tips and Tricks -- An Illustrated FAQ Forum on Steroids at viewforum.php?f=98

[MaryJayn Bigler]

Welcome to AAPK. The forum doesn't have a lot of rules and regulations. We depend on our great membership to be self regulating and because we have such a great bunch of folks, most of the time it works. There are no rules against posting links or mentioning other forums. The one rule we have on AAPK is keep it clean (however, at times, you will see members flirting around the edges of that one).

Get out and explore. You can't break the forum and if you get lost you can always go to the home page and start over. If you're confused about how to do something, may I suggest AAPK Tips and Tricks -- An Illustrated FAQ Forum on Steroids at viewforum.php?f=98

Thank you for the advice. I'll do that. And I really appreciate how nice and welcoming everyone has been.

[bestgear]

Such a delight to find this. Often when I put knives up for sale I do so knowing that they will need some TLC. And I can see that this one is getting it. Thank you for the work that you are putting into it... and the respect for my dad and the kind words. I do have one correction, however -- I'm his daughter, not his son.

Mary Jayn on many fronts not the least of which is helping to keep us men acting like gentlemen having a cutler in any family is special here on AAPK and our thirst for knowledge is never ending. Pictures are great but the stories are equally as precious so please share your memories of your dad.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope you can stay a while.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

It is an honor to have you come by and visit us here on the forum Mary Jayn.

I personally would love to see some more of your Dad's knives!
(I am sure others would too!)

Thanks for showing the ones above!

Thank you! Now that I know how to do it, I will definitely put more pictures on here.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

Such a delight to find this. Often when I put knives up for sale I do so knowing that they will need some TLC. And I can see that this one is getting it. Thank you for the work that you are putting into it... and the respect for my dad and the kind words. I do have one correction, however -- I'm his daughter, not his son.

Mary Jayn on many fronts not the least of which is helping to keep us men acting like gentlemen having a cutler in any family is special here on AAPK and our thirst for knowledge is never ending. Pictures are great but the stories are equally as precious so please share your memories of your dad.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope you can stay a while.

Thank you. I understand about that thirst for knowledge. Dad had it. Many times I know that he would call people directly that he saw in his knife magazines and pick their brains about something. When he ordered supplies, he often asked lots of questions -- something he did often when he was in business and ordering lumber and hardware, expecially in the early days when things were not so automated as they are now.

[jerryd6818]

MaryJayn, I noticed that you have/are selling some of your dad's knives. We would be honored if you decided to sell some of them here on AAPK but be forewarned that if you do decide to do that, you will need a premium membership. You can find all you need to know about that by clicking on the upper right corner of any page where it displays the cost of said memberships. If you just want to talk knives (and of course about your fathers knives) that is free forever.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

MaryJayn, I noticed that you have/are selling some of your dad's knives. We would be honored if you decided to sell some of them here on AAPK but be forewarned that if you do decide to do that, you will need a premium membership. You can find all you need to know about that by clicking on the upper right corner of any page where it displays the cost of said memberships. If you just want to talk knives (and of course about your fathers knives) that is free forever.

Thank you for the suggestion about selling here. Someone else had suggested that as well, and I have been thinking about that, but have decided that how I am doing it now works best for me. The task of deciding what to sell when I first started was overwhelming, so I decided to just take it at my own pace. I finally bit the bullet though and learned how to list things on ebay, starting first with some books from my own library. When I felt comfortable enough with that I started putting some of the knives on there. I realized that there were so many friends and family members who might want to see them that I created a private group on facebook (The Jay Bigler Knife Collection) so that they could see them before they sell. It also gives all the members there a first chance at buying a knife. I leave the pictures of the knives on there for at least 48 hours, usually longer, before I put them on ebay. Once they go to ebay, they stay on ebay until sold. Also with the group, there is no bidding; it's first dibs on whoever says they want it first. Not all the knives that I post to the group are for sale. Some I am keeping and some are old photos that Dad took of his knives that he made through the years. And sometimes, they are just posts about my Dad and occasionally Mom or other family memories. The group has grown to close to 150 members, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it sure has pleasantly surprised me, especially when someone I don't know has found the group and wants to join. That's pretty cool. (Btw, all here are welcome if you would like to join. It's a pretty laid back group, but not real active in participation like this wonderful forum here at AAPK.)

[Madmarco]

Here are a couple of Dad's knives. The black one is an early folder when he was just beginning to make those. The one with the aluminum handle now belongs to my cousin, who plans to give it to her son when he is a little bit older.

Those knives are just gorgeous M.J., just my style! Really like the aluminum model! BTW, what's your cousin's phone number? LOL!

[MaryJayn Bigler]

Here are a couple of Dad's knives. The black one is an early folder when he was just beginning to make those. The one with the aluminum handle now belongs to my cousin, who plans to give it to her son when he is a little bit older.

Those knives are just gorgeous M.J., just my style! Really like the aluminum model! BTW, what's your cousin's phone number? LOL!

LOL

[FRJ]

This is a very interesting thread. Thank you just bob for starting it. That is great knife project you have at hand.

Mary Jayn Bigler, welcome here.
Thank you for the stories of your father and your family.
Your knives are beautiful and impressive.
Thank you for showing them. Would love to see more.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

This is a very interesting thread. Thank you just bob for starting it. That is great knife project you have at hand.

Mary Jayn Bigler, welcome here.
Thank you for the stories of your father and your family.
Your knives are beautiful and impressive.
Thank you for showing them. Would love to see more.

Thank you... and thank you, just bob, for starting this thread as well (and showing the work you have done in repairing one of Dad's knives). I am grateful to meet such a great folks here.

So here is a photo of a couple of really nice knives from Dad. It is an old photograph that I used among the pictures displayed at his memorial service. I don't know where these are now (who has them). However, I am confidant that they are in good homes.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

I ran across a link to this posting today and thought that those here would like to see a recent find of Bigler knives. Through the years I have found knives that Dad made all over the house, his work spaces and even in his vehicles. A few years ago, I found 22 more, and I thought for sure that I had found all of them. Well, I was wrong. Several weeks ago, I was looking for something in one of the cabinets where Dad stored a lot of his supplies and other stuff. I saw a Jantz Supply box. Curious, I figured it was going to be supplies. I was wrong. It held four early (pre-1997) knives. Wow! Later, I thought that maybe I should go through some of the other boxes in that cabinet. It was like finding buried treasure. Including those in the Jantz box, there were 98 knives in all -- 90 were pocket knives.

[Madmarco]

What a fabulous find M.J.! Could we see some pictures of what you found? Thx!

[MaryJayn Bigler]

What a fabulous find M.J.! Could we see some pictures of what you found? Thx!

Sure. I have only taken a few individual pictures of the knives so far. It's hard to keep them straight, so I usually only do that when I get ready to sell -- or in this case, a couple of them I gave to friends. Those two are the ones that aren't opened.

[edge213]

What a fabulous find M.J.! Could we see some pictures of what you found? Thx!

Sure. I have only taken a few individual pictures of the knives so far. It's hard to keep them straight, so I usually only do that when I get ready to sell -- or in this case, a couple of them I gave to friends. Those two are the ones that aren't opened.

The yellow one is really cool!

[Madmarco]

Those are really cool M.J., thanks for the pictures!

[FRJ]

Through the years I have found knives that Dad made all over the house,

I have a couple of your dads knives. I'm glad to have them.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

Those are really cool M.J., thanks for the pictures!

You're welcome!