Old Knives With Jigged Bone Handles

[danno50]

Those are a couple of nice Miller Bros, Lee.
Dan

[wlf]

Another beauty Lee,I do like the curvy ones. I don't know if putting the handle colors like that was common practice, but it seems it was for Utica.

[terryl308]

got two older knives with interesting jig bone handles, one is a Remington R4613 and the other is a HSB grafting knife. Terry

[wlf]

Beautiful bone Terry, I especially like that budder's bone.I wonder who made it for HSB, NYK made a lot of their early ones.

[terryl308]

Thanks for the response wlf, the tang stamp just has Hibbard Spencer Bartlett and usa under the names. Who ever made it was pretty handy with cutting the bone because it is a tapered slot without any liners for the spring. It would be nice to know who made it and about when. Terry (got the AAPK rope knife in the mail and it is nice!) Thanks

[djknife13]

got two older knives with interesting jig bone handles, one is a Remington R4613 and the other is a HSB grafting knife. Terry

I've seen quite a few grafting knives, but that's the first I've ever seen with jigging. What a cool knife. ___Dave

[danno50]

Terry, ditto what Lyle and Dave said.
Dan

[dcgm4]

Very nice, Terry.

[LongBlade]

Those are some sweet bone knives Terry! That budding/grafting knife has an attractive jigging pattern ending at the spud...

[Beechtree]

Great knives Terry, I especially like the warm color of the HSB.

Here is an interesting, well used one. A swell center half congress with a Northfield master blade and a Holley secondary. This knife made from parts from the two companies could have been done by Henry Gill, or any number of other cutlers around or after the close of Northfield in 1919. I find that worm groove handles seem to have only come into existence past about 1900 give or take a few years. Any one else have any thoughts on this?

[LongBlade]

Nice knives Terry & Beechtree

Beechtree - I agree with you in terms of your knife being made by Henry Gill for the following reasons... I found out last year that somebody who explored and had access to the old Northfield equipment storage barn/shed which had been moved from the original Northfield site had found lots of Holley blades... I found that interesting but somewhat confusing when I heard it but as I got more into the history of the Northfield Knife Co I learned interesting information regarding Henry Gill and his role working in the later days of Northfield and following Northfield's closure (info from David Anthony's Great Eastern Cutlery book [nice read David if you see this ] and even in interviews with Henry Gill from the Library of Congress)... Nonetheless it appears Henry Gill not only obtained the remaining Northfield equipment once the state bought the site but also traveled and bought equipment from other CT cutleries all closing around the same time in the earlier 1900s including Holley... Given that it is not surprising to me now that Holley blades were found among the Northfield equipment as the storage area was most likely Henry Gill's remaining shop artifacts... and in fact Henry Gill made pocket knives using both Northfield and Holley blades on the same knife (and probably other combinations as well)... I was also unaware that Henry continued using the Northfield stamp for knives he made post the Northfield Knife Co closure and probably into the 1940s... to me that also questions what some believe were Northfield Knife Co made knives with a date no later than Northfield's closure in 1919... some may have been made by Henry Gill following 1919... Nonetheless I think having a Henry Gill made knife given the history is a very cool score - nice Beechtree ...

(As an aside and something I recently learned maybe 3-4 months ago was that Henry Gill made a Northfield stamped Bowie/Hunter knife - when I first saw this fixed blade I was completely surprised as I was thinking that the old Northfield Knife Co made it but old Northfield did not make fixed blade knives - I even saw one in hand at an antique fair - but in fact I found out Henry Gill stamped these Northfield and made them for the soldiers during WWII.... what I also learned was that he made these only for the soldiers and not at much cost to them - he was a kind and generous supporter of our troops in WWII - and since he was basically a one man operation he would not sell these fixed blades to anybody other than our soldiers)...

[steve99f]

Thanks for the history longblade. Very interesting stuff.

[Beechtree]

Thanks for the kind words Long Blade,
Henry Gill (and his partner Arthur Wright if I am not mistaken) did make some fantastic WWII fighters. The reason why I say that this might be any number of cutlers is that there was a lot of stock passing though peoples hands around this time period. Another old time cutler who's name I know and that used both Northfield and Holley stock would be Ray Platts. While Henry Gill did purchase the stock from Northfield and a number of other companies, Holley actually continued making/repairing knives from left over stock until the early 1930s. There is an old knife world article, of course I can't remember the date now, that was written by (Burt Shaw? I can't remember) about his time working at Holley as a young teenager in the early 1930s. Some of the Henry Gill knives that I have seen, likely of a later date, were lower in quality then any older Holley and Northfield. I think this was simply due to the fact he was quite an old man and that keeping a low price point was probably more important then making the highest quality knives like he used to in earlier times. His WWII fighters on the other hand are some of the finest and best balanced (albeit, simple and rugged) WWII made knives I have ever handled.
Cheers,

[LongBlade]

Very interesting Beechtree!! and yes Wright perhaps among a few others did give Henry Gill a hand with those WWII knives (I know this info was in the GEC book but thanks as I had forgotten that myself having read it awhile ago)....

Now of real interest to me is your point regarding others such as Ray Platts using Holley blades as well... ... Now something else is starting to make sense to me as well.... So at the Mystic NCCA show I came across a pen knife with one blade marked Platts (Andover? - can't remember) and the other was a Holley or Northfield blade - I actually can't remember now but think it was a Holley blade... nonetheless not knowing the history I wasn't convinced at the time that this was not a cobbled knife (and quite frankly I am not sure but think there were other suspicions I had at the time regarding the knife in hand (along with story I was told regarding it).. there was something that just didn't make me comfortable with the knife... now I wonder if it was as you suggest Beechtree and made by one of the Platts sons (a cobbled knife but by a well known maker ... indeed interesting and thanks for relaying that info... I in fact may know where that knife is if still available for sale.... much appreciated

[Beechtree]

Sorry for the slow response. That is very interesting LongBlade. I don't see any reason why it would not be possible. Although Ray did not work for the Platts Bros. Andover company, his brother Charlie did, and Charlie was the manager of the Thomaston Knife Co. for a number of years and thus I could imagine some of the blades migrated to Northwestern Connecticut after the closing of the Andover plant. I guess if you were suspect of the knife, it might be something cobbled together, but it might be worth taking a closer look. Of course I would love to see it if you are able to find it again. Cheers and all the best,

[Beechtree]

Sorry for the slow response. That is very interesting LongBlade. I don't see any reason why it would not be possible. Although Ray did not work for the Platts Bros. Andover company, his brother Charlie did, and Charlie was the manager of the Thomaston Knife Co. for a number of years and thus I could imagine some of the blades migrated to Northwestern Connecticut after the closing of the Andover plant. I guess if you were suspect of the knife, it might be something cobbled together, but it might be worth taking a closer look. Of course I would love to see it if you are able to find it again. Cheers and all the best,

[wlf]

I was just thinking...
What is the earliest Sheffield jigged bone anyone has or has seen?

[FRJ]

Here's a little old 3 inch Catt.

[wlf]

Nice old Cat Joe.

Here's one of the earliest I think I have, shown before on page 3.

George Wostenholm farmers jack 3 15/16" :

[LongBlade]

Nice old Catt Joe with that classic worm groove jigging (my favorite jigging and don't really know why )... and Lyle - the usual nice FJ - another FJ - Just Kidding ... still looking for my first FJ which is a never ending search for one like this one

[SteveC]

Utica

Camillus

[LongBlade]

Awesome bone on that Utica and Camillus ... definitely seems to have that classic Rogers jigged bone appearance to me - nice!

[FRJ]

Great looking knives, Steve, and nice pictures.

Lyle, that thing is the best. What a beauty.
I wonder if I have any old Sheffield stuff. Probably not too old but I'll look.

[JohnR]

This Wostenholm Barlow has some pretty nice jigged bone.

[Duffer]

Very attractive old Barlow John with gorgeous bone handles! That bone jigging is random and irregular but nicely balanced across the full dimension of the handle. Certainly makes one wonder how they did it? By hand or machine or some of both? I really like it !