All About Pocket Knives

Nice John, you did real in Annapolis yesterday

Ridgegrass wrote: ↑Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:16 am Found this Geo. Wostenholme I*XL Cattle knife yesterday in Annapolis. 3-5/8" pebbled bone. Nice and tight. One of those antique stores that's into dishes far more than old dirty knives! Lucky day!! J.O'.

That is a great pick up!!!

I did have a big day! About 8 really nice pieces. J.O'.

Ridgegrass wrote: ↑Mon Apr 18, 2022 4:09 am I did have a big day! About 8 really nice pieces. J.O'.

That does make it a really good Easter.

Ridgegrass wrote: ↑Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:16 am Found this Geo. Wostenholme I*XL Cattle knife yesterday in Annapolis. 3-5/8" pebbled bone. Nice and tight. One of those antique stores that's into dishes far more than old dirty knives! Lucky day!! J.O'.

Wow! What a great find!

That's a very nice cattle knife, but you knew that.
Congratulations!

Sweet old bones and etch on that Cattle knife Ridgegrass. Congrats and thanks for showing it so we can wish.

Nice find J.O.! I have visited Annapolis before. I really liked it there.

Yeah man, fun to drink a beer in a 250 year old joint. J.O'.

THE CATTLE KNIFE is a heavy duty three-bladed pocketknife, ordinarily 3 5/8 inches or 3 3/4 inches long. Some are junior sized, as small as 3 1 /4 inches. Others are as large as 4 1/2 inches (such as the Case 94s). A very few cattle knives have four blades, and those are the most popular with collectors.

As the name suggests, the cattle knife was designed for work on and around livestock. The type seems to have been introduced in about the 1870s.

The Standard Cattle Knife has the same round-ended equal end shape as the equal-end jack, and was probably derived from that Common Jack Knife shape. At least 90% of cattle knives are standard equal-ends, but a few have been made in other shapes.

These include:
the "Premier" or serpentine;
the "Eureka," or swell-center serpentine;
the "Balloon" or straight swell-center.
the "Jumbo" or heavy sleeveboard;
the "Canoe," which looks like its namesake;
the "Surveyor," sort of a swell-center canoe;

Two-bladed versions of these knives are found in Jack Knives and in Double-End Jack Knives.

The master blade of a cattle knife is most often a spear blade, although many, including most Case cattle knives, have clip master blades. A few have sheepfoot master blades.

The second blade is usually a spey, while the third can be a sheepfoot, a pen, or a punch.

An uncommon version of the cattle knife is the three spring, with a separate spring for each blade. Most of these are swell-center serpentine "Eurekas" Three-spring cattle knives, especially junior-sized ones, are sometimes misnamed "three-spring whittlers," a contradiction in terms.

The "premier" or equal-end serpentine cattle knife was the ancestor of the more slender Premium Stock Knife, introduced in the 1890s. Premier Cattle Knives have spear master blades.

Stock Knives have clip master blades. Some transitional cattle knives are slender like stock knives but have spear master blades. During the First World War both Camillus and Simmons Hardware sold 4 1/4-inch wood-handled equal-end cattle knives to the U.S. Army Signal Corps. In World War H, Camillus made a hone-handled equal-end cattle knife as a "utility knife" for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Plain celluloid and bone stag are the commonest handle materials on cattle knives. Fancy ones were made with patterned celluloid, or sometimes even pearl. Neither wood nor genuine stag handles seem to have been used on cattle knives after about 1930.


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Hal, great info and well written.
Here’s a few pics of a Camillus stamped Cattle knife . All blades stamped , not the punch . Notice nail Nick on the clip main is on pile side and how much thinner it is than the 3 blade next to it . Finding a 4 blade , Camillus stamped Cattle knife for the collection with a clip main was made possible by Roger . Thank you .

Sure is a nice one JP!

Digging your cattle knife JP, some gorgeous looking bone on that one!


Randy

Very interesting post and photos.

Super knife JP!

Three pal cutlery co.

Shapleigh Diamond Edge advertising.

peanut740 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 2:33 am Shapleigh Diamond Edge advertising.

Beeeeeeauuuuuuuuuuutteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul. Wow is that a sweetie. Looks like ivory.

That is stunning! Wow!

Ivoryman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:03 am

peanut740 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 2:33 am Shapleigh Diamond Edge advertising.

Beeeeeeauuuuuuuuuuutteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul. Wow is that a sweetie. Looks like ivory.

Not Ivory, French Ivory celluloid.

Very nice Roger

I guessing that was a give away by the lumber company. That would be sweet. Harold

Another pal cutlery .

A 4 blade Wilbert cattle knife I recently overhauled. Only one I have ever seen.

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 3:11 pm A 4 blade Wilbert cattle knife I recently overhauled. Only one I have ever seen.
IMG_5616.JPG

That is a real beauty!!! I don't know what the "before" look was, but it is certainly impressive looking now.