info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

The Cattaraugus Cutlery Company was started by John Champlin and his son Tint in 1882. It was first incorporated under the name J.B.F. Champlin and Son as a wholesale distribution company based in Little Valley, New York. The business proved to be a successful endeavor, and it soon branched into a knife production company named Cattaraugus.
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joefm
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info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by joefm »

hey guys,

any info and possible value on this knife would be greatly appreciated. along with the pics im gonna post, i can add that the knife has excellent snap no wobble. there are spots on the blades, but they are full maybe unused. i cant find another one to compare it too! it sure is one of my favorites! thanks for your help fellas!!
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1967redrider
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by 1967redrider »

From Price & Zalesky's 15th Edition-
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Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Gunsil »

Red, I do not see anything like the OP knife on that page???? OP knife is a serpentine whittler in slick black.
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1967redrider
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by 1967redrider »

Gunsil wrote: Tue Nov 05, 2019 11:55 am Red, I do not see anything like the OP knife on that page???? OP knife is a serpentine whittler in slick black.
The knife listed just above my fingers is a 32126, which is the number stamped on the master blade in the picture above. The description says "Wharncliffe," could it be a typo or is this a cobbled knife? ::shrug::

*edit- Option #3 is it re-profiled?
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

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danno50
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by danno50 »

The 5th edition Standard Knife Collector's Guide, by Ritchie and Stewart, lists the 32126 as a small whittler, with no other information. The Cattaraugus catalogue reprint by Ritchie and Stewart does not have the 32126 listed?
I do not think the OP knife has been reprofiled. It would be difficult to turn a wharncliff blade into a clip blade.
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by edge213 »

I believe wharncliffe was originally used for the shape of a frame. Which was a serpentine shape.
Not originally used for a blade shape.
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by danno50 »

edge213 wrote: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:57 pm I believe wharncliffe was originally used for the shape of a frame. Which was a serpentine shape.
Not originally used for a blade shape.
Very true, David, you are right on that and your point is well taken, I meant no offence. However, all of the pictures of what Cattaraugus calls wharncliffe whittlers, in the books I have anyway, show a knife with both a wharncliffe frame and a wharncliffe blade.
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Gunsil »

The original wharncliff design used the wharncliff blade pattern in a serpentine frame. No wharncliff main blade, not a wharncliff.
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Eye Brand Man »

I think in this instance Wharncliffe refers to the pattern and not the master blades shape. I have seen whittlers like this referred to as Wharncliffe whittlers.
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Mumbleypeg »

I also have thought of wharncliffe as being a blade shape. However after seeing this discussion I looked to see what Levine's Guide says about it. So FWIW:
WHARNCLIFFE. A folding knife handle and blade shape named for its designer, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe, a patron of Joseph Rodgers & Sons of Sheffield.
So based on that my interpretation is it could be either the knife's shape, a blade shape, or both.

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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Jacknifeben »

My Cattaraugus 32126 has a different blade configuration.
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by 1967redrider »

Learned something new today- Cattaraugus has a Wharncliffe knife pattern, not necessarily the blade. ::nod::
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
joefm
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by joefm »

jackknifeben,

when you say yours has a different blade configuration, could you explain? sorry i just dont know much about these knives and i love mine and would like to know as much as i can. i dont think mine has been reprofiled or anything like the sort. but im no expert so ill post a few more pics and let me know if i can do anything else to help find out exactly what i have here?
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joefm
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by joefm »

anybody else know approximately the value of this whittler, or anyother info?
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Jacknifeben »

Here are a couple of pictures looking down on the tip of the knife laying between the other blades. If the tip does not extend past the butt end of those blades you blade has probably been reshaped after the tip was broke off. Just saying?
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Dave T »

Just to clarify the origin and meaning of Wharncliffe Knife: The quote below is verbatim from a newspaper report in 1864 of a magistrate court case in Sheffield.
"It was quite a different case from that of the “Wharncliffe knife”. The words “Wharncliffe knife” merely meant a knife of a particular form in which nobody had any exclusive right, and which anybody could manufacture…. Mr A Smith: A knife of which Lord Wharncliffe was not the original manufacturer, but the original “complimentee” (Laughter). The Wharncliffe knife was first manufactured by Messrs. Rogers, who sent their first parcel to Lord Wharncliffe, requesting the use of his name, which he granted. The only distinction of the Wharncliffe knife was its shape, and it was unquestionably an article of general manufacture…"
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Re: info on this Cattaraugus whittler?

Post by Waukonda »

::tu:: Good info!
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