All About Pocket Knives

Here's one I just won off the 'bay. Can anyone tell me about it? Hope I didn't step on anybody's toes on this one.

TJ,
As I understand it the Eye logo over Germany tang stamp was used from the mid-70s until 1981.
That's a nice looking knife for sure.
Keith

Well, I'll take a shot at it.
Good, strong old 2 eye etch and the tang stamp dates from the mid to late 1970s to 1981. Fine carbon steel and should hold an edge exceptionally well.
The only question I would have is the handles. Not sure they are original but they are very nice and you should be able tell by examination if they have been replaced. When I say 'not sure' I really mean I am not sure. They may be original but not typical.

Ray

Well, you didn't step on my toes but I sure would like to know how I missed that one. I do my eye searches ritually every morning before going in the shop and every night after I come in from the shop. Ya got a good one from the looks of it. I have 4 but none of mine have such nice stag. Half of mine are fitted like that too Ray, not the usual "chisel cut" as I call it. Hope ya got a good price! I paid dearly for the minty ones.

Greetings MM. $51 + ship. I didn't think that was too bad. Need to get it home and give it the once over, 10 or 20 times. Looking through the AAPK stores, the tang stamp says 70's-early 80's. Was listed as "Old two blade pocket knife, Solingen Germany", not as German Eye, that's probably why you missed it. What do you mean by "Fitted like that"? By the way, those are some real beauties you got there

Greaty Deal, I paid $80 and $85 for my nicer ones. $50 each for the used ones.

I was reffering to the way the stag is fitted. Some were blended well down to the bolsters, others drop stright off alost at a right angle where the bolster was contoured but they never bothered to blend the bone or stag, many were like this. Yours is the exception. Compare the fit of the stag of yours to the first one on the left in my photos, yours is blended down much better to the bolsters while mine has an abrupt stop.

For just a little background, the Cruse family had the sole distribution rights for Eye Brand throughout the USA for many years. According to Mark Cruse, one of their constant complaints or requests to Schlieper was that they did not 'blend' the handle material to the bolster to accomplish a smoother transition. For many years, Schlieper refused to change this practice, or maybe I should call it a production method.
Clearly, at some point the practice was changed and I doubt anyone would know for sure exactly when the practice changed. To make the change would create an additional step in the process and that would equate to money. These makers were very practical people (frugal maybe?) and they would prefer to hold costs down rather than the opposite.
I'll see if I can develop any information in this regard.

Interesting. I see what you mean about "blending" the handles to the bolsters. I'm kind of surprized that they did not do that on all their knives. I'd imagine that the non-blended ones could get pretty unconfortable in your pocket with the sharp edges. It looks like I paid just about the right amount for the knife as a purchase, but, based on the one other Eye that I have, I think I did purty good. It will be interesting to see just how used the knife is when I get it. Some of the roughness you see in the blade pics may be reflections. We'll see. Thanks fellers.

tjmurphy wrote:Interesting. I see what you mean about "blending" the handles to the bolsters. I'm kind of surprized that they did not do that on all their knives. .

Typical of most german knives with bone or stag handles. Inlcuding weidmannshiel, bulldog, fightin' rooster ect. It's just thier thing.

Well I got the pocket knife today, not mint but not carried nor sharpened either. Some discoloration on the blades from just lying around for a long time. It's a hand-full of knife. I like it a lot. I'm wondering, would using a mild cleaner like Brasso or a silver polish remove the blade etch on the main blade. I used the Brasso on the secondary spey blade and it cleaned it up nicely with out scratching or removing the mirror finish. Afraid to try on the main blade without some advise. Thanx in advance.
Now, after cleaning:

get some blue 3m masking tape and cut a strip just big enough to cover the etch and then simichrome or brasso or whatever the blade, the tape will protect the etch, i've done this on a number of eyes in my collection. looks like a dandy. Hard to find a truely MINT eye becuase thier carbon steel corroded so easily the tiniest ammount of moisture will put spotting on the blades during storage

Paladin wrote:For just a little background, the Cruse family had the sole distribution rights for Eye Brand throughout the USA for many years. According to Mark Cruse, one of their constant complaints or requests to Schlieper was that they did not 'blend' the handle material to the bolster to accomplish a smoother transition. For many years, Schlieper refused to change this practice, or maybe I should call it a production method.
Clearly, at some point the practice was changed and I doubt anyone would know for sure exactly when the practice changed. To make the change would create an additional step in the process and that would equate to money. These makers were very practical people (frugal maybe?) and they would prefer to hold costs down rather than the opposite.
I'll see if I can develop any information in this regard.

This is just a stab in the dark but i'll say it was started in the mid-late 60's mainly becuase most 70's era knives with 3 line etches and such had blended hafts, older straightline and 2 line etch models fro mthe 60's usually arent hafted down. But it all could have been a matter of who was on the grinder that day too.

Well, I cleaned the blades and the pics are in my previous post as an edit. Couldn't get it all, but got 95% of the stains off.

shes a looker now

Thanks MM. Though the photos don't show it, the blades are mirror finish, still.

Hi, am i correct in assuming the surgical steel is a newer knife? Thanks Tim

That isn't a particularly new knife. I say it would go from the mid to late 1970s to 1981, judging by the stamp.

The surgical steel blades were stainless, right??

Yes, it was their version of stainless and according to my Eye Brand contact, Eye Brand was the first to use that term in designating their stainless blades. It was kinda like Sodbuster, they failed to copyright the term or name and others jumped on it. I guess Parker and/or Frost mainly seemed to use the term.
Peculiarly, I don't know anyone who knows what stainless they used in those early knives but as far as I can tell, it was a good steel.