All About Pocket Knives

Joe, that WARDS is just a slam dunk beauty. It's the bone of course.

I've been curious but never asked, is WARDS from Montgomery Wards or is it a separate brand unto it's own? I know Montgomery Wards sold the Powr-Kraft line but don't know if WARDS was another stamp in their line or what the story is on that.

More great examples from Tsar Bomba and check six. And FRJ, both the Challenge and Wards are top notch.
I'm really amazed at how much better most of pictures have gotten over the past several years.

Yes, Wards is Montgomery-Wards. The bone on many of the Wards Stock & Cattle knives is the same or very similar to the bone on Camillus made for Sears, Sta-Sharp knives. Hence i think Wards branded knives with this type & color of bone were made by Camillus.
As for other patterns of Wards knives, Utica/Kutmaster is often stated to be the maker.
kj

Nice Cattle knives posted here guys!! Utica made so many knives for so many companies it's amazing. Here is a large folding hunter that is 5 1/2" closed. The tang is marked MONTGOMERY in and arch over WARD & CO over CHICAGO and is etched HUNTER'S FAVORITE. I have 2 old Utica catalogs and do not see this pattern in either of them. I have seen similar knives of this pattern made by Northfield, Ulster, Excelsior to name a few. I think this one might have been made by Northfield.

Thank you very much, guys.
Love these old knives.

Quick Steel wrote:Tsar: It looks to me like it could be a screw driver just as is. No?

treefarmer wrote:X2

tongueriver wrote:Yes. Spear, screwdriver, punch. Complete.

At first when I stumbled upon the knife I thought it was possible. It certainly makes itself useful as such today, although it has to be a fairly wide slotted head. But if you eyeball the lines of the file, which seem to be perfectly perpendicular with the blade axis at the tang, it appears the tip was sheared off at nearly, but not exactly, the same angle. There is some very, very slight variance at the tip you can see if zoomed in or checking with a loupe. Considering how cleanly and uniformly the wire stripper edge (if it is in fact that) is beveled, I find it difficult to believe it would leave the factory with such a tip. I'm still trying to figure out the intended use for this blade combination -- huge file, sharply-beveled on one edge, big spear blade and a substantial punch -- woodworking?

Beechtree wrote:That is a real nice old Cattle, Tsar. The bone reminds me of an Empire. Can you make out the rest of the stamp?

I tried getting as close as my phone's camera would allow. The stamp is good and deep, but I think the light kind of washes it out since there's really no carbon staining in the letters. Both of the "blades" have identical stamps, and you can see it very clearly in this zoom I was able to make using the original photo on Flickr.

kootenay joe wrote:Yes, Wards is Montgomery-Wards. The bone on many of the Wards Stock & Cattle knives is the same or very similar to the bone on Camillus made for Sears, Sta-Sharp knives. Hence i think Wards branded knives with this type & color of bone were made by Camillus.
As for other patterns of Wards knives, Utica/Kutmaster is often stated to be the maker.

I think Master Quality-stamped knives are also from/associated with M-W, and have the same provenance as the Wards-stamped knives, I don't know if this was a variant over time or if they were meant for different markets. I have one that doesn't really qualify as a cattle knife since it's serpentine and has a spear master, I think it's more of a carpenter's knife though it does have the spey instead of the sheepsfoot. I often find uses for knives with punches but they don't often earn all-day carry with me... I should remedy that.

Found my old bone Imperial!

I like seeing these old gals! Wonder who put the "H"s on the bolsters, maybe that an abbreviation for HOK !
Treefarmer

Had to be a previous owner. It doesn't significantly detract from the knife, although the "H" isn't meaningful to me, maybe "heifer"??

HOK works just fine!

Schrade Walden 856

My Ony one thus far ....

Clean Inside also

Hak1911 wrote:Schrade Walden 856

My Ony one thus far ....

Stunning Schrade! Love that old bone...

Hak, your Schrade cattle knife is a beauty

Great Cattle knives all, and M&W hunter from Galvanic.
Joe, those two are dynamite!
Tsar, if that cattle has brass liners I would guess that it is a WWII Army Air Corps knife.
Hak, that is very clean indeed. Nice

ThankYou

ThankYou

Here's an old H. Boker and an ebony Empire.

Love the bone on that Boker. Is that clip secondary original equipment on the Empire?

Tony I think this is a 3E109E which came with alarge spey so looks like it's been reprofiled. They did make a cattle knife that came with a large spear, large clip and large spear but it had more of a swell center frame.

gsmith7158 wrote:Tony I think this is a 3E109E which came with alarge spey so looks like it's been reprofiled. They did make a cattle knife that came with a large spear, large clip and large spear but it had more of a swell center frame.

I suspected it might have been reground, glad to see my eyes aren't (yet) failing me.

This is first Simmons Hardware that I have seen without the E.C., Bernard says it is the E.C.Simmons economy brand. It was one of those listings with blurry black and white pictures and knife as only description. A lucky win for me for a change.

FRJ wrote:Thank you very much, guys.
Love these old knives.

Thanks for the list Joe. And of course, in addition to WARDS Montgomery Wards used the Powr-Kraft brand and at least some of those were made by Camillus (at least the 84-11 was).

I don't really "get" the Cattle Knife pattern. What has been shown looks like a Cigar frame with a (partially) Stockman blade compliment. I do have a Cattle Knife though. How do I know? 'Cause it says so on the handle.

Really nice knives posted here.

One of mine... Case XX 6345 1/2.

Jtx that is a beauty!