DURO EDGE/Featherweight

[kootenay joe]

Here is a 3 1/8" pearl Equal End Gent's Whittler ("Gent's" = Manicure secondary) with both blades being marked: "DURO EDGE/Featherweight/Pat. APL./32. The master back tang has a crescent shaped mark. The blades have been buffed so this might have been a poorly struck marking ?
Does anyone know the manufacturer ? Maybe Queen ? And age ??
thanks, kj

[bighomer]

I can't answer any of your questions, but that shore am purdy.

[conslade]

I believe your knife was made by Utica in the early '30's.

[knifeaholic]

Definitely Utica...are the liners aluminum? It would be interesting to see what the patent was for.

[kootenay joe]

Under "Pat. APL." is "32" but i doubt the 32 has anything to do with the patent.
What about this knife says "Utica" to you folks who know it is a Utica ?
What is a "Duro Edge" ? maybe a tweak to the tempering ?
kj

[edgy46]

Utica had a patent on an aluminum framed knife called featherweight. All the ones I have seen have been Girl Scout knives. Hope this helps.

[knife7knut]

I wonder if that curved marking on the rear of the tang was where a curved Utica stamp resided? If the patent applied #(32) is a date that would square with the curved Utica stamp which I believe was used up until 1937. Just speculating.

[kootenay joe]

I have the Featherweight Girl Scout knife.
Did Utica have sole rights to the word "Featherweight" when applied to a knife ?
kj

[Miller Bro's]

I suspect the knife may have been re-handled in pearl. The knife was originally sold out of the Dr. Lawrence Emberton collection on September 2, 2014.

The bolster pins are visible and the fit of the pearl seems to be off. Nevertheless it is an interesting knife and if I can find the patent I will post it here. No doubt it has something do with the tempering of the cutting edge, Robeson had a "Frozen Heat" line of knives touting how good the cutting edge was.

See here lot #204:

http://www.jbrucevoyles.com/A77/A77%20Page%203.html

[kootenay joe]

Dimitri, wow, you are definitely # 1 Knife Detective. I am amazed that you found this knife from before it came to me. Very impressive. Thank you.
kj

[msteele6]

Here are a couple of Utica Featherweight knives.

I have often seen Utica knives marked with a "29", "31", "32" and have never been able to figure out any rhyme or reason behind them, I don't think that they are pattern numbers. The curved mark is another thing that I have never heard explained. I do think that it shows up on other brands of knives.

The Featherweight knives appear to have aluminum liners and shields.

[knifeaholic]

The curved mark may mean stainless steel blades?

[bighomer]

Thanks for the link Dimitri that was one heck of a collection of knives WOW!!! Did any of ya'll get any of them?I wonder how many $ they fetched.