All About Pocket Knives

Thanks Bryan!

So who--aside from me--is collecting Western knives, and do you have any particular focus?

I'm trying (not always successfully) to focus on knives from about 1940 or so to 1955, but at the same time I'm working on putting together a tang stamp/blade marking reference collection.

Pics to follow . . .

Jim

Thanks Bryan,,


cheers Gary,.

Can`t wait to see your stuff Jim

I have a few Western folders that I fancy. A couple of old Westaco's and some newer ones including a whittler. I guess I will need to get some photos together.

Great, glad to see the new forum. I always love learning about different knife companies.

Thought I would post pics of the newest Western that I have picked up. Very very slick knife. Fit and finish is great.

This is great! Thanks Bryan.
Western Cutlery, nice stuff.

I've got a few.

Sexton, nice, clean knife.

OUTSTANDING, a Western Forum!

While I don't collect Westerns, I do have a few users that I REALLY like.
IMHO, Western had some of the best carbon steel made back in the day!
Their knives took a razor edge and held it!
Western is the standard I personally use as the standard for other carbon steel knives.

Here are a few of my favorites.
Punch blade Stockman in cracked ice.

Westaco 2 blade Jack in cracked ice.

Westaco Punch blade Stockman in cracked ice.

Great looking knives folks.

It's not hard to see the quality that was built into those Westerns.

Phil

Western Boulder 442 3" closed


Western Boulder 652 3 3/8" closed


Western Boulder 651 3 3/8" closed

Glad to see this new forum.

I am delighted to see this forum and am looking forward to all that shall grace these pages. Thank you Bryan, and whoever made the request. If anyone wants any scans out of Harvey Platts' book on Westerns I would be glad to oblige. I see that the introduction to this forum has some typos regarding dates. Might wanna check that out.

tongueriver wrote:I see that the introduction to this forum has some typos regarding dates. Might wanna check that out.

I'll admit I wrote it in a hurry, but which dates are wrong?

Edited to add:
I just double-checked the dates. History prior to 1984 came from Platt's The Knife Makers Who Went West. As the book was published in the 1970s, later dates came from other sources.

The company was sold to Coleman when Harvey Platts retired in 1984. (Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values, 3rd edition, p. 349; The Standard Knife Collector's Guide, 3rd edition, p. 326).

Purchased by Camillus in 1991 (Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values, 3rd edition, p. 349; The Standard Knife Collector's Guide, 3rd edition, p. 326; Blade Forum post by Tom Williams of Camillus dated 02-19-2003).

The only ownership dates I skipped were the brief period of private ownership between Coleman and Camillus. The only information I've been able to locate indicates dates of "Spring 1990" for the sale to the investors, and a date of 22 August 1991 for the acquisition of Western by Camillus. I'm still trying to get sourced information on who the owners were, actual dates, etc.

Jim

T'river, don't know if that's a scan from Platts book or your own knife, but that is one fine looking knife! ; thawk, those are 3 really nice looking Westerns your showing . I have a few Westerns of my own . Will dig my best out and post one of these day's. Thanks for the start up this thread Bull ( Dale H. )

Here is a nice old etched Western States.

I know I'm going to be more aware of these Westerns

Here's a 442A. This is a great small pen knife, easily pocketable. The delrin handles are some of the nicest I have seen.

I think West-Cut was Western's economy brand, like Camco for Camillus. This one has seen a hard life. It looks like somebody tried to cut a live electrical wire with it, as there is a big hole burned out of the edge of the main blade. But it's still hanging together, still a tough, usable knife.

here's a Western W49 Bowie with original sheath

Those bowie patterns are impressive looking beasts! Nice! I see that WEST-CUT is featured as a brand in the 1958 catalog, and may be an economy line, although I don't know exactly how that works, as they look like nice knives. However, I have a fixed blade knife which I am sure is earlier, perhaps from the 1930's with the WEST-CUT tang stamp. It is absolutely top of the line, with fancy spacers and genuine stag. So maybe there were 2 time frames for that brand, with different priorities??

trail wrote:I think West-Cut was Western's economy brand, like Camco for Camillus.

That is right. As Cal put it, it was their economy line. I don’t know if West-Cut was created as an economy line in the beginning, though I expect that may have been the case.
The Camco line was created after WWII specifically to provide an alternative to the more expensive Camillus knives.
In the 1950s an electrician’s knife from Camillus sold for $2.85, a Camco electrician’s knife sold for $1.00, quite a savings for the average person.

In 1950 the Federal Minimum Wage was raised to $0.75 per hour. Meaning that the minimum wage worker made $30/week for a 40-hour work week.
In 1956 the Federal Minimum Wage was raised again to $1.00 per hour, an enormous 25% increase!
Now the minimum wage worker was making $40/week!

The $1.85 difference in the price of a knife would be significant to guys making $40 per week.
You can see why a company would desire to have an economy brand of knives.

In the case of Camco, they were made with the same quality steel, though the handle materials would be less expensive (not necessarily of lesser quality but lower cost) and there was less finish work preformed on the Camco knives, also lowering the cost without compromising the cutting qualities of the knife.

It is easy to understand why companies like Western and Camillus made economy knives to accompany their high quality knives.


Here is a West-Cut knife I bought for a dollar or two at a show 2 or 3 years ago. As you can see from the pic the knife had been used and ill cared for.
After cleaning it up and carrying it for a year or so this is how it looks today.
This knife holds an edge as well as any other carbon steel knife I own.
It may have been an economy knife, but the job it does if First Rate!

While I really don't collect Western knives per se, I do have several I keep as users. They are some of the best examples of their kind from the eras they each represent.
I guess you could say I am a fan.

I think this genuine stag WEST-CUT is pre-World War Two and not part of the 1950's WEST-CUT economy lineup.

tongueriver wrote:I think this genuine stag WEST-CUT is pre-World War Two and not part of the 1950's WEST-CUT economy lineup.

Amen to that Cal. Thats a keeper! Looks like an old Marbles outing knife. I leafed through the Knifemakers book and could not find a stag handled example with the spacers in the middle of the handle, or West-Cut knives before the war. Looked like Westaco was an economy folder line. Are those patent numbers on the bottom line of the stamp?

Don't know if those are patent numbers, but the pommel has twin pins as were used after the patent was adopted.
Jim

Yes, the patent #1,967,479 is on the tang, granted 24 July 1934 for the twin tang construction. They filed for it on 15 December 1931 and were probably using it by then. As far as I know everything from that time on probably used that construction, except such items as their little solid full tang/bolster/blade integral basic knife which I think Marbles copied from Western and began calling an "Outers" knife, but I could be a little fuzzy on that. Case and Remington also made those cute li'l fellers. Maybe everyone did.

That one is a keeper Cal!!!
They don’t get much nicer no matter what the name on the tang is.