Robeson Swell Center

[Dave O]

I received this in the mail yesterday. It is going to be my EDC for awhile. It sharpened up like a razor and has a nice Walk and Talk. Stamped :Robeson Cutlery Rochester. Pattern # 12201. Cocobolo (sp) Scales. I thought they were Ebony. But seller says Cocobolo???

[buckeyefan]

It's hard to tell from the pick what the scales are, But that is a great find for sure!
That is one of my favorite patterns

Marty

[wv trapper I]

Nice knife Dave, ain't nothin like a vintage EDC.

Joe

[cattaraugus57]

looks like a great EDC to me Dave,been thinking about using one of my vintage knives as an EDC as well,just hard to pick one

[gino]

Great knife for a EDC I love Robesons, they are one of my favorite brands,

[paulsvintage]

nice! just love the old swell center knives

[RobesonsRme.com]

As I've pointed out numerous times on AAPK, Robeson used a six digit pattern numbering system. The first three digits dealt with construction materials. The last three digits were the number for a particular handle-die shape. Sometimes, on handle-die shape numbers 001 through 099, they would just omit that first zero. They did it most often on the smaller knives, but I've seen it on larger patterns, too.

So, your knife's pattern number is actually 122001. That first digit "1" stands for ebony, the second digit "2" for two blades and the third digit "2" for nickel-silver bolsters and brass liners.

The 001 is the number for that particular handle-die shape. Think about it. When Robeson Cutlery came up with their pattern numbering system, that pattern was the one to which they chose to assign the very first number; Number One, or "001" as the system dictated.

I've seen three blade whittler versions of this pattern and their numbers were 132001.

I would almost guarantee those handles to be ebony.

Nice knife. Enjoy it.

Here is a photo of my example. Used , but decent. However, it has a seldom seen tang stamp.

Charlie Noyes

[Dave O]

Thanks for the timely information. What is the unusual tang stamp on your example??

[biglmbass]

Those are two nice knives, folks. How long is it? It looks a great deal like GECs new 33 Conductor pattern.

[biglmbass]

Single spring?

[Elvis]

I was going to suggest ebony just based on experience and knowing what was popular back in the day. Thanks for confirming what I suspected with cold, hard facts Charlie.

As far as the single backspring, take a look at many of the modern knives. Same basic construction principle of using one backspring and a blade at each end of it. BTW, I was taught as a lad never to open both blades at once as it applies too much pressure and may crack the backspring. This is me....returning to my own business....

[RobesonsRme.com]

They are 3 3/8" long and have a single spring.

I do not ordinarily open more than one blade on a single spring, but did so to photograph the collection.

My example of this pattern has what I think is an older "ShurEdge" stamp. The word ROBESON is in the upper left hand corner of the stamp and is arched. The word ShurEdge is in script and runs diagonally from the lower left hand corner to the upper right hand corner. ROCHESTER, N.Y. is in the lower right hand corner in two straight lines.

I've only seen a handfull of knives with this stamp since 1988 and looking at thousands of Robesons.

Photo below. Will expand with left click.

Charlie

[Elvis]

I do not ordinarily open more than one blade on a single spring, but did so to photograph the collection.
Charlie

I've done the same thing Charlie. Hopefully some of the newer collectors may pick up on the tip though. BTW, I really like that pattern!

[RobesonsRme.com]

There was a nice jigged bone example that sold on Ebay earlier this year. It had the proper pattern number for bone handles and was the only example I've ever seen.
I did not buy it.such
Charlie Noyes