bought this old knife today..

[eckurz]

It's a single blade slip joint pocket knife
2 13/16" spear blade
walnut handles
marked on blade "Taylor Union Cutlery"
looks like its more than 100 years old
anyone ever heard of Taylor?
was it made here or sheffield?
the only taylor I can find is Henry Taylor who started in
Sheffield in 1836, but his brand was "eye-witness"
which was on the blades.

[trail]

Truly old and obscure, I think most people here would be proud to have it in a collection - no mention of Taylor Union in any of my books.

Welcome to AAPK.

[FRJ]

My Goins offers a Taylor Union Cutlery, but no other information with the name.
At least the name got recognized.
It is a nice old knife with a nice long pull.

[philco]

That knife looks stout and well built. How is the snap on it?

Nice find by the way.

Phil

[orvet]

Nice looking knife.

[chetr1200c]

my guess its the same taylor as the eye wittness, only an offshoot..

[cattaraugus57]

I'd say that's correct Chet..

[chetr1200c]

[paulsvintage]

Great find !

[eckurz]

to answer your question...
it looks better in the pics than it is.
one pin holding the spring in the middle is misssing, so the spring
will flop out of the handle. the blade pin and the hole in the blade are worn out,
and the 3rd pin that holds the butt together is loose.
I've removed the pins, and will redrill the holes and install new ones.
For some reason i really like this one, I've traced out all the parts and when
I have time I'm going to make a couple.
Henry Taylor was the "eye-witness" Taylor.
There was also a "Taylor Bros" and a Francis Taylor, listed in a Sheffield list of
cutlers, but no reference to Taylor Union

[1967redrider]

Cool knife and history!

[eckurz]

I still haven't id'd this completely, but after talking with Joan Ulwin, head archivist at Carver's Hall in Sheffield, I have a better understanding.
The early 1800's in England had a lot of things going on in the labor movement department. There were a few in Sheffield, most notorious was a Spring Knife union that used different tactics to get and keep members. They wanted to make it so all the shops were "closed" meaning you had to be in the Union to make knives or work in the industry. They would even do what they called "rattening" which meant they would steal a guy's tools so he couldn't work until he paid his dues, etc. A few guys were beaten or killed, too.
I'm pretty sure my knife was made by one of the three Taylors i found(John, Francis, or Henry). He probably put "Union" in the title to make sure everybody knew he was a member.
Joan said she never saw that mark before, but Cutlers' Hall would only have records if the guy had business with "the Company" as they called it, which was mainly to register apprentices, and to celebrate an apprentice becoming a Master (freedoms). After 1814 they no longer had to register with Cutlers hall, so only a few a year did after that. They could put any marking they wanted on their blades, as long as they weren't trying to duplicate a registered mark.
I found the Union info looking thru the British National Archives. You can't see too much without requesting copies, but you can read the titles and what the subject was. Searching on "cutler" found a lot of property transfers to and from guys who were listed as cutlers. When you see names like Wilkenson and George Wolstenholm its pretty cool.
It definitely was NOT made by Taylor Eye-Witness.

[eckurz]

I showed to a guy named Bob at the Easton knife show..everyone there told me he's a good historical guy.
Bob said it looked to him like it's U.S. made around the turn of the century. The design of the long pull was to be used as a striker for the old sulphur matches(barn burner matches he called them, lol).
He also thought it might be Union Cutlery and somone stamped the taylor on there. I don't think so, as goin's book lists the name like it was a stand alone company.
Just an update..the mystery continues