All About Pocket Knives

John - great old Empire barlow .. I'm thinking older stamp as well though always hard to date by the stamps - no doubt the Empire/Winsted/CT is the most common and think it was used alot more than the other variations - the only stamp I know for sure is early is Empire Knife Co/W Winsted/CONN confirmed by Charlie C... That Hatch is a beauty too - and really caught my attention!! The blade looks pretty full on the Hatch just based on where it lays in frame in terms of length - is there a secondary blade as well? Maybe I missed the Hatch English Jack if you previously posted it...

Thank you Greg and Lee, was very happy to add another Empire Barlow to the collection despite the condition.

Lee, here is where the Hatch was discussed awhile back,

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=53714&p=596530&hilit=hatch#p596530

Thanks for the link John for the Hatch ... I was out of touch for awhile here back in the Fall and missed that beauty!

Great knives John, love that Barlow!!

Empire Cattle Pattern 3 5/8" pocket worn well cared for old knife. Little pictures should enlarge,

Harold

Great knife Harold

Nice old Empire cattle knife with lovely bone Harold ... Interesting that there is no punch blade given Alvord from Empire had a patent on it - but maybe this knife pre-dates that punch blade - on the other hand I incorrectly always associate cattle knives having a punch blade but some did not have one...

Here is a new for me Sleeveboard split spring whittler with pearl handles that I picked up today at the Blade Show.

Good looking knife, Greg!! Nice find.

BWT wrote:Good looking knife, Greg!! Nice find.

Thanks Bill! Old Plumbob had that stuck back in the corner of on of his cases.

Yes Greg that is a wonderful addition to your Empire collection

Greg - Nice Empire sleeveboard whittler and with MOP too ... cool score!!

Haven't seen this thread in a while.

Nice cattle knife, Harold.

Greg, I see the Empires haven't stopped speaking to you,
You sure have some nice ones; this included. Congratulations.

Thanks guys for all the nice comments. Wow what a day. Just got back from the Aapk dinner at the Blade Show.First knife show ever... sensory overload!

I'm not an Empire collector but there are certain patterns that transcend any brand loyalties for me and a Washington Jack of any stripe will always get me a little weak in the knees. That being said, this one is extra special - a barehead specimen done up in fat, gnarly stag? YES PLEASE!!

The pictures show where someone along the way took something abrasive to the blades but I think I can get those scratches out pretty easily. At 3-9/16" it's just a touch longer than the Schrade 2203 and a whole lot FATTER. I love this thing

Anyone know how to date it a little closer than 1856-1930?

That is one nice looking knife!!

Very nice Jason, can't help you with the dating, but it is really nice

That is a beautiful jack knife, Jason.

Cool pattern Jason ... It is really hard to date this knife based on that tang stamp for Empire as that one from my experience is one most often seen and I often associate it with the later years... there is another Empire stamp that notes West Winsted and that one is abit earlier in the time frame but perhaps the best bet would be to see when that pattern may have been listed in one of their old catalogs (some Empire catalog info is in Col Mayes book "Knife Album"... I can take a look later but don't have the book in front of me..

Thanks for the comments guys
Lee, I was guessing it was made later in the company's history based on the deco vibe from the washington bolsters but that's pure conjecture on my part. I tried to find a catalog image of the knife - that was short and disappointing search.

jxr1197 wrote:Thanks for the comments guys
Lee, I was guessing it was made later in the company's history based on the deco vibe from the washington bolsters but that's pure conjecture on my part. I tried to find a catalog image of the knife - that was short and disappointing search.

Jason - I just checked the Col Mayes book and it seems Empire did make that knife with genuine stag for Norvell-Shapleigh... Here's a photo from the catalog in the book - same handles, bolster and blades but ignore the shield as Empire put the diamond shields on the knives when produced for Shapleigh and in fact stamped them with the Norvell-Shapleigh mark... since Norvell-Shapleigh was early 1900s I would guess that is the ballpark for dating..

LongBlade wrote:Jason - I just checked the Col Mayes book and it seems Empire did make that knife with genuine stag for Norvell-Shapleigh... Here's a photo from the catalog in the book - same handles, bolster and blades but ignore the shield as Empire put the diamond shields on the knives when produced for Shapleigh and in fact stamped them with the Norvell-Shapleigh mark... since Norvell-Shapleigh was early 1900s I would guess that is the ballpark for dating..

That's fantastic! Thank you.

Jason - ...

Good post, Lee.

This diamond in the rough might be an Empire - looking for opinions. The tang stamp places it between 1888-1902 and I believe Empire made a lot of Shapleigh's knives back then but not sure if this is one of them. It's 3-5/8" closed and it's an unusual pattern - a gunstock stockman (one blade is snapped.)