Does anyone have an opinion about Canal Street knives???

[jabberwocky]

On a totally unrelated topic...Bear Claw, I like
the "quote" you include with your postings...is
it from Jeremiah Johnson? Just curious.

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

On a totally unrelated topic...Bear Claw, I like
the "quote" you include with your postings...is
it from Jeremiah Johnson? Just curious.

YEP...as is my "nickname", it's my favorite movie.

[Gr8Scout]

Our work here is not done, jabberwocky, until I make a sincere apology. I hereby offer it to anyone I offended, and to cutacroshorty in particular.

Perhaps this whole idea of the little things knife makers do in the spirit of 'tradition' would make a good thread. Like where did the idea of a shield ever come from? Why do some of us look suspiciously at any knife that doesn't have one?

Maybe we can make lemonade out of the lemon.

Once more, I am sorry. I was out of line in my original post.

Phil

[smiling-knife]

Perhaps this whole idea of the little things knife makers do in the spirit of 'tradition' would make a good thread. Like where did the idea of a shield ever come from? Why do some of us look suspiciously at any knife that doesn't have one?

I have watched this thread from the beginning but felt it not my place to contribute until now.

For Sheffield knives, the shield dates back to the late 1700s early 1800s. In the beginning, the shield did not contain the makers name as it does today. Not sure when this practice became common. The shield was not found on all knives. Originally, it tended to be found mostly on pen knives, fruit knives, smoking knives, and small grooming knives. Ladies and Gentelmen's knives especially were popular gifts for one's significant other among the more well to do in Georgian and Victorian times. The shield was used to personalize the gift with the initials of the recipient. It obviously caught on as a tradition and at some point and became an advertising opportunity for the maker's name or logo. s-k

[jabberwocky]

Gr8Scout...I can't presume to speak for the others on
this forum, (especially the relative newcomers like
myself), but I think that one of the most valuable assets
available to the new collector is the opinions / knowledge
of guys like you. There is a source of information, based
upon years of reading, collecting, first-hand knowledge,
that we have the ability to tap...IF you're willing to give it
to us, and IF you're willing to put up with our uninformed
questions and our seeming ignorance of things that your
knowledge allows you to take for granted.
It may be difficult to avoid being condescending to our
questions...but sometimes what seems to be a flip remark
to you, is simply one of us expressing our ignorance of the
genre. But, keep in mind...anyone on here is trying to learn,
and that can best be done by listening to guys like you. I'm
sure that I'll soon be asking questions that you have the
answers to...I look forward to your patience and knowledge.

[stagman]

Off topic here fella's, but Bearclaw did you know
that movie was based after a real man that lived around
present day Red Lodge, Montana ???
They called him Liver Eatin Johnson as that's what
he did to his fallin enemies. Read a piece in Montana
magazine bout 25 yrs ago on it, thought ya might find
it interesting.

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

Off topic here fella's, but Bearclaw did you know
that movie was based after a real man that lived around
present day Red Lodge, Montana ???
They called him Liver Eatin Johnson as that's what
he did to his fallin enemies. Read a piece in Montana
magazine bout 25 yrs ago on it, thought ya might find
it interesting.

Yep, I'm sitting here looking at my copy of "Crow Killer:The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson" by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker on the shelf over my computer.

The movie was actually based on a combination of this book, plus elements from a fiction book called "Mountain Man" by Vardis Fisher.

Both are great reads!

[sunburst]

Liver Eatin Johnson is about the most off topic discussion I have ever had the honor of experiencing....

Sunburst

[knifeaholic]

Not to throw kerosene on the flames here, but.....

Actually putting a mirror finish on the "mark" side and a crocus on the "pile" side of the master (or other) blade takes more skill and can only be done with more hand labor...at least as compared to the way that Case currently mirror finishes their blades...Case uses tumbling, where all of the blades are put into a big rotating drum with polishing medium and rotated for a long time, similar in concept to a rock tumbler. The mirror/crocus combination can only be done with hand finishing on buffing wheels.

Traditionally, tumble polishing was only used on cheaper grade cutlery. Now it is pretty much the norm, especially for the lower priced imported knives. Queen and Canal Street may be the only US knife companies making slipjoints that do the hand finishing on standard production knives.

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

Liver Eatin Johnson is about the most off topic discussion I have ever had the honor of experiencing....

Sunburst

Just wait, we haven't started comparing recipes yet!

[Bryan]

This has turned out to be a very informative thread. I was affraid we were going to have an all out brawl here before long.

...kidding of course...

For more info re: old blade finishes, see the following thread...

http://allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_f ... php?t=1148

[bigben]

knifeaholic is right on the money, Case Co. changed over to the Drum polishing in 1985, in my opinion things haven't been the same since, of course it was all about Time & Money saved as opposed to quality.

[Bryan]

knifeaholic is right on the money, Case Co. changed over to the Drum polishing in 1985, in my opinion things haven't been the same since, of course it was all about Time & Money saved as opposed to quality.

knifeaholic is right on the money...??? surprise surpise ...I don't think he ever misses.

I was just going to ask if anyone knew when Case started this. You answered my question before I had a chance to ask

I figured it was probably in the early-mid 80s when American Brands (owner of Case at the time) was cheapening everything up with cost cuts

Bryan

[glennbad]

I have one CSC knife, a muskrat pattern.



I find the fit and finish to be impeccable. A very high quality knife. It gives me hope that an American cutlery company can still produce a knife of this quality at a more or less reasonable price.

Glenn

[LRV]

I have a great article done by Blackie Collins as an interview with the founder of Colonial knives which if anyone is interested I'll post on my site. It talks about the production steps involved including in the shields barrel polishing steel types and many other little facts.
I cant remember if he talked about single sided finishing but I will re-read
Drop me a e-mail
TTYL
Larry

[El Lobo]

I'd like to read that irv...oooops, I mean Larry.
Please let us know when it's posted.

bILL

[Sonny]

I would like to say thanks to everybody who gave me advice in the forum.
I just recieved my S & M File & Wire Tested English Jack Knife which I won on ebay ($55. A good price I hope!).
Bearing in mind that I am a novice, here are my opinions.
I think it's a great looking knife.
It's heavy & appears to be made from quality components.
The only flaw I spotted was a small gap between the spring & the liner in one area. I was a bit surprised by this, but am still pleased overall. Maybe it's normal??

I have also just won a Canal Street Trapper which I was lucky enough to get for $31. I love ebay (maybe too much!).
I'm looking forward to recieving it & comparing it to the S & M.

At my local hardware store I bought a Schrade Uncle Henry (stockman) that was old stock made in the US. It's a nice everyday knife.

I also plan to buy a Weidmannsheil at some point.

[sheathmaker]

Now that all the smoke has cleared and every one is friends again I'd like to say that I now have several Canal Street Knives and I fall into that camp that believes they are extremely high quality and well produced knives that show a very high degree of hand work. My first was the trapper because that pattern represents the lion's share of my folder collection (accumulation). Mine, so far are all the amber stagged bone which is genuine cow shin bone and has been verified as such. I never really paid much attention to the finish on the blades other than to notice that it was good and acceptable by my personal standards. Since Schrade is no longer available on a current basis, I think Canal Street has produced an even better reolacement.

Paul

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

The current issue of Blade has a nice article about Canal Street Cutlery in it.