Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

This forum is dedicated to the discussion and display of old knives. The rich history of all the many companies that made them through the early years will be found here as well as many fine examples of the cutlers art. Share pictures of your old knives and your knowledge here!
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wlf
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by wlf »

Miller Bro`s wrote:Here is another old unusual, secret and patented old knife.................
That's a great knife Dimitri.

Trevor,thanks for showing that amazing artifact,triple WOW.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by Miller Bro's »

Thanks Lyle :)
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by singin46 »

Here's one I found while at an antique store in Franklin. KY. today. Not sure why this blade is etched GERMANY on the back but maybe someone can enlighten me. It was only 5 bucks with the names KEEN KUTTER and EC Simmons on it. I know the history of EC Simmons hardware and St. Louis MO. However the GERMANY etch throws me a little. Anyway strickily a novelty knife but never used. I have seen these advertisers before, in the shape of a key but just curious about the etch mainly.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by timgreene48 »

Perry, I can't help you with your question, as I have just discovered keenkutters myself. But thank you so much for showing this knife, it is awesome!
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by gino »

Keen Kutter was a trade mark of E.C. Simmons and they were out of Germany. There were a couple other E.C. Simmons around though I believe one was out of England.

Cool knife!
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by singin46 »

I knew they were part of Simmons but didn't know they were out of Germany, thanks Tim and Gino! ::handshake::
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by knife-nut »

Keen Kutter was one of the trade names of Simmons Hardware Co. They were not manufactures themselves, but jobbed out to different cutlery companies for their knives. Simmons Hardware was out of Saint Louis, Missouri. They had knives made in Germany and England as well as a lot of American companies. Most of their Simmons Hornets were made in Germany. Wade and Butcher also made several of there sheath knives. Simmons bought controlling intrest in Walden cutlery, and most of their pocket knives in that era were made there. Schrade made a lot of their knives, after Shalpeigh bought Simmons out. This key knife is a later made one. Probably in the 1960's or later. Notice there is no tang stamp and Germany looks to be a ink stamp or a light etching.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by singin46 »

Yes I knew the history of the Simmons business but was unaware they made some knives in Germany. That's what I was thinking too, later made in the 1960s just because of the ink etch on the blade. Thanks Knife-Nut!
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by knife-nut »

Sorry if I got a little long winded there. :oops:
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by singin46 »

No no, not long winded at all. I need to be reminded sometimes myself because I'm older now and forget.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by knife-nut »

I just saw this one on ebay. Its not mine and I'm not bidding on it. But it's kind of neat. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pen-Kni ... 3a8acf7979
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by knife7knut »

knife-nut wrote:I just saw this one on ebay. Its not mine and I'm not bidding on it. But it's kind of neat. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pen-Kni ... 3a8acf7979
I believe that is a recently made one.I have a couple similar to it:one is an out the front and the other is a out the side letter opener.(left side of pic and top respectively)
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by roofsc »

director's knife, Bigelow-Sanford is or was a carpet company. this is a carpet knife
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by Miller Bro's »

Neat old item ::tu::

An object of the present invention is to provide a cutter which facilitates the cutting of carpet, such as two-heddle woven carpet, in which the pile loops in alternate rows are staggered relative to each other. Where the pile loops are staggered in such a manner, it is difficult to cut such carpet uniformly in a weft wise direction preparatory to seaming of the carpet or the like. The present invention by utilizing the pile loops makes it possible for an operator to sever such a fabric by making a cut on the pile face in such a way that the severed loops will be substantially uniform in height and present a neat straight edge suitable for seaming or the like.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by knife7knut »

Here are a couple of unusual knives:
First has an unusual shape master blade with a straight cutting edge and hook on the tip;a saw that has a pierced nail mark and a pruning shaped blade that only opens to 90 degrees.On the spine is a folding bottle can/bottle cap opener.Could it be a vintner's knife as the pruner shaped blade is usually used for harvesting grapes?
Next is one that I bought because it has so much stuff on it.In addition to the folding spear point master blade;can opener;bottle opener/screwdriver;and fish scaler/hook disgorger/scale calibrated in millimeters,it also sports a folding magnifying glass,a small compartment that holds fishing hooks and line,a folding sighting tool with compass to plot headings,a flashlight and a WHISTLE! Strangely enough the compass actually works pretty well and the tools;while not top quality seem to be pretty decent.Only marking is Stainless Steel on the blade which could mean China or maybe Japan as it doesn't look to be of recent manufacture.I think I paid less than $5 for it.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by Miller Bro's »

Nice ones Ray! 8)
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

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Odd little advert knife. RCA Tubes knife. Gifted from JoeDirt.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by btrwtr »

Here is a little W.H. Morely and Sons pen knife that resided in my knife graveyard for some time before I realized what it was. It did trick me since it was purchased with a large group I didn't pay much attention to it as there were others in the group that I was more interested in.

Both blades are marked. The reverse side of the master blade is marked "GERMANY PATENT PDG"

Notice there are no nail pulls on the blades. The blades are opened by pressing the blade, opposite of the one you want to open down into the frame of the knife. Then the desired blade pops up at about 45 degrees on the master or 30 degrees on the pen as shown. Just pull the blade the rest of the way to the fully opened position and it's like any other little pen knife. The knife is well worn but the blades stay open or fully seated closed as they should. I think it's a pretty cool little knife.

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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by Miller Bro's »

I like that one Wayne! ::tu::
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by Bargle »

Lawrence wrote:A few pages back, someone posted a 'trick' knife. I'm not sure if my knife requires the same trick, but here's mine, from Germany. It has a sliding ball bearing inside that locks the knife when you close the blade and press lightly on it, then tip the knife. To open you press the (closed) blade slightly and tip the knife the other way, the ball rolls out, and you can open the blade. It took me a while to figure this one out :oops: but the flea-market guy I bought it off of didn't know how to open it either, so I got it for $1.

The other one is a novelty knife similar to Gino's. The design of this knife is very interesting and I wonder what it would be like if it were made of quality materials. cheers
I had one of those ball bearing knives years ago. On mine the sides had a inset area where it looked like a set of stick on scales could be fitted. Mine didn't have any. Don't know what ever became of it.

Here's my version of the red knife. It was a promotional item for Cherry Bomb mufflers. I picked it up during my first job in the auto parts aftermarket back 1979-80.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by Miller Bro's »

Miller Bro`s wrote:Nice ones Dale ::tu::

Here is a real unusual one.

It is only 2" long closed has nickle silver handles, no back springs, to open/close the blades you flip the little tab on each end.

One blade is thin and sharp scalpel type blade, the other is like a tiny fork :shock: :lol:

Anyone know exactly what this was used for?
I posted this thing on page 5 of this thread 3 years ago! It has taken me this long to find the answer to what the hell it actually is ::uc::

I was surfing the web and researching a totally different item when I seen a picture of that unusual "fork" I followed the links and there it was a Vaccinator Lancet & Comb! Sorry about the poor picture, taken from the web.

Not that anyone cares but for those that do I thought I would post the answer back in this thread.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by btrwtr »

Miller Bro`s wrote:
Miller Bro`s wrote:Nice ones Dale ::tu::

Not that anyone cares but for those that do I thought I would post the answer back in this thread.
Awesome little gadget. If I ever see one I'll know. Thanks Dimitri!
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by knife7knut »

Miller Bro`s wrote:
Miller Bro`s wrote:
Here is a real unusual one.

It is only 2" long closed has nickle silver handles, no back springs, to open/close the blades you flip the little tab on each end.

One blade is thin and sharp scalpel type blade, the other is like a tiny fork :shock: :lol:

Anyone know exactly what this was used for?
I posted this thing on page 5 of this thread 3 years ago! It has taken me this long to find the answer to what the hell it actually is ::uc::


Not that anyone cares but for those that do I thought I would post the answer back in this thread.
Aint it great when you finally stumble across the answer to a question that has been bugging you for years!Thanks for posting it Dimitri.
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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by RobesonsRme.com »

That makes sense MB. When we received our small pox vaccinations back in the day, they repeatedly punctured the surface of our skin with a single pointed sharp object, then rubbed the small pox vaccine onto the wound. Our immune system took care of the rest. We were exposed, then immune to small pox.

So, is it a medical or a veterinarian device?

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Re: Old Unusual Novelty Knives And Secret Knives

Post by Miller Bro's »

Thank you Wayne, Ray and Charlie :D
RobesonsRme.com wrote:So, is it a medical or a veterinarian device?
It`s medical ::nod::
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