All About Pocket Knives

I think what LT told me was that Ulster had some stamps with movable letters & someone just got the first letters two switched.

orvet wrote:I think what LT told me was that Ulster had some stamps with movable letters & someone just got the first letters two switched.

I have never seen those type stamps used on older knives. I doubt that type stamping system was used at that time, if it does exist I would like to see it. All the stamps I have seen are engraved in reverse in a hardened steel die. Because they are done in reverse it is easy to see why the letters could get mixed up. I seriously doubt someone did this on purpose as these die`s were expensive to make and were done by specialized companies for the various cutlery companies, some were made in England and shipped here.

A worker at Ulster would have grabbed the new die and set it in the stamping machine and who knows exactly how many blades were stamped before someone caught the mistake, probably one of the guys that was assembling the knives caught it. Then the die was removed and no more blades were stamped. Knife companies back in the day did not throw much out, so they just used the blades up in the knives being assembled at the time.

These dies were often times sent back to the manufacturer to be re-cut, instead of a new one being made from scratch, another cost saving measure. I suspect when the error was discovered Ulster sent the die back to be corrected or replaced at the manufacturers expense

I have attached a picture of an old factory tang stamp, for those that have never seen one.

Who makes tang stamps NOW? How did you get yours, Dale?

Than does make a lot of sense to me Dimitri.
I think perhaps I misunderstood what LT told me.

I have a few stamps as well and they are all the reverse engraved hardened steel die, like the one you showed.

tongueriver wrote:Who makes tang stamps NOW? How did you get yours, Dale?

Well, I don't have a hardened steel stamp.

My name & logo are etched into the metal using an Electro-Chem Etch machine.
Here is their web site: http://www.ecemmi.com/index.html

With direct current it removes metal from the blade and deposits it on the felt pad that is soaked with an electrolyte solution and placed between the blade and the electrode. The stencil is placed between the blade and the pad and that is what gives form to the etch.

By using alternating current it leaves a black mark on the blade. You probably know the electrical theory better than I do, but it all has to do with the fact that current flows both ways.

Here are examples of my etches:

My first stencil with my name and city: My new logo stencil on a work in progress. You can actually see it better before the blade has the final finish on it: This is a special stencil for a customer: It was for his grandfather’s 94th birthday. When I told the Electro-Chem Etch folks what it was for, they didn’t even charge me for the stencil. They are nice folks to do business with.




I do know there are hardened steel stamps available. I have contacted a stamp maker who advertises in Knife World, but they are considerably more expensive per knife than the Electro-Chem Etch method.

knifetime wrote:Ok, that was funny, but why is it like that?
Can some one explain how that could happen?

Because they didn't have spell check back then?
-Bruce