All About Pocket Knives

Keith. What is the black handle made of. Does not appear to be pyrimite but the last number is 5.

Jim, I think there is more crossover in the handles than we would like to admit. The same handles on your knife can be found in the 2 handles. But then in the 2 you can also have ebony. Then in the 3 we have real bone and imitation bone. I do t think its rubber, a hard black material, slick black whatever that means. The first picture is a R1062. Same handles as yours, definitely not pyremite. The second knife is a R1752, ebony. I don't have much of an answer for you but Remington wasn't as perfect at placing correct handles on the knives as us collectors would like.

Forgot the pictures

This R3445 bothers me the most. I look at it often and am 95% certain its horn which should make it a 0

Careful...I am a purest! When you make a statement such as that you are leaving the back door wide open for the re-constructionist of original production made knives...forgers if you will, through the market door. Remington was extremely precise in their craftsmanship related to many things one of which was their guarantee of Name and quality. The craftsman and workers of that era were also exceptional not only because of the hardship of the depression but also the pride they took in their work, individual pride and respect in self and others.
No not likely will you find lackadaisical or careless work. However, I do believe as one moves to the very latter end of the Remington cutlery division era and most likely when Pal took control you can find some of those unsolved queries and non authorized knives made related to the available material at hand.
Also important to note, we have no true “complete” Remington cutlery bible or catalog to judge the standard. What we have is based on the research of others and their compilation of said researched material. We can set opinion based on knives that were originally catalog but even Remington stated they did not put every production knife made in all their catalogs.
It is up to those that collect and have studied Remington cutlery to say potentially fact or fiction with unusual knives. But I stand firm in believing Remington’s commitment to quality, craftsmanship and reputation as the Name to count on in the cutlery world of that era.

Post note:
With the technology of today it is possible that craftsman of this era can reconstruct a knife out of original production knife parts and pass them off as mint to near mint Remington knives getting a few errors in materials based on what’s available... just saying it’s possible. Caveat emtor!

I agree that there quality is second to none, that's why I collect Remington knives. I have many referance books and have held a fair number of original Remington knives. A knife like my R3445 is factory original. I've had a few friends that I very much respect tell me "read the knife" I see variations within patterns, handles, blades, nail pulls, shields that by reading the knife tell me they were made that way or that they have been tinkered with. The best way to truly know a knife company is to study the knives they produced. I dont know much about other knife companies but we have 3 different era's in Remington, beginning 1920-1925. Middle 1926-1935. End 1936-1940. It surprises me how different those 3 era's are.

Given the nature of events in that era I would agree with the idea that there are three separate production eras in Remington’s cutlery division. The start up or heyday era... I might extend that time frame to 1928 or 1929 based on the tradesman catalogs and the catalogs we have reference to today from that era. Second the beginning of the depression era and the financial difficulties of the cutlery industry as a whole. Remington’s majority stock sell out to what we know today as DuPont and their reformation goals to keep Remington’s cutlery division solvent...1930 to 1935-36 at the latest timeframe. Lastly...from 1937 to the sell of the company and Pal’s takeover in 1940. Even though the middle production years were lean... I feel that they were using stock shelf materials to help save cost but I believe they were striving to maintain a high standard of quality and craftsmanship because they were working diligently to remain solvent financially in the market and in a chaotic world. If discrepancies occurred it occurred in or near the end of the final stage of production years for Remington and in the start up of Pal cutlery. I believe the first 10 to 12 production years are golden and untouchable.
In my humble opinion... I do believe that today’s craftsman are excellent enough in their craft to make a knife that can fool the best of collectors. It is a big money making venture and some are willing to pay a great deal for them. Please take no personal offense I am speaking in generalities.

Post note:
To recap... I do think that there are those “unique “ knives that fall outside the catalog pattern number/ description. When one is sure that it is an original production line knife one can assume that of the 10,000+ Knives produced daily that these may be those that were not cataloged.

I am reminded at present to read pages 4-9 in the Remington Knives Past and Present from Stewart and Ritchie identification and value guide. My focus pages 6 and 7. Amazing dedication and passion of men in this genre of collecting.

Thanks for the discussion guys. Late production slick back works for me. Earlier production fancier looking material.

I Agree Jim.

By the way your collection is amazing and I throughly enjoy your show and tell!

Hello guys..I am an opportunistic knife collector..yard sales..antique thrift what have you...I love reading about knives..and I enjoy the Remington UMC history..but most of these fine old knives are well out of the price range that keeps me married..So today I was extremely excited too snag an old Remington on the cheap its well warn (Character) if my research is correct this is a 1921-24 remington R6674. It has good snap and half stops on all the well worn blades and a crack in the mother of pearl on pile side but cover isn't loose...if one of you experts could confirm my research or let me down easy it would be greatly appreciated.. thanks in advance

espn77 wrote:This R3445 bothers me the most. I look at it often and am 95% certain its horn which should make it a 0

Lets make that 99% certain it is horn. I have seen another identical knife to that one at the OKCA show in Eugene and one other online. Maybe it was this knife. I was in search of a nice example with horn handle and Lostvalley Jim led me to a dealers table with a knife like the one in your photo. Sure enough it was minty with etch and had horn handles. Problem was it had the 5 instead of the 0 just like yours. I think they are legit and not counterfits.

In my humble opinion these knives may be “lunchbox knives” or a few were “made special at request with horn scales” by an executive or someone else. “I do not believe they were normal production line knives.” Remington’s inspectors and craftsmen of that time period would not have allowed the pattern number to differentiate from the scale material by oversight . That goes against all their marketing philosophy, ideologies and guarantees. Pattern numbers were there for the Jobber to re-order knives. Is it a Remington knife because it consist of Remington parts and “made” originally that way...that is where one could fine room to argue the point. Would one buy it with the knowledge of such discrepancies? Sure, maybe because one looks at the novelty and uniqueness of the knife. I would buy it. But I would be hard pressed to agree it was manufactured as a pattern “production line knife” by Remington. Again...JMHO

By the way Wbyonder to AAPK and the Remington forum!

Playing with my knives this evening and got to looking at the less seen, not high dollar, used knives I have and thought I'd share them

R893. An easy open with a clip. The only easy open Remington made with a clip.
R6883. Warncliffe blades are seldom seen.
R6265. Pretty dang fancy
R3943 with faint etch and tang stamp. Not low dollar but seldom seen.

Keith,

Keith, nice knives. Harold

Thanks Keith. Not much posting on the rem sight lately.

Lostvalley wrote:Thanks Keith. Not much posting on the rem sight lately.

Your right. We need to be more focused.

I just picked up this Sheepfoot Barlow to go with the Clip and Spear Barlows I've found. A decent trio, now I just need to find the other variations.

Nice. The sheep's foot is seldom seen

I'm going to step out on a limb here and hopefully not fall.
I think this R4733 is a salesman type knife or an unfinished knife. Having a blank shield and no etching on the blade of either Remington or of a dog food company on it. The teeth are the sharpest I've seen. Looks to have no use.

Not the best condition and other members here have better examples but this is mine.
R4283 five blade sow belly.

Here are a couple that make me scratch my head. A very low end knife, so I feel confident that they haven't been tinkered with. The R1573 and R1573CH. I would think the CH knife would have the ring hole and the other not. But the exact opposite????? Interesting to me.

Sow Belly is nice Keith.

Harold

Thanks Harold