Old Keen Kutter Knives

[CheckSix]

Here is the above mentioned E.C. Simmons knife I acquired, that came in today. Please have a look at the photos and let me know what you think about no mention of Keen Kutter. Do you think this was a Walden knife? Etc. It's obviously been buffed and I knew that when I decided to buy it. Thanks!

[stockman]

Dave nice old knife. I think that knife was etched Keen Kutter. I have what appears to be the same knife, it has a trace of the Keen Kutter etch. How be it mine is 3 3/4" closed.

Harold

[CheckSix]

Dave nice old knife. I think that knife was etched Keen Kutter. I have what appears to be the same knife, it has a trace of the Keen Kutter etch. How be it mine is 3 3/4" closed.

Harold

Thanks Harold! This Dogleg Jack is 3-1/2" closed. So, you think it was originally just a blade etch. Would this be an example from their Walden Knife Co. factory 1870 - 1923? Any guess on the time frame other than that?

[stockman]

For sure early. I will check my research on mine and get back to you.

Harold

[knife-nut]

I don't think the secondary blade is a Warncliff. It looks like it was a pen blade that has been sharpened a lot, and reprofiled as a Warncliff. Mark. I have seen several E.C.Simmons stamping with no keen kutter. That was one of their secondary lines.

[danno50]

Dave, nice old knife. I would agree with Peanut and Harold in that your knife, in all likelihood, originally had a Keen Kutter etch. I have looked through Sellens Keen Kutter book and it appears that Keen Kutter made very few doglog jack patterns larger than 3". They made quite a few models of the 3" and smaller dogleg jacks, and also a few 3 3/4" ones. There are only two dogleg jack patterns, that are 3 1/2" and have wood handles, listed in the book. They are K725 1/2: ebony handles, 3 1/2", spear and pen blade; and K726C: cocobolo handles, 3 1/2", spear and pen blade. Both were made between 1905 and 1916. Sellens book only includes Keen Kutter patterns made after 1905. There is always a chance your's was made pre 1905.
Most likely your knife was made by Walden.
Dan

[CheckSix]

Dave, nice old knife. I would agree with Peanut and Harold in that your knife, in all likelihood, originally had a Keen Kutter etch. I have looked through Sellens Keen Kutter book and it appears that Keen Kutter made very few doglog jack patterns larger than 3". They made quite a few models of the 3" and smaller dogleg jacks, and also a few 3 3/4" ones. There are only two dogleg jack patterns, that are 3 1/2" and have wood handles, listed in the book. They are K725 1/2: ebony handles, 3 1/2", spear and pen blade; and K726C: cocobolo handles, 3 1/2", spear and pen blade. Both were made between 1905 and 1916. Sellens book only includes Keen Kutter patterns made after 1905. There is always a chance your's was made pre 1905.
Most likely your knife was made by Walden.
Dan

Dan, that is outstanding information! Thank you for doing this!

So, it is a K725 1/2. And of course, with a pen blade! Speaking of which, I looked with a 10x eye loupe at the tang / choil area and it looks like not a huge amount of blade has been removed but apparently enough to make it look the way it does. I actually had looked in the Blade's Guide to Knives 7th Ed I have and found a section that showed all of the blade options for E.C. Simmons knives and found their Wharncliffe was the most like the blade I was looking at. The pen did not ...but I was not taking blade loss into account at the time. Now, in hindsight, I feel a bit foolish. I'm still learning!

We can also safely say it was made prior to WWI. It would be interesting to find out when the K725 1/2 first appeared as a new product in the E.C. Simmons catalog. I can safely say it's at least 100 yrs old and possibly older.

[danno50]

Dave, you are welcome. I would not say with 100% certainty that it is a K725 1/2, if it was made prior to 1905, Simmons may not have used the same pattern numbers?
Just looked again at the bibliography in Sellens book, he had access to Simmons Hardware catalogs dated: 1880, 1883, 1887, 1891, 1895, 1899, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1921/1922, 1924, 1927, 1930, 1935, 1939, 1940; 4 Simmons specialty catalogs (I assume cutlery related): 1907, 2 from 1910 and 1911; and Shapleigh catalogs from 1940/1941, 1942 and 1958. His Keen Kutter book is a compilation of all of the patterns listed in these catalogs from 1905 to 1958. He makes the assumption that a model was available from the first listing in a catalog until the date of the catalog in which it was no longer issued.
In the case of the K725 1/2: he says 1905 to 1916, so would have been listed in the 1904 catalog, but not in the 1917 catalog.
Dan

[stockman]

Six, Pictures of my KK 3 3/4" Dog leg I can see Kutter and Hand etch faint. This was Keen Kutter/Hand Hammered .
Nicely swedged. Pictures may enlarge?

Harold

[danno50]

Nice knife, Harold!
Dan

[CheckSix]

Thanks Harold! Interesting to see the secondary blade profile is the same as mine. So, it's not blade loss? Maybe an early pen shape? or at least not one I'm familiar with. With mine being buffed, the etch is gone.

[stockman]

Thanks Harold! Interesting to see the secondary blade profile is the same as mine. So, it's not blade loss? Maybe an early pen shape? or at least not one I'm familiar with. With mine being buffed, the etch is gone.

Six, I think it is just a sharpened down pen blade on both knives.

Harold

[Mumbleypeg]

Here is the above mentioned E.C. Simmons knife I acquired, that came in today. Please have a look at the photos and let me know what you think about no mention of Keen Kutter. Do you think this was a Walden knife? Etc. It's obviously been buffed and I knew that when I decided to buy it. Thanks!

Dave, here's a similarly marked knife I have. Actually forgot I had it until I saw yours. I suspect it may have had a Keen Kutter etch but there's no sign of it now - it's obviously well used. Have no idea who made this one but it has some nice stag. May have been Schrade.

Ken

[CheckSix]

Dave, here's a similarly marked knife I have. Actually forgot I had it until I saw yours. I suspect it may have had a Keen Kutter etch but there's no sign of it now - it's obviously well used. Have no idea who made this one but it has some nice stag. May have been Schrade.

Ken

Ken, thanks! That truly is a wonderful look with that stag!

[Miller Bro's]

The stag handles are replacements.

[peanut740]

MB as usual is correct.

[Mumbleypeg]

The stag handles are replacements.

I've wondered about that. Not surprised. Reckon it might have been celluloid originally.

Ken

[Miller Bro's]

Reckon it might have been celluloid originally.

Yes, it was celluloid. Look closely at the top half of the blade, you can see the pitting and black color typical of an outgassing celluloid handle.

[chevycannontexasjack]

Here is an old schrade made, keen kutter!

[danno50]

Very nice knife, chevy!
Dan

[sakoblade]

I received this in the mail today and I am ecstatic!

What a great little knife this is! Marked on all blades with E C Simmons Keen Kutter and one blade is also marked 73875 3/4 P.

It has been used but has great snap and no wobbly blades. From what I have learned here at AAPK it´s from the 30´s or 40´s but I hope someone here can chime in on age and such. No real damages except for some discoloration to the celluloid(?) handle scales.

It also has a nice weight and feel to it and I will try to find more Keen Kutters although that might prove to be difficult over here in Sweden.

Here it is, in all it´s glory:

[danno50]

Sellens says that one was in the catalogs between 1924 and 1934. They called the handle material "pearl blue celluloid". I have included the listing from the 1930 Keen Kutter catalog below. There is a no pic of your actual knife, but there is a pic of one with the same frame and blade configuration and bone handles. The catalog description for yours is at the bottom. The master blade on yours shows considerable use, but still a very nice find!
Dan

[sakoblade]

Dan, thank you ever so much for your prompt reply!!

The level of knowledge and willingness to help here on AAPK are just amazing!!

So it is that old! Wow!

It kind of explains the wear on it too, but I like knives with a history so I'm good.

Thanks again!!

Jim

[msteele6]

In addition to the excellent information that Danno provided you can tell several things about this knife from the pattern number the spey blade and the shield.

First off, the pattern number.Usually, when a Keen Kutter has a pattern number beginning in 7 that means that the knife has a punch, not always (some knives with punches don't start with 7 and some pattern number starting with 7 don't have punches) but more than 90% of the time.

Second, the spey blade is absolutely typical of Winchester knives, if you look at enough Winchester's you will start to recognize this blade immediately.

Finally, the shield is also typical of Winchester (Walden, Keen Kutter)

It's also quite typical for Winchester made knives to have blue colored celluloid although certainly other manufacturers used the blue colored celluloid.

Nice old knife.

[sakoblade]

msteele6, thank you ever so much!!

I am very greatful for your extremely knowledgable answer.

As a rookie when it comes to US made knives, especially vintage ones, it's a joy to attend this fine forum.

I hope to be able to give something back to the community of what little I know of Scandinavian knives.

Thanks again!!

Jim