All About Pocket Knives

Thanks, G-B, I've heard a lot lately about inserts/inlays falling off, guess they need to improve the glue strength.

The only other possible lead I may have on these, is that they look and feel an awful lot like a few "Sheffields" that I have.

I recently acquired this multi blade knife. It is very SAK like, not Chinese made, but definitely a step up Japanese manufactured. Only marking on it are "Royal" on the red handle material and "Stainless steel Japan" on the tang stamp. It has 11 blades and is 3 and 3/8 inches long overall closed. On one edge of the plastic handle material are the letters KSG cast into the material under the corkscrew.

Stelar Japan. Took a lot of soaking to get all those blades loose.

This afternoon, I completed a NON-cutlery related purchase with an acquaintance of mine. He threw in this pocket knife as part of the deal. It now becomes my latest example to be posted under this topic or thread. It also became the latest example to be added to my general, "foreign born", pocket knife accumulation. It is an UNKNOWN (to me), one blade, one tool (a can opener), 3 5/8" closed (not including the bail), one handle stamp, all metal, pocket knife. This pocket knife does not have a spring. The bend in the body of the knife is the "spring." The blade does NOT have a half stop. The blade does NOT have an opening snap. The blade does NOT have a closing snap. The can opener (it resembles a P38 can opener), performs as intended. The main handle side says nothing. The other handle side has what appears to be Japanese writing, symbols or characters. I am by no means an expert, nor do I have ANY level of knowledge regarding Asian writing, symbols, or characters. If the handle stamp is NOT Japanese, then I believe that it is .....? The other examples of this particular pattern or style of pocket knife that I found online, were described as WW2, Japanese soldier, pocket knives.
I did NOT clean this pocket knife at all. I just wiped it off. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

New_Windsor_NY wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2024 2:00 am This afternoon, I completed a NON-cutlery related purchase with an acquaintance of mine. He threw in this pocket knife as part of the deal. It is an UNKNOWN (to me), one blade, one tool (a can opener), 3 5/8" closed (not including the bail), one handle stamp, all metal, pocket knife. The blade does NOT have a half stop. The blade does NOT have an opening snap. The blade does NOT have a closing snap. The can opener (it resembles a P38 can opener), performs as intended. The main handle side says nothing. The other handle side has what appears to be Japanese writing, symbols or characters. I am by no means an expert, nor do I have ANY level of knowledge regarding Asian writing, symbols, or characters. If the handle stamp is NOT Japanese, then I believe that it is .....? The other examples of this particular pattern or style of pocket knife that I found online, were described as WW2, Japanese soldier, pocket knives. I did NOT clean this pocket knife at all. I just wiped it off. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

That's a cool little knife Skip. Does it have a backspring or is it the springless style?

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2024 12:53 pm That's.....

Thank you, ThatWeirdKnifeGuy.
No, it does not have a spring. The bend in the body of the knife is the "spring."
I will add that to my original description.

I'm just going to post my only 3 Japan pocket knives here. I got them in the last year or so. The melon tester a friend gave me and the other two came from antique stores. I LOVE the middle wood-handle one. I'm carrying it tomorrow.

L8Tagain wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2024 11:40 pm IMG_E9064.JPG

I'm just going to post my only 3 Japan pocket knives here. I got them in the last year or so. The melon tester a friend gave me and the other two came from antique stores. I LOVE the middle wood-handle one. I'm carrying it tomorrow.

That wooden handled one is a beauty, very nicely done.

,,,,,

Not too recently, this pocket knife arrived in a group or lot of pocket knives that I purchased. This particular pocket knife was NOT the target of my purchase. However, it did turn out to be a keeper. It is now my most recent example to be posted under this topic or thread. It also became the latest example to be added to my general, "foreign born" pocket knife collection. It is a JAPAN, two blades, one tang stamp, 2 5/8" closed, tuxedo, pattern or style of pocket knife. The main blade front tang stamp says, "STAIN (over) LESS (over) JAPAN" This main blade does have a WEAK half stop. This main blade does NOT have an opening snap. This main blade does have an OK closing snap. This secondary blade does have a GOOD half stop. This secondary blade does have an OK opening snap. This secondary blade does have a GOOD closing snap. This pocket knife is in VERY GOOD condition. This pocket knife did NOT need any cleaning at all. I just wiped it off.
I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

I'm not familiar with Atlas or Atco, I wonder if they were produced by a large maker for smaller sellers as Queen and Camillus Cutlery did years ago.

Knice Dog, congratulations!

Yesterday morning, my trip to the post office produced this pocket knife. It now becomes my latest example to be posted under this topic or thread. It also became my latest example to be added to my general, "foreign born", pocket knife accumulation. It is an UNKNOWN (to me), one blade, one tool (a can opener), 2 3/4" closed (not including the bail), all metal, pocket knife. I can NOT find any remains of etches, marks, or stamps anywhere on this pocket knife. I am however, 99.999% positive that this pocket knife is Japanese in origin. The main handle side says nothing, it is blank. The other handle side says nothing, it is blank. Both handle sides have markings, but I do NOT know if they're the remains of "writing" or if they're just cosmetic blemishes. This pocket knife does NOT have a spring. The bend in the body of the knife is the "spring." The blade does NOT have a half stop. The blade does NOT have an opening snap. The blade does NOT have a closing snap. The can opener (it resembles a P38 can opener), does function as intended. The bail also serves as a "lock" to keep the can opener closed. This is my second pocket knife, although shorter, that is this particular pattern or style. My other pocket knife, in this particular pattern or style, was previously posted under this topic or thread. The other examples of this particular pattern or style of pocket knife that I found online, were described as being WW2, Japanese soldier, pocket knives. Overall, this pocket knife is in VERY GOOD condition. This pocket knife did NOT need any cleaning.
I just wiped it off. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

Here are two eight-blade utility knives I found recently. One is tang stamped KANENAGA and the other is tang stamped KAWAMURA.

I googled these names along with knife/cutlery and all that came up were modern high-end and hand made knives.

These appear to be 1940's to 1960's era.

Any ideas on these?

Not too recently, this bartending tool arrived in a group or lot of pocket knives that I bought. It now becomes my most recent example to be posted under this topic or thread. I did NOT buy the group or lot of pocket knives to obtain this particular bartending tool. But, it did get added to my general, "foreign born", bartending tool, accumulation. It is a JAPAN, three tools (a foil and or wire cutting blade, a cap lifter or bottle opener, and a corkscrew), 4 5/8" closed, all metal, bartending tool. Under the cap lifter or bottle opener, the stamp says, "JAPAN" All three tools open and close with NO problems. Overall, this bartending tool is in GOOD condition. This bartending tool did NOT need any cleaning at all.
I just wiped it off. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 12:10 am ,,,,,

I know I'm late to the party, but my research tells me that knife was made by Edge Mark (Japan) for the Gutmann Cutlery Company.

Killgar wrote: ↑Mon Aug 18, 2025 8:35 pm

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 12:10 am ,,,,,

I know I'm late to the party, but my research tells me that knife was made by Edge Mark (Japan) for the Gutmann Cutlery Company.


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.... those were great knives!!! ... I wanted a Gerber MKII and MKI back when I was a kid but, I could not afford one in the 80s' and the Edge Mark ones were a great option for a quality version of the classic Gerber models.

Here is my latest pickup, I'm not sure of the maker? Made by who?

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Thu Aug 21, 2025 10:50 pm

Here is my latest pickup, I'm not sure of the maker? Made by who?

Here's what I've got for that one- Azuma Shusaku Premium Waist Hatchet.


Your blade on the left, example on the right.




Pics of the full example

Killgar wrote: ↑Fri Aug 22, 2025 12:26 am

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Thu Aug 21, 2025 10:50 pm

Here is my latest pickup, I'm not sure of the maker? Made by who?

Here's what I've got for that one- Azuma Shusaku Premium Waist Hatchet.
Your blade on the left, example on the right.

Outstanding!!! Great work! Thanks a bunch

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Fri Aug 22, 2025 7:36 pm

Killgar wrote: ↑Fri Aug 22, 2025 12:26 am

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Thu Aug 21, 2025 10:50 pm

Here is my latest pickup, I'm not sure of the maker? Made by who?

Here's what I've got for that one- Azuma Shusaku Premium Waist Hatchet.
Your blade on the left, example on the right.

Outstanding!!! Great work! Thanks a bunch

You're welcome .

I just picked this one up... no factory name on it....

I have a number of vintage catalogs showing these knives. Let me know if you need any help.

Made in Japan for BST Basic Tools

The following five, fob or key ring, pattern or style of pocket knives, were among the group or lot of pocket knives that I purchased and that arrived yesterday. They now become my latest examples to be posted under this topic or thread. Not one of these pocket knives was the actual target of, or reason for, my purchase. ALL are however, in good enough condition to be added to my general, “foreign born” pocket knife accumulation. ALL five are JAPAN, one blade, one tang stamp, 1 1/2" closed (not including the bail), fob or key ring, pattern or style of pocket knife. One pocket knife is missing the bail. Two of the five main blade front tang stamps say, "JAPAN" Two of the five main blade front tang stamps say, "W. S. (over) JAPAN" One of the five main blade front tang stamps says, "E C (over) JAPAN" ALL five blades have a half stop. ALL five blades have an opening snap and a closing snap. ALL five pocket knives are in FAIR condition. ALL five pocket knives needed cleaning. I took some pictures and here they are.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.