All About Pocket Knives

Thanks for sharing those Dimitri ... I knew your Miller Bros would be in much better shape than mine ... The NYK is quite nice too!!

TFL - No disrespect to Ray but I still am not sure that was the reason (and no doubt these tuxedos pre-dated 1900 when they came to market as a pattern) - for a tuxedo knife a 1/4" or so more of MOP if there were shorter bolsters would not be that much in cost savings... in fact putting in a center nickel silver band like that on the Miller Bros tuxedos was probably more work and time consuming... remember the pen knives were more expensive in general than the larger jacks in the old days as evidenced by old catalogs - funny though these days the market price of the vintage jacks vs pen knives has no doubt flipped

Thanks Joe & Lee

LongBlade wrote:in fact putting in a center nickel silver band like that on the Miller Bros tuxedos was probably more work and time consuming...

Actually I think/guess/assume there was plenty of pearl for the smaller hafting because of the selvage from the larger knives.

Makes sense to me Joe ... using pieces left from hafting the larger knives is indeed cost savings... and given the size of these it wouldn't take much to haft a tuxedo...

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote:I recall reading somewhere that part of the reason the tuxedo looks the way it does is because they wanted to minimize the amount of MoP required. So, they used long bolsters and sometimes a center stripe of a different material. Does that sound correct?

I think you may be referring to the German knives that were made with very long bolsters(I showed a couple of them in this thread)that had very short handles.I remember reading about it somewhere;perhaps Bernard Levine mentioned it once.
EDIT: See my second post pictures one and two.

Well this Ulster MoP Tuxedo is getting a lot of mileage around this board, but how can I not post it here...

Ken - That Ulster deserves lots of mileage .... [BTW - I wouldn't hesitate to ever put a knife where it fits as sometimes they fit under multiple threads - if someone searches Ulster or tuxedo or any related topic the knife is bound to provide a good match & background ... Google searches too - that is how I found this site a few moons ago ...]

That is a beauty, Ken. Great blades.

Thanks Lee & Joe

FRJ wrote:That is a beauty, Ken. Great blades.

I tend to believe it has been very lightly used to the point the blades have been dulled, but has not been sharpened.
I am relucatant to attempt to resharpen. I could use some advice....
Is it better to keep the original blades even tho they have been dulled... or... resharpen them?
After all, it not likely I be using it to recut any quill pens in the foreseeable future.

It's probably best to leave it unsharpened even though it has been used. Especially since you have other knives to use.
It's such a beautiful little knife.

Thanks Joe... that is the way I was thinking of going but was looking for some validation.

Nice knives guys!
Here's a H.Boker ivory handled tuxedo I'll throw in the mix.

Very nice, Greeds. Another knife in beautiful condition.

Thanks FRJ.

Lots of nice examples posted in this thread, fellows.

This topic has been educational for me, since I could not have described the tuxedo pattern before reading this thread. I do not have a single tuxedo in my collection. I can see why they would make a nice lightweight knife for light duty, though they do not appeal to me as much as a lot of other patterns.

Nice Boker addition Roger ...

Mel - The tuxedos are not for everyone and in fact I began to appreciate them after my first - the rest just started to fall in my lap ... I will probably leave these to my grand-daughter someday who has no appreciation for them now (though at the age of 4 she says I have alot of nice toys ) .. since they were considered Ladies' and Gentlemen's knives they are a perfect little collection for her when I'm gone and she is ready for them ...

Thanks LongBlade!

Wow. Such a great variation of Tuxedos.
I have three to share.
All three have brass liners and half stops.

Top: Webster and Sons Germany. (No listing)
Center: Pribyl Bros. Celebrated Cutlery. Reverse of blades marked: India Steel. Germany c1880-1905. (Levine)
Bottom: Alexander Sheffield c1860s (Levine) Beautiful MOP

Thanks for adding those beautiful knives to the thread, Old Folder.
They're really nice and in fine condition.

Very nice tuxedo's OF

doglegg wrote:Very nice tuxedo's OF

FRJ wrote:Thanks for adding those beautiful knives to the thread, Old Folder.
They're really nice and in fine condition.

Thanks guys
Tuxedos seem to be so fragile that I take such great care just opening the blades or even cleaning them.
Does anyone still make them? If so, I would like to compare the workmanship of past to present.

Case still makes a tuxedo & a company called Santa Fe Stoneworks. Found both by doing a Google search.
Very nice looking trio of "tuxs" you have there OF. I just might have to search for one of those tortoise shell examples for myself.

Very nice, Dan!

Nice tuxedos OF ... I really like that Alexander...

Here's an uncommon three blade.