Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

The Queen Cutlery Company manufactured knives in Titusville Pennsylvania for 96 years. The company opened its only factory there in 1919 and commenced to make some of the best US crafted cutlery you will find. Unfortunately, the Titusville manufacturing plant closed down in 2018.
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Daryl
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Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Southern California

Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Daryl »

I just picked up this Queen #64 canoe, but when I got it home and looked more closely, several things seem "off" about it. Most glaring is the fact that the tang stamp is upside-down! Then there's the feel/action of the thing. My other #64s (I have four of them) are butter-smooth when opening and closing. This one almost requires a vice and a crane to open the large blade, and the small blade is even harder. Also, the handle material isn't quite as smooth; it doesn't feel quite as wonderful in the hand.

According to the Queen tang stamp guide, this tang stamp would be correct for a 1973-1975 time period. The underlining tail of the Q beneath the "ueen," however, is shown as slightly descending in the tang guide. On this knife, it appears to ascend sightly.

The "man in the canoe" etch is pretty faint, and is maybe "iffy" too.

Side-by-side with one of my other #64s, the pin locations look okay, but both bolsters on the new one are shorter. The large blade shape looks about right, but the small blade's tang is curved instead of squared, and the small blade is narrower. The small blade and its tang almost look like a cross between my Queen and Camillus canoes.

In the first comparison photo, the questionable one is on the right, the one with the darker scales.

What do you all think?

(The last photo is of my "good" #64.)
Attachments
01_20190331_085446_GoodQueen_QuestionableQueen.jpg
02_20190331_085519_LargeBlades.jpg
03_20190331_085538_SmallBlades.jpg
04_20190331_085105_QuestionableQueen.jpg
05_20190331_085120_CanoeEtchDetail.jpg
06_20190331_093425_TangStamp.jpg
07_20190331_085203_SmallBlade.jpg
Queen_Tang_Stamps.jpeg
08_20190331_085607_GoodQueen_LargeBladeDetail.jpg
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Doc B
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Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Doc B »

I know nothing about whether your knife is legit...but those certainly look like 2 different knives...there's a lot of differences.
I'm sure someone, with more knowledge will help out.
Heretical Refurb / Mods of cheap old folders, since late 2018
Daryl
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Daryl »

Doc B wrote:I know nothing about whether your knife is legit...but those certainly look like 2 different knives...there's a lot of differences.
I'm sure someone, with more knowledge will help out.
Thanks, Doc. It certainly is different from all my other #64s.
alabama
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Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by alabama »

not positive-it looks ok to me-Delrin not popular with counterfeiters-whoever stamped it was high...
Daryl
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Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Daryl »

alabama wrote:not positive-it looks ok to me-Delrin not popular with counterfeiters-whoever stamped it was high...
Thanks!

I can't decide, either. Sometimes I look at it and think, "Well, someone just screwed up." Other times, "What the *** is this thing??" Like you said, it seems a strange thing for someone to counterfeit.
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bdev
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Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by bdev »

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it might be a knife made during the closing months of Queen. Maybe made up of old stock and new parts. ::shrug::
Queen City. My favorite! Bruno. ::tu::
Daryl
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Daryl »

bdev wrote:I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it might be a knife made during the closing months of Queen. Maybe made up of old stock and new parts. ::shrug::
Hmmm. Maybe so! It does seem to be a mish-mash of different parts.

Was there a period when the bolsters were that short? The bolsters on all my other ones are the longer style.
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Greenman
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Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Greenman »

Daryl wrote:
bdev wrote:I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it might be a knife made during the closing months of Queen. Maybe made up of old stock and new parts. ::shrug::
Hmmm. Maybe so! It does seem to be a mish-mash of different parts.

Was there a period when the bolsters were that short? The bolsters on all my other ones are the longer style.
This image may help. It’s taken from page 3 of Queen catalog #50 (1972-1978). The canoe pattern is #64 at the bottom left hand corner. My apologies for the poor quality, low resolution photo.
DEA019BB-BB36-45E7-BFEB-8109C454A000.png
Blow-up
EB35EC09-37E0-42FA-9FC6-2D14E9A481B5.jpeg
Josh

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“Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature, unaware that this nature he's destroying is this god he's worshipping.”
— Hubert Reeves
Daryl
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Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Daryl »

Thanks, Greenman. That's the knife! Except fot the upside-down tang stamp? But, yeah!
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Greenman
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Re: Is This #64 Canoe Legit?

Post by Greenman »

Daryl wrote:Thanks, Greenman. That's the knife! Except fot the upside-down tang stamp? But, yeah!
::tu::
Josh

/|\

“Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature, unaware that this nature he's destroying is this god he's worshipping.”
— Hubert Reeves
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