Museum knives

[Mumbleypeg]

While browsing my old photos for something else I found these pictures I had forgotten. They’re pictures of knives taken museums.

Buffalo skinner’s knives. These were on display at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Buffalo skinner knife sets

Placard

Buffalo hunters diorama

Case trapper made for Special Rangers of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raiser’s Association. On display at the National Ranching Heritage Museum in Lubbock, TX. The Special Rangers have been law enforcement professionals since 1893, specialists in crimes against agriculture such as cattle rustling, theft of equipment, fraud, etc. They are now part of law enforcement agencies in their respective states.

Thought y’all might like to see these. And if you ever get the opportunity to visit either of those museums I highly recommend both.

Ken

[1967redrider]

Thanks for posting, Ken.

[Ripster]

While browsing my old photos for something else I found these pictures I had forgotten. They’re pictures of knives taken museums.

Buffalo skinner’s knives. These were on display at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

E09F1779-ED8E-4B06-8299-F89E82FE7BA4.jpeg
230DDDC7-34E0-4C0E-9234-18A0C56E6C80.jpeg
C7B88E56-B09F-42C1-ADA2-0C46540A7894.jpeg

Case trapper made for Special Rangers of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raiser’s Association. On display at the National Ranching Heritage Museum in Lubbock, TX. The Special Rangers have been law enforcement professionals since 1893, specialists in crimes against agriculture such as cattle rustling, theft of equipment, fraud, etc. They are now part of law enforcement agencies in their respective states.

C78DE6FA-7635-49D3-A16E-57581D7E7A0E.jpeg
69350720-8A7E-4358-B93A-C78731DE5C2D.jpeg
193761F9-D44E-42EE-B85A-0CE1AD71F6C7.jpeg

Thought y’all might like to see these. And if you ever get the opportunity to visit either of those museums I highly recommend both.

Ken

Very interesting read ! Wasn’t aware of a lot of this. Thank you for sharing that
Stay safe out there .

[Gone2Three]

Very interesting Ken, thank you for sharing it with us

[Steve Warden]

Very cool!
Thanks!!

[Gunsil]

Sadly I don't think any of the knives displayed or the big sharpening steel are old enough to have been used by buffalo skinners. Yes, the knives are commercial skinning knives but they look post 1900 to me. Sorry, but it dismays me when museums have displays that aren't period. It is displays like this that after being seen cause some folks go home and discover that the 1930s skinning knife they have in a drawer is a "genuine buffalo skinner".

[Mumbleypeg]

Good eye Gene. In fact if you read the placard describing them the museum agrees with you. It says the ones on display are from 1900-1910, after the great Buffalo hunt days. I’m sure if you have, or know someone who has, some more period correct knives to donate to the museum (or loan to them) for display, they’d be glad to have them.

Ken

[Gunsil]

I did read the plaque, it says the butchering set was newer but it also says the knives to the right are period which is incorrect. I think those knives are more 1920s-30s with the big rivets. Funny thing, I myself have been on display in the old Cowboy Hall of Fame in OK City, and am on permanent display in the Museum of the American Cowboy in Cody, WY. When I was young I posed for the famous western artist Harry Jackson and he did a bronze sculpture of me as a cowboy. I am also in a couple of huge paintings in the Cody museum. The statue is called "The Gunsil", hence my forum name. Gunsil being a term for a young punk gunslinger. I sold my only 1870s-80s commercial large skinning knife last year, I do have an earlier Russell one but it is small for buffalo. Most of the wood handled ones from the buffalo era have small 4-6 small steel pins affixing the wood scales.

Just found some pics of my edition of the statue, probably my favorite possession. Mine was given by Harry to my parents (my dad went to art school with Harry and were lifelong friends) and this one is inscribed "To the Gunsil's folks, devotedly Harry" on the base. It is a little over 20" tall not including the base. I was a teenager when I posed for this but if you saw me today you might still recognize me from the statue. Ken, you're a Texan, when I went to an opening for Harry's show at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in OK City in 1966 I met the owner of the King Ranch and he offered me a job when I left college (I was at OU in Norman, OK). I probably should have taken him up on it but I didn't.

[espn77]

Thats awesome Gene. I'm a big fan of the American cowboy and there history. Very cool

[espn77]

Ken, neat stuff. Are there many knife museums around? I know most regular museums will have a little table with some edge stuff on it.

[Mumbleypeg]

Ken, neat stuff. Are there many knife museums around? I know most regular museums will have a little table with some edge stuff on it.

Not that I know of. Both museums I mentioned were as you describe, just a couple of tables with knives within a larger theme. The museum in Oklahoma City has a section on cowboy and western leather braid work (like Luis Ortega for example, and others), which has a display of tools including actual well-worn knives owned and used by some artisans to work leather.

For museums dedicated to knives there’s the Wawarsing, NY knife museum which I went to several years ago, but it was closed so all I could do was try to look in through the windows. Looked like a great place. I’d like to return but it’s a long way from me. There’s also the remains of the NKCA museum on display at SMKW, which I’ve seen a couple of times. Lots of stuff but un-curated. The visitor is mostly left on their own to interpret what they’re viewing. I think it’s there mostly to draw customers to the store in hopes they’ll spend some money. Has potential but I was more saddened than impressed. JMO

Case has managed to recoup some of the “factory collection” which was sold off by James Parker in the early 1990s. Some of it is back on the walls at the factory and some is on display at the Zippo/Case Museum, both in Bradford PA.

Ken

[espn77]

Thats kinda disappointing that there aren't more.

[Mumbleypeg]

Thats kinda disappointing that there aren't more.

Indeed it is. It takes dedication and a lot of cash to establish and sustain a museum. For those not having done so I recommend reading the thread here about the Wawarsing museum viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20159. The dedication of those who founded and operate it is admirable.

The NKCA museum was a great initiative which proved unsustainable. Maybe some day collections like yours and others may find their way to museums having the funding and organizational structure to sustain them.

Ken

[Gunsil]

The Warwasing museum is only open in the summer (Memorial to Labor Day) and a lot of their displays were removed when the founder and the board had an argument and the founder left with all his knives. Still worth visiting if you are in the area, the remaining board members have added some knives. There is also the American Museum of Cutlery in Cattaraugus, NY. It too is a small museum but they have some nice stuff including a fancy exposition display folding knife by Catt that is almost three feet long closed. That knife alone is worth the visit. When the National Knife Museum at SMKW was disbanded they sent a huge Catt collection to the owner of the American Museum of Cutlery but there isn't space in the little museum to display it all. The owner of the museum also owns the Cattaraugus bank across the street and has a lot of beauties in his vault. Sometimes with an appointment serious collectors can get to view what's in the vault. The town of Cattaraugus is only about an hour north from the Case factory in Bradford and if one goes to Case they should also make the trip to Cattaraugus. If in the area there is a big antique mall in Salamaca, NY which often produces some good cutlery antiques since they are right between Little Valley and Bradford. Springville, NY and Little Valley are also near Cattaraugus and the old Case Bros factory building in Springville is still in use and there is a nice restaurant in the building. (I recommend the "Beef on Weck" sandwich). In Little Valley the ruins of the Catt factory are still visible and Job Case's house is still there and occupied. Most of the Case family rests in the Little Valley cemetery along with the Champlins of Catt and the parents of the Brown Bros of KA-BAR are there also. Great area for knife history nuts like myself.

[P M River]

Do any of your pictures show the red fiber handled MSA U bolster folder that was in the museum ?