American/Shear/& Knife Co.

[kootenay joe]

American Shear & Knife Co. is an old brand whose markings were reproduced on knives from Jim Parker in the 1980's ? (not sure of date)
Here is a 3 1/4" senator whittler with nicely rounded pearl handles and a nearly removed blade etch that looks like: "TREDWAY/IZ ALL(?)/HAND HAMMERED"
American Shear & Knife Company dates 1853-1917. They began making pocket knives in 1870 and soon after were making more knives than shears.
Do you agree this is an original American Shear & Knife Co. knife ?
Are you familiar with this blade etch which might not be stated correctly above ?
Looking forward to reading what the 'knowledge keepers" will say.
kj

[LongBlade]

KJ - The blades looked like they have been cleaned with some residual signs of staining/pitting- But the tang stamps look new to me with little wear - to me that looks suspicious... here is a tang stamp of another American Shear & Knife of mine:

I have seen that etch on a master blade before but in truth I can not remember if it was an American Shear & Knife Co knife (maybe a Maher & Grosh or a Miller Bros ??? - just can't remember)... ...

[knife7knut]

Just my opinion but I think the knife is good.I base this on the way the long nail mark is cut;the bevels on the pen blade and the hand cut file teeth on the manicure blade. That and the way the blades fit together. I doubt that anyone would spend the amount of time to create a knife that would have minimal value compared to a more popular brand and pattern.

[kootenay joe]

The front side of master blade has been scoured by something abraisive, like a scouring pad & Comet ? The back side has very superficial scratches on what i see as original finish. The front side of secondary pen blade has been buffed and lightly so on the back side.
I do not think it has had a full spa treatment of 'buff everything'.
longblade if tang stampings look new to you then i assume you see this as a recent copy rather than an original late 1800's to early 1900's knife ?
kj

[LongBlade]

Yes - Just my guess KJ that the stamps look re-struck or cold stamped... personally when I see these red flags I pass on the knife - my gut feelings are better to be safe than sorry - i.e. I could be wrong but those stamps look way too new to me based on age of knife...

BTW K7Knut - Given Am Shear & Knife are not common and desirable I would say yes somebody would "waste" their time cobbling one...

[kootenay joe]

Thanks Ray. How can you tell: "the hand cut file teeth on the manicure blade."
What shows the hand cutting ?
kj

[LongBlade]

I should have noted - the blades look old but may not have been American Shear originally - the blades may have even been in this handle frame - and given the pins they could have been pulled and re-pinned after stamping so maybe worth somebody's time & effort - just speculation and an opinion, and no doubt I can be wrong...

[kootenay joe]

LongBlade, thanks for your input. Any of us can be wrong and we all are sometimes. By posting i am hoping that a consensus can be achieved.
I see 3 possibilities:
1) all original plus some buffing
2) all or part 'cobbled'
3) modern production knife as a Repro of an American Shear & Knife whittler.

kj

[peanut740]

I agree with K7K. Knife is fine.

[LongBlade]

Just curious but Ray or Roger - The stamps don't look fishy based on the knife or is it the cleaning?? The stamps look pretty deep to me and looking at other Am Shear & Knife stamps I am not seeing any with that bold font..

[RobesonsRme.com]

Knife "looks" good to me, but don't ask for finite details. It's a "look", not a scientifically based fact.

Charlie Noyes

[peanut740]

Lee,I would guess those tang stamps were hand struck.That could very well explain the differences.Different guys swinging the hammer,size of stamp,deeper one stamped in the morning when the guy was fresh,lighter stamp late in the day?They don`t look shaved either to my eye.The knife is etched also and if you were dicking around trying to re-stamp a knife you would take a big chance of screwing up the etch.I think sometimes we over think things.

[Gunsil]

KJ, I agree with those that say it is a right knife. Those tang stamps don't at all look "cold stamped", dunno why anybody would think so, cold stamping leaves upraised metal around the letters. Likely just a later knife than the one Lee shows.

[LongBlade]

Lee,I would guess those tang stamps were hand struck.That could very well explain the differences.Different guys swinging the hammer,size of stamp,deeper one stamped in the morning when the guy was fresh,lighter stamp late in the day? They don`t look shaved either to my eye. The knife is etched also and if you were dicking around trying to re-stamp a knife you would take a big chance of screwing up the etch.I think sometimes we over think things.

Thanks Roger - appreciate the response and I learned something ... I think you are right about over-thinking things especially when evaluating a knife - I'm pretty good at that sometimes

[btrwtr]

Looks fine to me as well. Just cleaned up a bit as you note.

[Gunsil]

Lee,I would guess those tang stamps were hand struck.That could very well explain the differences.Different guys swinging the hammer,size of stamp,deeper one stamped in the morning when the guy was fresh,lighter stamp late in the day?They don`t look shaved either to my eye.The knife is etched also and if you were dicking around trying to re-stamp a knife you would take a big chance of screwing up the etch.I think sometimes we over think things.

I think y'all are missing the boat. How long do you think a stamp lasts in a factory? These stamps were changed in font and design by many knife companies over the years and it was often simply because a stamp got worn out. KJ's knife is likely a newer knife than Lee's and the stamp is totally different than that on lee's. Comparing the two is the old apples and oranges thing. There are many Miller Bros stamps that are correct for example, and as stamps wore out and were replaced often the design was changed a bit and sometimes the company may have just wanted a more modern look to their stamps without having old ones worn out. Read the knife, this one looks right, no reason to doubt the stamps. Yes they were hand stamped but the guy doing the work used the same weight hammer and pretty much the same blow so as to not ruin a blanked blade. Blades in the old days were blanked, forged, stamped and then ground so many will have deeper stamps than others just because more grinding was needed on one than another. There are many reasons for a company especially one in business as long as American S&K would have different looking stamps over the years and that difference is no reason to poo-poo a knife when all the other aspects look entirely proper. I agree that nobody is going through all the trouble to fake a little tipped bolster whittler or screw around with a knife with a visible etch.

[knife7knut]

Thanks Ray. How can you tell: "the hand cut file teeth on the manicure blade."
What shows the hand cutting ?
kj

On that particular style of manicure blade(I believe it is a Curley's patent blade)the file teeth were hand cut which left them somewhat uneven in shape and size rather than a machine cut file blade. I'll dig one out and photograph it to show what I mean.

[ea42]

Roland nice little knife!! In great shape too. Tredway was a hardware store out of Dubuque, Iowa, late 1800's to early 1900's. I think that etch likely says "Wizard", which was a trademark they used.

Eric

[kootenay joe]

Thanks for your posts. I had thought this knife to be all original but i have been mistaken more than once so it's good to get confirmation.
Based just on this knife, American Shear & Knife Company made high quality pocket knives.
kj

[kootenay joe]

Thanks Eric. I can read the etch now: "Tredway/Wizard(with a large "W")/Hand Hammered".
Gunsil, thanks for the review of stamping dies use, rotation, & replacement, and the effects of subsequent grinding. All important points in reading the knife.
Ray, with a loupe the manicure teeth look evenly cut and spaced except for the first 2 'teeth' next to the tang which seem squashed together.
Perhaps i will be able to see the difference in the pics you post.
kj

[knife7knut]

Tried posting this before and it refused to go through. Here is a small 4 blade marked Silver Steel(ca.1860's)with a hand cut file blade. If you look closely at the teeth near the tang you will see the inconsistencies in the teeth.

[kootenay joe]

Thanks Ray. I can see in this picture that the file cuts closest to tang are not parallel to the cuts further along the blade.
On mine the cuts remain parallel but the spacing on the first 3 cuts is a bit closer than the rest, but only a very slight difference.
kj