All About Pocket Knives

Since my last post in this thread I've picked up a couple more Premiers. Here's the most recent additions. A German made jack with half stop and ebony handles, a German made jigged bone stockman, and a stockman with composition handles stamped Prov. Cut. Co., Prov. R.I. USA on the master blade mark side. Lawrence posted one like it in this thread a while back.

Ken

Ken, they're all very nice, but I especially like the K-55 stockman with its (turkish?) clip blade.

One. Only one. As Ken says, Josh made me do it. Actually it's in keeping with my accumulation philosophy of "One of Everything".

Texasjerry, I'm not sure if it's a Turkish clip, but it's for sure a clip! Turkish is as good a name as any. That's the second K-55 pattern I have now. Didn't remember until I got it that I already had one. (I seem to do that often). The other is in the post above it, third from the left in the picture.

JerryD, does your Premier jack have a pattern number on it? I've not seen that pattern before. Guess I'm not looking hard enough!

Ken

Ken, I agree these H53 gunstocks are nice knives. I picked up another this week and noticed a size difference of the shields.
Knives are identical with the exception of the bone color, different date of manufacture maybe ?

Mumbleypeg wrote: JerryD, does your Premier jack have a pattern number on it? I've not seen that pattern before. Guess I'm not looking hard enough!

Ken

Ken, I apologize for taking so long to answer your question.

Yes, it's a K 66.

WelderBob wrote:Ken, I agree these H53 gunstocks are nice knives. I picked up another this week and noticed a size difference of the shields.
Knives are identical with the exception of the bone color, different date of manufacture maybe ?

Maybe - who knows? Certainly not me. Those are a nice pair. I sure do like this knife! Perfect for back pocket carry. That one you have is the first I've seen with the lighter colored bone, but it has the same worm-groove jigging.

JerryD thanks. That helps me with another clue, what to look for.

Ken

I have one of the Premier Lifetime jigged bone Gunstock lockbacks. Mine is 4 5/8" with "H 53/Germany" on back tang.
No bail on mine. Excellent condition but it does have slight side to side blade play. Any blade play on the other Gunstock lockbacks posted here ?
kj
edit to add pictures

Two Premiers that belonged to my Dad. A small french ivory stockman (K80) and a cracked ice peanut (K68?).

The Premier knives were imported into eastern Canada. I saw them in my local hardware store from late 1950's and into 1960's.
I believe they were sold in the New England States, but were they also sold in other areas of USA ?
kj

Bob, those are both in really great condition. I haven't seen the K80 stockman with punch previously. I have a peanut with similar cracked ice handles but it's a darker yellow. Yours is nicer IMHO - looks more like ice.

Roland, I don't know where Premiers were distributed in the U.S. I don't recall ever seeing one before seeing them here on AAPK. Goins says they were headquartered in New York City and had offices in Toronto also. Josh (Junebug) was finding a lot of them somewhere. He lives in California so maybe they were sold there.

Ken

My latest acquisition. First and only Premier Lifetime whittler I've seen, so I NEEDED it! It's not a true whittler though - no spacer between the two backsprings. It has a catch bit between the two secondary blades. And like many Premier Lifetime knives it has nice sunk joints construction.

Ken

There does not have to have a divider between the springs to be a Whittler. Some whittlers have tapered springs, or catch bits.
I would like to see a picture of spine with all blades open.
One of the first knives i bought myself at about age 11 is a Premier.
kj

Roland, you're right, it is a whittler with a catch bit. Guess I was thinking of three backsprings when I wrote it's not a true whittler. Anyway here's the pictures you asked for. You can see the brass catch bit spacer which separates the secondary blades. The catch bit sits atop the springs, but it doesn't separate the springs.

Ken

Thanks Ken. To me that looks to be the simplest way to construct a whittler & 'simple' is good.
kj

This knife spoke to me as a boy of about 11 or 12 as it sat in the window of the local family owned hardware store. I had a paper route and saved my money and bought this Premier Lifetime H 22 knife. That was in 1958. I used a magnifying glass to burn my initials into the back of the sheath.
kj

Sorry. i cannot get pics to work. new program to me piccasa

I cropped and enlarged the pics but posted here they show as the uncropped pictures. I hate computers.
kj

Good childhood story Roland.Looks like you took good care of it also.

Hello, I have this Premiere Cutlery Co Germany 2 blade pocket knife. Any information would be helpful. Value, Age etc. Thanks, Kent

Goins says the company was in business 1921-1955. Some say they were in business into the 60s. Beyond that I don't know of any way to narrow the date on a specific knife. If you read the first two or three pages of posts in this thread you'll learn about everything known about the company. And see a lot of their knives.

Ken

Thanks for the info. I'm a tool dealer and we have 2 brick and mortar stores. One buys and sells new, used and surplus more industrial tools and the other Jewelry and Lapidary tools and supplies. We have a pretty big eBay presence with used and surplus tooling, including collectibles. As you can see from the rushed pictures above, this knife has not been cleaned or refurbished (except to see the Stampings), as we leave those decisions up to the eventual buyers. We have been listing a lot of knives recently (with better pictures) and I'm wondering if this is the right approach in knife world. Thanks, Kent

Re: PREMIER CUTLERY CO. 1921-1955
Thanks for the info. I'm a tool dealer and we have 2 brick and mortar stores. One buys and sells new, used and surplus more industrial tools and the other Jewelry and Lapidary tools and supplies. We have a pretty big eBay presence with used and surplus tooling, including collectibles. As you can see from the rushed pictures above, this knife has not been cleaned or refurbished (except to see the Stampings), as we leave those decisions up to the eventual buyers. We have been listing a lot of knives recently (with better pictures) and I'm wondering if this is the right approach in knife world.

Right now I have a PREMIER CUTLERY INC GERMANY, 2 blade pocket knife. According to another posting the PREMIER CUTLERY INC was presented in the early 1980's as a less expensive line of knives. Mine was made in Germany, which I guess is unusual for PREMIER CUTLERY INC. Both blades are stamped on each side of the tangs. One side is stamped "Premier" with their script type logo and the other side is stamped "PREMIER CUTLERY INC. GERMANY".
Here are some pics. Thanks Kent

I think most collectors prefer to buy knives uncleaned, or only lightly cleaned, i.e. dirt removed and oiled lightly but not mechanically buffed. At least I know I do. I prefer to clean them myself. Buffing removes metal, blurs the crisp lines and stampings a knife had when it was made - once removed they cannot be restored. There are numerous threads here on AAPK about cleaning knives, when and how to do it. They can get found by using the "search" feature and searching for "cleaning".

As for Premiers being made in the 1980s I guess it's possible but that's the first I've heard of it. I believe they did offer some lower quality knives toward the end, whenever that was. I have an example that was made by Providence Cutlery, stamped both Premier and Providence, RI. that is of lower quality construction and finish.

Also although Premier had knives made in the U.S.A., England, Japan, Italy, and Germany, by far the most I have seen were German. If I had to guess I'd say around 70-80% were made in Germany, just based on my observations. Most of those made in Germany or England are quality knives.

Ken

Ken, thanks for your input. This knife is a quality piece. It's solid, well designed, very tight and has a unique curved bottom design. Someone will have a lot of fun restoring it and will end up with a beautiful vintage knife.

Here's my latest Premier Lifetime find, so thought I'd resurrect this thread. Small pen with fiery MOP covers (unfortunately cracked on both sides), and swaged blades. Doesn't appear to have been carried much if any, and has the original factory edges as best I can tell. Pile side of master is stamped made in England.

Ken