TL-29 Electricians Knives

[tjmurphy]

VERY nice knife. It is marked Cattaraugus Got it on my watch list. Thanks for posting that Charlie

[tjmurphy]

The knife has been sold

[orvet]

Did you get it TJ?

[tjmurphy]

Yeppers I did, Dale. Made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

[tjmurphy]

Hey Dale, ya got a PM!!

[Mumbleypeg]

I was at a local antique mall this morning and found this old TL-29 pattern knife. Both blades marked WILBERT CUTLERY, which I don't recall seeing previously on this thread. Thought you folks might like to see it so took a picture. Looks like the master and maybe both blades have been broken off and re-shaped. Has half-stops and great walk and talk on both blades. Very nice undamaged jigged bone scales. The asking price seemed high for my taste but since I don't collect these TL-29s or know a lot about them maybe it's worth more than I think. Made an offer just cuz of the nice bone scales but we couldn't get together on price, so had to leave it there.

Goins says Wilbert Cutlery Co. was a trademark used by Sears, Roebuck and Co. Between 1908 - 1922.

Any ideas as to who made this for Sears, and its value?

Ken

Edit: same guy had another TL-29 that had very unusual stamping. Mark side of master had only 4 horizontal lines running across the tang, perpendicular to the length of the blade. On the pile side tang was marked RPPC JAPAN along with same type of horizontal lines. Screwdriver blade was unmarked. Anyone know anything about this one? Should have taken a picture but didn't - sorry.

[tjmurphy]

WOW!! Wonderful knife. Radio/electrician knife. I like that one a lot

[tjmurphy]

Here's one that I picked off Ebay last evening. Schrade Radio/Electrician's knife, c. 1917-1946.

[edge213]

Where does the TL-29 designation come from?

[tjmurphy]

On the knife I just posted, probably no where. TL-29 is a military designation for TOOL-LINESMAN. The 29 ???

[danno50]

Another very nice knife, TJ. Different shield.
Dan

[Mumbleypeg]

Where does the TL-29 designation come from?

TL stands for Tool for Linemen, as tjmurphy said. According to Levine's Guide to Knives these were originally manufactured for the U.S. Government under contract per military specification TL-29 (curious about what TL-1 through 28 were? ) for use by radio men. They were made for US Army, US Navy, and USMC. Levine's says over a quarter million of these were made for the government in 1917-18 alone, and "many more" for commercial sale. In general the military versions were apparently marked with the TL-29 designation whereas commercial versions were not marked as such and sold as "electrician's knives". M. Klein & Sons electrical supply Co. of Chicago was a major supplier of these commercial electricians knives and had them made under contract from several manufacturers.

Ken

[danno50]

Mumbleypeg, nice knife, not many bone handled electricians knives posted. If you look at the Napanoch entry in Goins, he says that Napanoch made the Wilbert Cutlery Co. knives for Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Dan

[Mumbleypeg]

Mumbleypeg, nice knife, not many bone handled electricians knives posted. If you look at the Napanoch entry in Goins, he says that Napanoch made the Wilbert Cutlery Co. knives for Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Dan

Thanks Dan. Maybe I should go back and see if he still has it. He was asking $75 for it, got him down to $60 but left it there as not knowing much about the value on these, I wasn't willing to pay that. He wanted $40 for the one marked RPPC Japan, which I still haven't been able to find any info about.

Ken

[tjmurphy]

Where does the TL-29 designation come from?

TL stands for Tool for Linemen, as tjmurphy said. According to Levine's Guide to Knives these were originally manufactured for the U.S. Government under contract per military specification TL-29 (curious about what TL-1 through 28 were? ) for use by radio men. They were made for US Army, US Navy, and USMC. Levine's says over a quarter million of these were made for the government in 1917-18 alone, and "many more" for commercial sale. In general the military versions were apparently marked with the TL-29 designation whereas commercial versions were not marked as such and sold as "electrician's knives". M. Klein & Sons electrical supply Co. of Chicago was a major supplier of these commercial electricians knives and had them made under contract from several manufacturers.

Ken

Well, here's a TL-13A:

[Mumbleypeg]

Should have known someone on this forum would know. Now we just need the other 27 of them!

Ken

[tjmurphy]

Here's a new/old one I plucked from Ebay this afternoon. WWI era Ulster/Knife Co./N.Y., U.S. Signal Corps radio/elcetrician's knife It's been used, sharpened and has a small crack in the mark-side handle, but still pretty nice for a nearly 100-year old knife. It actually looks like it will clean up pretty good.

[knife7knut]

That Wilbert is anew one on me.I have a couple of Wilbert knives but have never seen a TL-29 by them.Might just be worth the $60 to someone who specializes in them.If it was indeed made by Napanoch that makes it all the more desireable.
Here is one I picked up last week for $5;a 3 line Camillus with stamped shield.Not perfect but well worth the 5 bucks.

[Mumbleypeg]

Thanks K7K. If TJ continues posting those good'uns he keeps finding I may have to dive into the TL-29 realm myself. Next time I'm down that way I'll go back and see if the guy still has that Wilbert. It's been a while so if he still has it maybe he's not so fond of it any more! Still curious about the TL-29 pattern knife he had that was marked RPPC Japan, as I've not been able to find anything about that stamping anywhere. Tried all the cutlery books I have and internet but all I could find so far was something about post cards.

Ken

[orvet]

I searched the term "RPPC Japan" and got Real Picture Post Cards of Japan, mostly circa WWII.
I then searched the term "RPPC Japan knife" and got pictures of Japan with people who had knives.

Searching the term "RPPC" was not helpful.

I thought the RPPC Japan might have had something to do with the military occupation of Japan but apparently not.

[Mumbleypeg]

I searched the term "RPPC Japan" and got Real Picture Post Cards of Japan, mostly circa WWII.
I then searched the term "RPPC Japan knife" and got pictures of Japan with people who had knives.

Searching the term "RPPC" was not helpful.

I thought the RPPC Japan might have had something to do with the military occupation of Japan but apparently not.

Thanks Dale. Exactly what I found, and same thought I had initially about the occupation of Japan. I will just have to keep digging, or wait until someone comes along on here that knows about this.

Ken

[orvet]

I searched the term "RPPC Japan" and got Real Picture Post Cards of Japan, mostly circa WWII.
I then searched the term "RPPC Japan knife" and got pictures of Japan with people who had knives.

Searching the term "RPPC" was not helpful.

I thought the RPPC Japan might have had something to do with the military occupation of Japan but apparently not.

Thanks Dale. Exactly what I found, and same thought I had initially about the occupation of Japan. I will just have to keep digging, or wait until someone comes along on here that knows about this.

Ken

Great minds work alike Ken!

[orvet]

I picked up this Utica off ebay. I love the USMC stamp on the handle, so I had to get it!
JerryD will understand that as will Mike and the other Jarheads!

I emailed pictures of this knife to Mike Silvey.
He said he thought it was an early Marine Corps knife, made between WWI and WWII.
He also said he had not seen one like it nor even another Utica of that configuration.

Does anyone know when Utica used that tang stamp?
It is the size of the WWI TL-29s but has the liner lock of the later WWII era knives.

[orvet]

I got behind in posting pics of the TL-29s and electrician knives I picked up recently.
Here is a Winchester I got a while back.

It is not as nice as my first Winchester, but I can’t pass up a rare electrician knife!
Or even a semi-rare one, or an unusual one, or a different one, or a ........

[tjmurphy]

Nice one's, Dale Glad you got the USMC UTICA Didn't think you could pass that one up. It's got Orvet written all over it