All About Pocket Knives

Dang those are awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Awesome NYK knives Wayne ... The photos don't do the size justice - those are some big folders ... Very cool and unique..

Wayne, those knives are amazing.
I would love to handle one.

I bought and sold one this weekend at Tulsa.It was a jack knife and was missing the hangers and still had it's etch.I didn't think to get a photo of it.I only owned it for an hour or two.

With large display knives like Charlie has shown, are the blades tempered the same as on a 'regular' knife ?
I tried to sharpen a Schrade USA "Trail of Tears" Stag Clasp knife. The blade is far too soft to take an edge. There is an etch that fills most of the blade surface and maybe this is easier to apply if blade is soft ?
kj

Here's an old New York knife. Can you believe the skins on these old knives? Beautiful!
And they are such a solid build. Great springs. I guess it's supposed to be 3 3/4" but it's actually 3 13/16".
Thanks for looking.

That's a jewel

It is that. Thank you sir.

What a specimen Joe! Those jigged bone handles are just a thing of beauty How did they do that Lloyd

Thank you, Lloyd.
I have often wondered about jigging myself. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information about it and what little explanation I have heard is vague. That's a shame, too, because knives are often identified by jigged covers. The history of jigging itself and the history of those who did the craft of jigging, must be strong. If it were only understood or available. It would seem to me that each person who jigged covers had their own style and maybe had a certain standing among their peers. But I just don't know. It's another one of those things in the cutlery industry that was never deemed important enough to record.
Thanks for looking.

The big dogleg jacks are much sought after based on the bidding i see, even more so that the smaller sizes and the one above is a real beauty.
My question regarding jigging is: when did jigging machines come into use ? And before machine jigging did knife manufacturers employ 'jiggers' ? or did they buy the bone already jigged with there own jigging pattern from a business specialized in making bone knife handles ?
kj

Good questions, Roland.
I don't know about jigging machines but I believe there were jiggers who used some apparatus to perform the jigging operation.
Seeing certain jigging that correlates to certain brands leads me to think there were in house jiggers. I think jigging evolved within the brand and also within the brands patterns. I wish I had more confidence in my remarks.
I would be great if someone with more knowledge of the cutlers history would chime in.

Joe, beautiful old knife? Love the color and the jigging pattern of the NYK handles.

Thank you, Jerry, they sure knew how to put a knife together.

"there were jiggers who used some apparatus to perform the jigging operation"
That explains how they were able to get fairly consistent jigging patterns. I had wondered how this consistency could be obtained free hand. Now i know, the jiggers had a jig.
Bone jigging is not as old as pocket knives themselves but showed up around 1850 ? (it's a guess). Before that bone would get 'scratted' which basically is a lot of scratches that may or may not be in a pattern.
Perhaps free hand jigging lasted only briefly and then a jig was invented ?
Surely the history of bone jigging is known or documented ?
kj

Machine jigging of bone began in 1925. George Schrade invented, manufactured and marketed the machine US Pat No 1,550,848 08/25/1925

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0& ... %2F1550848

I've got this little swell center pearl pen knife that has really been put through its paces. Some one really liked this thing and thought enough of it to not break the pearl covers. It's well used and still wants to give plenty of service. I'm glad to have it. 3 1/16" closed.
NYK adopted the "Hammer Brand" in 1878. I'm thinking this knife was made before that date.
Thanks for looking.

It sure would be fun knowing where it's been all this time. I'd pick these old quality knives that have proved themselves for a century any day before a brand new in the box perfect knife, and I have a safe or two full of them to prove it. Thanks for sharing. ____Dave

I agree, Dave, these old knives are a pleasure to have and a pleasure to carry and use. They really speak to me.
We are very fortunate in this country to have such finely made knives.

Here is NYKC hammer brand Jack in Ebony I recently acquired. Still has the full etch on spear primary. The folder is 3 & 9/16 inches closed. Has a very heavy but smooth pull for both blades. Lloyd

What a beautiful old jack knife that is, Lloyd. Nice crisp stamps and a strong etch.
Hard to beat that Ebony and it's capped. Very nice all the way around.

Lloyd,that is super fine

Thanks Joe and Roger--I appreciate your nice comments!! Lloyd

Picked up the NYK Co jack this week, been buffed but has pretty full blades and is a good tight knife. What I find unusual is it has synthetic jigged handles, maybe some type of hard rubber. I don't recall ever seeing another NYK with these handles.

Somehow missed this thread back in late 2016 and early 2017. A very nice jack and a pearl posted by Joe, and a great jack posted by Lloyd! Really nice to see an intact Hammer Brand etched blade!
Beautiful jack, John, love that shield! A year or so ago someone posted a NYKC knife with bright blue celluloid handles and I have also seen one with bright red celluloid handles on ebay.
Dan