All About Pocket Knives

Nice history lesson and sweet knives, thanks! I'll be keeping an eye out for these beauties.

Thats a beaut "ret"......and thanks for the history lesson! and thanks to all of you other guys taking time to post your ex`s......been watching for a good buy on one for a long time....wow....they look like they were really a quality made knife!
Bob

This one found me a couple of weeks ago.
Brass lined with iron bolsters 3.5" wood handles with a straight line stamp on both blades.
Excelsior
Knife co.

There are so many nice pieces in this thread. Here is a Northfield EXCELSIOR KNIFE Co. which very much like yours edgy46 except that it says"KNIFE" instead of "KN." It seems that there are 4 types of Excelsior stamps represented here. The straight EXCLESIOR KNIFE CO., the curved EXCELSIOR KNIFE Co., the curved EXCELSIOR KN. Co., and the EXCELSIOR _._ KNIFE CO. I wonder if the mark with the hyphen bullet hyphen is from the Torrington firm and if the straight excelsior is the oldest Northfield mark? Or, the straight excelsior mark is simply used on larger jack knives? Also, am I correct in thinking that the Excelsior knife co. stamp was not used past 1905?

Very Nice!!

CNoyes

Thanks very much Charlie. She was a good price to boot.

Thought I'd add pics to this thread. Tang stamp is very faint but can be read in just the right light.

Scott,I believe that one would have come from the time Northfield used the tang stamp.

What a great post LT.
That is what i like about you, you go into things to the nth degree to get at the truth. A great read, thank you.
Tony Moat.

Excelsior folding hunter that I 've had for awhile.

Oh man, Roger, that is an amazing and beautiful knife. A true museum piece.

peanut740 wrote:Scott,I believe that one would have come from the time Northfield used the tang stamp.

When was that?

Up until 1920 or so.The look of the construction would place it towards the latter.There was a guy named Gill who used Northfield marked blades from left over parts into the 1960's.It is possible I suppose that he also could have used blades marked Excelsior also, but that is complete speculation.

Here's mine that I have posted years ago but not sure where, pics are not that great sorry.

Nice knives Scott, Roger and Mike ...

Scott - actually that is the first Excelsior I have seen with celluloid handles and thanks for bringing this back to top

Roger that Excelsior is rather special for sure - minty as they say and beauty of an etch

Mike - a Cattle knife with MOP and nice etch - awesome as well

Any Excelsior is pretty rare... Never knew we had a thread on Excelsior as I see it was resurrected from 2012... Here's a Excelsior Hawkbill from me that belongs here as well...

Interesting old folding hunter, still has some etch, but unable to make it out.

peanut740 wrote:Up until 1920 or so.The look of the construction would place it towards the latter.There was a guy named Gill who used Northfield marked blades from left over parts into the 1960's.It is possible I suppose that he also could have used blades marked Excelsior also, but that is complete speculation.

Just wanted to correct somethings here. Mr. Gill worked and then owned the equipment (and still does) from 1920ish and its still in the family. The knifes made by him are all original and not "left overs" The markings at the time were trade marked and belonged to him. He continued to make knifes as a hobby until the early 50s when his son took it over again for a hobby and continuing the name. The original machines and forges from the old buildings are still kept here. There are no other connections other than name to any knife company out there now.

Excelsior branding was because at one time there was a Excelsior Knife company in Torrington Ct that Northfield bought out in 1885 or so.


I just registered here to post this as it is part of my family history and its something I have learned more about recently. I have of course grown up with the equipment and unknowingly some of the awards and lots of paper documents.

I understand this is about Excelsior knives but I have a pair of shears that I can't seem to find any info on. I can just barely make out the stamp and it seems to say excelsior. Any an all info on this would be greatly appreciated.

It is possible that they are Excelsior made shears... I wasn’t aware that they made them but certainly possible... The stamp is curved as was seen on some of their knives and the pin connecting the shears certainly looks old... You have a photo of the shears as a whole (end to end)?

Sure do, not sure if the pin was larger but it looks like the tried to hammer it to make it tighter. The blades do have a good bit of gap between them.

Nice Tinmann44 and thanks for sharing the photos ... There is a book called American Scissors and Shears by Phil Pankiewicz - though he doesn't have info on Excelsior Knife Co making scissors or shears he does have Northfield Knife Co listed and importantly they bought Excelsior Knife Co in 1884... Since Northfield continued using the Excelsior stamp in addition to their own Northfield stamp on cutlery for 20 years I am speculating these may indeed be the same Excelsior... In looking through the book I saw similar scissors from the same time period - same handles and pin so the age appears correct.... I think they are pretty cool ..

That's quite an informative read, its ashame they don't mention excelsior that much or have a product catalog, perhaps its lost to the ages now. I was considering contacting a historical society from the town but I doubt they'd have much more to offer. Either way I thought you guys would appreciate it. Thanks again

I've got a couple of folders that belong here... any additional info about them would be super cool to know...

a 3 1/8" jack with some pretty worn blades but nice ebony handles. Has the arched tang stamp.


then a beefier 3 1/2" jack with fuller blades... the main being a clip... with jigged bone handles. Has the straight lines tang.

Did Oz give you those wonderful scissors? Hmnnn..

Unique jigging on that one Ken.

Tinmann44 - You can try the historical society but my experience with one close by to Northfield was not much help... surprising given the role of the cutleries in providing jobs back in that time period...

Ken - Nice score on the Excelsior knives ... the jigging as Lyle noted certainly is appealing - and with that clip blade master a very cool knife ...