Growing up in the knife industry

[johnburrell]

Just before noon today, I received word from the AAPK Member store team that I have been approved to sell items through the AAPK Member Store Platform. I am really excited. It's been fifteen years since I closed Burrell Cutlery Company, Inc. And BAM just like that, I'm back in the knife business.
Burrell Cutlery was started in 1940 by my grandmother Addie Case Burrell and my grandfather Harold W. (Pop) Burrell. Pop and Grandma had both worked at her father's (Jean Case) company Case Brothers Cutlery in Little Valley, NY. After the Case factory fire, Pop worked at the new Springville NY factory. When the company went bankrupt, Pop and his father-in-law Jean Case and Dean Case were welcomed at W.R. Case in Bradford, PA. Jean (my great grandfather), sold his brand Tested XX to his nephew Russ Case, President of W.R. Case. Years later, both Jean and Pop went to Kinfolks in Little Valley to work with Jean's son and Harold's brother-in-law Dean J. Case. Kinfolks had started in 1927 by Russ Case (W.R. Case and Son's), Tint Champlin (Cattaraugus Cutlery) and Dean J. Case, all first cousins. By 1940, Addie ran her brother's office at Kinfolks, Harold oversaw production, and my father Dean Burrell (who was named after Dean J. Case) traveled the country selling product. Wanting a company of their own, the Burrell's left Kinfolks and Little Valley to start Burrell Cutlery seven miles over the hill in Ellicottville,NY. Five years later, I was born and quite literally started growing up in the business. In the days ahead, I will start telling stories that I remember about companies and the great people in the business that I had the pleasure of knowing and working with for over forty years of active participation in the business.

[Ripster]

Just before noon today, I received word from the AAPK Member store team that I have been approved to sell items through the AAPK Member Store Platform. I am really excited. It's been fifteen years since I closed Burrell Cutlery Company, Inc. And BAM just like that, I'm back in the knife business.
Burrell Cutlery was started in 1940 by my grandmother Addie Case Burrell and my grandfather Harold W. (Pop) Burrell. Pop and Grandma had both worked at her father's (Jean Case) company Case Brothers Cutlery in Little Valley, NY. After the Case factory fire, Pop worked at the new Springville NY factory. When the company went bankrupt, Pop and his father-in-law Jean Case and Dean Case were welcomed at W.R. Case in Bradford, PA. Jean (my great grandfather), sold his brand Tested XX to his nephew Russ Case, President of W.R. Case. Years later, both Jean and Pop went to Kinfolks in Little Valley to work with Jean's son and Harold's brother-in-law Dean J. Case. Kinfolks had started in 1927 by Russ Case (W.R. Case and Son's), Tint Champlin (Cattaraugus Cutlery) and Dean J. Case, all first cousins. By 1940, Addie ran her brother's office at Kinfolks, Harold oversaw production, and my father Dean Burrell (who was named after Dean J. Case) traveled the country selling product. Wanting a company of their own, the Burrell's left Kinfolks and Little Valley to start Burrell Cutlery seven miles over the hill in Ellicottville,NY. Five years later, I was born and quite literally started growing up in the business. In the days ahead, I will start telling stories that I remember about companies and the great people in the business that I had the pleasure of knowing and working with for over forty years of active participation in the business.

Hey John ,good to hear your all set here with the store part of the forum. The Admin and Moderaters,and Owner are Top notch type folks .
Your story is just something to hear for these old ears ,and sure appreciate your sharing. Even this old Camillus collectorlikes a good Case knife or story now and then . Look forward to supporting Burrell Cutlery if I can . Hope you enjoy it here and stick around

[cudgee]

What JP said.

[Gunsil]

Glad to see you here John!! Keep the history stories coming, I am sure there are many who are interested here.

Best, Gene

[DM11]

Hello John. Would love the hear more of your family history and stories!

[ea42]

Welcome John! Your family history is just mind boggling, definitely looking forward to more. Good luck at the store!

Eric

[kootenay joe]

John you are part of the family that has played the most significant role in the history of cutlery in USA. In addition to many interesting and revealing stories i am sure you know a great deal about a great many knives. I am eagerly looking forward to learning from your posts here in AAPK. Thank you for joining our ranks.
kj

[dlr110]

John it is a pleasure to have you join us here at AAPK. Along with many others I look forward to reading your posts and learning more about your family and your experiences.

[Papa Bones]

Just before noon today, I received word from the AAPK Member store team that I have been approved to sell items through the AAPK Member Store Platform. I am really excited. It's been fifteen years since I closed Burrell Cutlery Company, Inc. And BAM just like that, I'm back in the knife business.
Burrell Cutlery was started in 1940 by my grandmother Addie Case Burrell and my grandfather Harold W. (Pop) Burrell. Pop and Grandma had both worked at her father's (Jean Case) company Case Brothers Cutlery in Little Valley, NY. After the Case factory fire, Pop worked at the new Springville NY factory. When the company went bankrupt, Pop and his father-in-law Jean Case and Dean Case were welcomed at W.R. Case in Bradford, PA. Jean (my great grandfather), sold his brand Tested XX to his nephew Russ Case, President of W.R. Case. Years later, both Jean and Pop went to Kinfolks in Little Valley to work with Jean's son and Harold's brother-in-law Dean J. Case. Kinfolks had started in 1927 by Russ Case (W.R. Case and Son's), Tint Champlin (Cattaraugus Cutlery) and Dean J. Case, all first cousins. By 1940, Addie ran her brother's office at Kinfolks, Harold oversaw production, and my father Dean Burrell (who was named after Dean J. Case) traveled the country selling product. Wanting a company of their own, the Burrell's left Kinfolks and Little Valley to start Burrell Cutlery seven miles over the hill in Ellicottville,NY. Five years later, I was born and quite literally started growing up in the business. In the days ahead, I will start telling stories that I remember about companies and the great people in the business that I had the pleasure of knowing and working with for over forty years of active participation in the business.

Welcome to AAPK. Thank you for posting this. It is always interesting to me (and I am sure to many of the AAPK members) of the connections of many of the Knife makers and Companies of this country. I look forward to your posts.

[edge213]

Welcome to AAPK.
I love learning about the history of cutlery companies. I'm looking forward to hearing it from someone who actually lived through it.

[herbva]

John, thanks for the great story and history lesson! I think we are all thrilled to have you participate here at AAPK and I, for one, am excited about your being back in business and look forward to hearing more great stories from you. Best regards. Herb

[1967redrider]

Great story, John, and I bet you have tons more. Looking forward to reading them and learning more about the Case family and relatives. Thanks for posting!

John

[johnburrell]

I'm pleased with the interest there seems to be in the group with what I have posted. It's hard to know where to start. Most of what little knowledge I have comes from family stories or from direct contact with the companies or people that I have personally worked with. To name a few: Burrell, W.R. Case, Kinfolks, Robeson, Ontario, Robinson, Sog and Cattaraugus. I would ask you all to ask questions or suggest topics I might write information on. Keep in mind that my full time (40 year) knife career in the business, started after having been released from active duty in the Army in September 1967. I spent a lot of time as a kid at the factory and can even remember watching our wonderful craftsmen and craftswomen producing barbers straight razors. Please let me hear back about what you might be interested in hearing about.

[jwwood]

John, in Shirley Boser's book Images of America W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company on page 119, would this be you standing left to right? Thanks joe

[johnburrell]

Shirley Boser, what a wonderful and helpful woman. Over the years I have spent considerable amount of time with Shirley I hven't had the opportunity to see her book. I need to.

[Colonel26]

Great stories! Case Knives are my first love. When I was a kid growing up here in southern Kentucky, there were Case knives and all those other off brands. I really like my "off brands", but I always come home to my Case 6375 knives.

[KLJ77]

Awesome! Welcome aboard AAPK, John. Looking forward to perusing your store and hearing more about the vast knowledge of history you have in the knife industry.

[bighomer]

Great to have you aboard, looking forward to any stories you might share.

[Mumbleypeg]

John, I have a question which hopefully you know something about.

Among my collection are several pocket knives and a razor stamped “North American Cutlery”. I’ve not been able to find much about them except that they were made for and sold by your great grandfather Jean and his brothers John and Andrew, when operating as jobbers while living in Nebraska. Some are stamped North American Cutlery over Beaver City, Neb., and some North American Cutlery over Wichita, Kan. My semi-educated guess is that some were made by Phoenix Knife Co. and others by Cattaraugus or Napanoch.

Aside from confirmation of the origin, what little information my research has found is somewhat contradictory. One source indicates they were possibly circa 1890s, another says circa 1920s. Do you know any family history that would help determine when they were made, by whom, and why the different towns were stamped on them?

Thanks for sharing any information.

Ken

[johnburrell]

Ken, I know very little about "North American Cutlery". I do know that my cousin, Brad Lockwood, while doing research in Furnace County, Nebraska, stumbled across information on North American. He talks about it in his book "The Case Cutlery Dynasty Tested XX" (pages 70-73). Brad did his research from 2000 to 2005 when his book was published. Unfortunately, my dad Dean Wm. Burrell and my grandmother, Addie Case Burrell, both died in 1988. Addie was born in Furnace County in 1892. They would have been great resources for Brad. I just talked to Brad this morning. He confirmed what is in his book but said that was all he had. By the way, of all the books and articles that I have read about my Case family, Brad's is by far the most thorough and accurate.
Regards, John

[jmh58]

Thought this would help!!
Canoe along for the ride!!
John

[Mumbleypeg]

Thank you John, for the reply. I have read Brad’s book at least twice, and enjoyed it. I have a copy here somewhere. I’m sure his book is one of the sources I am thinking of.

Ken

[Sharpnshinyknives]

John thank you for joining this forum and offering your experience and history. AAPK is a great resource for finding information on knives and it is always exciting to have someone like yourself join.
I for one would like to know how the process of making pocket knives has changed and evolved over time? What did the old master cutlers do back in the beginning that you wish today’s cutlers and companies would do today?
I’m sure I will have tons of questions but these two will suffice for a start.
Good luck with you store and welcome again.

[johnburrell]

Thank you Sharpshinyknives for your question. First of all when Burrell Cutlery started in 1940, our production was all barbers straight razors. If you can produce a well hollow ground, honed and stropped straight razor, you know how to make a product that is sharp. In 1941, Carl Monkhouse moved from San Francisco to share our factory here in Ellicottville. Carl had C-Mon brand scissors and called on the same customer base as Burrell did with razors. During World War II, Over 50 people worked for the two companies producing razors, scissors and surgical instruments for our government. In 1950, Burrell started manufacturing household cutlery. At first, our knives were made from heat treated blanks supplied by Kinfolks (Dean J. Case) and Robeson (Emerson Case). It was at this time, that I as a boy would tag along with my dad to pick up blanks at both places, I listened a lot to dad's conversations with his uncle Dean and his cousin Emerson. I soaked it up. I loved it. Burrell made mostly household cutlery under Top Flight, Holiday. Suburban and Super-Tru brands. We also, as often as we could made Knives under contract for other nationally known manufacturers. The closest we came to pocket knives was producing single blades for multi purpose tools. For a couple years we were shipping 3,000 clip, sheep's foot and saw blades daily by UPS Next Day Air. I'm sorry I don't have much knowledge of the manufacture of pockets. I do love them and there is always one in my pocket. I use it several times a day.

Regards,
John

[Gunsil]

Just thought some of you might like to "meet" John. This photo was taken in Little Valley, NY at Brad Lockwood's parents house which was originally commissioned by Tint Champlin for one of his children. Standing L-R , Brad Lockwood and John Burrell, seated L-R, Brad Wood, and the skinny guy is myself. Sure got immersed in Little Valley knife history for those couple of days there.