Wostenholm, Rogers, or what!

[268bull]

My stepson handed this single blade, barehead jack to me yesterday afternoon, and asked to see if I could find a maker and time frame of manufacture. The knife measures 4 3/4 inches, blade is a spear. Scales appear to be bone jigged to give a stag appearance. The back end of the knife swells and the existing bail obviously is not original. The bolsters are steel, fancy in that between the end of the bone and the tip of the bolsters, they are concave, measuring 5/16 in. the remaining returns to full. The spring is huge, measures 3/16 ths across. I've covered the tang on both sides with a fine tooth comb and can find no stamp or etching of any sort. I do believe it was made the latter half of the 19th century and leans toward a jumbo jack farmers knife. But I just can't find a makers mark anywhere typical. Time for some other's take on it. My Ref. book ( Blades book of pocket knives & their values ) has a couple of pics of Wostenholm & Rogers, some what similar, but not quite the same jack knife. Any help would be appreciated. thanks Bull

[Paladin]

I do believe that is real stag, by the way. I would opine that the knife is Sheffield and quite old. Rogers was one of the older Sheffield firms, as was Wostenholm and there were many others. The Rogers Wostenholm merger was relatively modern, so I believe the knife pre-dates that merger.
Truthfully, I doubt the mystery will be solved. If one of us happened to have the exact knife with a tang stamp it would be good evidence but otherwise, who knows.

Ray

[268bull]

You could be very correct Ray. The ends of the scales appear to have been put to a heat source at one time. The very end have a small area that appears to be a bit charred. I don't know, as the knife as a whole, I don't know. But I do know this, your right when you state that this folder is very old, Annndd, in good shape for it's age. I used a stone and it took a very keen edge, Sheffield!! possible, I overlooked that one. Thanks for your input Ray. Bull

[smiling-knife]

Knice Knife. In my opinion it looks to be a late 1800s or early 1900s (pre WWI) Sheffield-made knife. Looks like real stag which has nicely worn. Without marks, no way of telling who made it. The blade looks shortened and reshaped. It might have been a spear or a sheeps foot. It was a common pattern made by a large number of companies. Just my 2p s-k

[knife7knut]

For what it's worth: I think it may be of French origin and I would date it to the mid 1800's.My reasoning is that the crescent shaped hail mark is characteristic of French made knives.I also think it has had the blade drastically reshaped.The overall look of the knife is that of a pruner.
I do have one question: Are the bolsters separate from the liners or are they made as one piece? If they are one piece that was a common method of manufacture in that time period although on pruners it was carried on until the early 1900's.
Whatever the case it is a beautiful old knife that would probably have a lot of stories to tell if it could talk.
I am enclosing a picture of 3 old knives that date to that time period.Note the bottom one has a very similar shape and has a hand made replaced blade.

[268bull]

I don't know boy's, you could all be right. If someone did reshape that blade, they did one heck of a good job! K7K, that bottom folder you show, that's about the closest I've seen to what I have here. Those are some nice looking knives. Thanks everyone for your input. Gotta get some sleep, deer season opens tommorrow. Bull