All About Pocket Knives

NICE knives everyone. Thanks for posting!

Many beautiful knives posted in this thread! I do not have many celluloid knives and most are either French ivory or dark colored composite. This Keen Kutter was the only one I had with colourful scales, and as the pictures show it recently started outgassing. I caught it very early and removed the handles. I ordered some Kirinite in tortoise shell pattern to try my hand at rehandling a pocket knife.
Dan

Here's a few of the new celluloid ones that came in yesterday...

- Griffon xx Worcester / Carbo Magnetic (first 2 pictures)

- Ulster Jr Cattle Tidewater Supply Co. advertising

- Ulster EE Jack

All 3 knives are 3-3/8"

Here are the French Ivory knives that arrived yesterday...

- Paxton and Gallagher tear drop jack 3-5/8"

- Harris Bros regular jack 3-3/8"

- Ulster slim whittler 3-5/8"

checksix: You have been busy. Nice group of knives.

thegreedygulo wrote:checksix: You have been busy. Nice group of knives.

Thanks! Yes, I've been enjoying this acquisition period a lot!

Of the 6 celluloids I posted above, my 2 favorites are: the Griffon Carbo Magnetic and the Paxton & Gallagher tear drop.

Nice haul indeed Dave! I agree with you on the Griffon, it's a prize for sure, and I like the P&G also.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote:Nice haul indeed Dave! I agree with you on the Griffon, it's a prize for sure, and I like the P&G also.

Ken

Thanks Ken! With me being still very new to the hobby, it's not unusual for me to not know history of brands, scarcity, etc. But I have a feeling that the Griffon and P&G are not common brands. It's also not been easy for me to find information on them either.

For being "new" you sure are picking up some really fine knives. That Griffon does it for me!

Dave, could you show us the Griffon with the other blades open ? Not sure if it is a 2 or 3 blade knife, i.e. Moose or Cattle knife ?
With 'oldies' it is best to not have more than 1 blade on a spring open at the same time.
I have never had a spring break but others have when setting up for a picture with all blades open.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Dave, could you show us the Griffon with the other blades open ? Not sure if it is a 2 or 3 blade knife, i.e. Moose or Cattle knife ?
With 'oldies' it is best to not have more than 1 blade on a spring open at the same time.
I have never had a spring break but others have when setting up for a picture with all blades open.
kj

kj,
It's a 2 blade double ended jack, with the spear (as shown) and a clip blade, on two separate springs. Being only 3-3/8" closed length, I don't know if this length qualifies it as a Moose pattern or Bullhead or Texas jack. Further, the shield side as shown above, has the spear blade in what I would consider the master blade position. I thought I read somewhere that Levine says for it to be a moose pattern, the master blade has to be the clip blade, with a spear secondary. But being as I'm so new to all of this, I could have all of this wrong.

That bull-headed junior moosely cigar jack is a beauty! I don't know what to call it either. Here is another junior cattle knife, unmarked.

Nice one Cal!

I found a couple more pics.

tongueriver wrote:That bull-headed junior moosely cigar jack is a beauty! I don't know what to call it either. Here is another junior cattle knife, unmarked.

LOL!! Glad I'm not alone.

Love all the cells you are showing!

I was rummaging through my pile and ran across this one. It belonged to my grampa and my mom says he might have gotten it from his dad.
Anyway it's a Western States. Is it a stockman or a Texas Jack? It's 4" long. I can't find it in either one of my books. It's often sharpened and has years of pocket wear, but pretty nice.
Bruce

why do I keep doing that?

It is a nice butter-and-molasses stockman; a Texas jack (I think) has that same frame, serpentine, with squared pinched bolsters, but TWO blades, originating from the same end. Usually a clip and a pen?

Berryb - good looking butter and molasses stockman. (I agree with Tongueriver about the stockman part.)

Here is a little Bulldog Sunday Whittler. I got it just over two years ago. I pulled it out of it drawer a few days ago and had an unpleasant surprise - it is in the early stages of outgassing. Sigh.

Dinadan wrote: Here is a little Bulldog Sunday Whittler. I got it just over two years ago. I pulled it out of it drawer a few days ago and had an unpleasant surprise - it is in the early stages of outgassing. Sigh.

Nice knife; too bad about the problem. Ach! Those Deutschgassers! I have been tempted by pretty German knives but was warned and so far I have not purchased any of them.

Couldn't identify a celluloid handle UNLESS it was gassing, then I know.

Not sure if this little bugger is or not.....

tongueriver wrote:

Dinadan wrote: Here is a little Bulldog Sunday Whittler. I got it just over two years ago. I pulled it out of it drawer a few days ago and had an unpleasant surprise - it is in the early stages of outgassing. Sigh.

Nice knife; too bad about the problem. Ach! Those Deutschgassers! I have been tempted by pretty German knives but was warned and so far I have not purchased any of them.

That is probably a very smart attitude. I would not buy an expensive (over $40?) celluloid knife, but every now and then I see something that I like and is not too costly. I have one Fight'n Rooster with celluloid handles, I like it a lot more than the little Bulldog, and I hope it is not next to go!

TripleF wrote:Couldn't identify a celluloid handle UNLESS it was gassing, then I know.

Not sure if this little bugger is or not.....

With a bit of luck you will never know ... at least, not due to out gassing! That is a nice looking knife, Scott.

trutemper wrote:

knife7knut wrote:Here's a few;makers are listed from top to bottom under the picture.

Thats a great group knifenut! I`m curious about those 2 fairmounts in the top photo. Do they happen to have milled liners? Love that lime green one with the big shield(what is that?) looks like it has a real nice spear master blade! Any chance of seeing more pics of that lime green fairmount? Thanks for showing!

Bob

Sorry to be so late in replying but I just now got back to this thread.The shield is actually a caricature of a golfer inset under a clear plastic bubble. Here are a couple pics of the Fairmonts.

Scott, i think those are celluloid handles on your pen knife.
Has anyone tried coating celluloid with clear lacquer ? There are various clear lacquers from nail polish to floor finishes.
If this coating did not cause celluloid to break down when applied, it would seal off the celluloid from oxygen and other gases & liquids.
Would this prevent celluloid breakdown ? Is oxygen a requirement for cell breakdown ?
Is there a chemist here ?
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Scott, i think those are celluloid handles on your pen knife.
Has anyone tried coating celluloid with clear lacquer ? There are various clear lacquers from nail polish to floor finishes.
If this coating did not cause celluloid to break down when applied, it would seal off the celluloid from oxygen and other gases & liquids.
Would this prevent celluloid breakdown ? Is oxygen a requirement for cell breakdown ?

Is there a chemist here ?
kj

I/m not a chemist but one of the components(the main component actually)of celluloid is cellulose nitrate(the others being camphor and alcohol)which is also a component of old style lacquer paint ,racing fuel(nitromethane),and high explosives. It's main attribute is it's ability to burn in a vacuum due to oxygen being a part of it's makeup.
Sealing it off from the outside atmosphere would do little good if the degradation process has already begun.