Dug Up Knife

[OLDE CUTLER]

I got this knife from my dads estate after he passed away about 20 years ago. I can remember when I was a kid he showed it to me and I asked the questions "where did he get it and how long had he owned it". The story on this one is my father found this knife while walking to school as a small kid. At the time he lived a few miles outside of town and walked about 2 miles each way to the schoolhouse. When I tried to determine when it was that he had found it, he said he couldn't remember. When I tried to jog his memory as to how old he may have been, or in what grade he was in, it came back that he was 9 or 10 years old. That would put the time frame for him finding this knife in 1916 or 1917. In other words it has looked like this for the past 100 years. It appears to me to be a Russell Green River skinning knife with the 5 pin handle, although there may be other possibilities. In trying to reconstruct how this may have come to lie on the prairie in eastern South Dakota, I have discussed this and shown the knife to several people who have their own ideas about it. One fellow thought it must have been lost by buffalo hunters back in the day. I don't believe this because the time lapse from the buffalo hunter days until the 1916-1917 era would have meant the knife would have been laying there for 40 or 50 years or so and in my opinion there would have been almost nothing left of it. I think if it would have laid there for even a few years, the knife would have disappeared into the ground and would not have been seen by a kid walking to school. As you can see, there is still wood left on it, so I don't think it really was laying on the ground very long. What I think is some deer hunter possibly lost it or maybe some one was butchering a farm animal and lost it. Russell Green River knives were the real workhorse brand back in the day and nearly everyone had some form of their knives.

[americanedgetech]

That is a super cool knife, and from what I have seen so far that is the style that most sellers are calling a buffalo skinner. That does not mean it is from the buffalo slaughter era BUT that era went on until the late 1800's-early 1900's, and your dad was in the right area for this.
The black hills, and thousands of square miles surrounding them were the primary focus in decimating the native Americans, and their relative the Buffalo.

It may well be a relic from that era, and was lost at a later date? It's hard to know for sure.

I'll try to find a documentary I watched the other night that ties in what I said above on the time line(s), and post it here...

Here it is. If you are easily offended by atrocities committed on the Native Americans from the beginning of white settlement here, right up thru today, you might not want to know what this video is saying. It does however fit your dads time line IF it is an authentic Buffalo Skinner.

[TripleF]

WOW.....I had no idea....I mean I guess I did, but it's brutal and disgraceful what we've done to the Indians.


And cool knife.

[americanedgetech]

Man... I thought I knew a little.
To hear just that few moments described by the people that live it... It actually hurts my soul to be here.

Those are Gods children.

[tongueriver]

Tough call as to original age because they made them more or less like this from the mid 1800s until they went to the larger head pins in the (1920s?, 1930s?). Obviously it didn't lie on the ground long. I reckon it was lying on the floor board of a model T pickup, driver's side, for about 11.4 miles and... fell off.

[treefarmer]

That's a great old knife to own, especially with the history from your dad!
tongueriver's theory makes a lot of sense. Surely your dad would walk the same established trail or road to school each day that others might also travel. Just like we find things in the road today, screwdrivers, sockets, etc.., that were accidentally left some where on a vehicle and they finally fall off. Same idea, just 100 years ago.
Treefarmer

[Gunsil]

These knives were and are used in every packing and slaughter house in the country and have been and still are used in many households. Nothing about them says "hunter" or "buffalo" except one's fancy. They were made by nearly every cutlery company who made fixed blade, kitchen, or industrial knives. Four pin, five pin makes no difference in age, just depends on which company made it. Yes, hunters have used and do use them, but they are most commonly found in commercial packing houses.

[OLDE CUTLER]

These knives were and are used in every packing and slaughter house in the country and have been and still are used in many households. Nothing about them says "hunter" or "buffalo" except one's fancy. They were made by nearly every cutlery company who made fixed blade, kitchen, or industrial knives. Four pin, five pin makes no difference in age, just depends on which company made it. Yes, hunters have used and do use them, but they are most commonly found in commercial packing houses.

Right you are about a slaughter and packing house in our area. The John Morrell plant has been here for over 100 years, so there is an abundance of these knives in this area. I thought it would be interesting to show this and let people speculate on what the story might have been as to how it ended up where it did. What other manufacturers could have made this back in the day?

[terryl308]

Nice find and good story, most commercial packs now days use man made handled knives because of the Government rules (osha, epa and etc) Chicago, Victorinox, Russell, Hinkels, just to name a few made butcher knives. I'm not sure when all the rules kicked in but it was probably in the 60's. However you still can get wooden handled knives for home use. Terry

[Watervillain]

I dug up this old knife Wednesday,
The house is circa 1730s
Someone working in the crawl space lost this gem

I believe it is a JAS LOWE
If so the J and E are lost or bad stamp?

I’m guessing it’s from 1920s - 1940

Anyone familiar with these
Or if rare?

Not much information on hunters
I’ve seen some Dinner ware.
Jimmie