All About Pocket Knives

There was an article in Knife World some years ago about pocket knives marked PW OTSWALD, BAKER OREGON. These knives were 100% hand made on a ranch in Oregon - I believe for the use of the cowboys who worked the ranch. They made the whole knife from scratch including forging the blades. This is the only one that I have ever owned and the first that I have seen for sale in a long time. It is a heavy built knife, about 5/8" thick at the center. I do not recall what was said in the article about the years that these knives were made. If anyone has that article perhaps you can post more information about this brand.

very nice knife steve. i like the 2 big blades, very useful for ranch work.. i hope you get that info and maybe the person will post it here.

That Ostwald article might have been written by Dennis Ellingson; just a guess based on the Oregon location.

I seem to recall that Ostwald started out with a frame and springs from another manufacturer. Of course, I could be totally wrong about that.

Still, they are interesting, seldom encountered utilitarian workingmen's knives.....and that's a nice one you have there.

Charlie Noyes

I have heard Otswald knives discussed in the club, (Oregon Knife Collectors Association). As I recall it was Dennis who mentioned them. That is the first one I gave seen. They are pretty rare, even here in Oregon.

hey steve, i think the ostwald article was by roger worley. he has a collection of ostwalds and studied him for quite a while. tried to buy some of his equiptment which i understand is still sitting outside his old shop in baker. interesting maker and his teacher was frank warren. warren knives are hard to find also. take care. tex

Just came up with an Ostwald knife today and ran across this thread. I'll post pictures of the knife later. I found this article and on page 5 and if you scroll through it you can find a lot of info on the Ostwald knife and history.



https://www.oregonknifeclub.org/Newsletter%201703.pdf

Hi, I'm Steven McCullough and I came across this thread while researching a pocket knife for a friend of mine when the subject of Otswald knives came up. I hope I'm not intruding on the conversation.

Strange as it may seem, I have many childhood memories of Mr. PW Otswald. Up until the age of 8, I lived at 2420 Balm Street which is/was the house next door to his. Our little yellow house was built by my Uncle Joseph Barnard (Joe built several in Baker) Today, there's an empty space where Otswald's house was but the shop buildings look very much today as they did then. (BTW it was called just Baker back then NOT Baker City.)

All of the men in my family carried his wonderful knives. He was proud of the fact that he made the blades out of old bastard files, which were good as blanks to begin with being cheap or free, and had high quality steel in them. Mr Otswald was an accomplished machinist (from the equipment I saw) and happily married to a cherubic woman whom was seldom seen away from the house. When not making knives he was hard at work fixing someone's tiller or lawn mower etc. It seemed to me if it was metal he could fix it. As far as I know all of his knives were made there at the Balm Street location. He just made the blades and fitted them to existing frames.

It was fishermen who were the most numerous admirers of his handiwork. Many would wax on and on about the edge you could get and how long it would go between sharpenings. To many local fisherman of that era, one's tackle box was sadly incomplete without an Ostwald blade in it. He got top dollar for them and I've never heard a single complaint. And he was pretty picky though, he wouldn't make one for just anybody. His shop had many unique gadgets in it that my boy's brain couldn't comprehend, but it was fascinating to watch him work.

I hope this rather long winded reply fleshes out what a kind and dedicated man Mr PW Otswald was. If there's anything else I can do, don't hesitate to let me know in this forum. My memory is quite clear about that time and place so if you have any other questions about Baker let me know.

Steven, interesting information. What year or what years are we talking about?
Thanks!

Steven, thank you for posting. You are not 'intruding' in any way. You have added a personal touch to this thread and Mr. Otswald and his work.
kj

Thanks for posting Steven. I really enjoyed reading your post. I would love to see some more of his knives.

Thank you Steven, I would love to hear more when you have time, especially since I live in Oregon and just got my first Otswald knife this week!
I have been to Baker several times, I have a sister who lives there.