All About Pocket Knives

Beautiful Robeson Double Gunstock Charlie and enjoyed the historical read on it along with other info!!

Looks like all makers of the double gunstock at least in this thread spared no expense in making a nice knife & particularly the scales.... interesting 2/3 were shadow patterns too...

I don't think I've ever seen one, by anyone, that wasn't a quality piece of cutlery.

I'm a little amazed by their appearance in size. I think there is something deceptive in their shape, something that draws one's attention from the centerline out toward the two ends, giving a false impression of length that doesn't really exist.

When I measured my Robeson today, I was surprised it was only 3 1/2" in length.

And, I'm not sure I've ever seen a small one, like 3" or less. You'd think the pattern would have been a great vest pocket pattern in Edwardian and/or Victorian times.

Levine, in his Guide, stated they were one of three styles of "gunstock" penknives of which he was aware. He illustrated a Wostenholm four blade shadow with ivory scales. He didn't state its length.

Charlie Noyes

Charlie - I agree with you in terms of the pattern & length perception. Though my Wostenholm is abit longer at 3 & 3/4" it no doubt seems larger...

I did notice that info in Levines regarding the 3 gunstock pen knives. The Wostenholm pictured is very similar to mine in terms of scales, bar shield & blades except the pictured knife lacks bolsters. I would like to see the Case 5287 gunstock pen if anyone has one to show (and perhaps I need to find one to round out my gunstock pen knives ... I have the Remington orange blossom as the 3rd that he denotes as another gunstock pen knife - however I believe there is another thread focusing on the orange blossom pattern somewhere in Knife Lore, and in my opinion I don't think orange blossoms are quite as rare to find.... just my perception.

A member over at BladeForums has posted some tinted illustration pages from an 1816 Smith's Key to Sheffield Spring Knives.

This page contains at least one double-ended gunstock penknife.

Very interesting stuff.

Charlie Noyes

LB, I cannot help you with the Case 87, but here are a couple of old Robeson patterns you might not have seen.

They are not the same handle-die shape, as the last three digits on the pearl penknife are 362 and on the bone whittler 374.

I know Bernie was probably not aware of these, as in addition to the above, on the bottom of page 252 in LGIV, he stated that the Orange Blossom was "the only" gunstock whittler he had seen.

I'm pretty sure Case and Winchester made a knife similar to that 374 Robeson.


Charlie Noyes

And yet another Robeson gunstock whittler, a little pearl fob knife measuring 2 1/2" in length.

Pattern number is 733466.

Charlie Noyes

Wow - thanks Charlie for posting those!! All those Robesons are beauties but that jigged bone gunstock whittler is awesome!!! and I was clearly not aware there were other gunstock pen knives though I suspected the possibility.

Interesting 1816 Sheffield illustration from Bladeforums - the other illustrations on that thread are quite nice as well and enlightening in terms of early patterns... all just lovely knives...

Here is a double gunstock custom made by Bob Neal of Monticello, Ky. This one is handled in Mammoth Ivory and has the pipe reamer blade. Bob, or I, didn't know what the blade was for but copied it from another knife. I think it fits the rare pattern profile

Tom

RobesonsRme.com wrote:LB, I cannot help you with the Case 87, but here are a couple of old Robeson patterns you might not have seen.

They are not the same handle-die shape, as the last three digits on the pearl penknife are 362 and on the bone whittler 374.

I know Bernie was probably not aware of these, as in addition to the above, on the bottom of page 252 in LGIV, he stated that the Orange Blossom was "the only" gunstock whittler he had seen.

I'm pretty sure Case and Winchester made a knife similar to that 374 Robeson.


Charlie Noyes

......love that bone-handled one, Charlie!!!............ ............

Fantastic knives, guys!

Here are a few you don't see every day:

1. Remington Surveyor Jack
2. A. F. Bannister & Co Double-end Surveyor
3. Carlin-Hulfish Co Bull-head (I know equal-end double-end jacks aren't rare, but jumbo equal-ends don't seem to be very common.)

Dave,that Bullhead is nice. It must be fairly rare because I don't remember seeing one and there isn't one in my collection. Thanks for posting these. ___Dave

Thanks, Dave. I think it's not too common because of the size. Normal double-end jacks tend to be on the larger side already. A jumbo double-end jack like the bull-head is probably not very practical due to how heavy the knife is.

beautiful knives, Charlie. As Lee said, that bone whittler is an interesting pattern with great bone. Very nice Bob Neal knife, olderdogs. Dave, I really like all three you posted, but am especially fond of the Carlin-Hullfish.
Good thread with a lot of great knives posted.
Dan

Dave +1 on the Carlin-Hulfish, really nice

Thanks, guys! That Carlin-Hulfish is one of those knives that whenever I look at it reminds me why knife collecting is the best hobby.

I don't know if the word "rare" is appropriately applied to Bullhead or double-ended jacks, but they are not common and they are certainly an attractive pattern, especially the big ones with a massive blade in either end.

I've seen Robeson double-ended large surveyor patterns before, one had jigged bone handles consistent with Robeson's output, but most had ebony handles. I have photos of a couple that sold on Ebay, but they are not my knives and I do know their owner from BladeForums, so I'm not going to show them here.

However, here are two Terrier Cutlery Company Bullheads that I bought simultaneously, from the same seller, on Ebay a few years ago. They came out of a long closed hardware store in the Midwest.

Both these are essentially mint.

The 243622 is 3 1/2" long and the smaller one is only 3 1/4"

There are salesman sample numbers inked on the back of the blade on the larger one.

But, I really love that little one. What a sweet knife.


Terrier knives were made and marketed by Robeson from 1910 until 1916, so both these will be, at least, a hundred years old this year.

Charlie

Those are just awesome knives Charlie ... lovely in every way! The bone has a great similar jigging pattern on both knives. It almost looks like a line of grooved worm jigging on each side of the shield that in my eye gives some symmetry to the patterning on the bone...

Charlie, those Terriers are super pretty!

Thanks, LB and Ralph.

You will see that a lot on Robeson worm grooved bone, two parallel diagonally oriented grooves, one on either side of a shield.

I have a little oval whittler that demonstrates that:

Dave,you certainly have some nice old desirable knives.

Charlie,beautiful examples of your Robeson museum. Are those grooves on the bone endemic to that frame style?

I don't think so. On some knives the grooves are cut like that and I don't think I've ever seen but two per side.

On other knives, there will often be a single groove running lengthwise, like this one:

RobesonsRme.com wrote:I don't know if the word "rare" is appropriately applied to Bullhead or double-ended jacks, but they are not common and they are certainly an attractive pattern, especially the big ones with a massive blade in either end.

I've seen Robeson double-ended large surveyor patterns before, one had jigged bone handles consistent with Robeson's output, but most had ebony handles. I have photos of a couple that sold on Ebay, but they are not my knives and I do know their owner from BladeForums, so I'm not going to show them here.

However, here are two Terrier Cutlery Company Bullheads that I bought simultaneously, from the same seller, on Ebay a few years ago. They came out of a long closed hardware store in the Midwest.

Both these are essentially mint.

The 243622 is 3 1/2" long and the smaller one is only 3 1/4"

There are salesman sample numbers inked on the back of the blade on the larger one.

But, I really love that little one. What a sweet knife.


Terrier knives were made and marketed by Robeson from 1910 until 1916, so both these will be, at least, a hundred years old this year.

Charlie

...Charlie, those 2 are beautiful!!!!...... ................

Here's a couple that are relatively rare. Catt. WW1 navy issue knife and a double end auto Shapleigh harness knife. Unfortunately the kick-out spring is broken on the blade side and there is a small chip in the blade. If any of you repairmen want to take a crack at replacing the kick-out spring let me know. ___Dave

This one is a Ka-Bar Fly Fisherman knife. I've only seen one of these so I assume they aren't common. It's too cold today to do anything besides fool with my knives so I might even find a couple more before I'm done. ____Dave

djknife13 wrote:This one is a Ka-Bar Fly Fisherman knife. I've only seen one of these so I assume they aren't common. It's too cold today to do anything besides fool with my knives so I might even find a couple more before I'm done. ____Dave

There was one of these in Voyles most recent auction.It was etched and brought decent money.