All About Pocket Knives

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

LAST PAGE!

Ray, are those from a subscription? Is it something that anyone could get at present? That is a great looking resource you've got there.

I was in the middle of typing when you show'd more books! LOLOL, I feel like a kid in a candy store...I love books and even more when it plays into a passion for knives. AWESOME!

The American Blade books in the red binders(there are 4 of them actually;I only showed 2)were purchased from a very good friend of mine who owned a cutlery shop when he closed.He had subscribed to the Blade.The rest of the magazines I bought either through a subscription or from the newsstand.The first one was 1973.
The reference books I have picked up through friends or knife shows.The best score was the original Maher & Grosh catalog that had the reply envelope and the razor catalog in an old automotive gasket envelope.They didn't date their catalogs but that one is list #21 and inside is a presidential campaign knife for William McKinley and VP Hobart so that should be a clue.In the write up they state they have been doing campaign knives for 24 years.As they were founded in 1877 that would make it 1901.The paper is very fragile but intact.
A lot of the flyers I got from various knife stores.The Case catalogs I got from a customer of mine who owned Marson Corporation and their parent company owned Case knives for awhile.
On another note:
I am considering putting the entire collection of reference material up for sale but if I do it will be sold as one item.The only problem in doing that is that the collection weighs a couple hundred lbs. at the least.

Here's most, if not all of mine.
Books are hugely important to me. I never got much of an education, So I sought out my own.
It's better than nothing. It just aint formal.

And ...............

Great selection of books Joe! That New York Knife Co book is a new one to me.Is the Joseph Rodgers book the one with all their exhibition knives? The one I have is when Parker was trying to sell them.Looks like you have some nice old ones as well.Thanks for posting them.

EDIT: Just noticed you have Taber's book;a very desireable and hard to come by book.

Those two "items" aren't books. They are reprints of catalogs. Good information though.
Thanks Ray.

Some great collections of books, catalogs and other resources here!

Here are most of mine:

Great books and catalogs Mike. Thanks for taking the time to post them. I think it very cool that you put your own book in there! What brand of knives do you illustrate and discuss?

Mostly vintage pocketknives with some fixed blades. Lots of color pictures of some nice knives. Here's the table of contents.


1 How to collect vintage knives
2. Counterfeit knives: The kudzu of knife collecting
3. Knife show etiquette
4. Inside the knife: Swedges
5. Outside the knife: Jigged bone
6. Glory days: The Golden Age of U.S. cutlery
7. When cutlery was king; knife making in Sheffield
8. The Solingen Cutlery Trade
9. Knife pictorial and values
10. Traditional custom knife makers
11. Glossary and definitions


The red Henckels catalog is an original from 1898. The 200 anniversary book has some nice factory and display pictures.

Mark thanks for taking the time to post and show those old photographs...very cool. Might have to find your book and give it a look see. Thanks again for sharing.

ROCKY1122 wrote:WOW! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! THIS IS THE MAKING OF A GREAT RESOURCE/ LIBRARY GUIDE! A FEW OF THESE BOOKS I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND AND READ. THE SHARED WEB SITES ARE VERY COOL AND SO HELPFUL. I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO WHAT ELSE IS OUT THERE AND THE RECOMMENDATION PROVIDED. GREAT JOB SO FAR MEN KEEP 'EM COMING!

DOES ANYONE HAVE SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS REGARDING REMINGTON KNIVES, HISTORY, CONTRACTED CUTLERY COMPANIES ,CONTRACTED KNIVES AND SUCH?? ALL IDEAS ARE WELCOMED.

SO LETS HERE FROM THE NEW COLLECTORS, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Excellent ideal Rocky

And I thought I had some books.....Wow, you guys have some amazingly vastly widespread topical resources.

I have the basics, Goins, LG-4, Voyles Antique knives, etc.

For Robeson, I have the Ferguson book and the two by Tom Kalcevic, indispensable.

I may have missed them in my quick scanning of the photos above, but I don't recall seeing any of the books by retired and now deceased Birmingham homicide detective, M. H. Cole. He published several hardback books on U. S. military knives and bayonets. Levine used his hand done line drawings in all his LG's. Mr. Cole's books might have been superceded by more recently published books by Silvey, etc, but they are worth having for the art work alone. He also did one on American Western revolvers, holsters and belts, which was another of his collecting passions and a fascinating display when he set it up at an Alabama Gun Collectors Association show. He did a book on just skinning knives. Who knew? I bought most of his books from his table at Birmingham gun shows, so they are signed. He and his wife were very nice people. They only lived about 3/4 of a mile from me.

Before Ebay, knife dealers sent out "Lists" of knives they had for sell. Early ones had no illustrations, then came photocopies, and after the PC and scanners came along the illustrations became top-notch. I used to get quarterly lists from Jim and Cindy Taylor. I highlighted all the Robeson products and put the little booklet shaped lists in black binders. Those are now all in the hands of another AAPK member.

Google Books and other on-line book sources can be helpful. I don't know about other manufacturers, but if you have the patience to go through screen after screen of matches, you can find some interesting tidbits of information by Googling the names of the principle people involved in a particular company or the city name of the plant's location with "cutlery" added. I'm not talking about finding recently published stuff. I'm talking about newspaper articles from way back, city directories, town histories with a chapter on the local cutlery, individual accounts of the people running the companies. How else would I have ever discovered that the sons and grandsons of Millard Robeson were championship level amateur golfers that played all over the country?

Charlie Noyes

Charlie:One of the reasons I never purchased Cole's book(s) is military knives were not high on my list of things to collect.I still wound up with a bunch of them since I moved to Michigan 20 odd years ago.Before then I would trade them off to a friend of mine who collected nothing but military stuff.He would buy collections;sort out the military pieces and sell off the rest at various flea markets.He always called me to see if I was interested in any of them before he put them out for sale.Got some great pieces from him as he got from me.
I remember the "lists" very well.I used to get several from a guy in Chicago(don't recall the name).Two items I remember he had that I would have loved to just see;never mind buy: A German made stiletto(out the front kind)with a blade at either end and a Portuguese made out the front cane!
I was a member of the Northeast Cutlery Collectors Ass'n and used to look forward to seeing Cindy and Jim at the shows to see what treasures they had unearthed.This was before they were married.When I told them I was moving to Michigan she asked what part and I told her Tecumseh.She said well you're just going to have to look up Guy Manwaring who was a friend of theirs.Turns out my soon-to-be wife knew him as well! He has a collection that defies description.
Jim Parker also used to send out a list of knives for sale as well.Mostly Case stuff but he also was gung-ho on early KA-BAR stuff as well.

Here are a few more . I hope that I'm not repeating , but the response is so overwhelming that I may have overlooked a few . I have all of Ferguson's , Parker's , and Sargent's books , but I think that most of them have been represented here already .

Bob

The only one I have which has not been posted yet.
Dan

Charlie, Bob and Dan...Outstanding books, Thank you! Charlie that was an awesome post thanks for the look back and the info on how to find articles and the history of cutlery companies and their knives. Priceless info. Thanks again, it is much appreciated and important.

Ray I don't know if was you or not??? K7K?? Someone has a book titled The Best of Knife World. Does it have the article writen about the Curtis Baby Ruth Knife and the Wriggly knife? I believe the author is the current editor of Knife World. If it does contain that article or if you should have a copy of that article can you email it to me? I am gathering information on a potiental article. Thanks in advance for your help.

Rocky, old issues of KnifeWorld are available or used to be. There was an internet listing of each issue with article contents stated.

I'll see if I can find that.

Charlie Noyes

Here are a few of my books, I especially like the old ones and am always looking for them. The Knives and Knifemakers by Sid Latham (1973) is one of my favorites. I am a custom knife maker and do collect pocket knives also. My newest book is American Pocketknives by David Krauss which is the history of Queen, and Schatt & Morgan knives , very good.

KNIFE WORLD FEBRUARY 2002.