All About Pocket Knives

Most of us are familiar with knives from New York, Pennsylvania, and New England. Here are a few from the Chesapeake Bay area that you don't see too often:

1. Norfolk Cutlery Co. of Norfolk, VA
2. Carlin-Hulfish Co. of Alexandria, VA
3. Carlin-Hulfish Co. of Alexandria, VA
4. C. Leonard of Petersburg, VA
5. Samuel Jackson of Baltimore, MD

Wow, great looking knives, from companies I've never even heard of! Thanks for sharing. If I had to pick a fav of those beauties, I would have to say the C Leonard, classic elegant looking knife for sure, as they all are.
Mike

These regional brands are a fertile field for the collector and historian. It's hard to compete with the acknowledged experts in, for example, Case or Kabar, but a man could put together a small collection of knives like these, do a little driving and visiting libraries in the Bay area, and be an expert in his own right. Dave, that's a remarkable small collection you have there.

Very nice all - I agree with Mike, the C. Leonard is just pure class!

Those are very cool. I really like the Leonard as well. Interesting that one of them chose the street name, and a pattern name, from a well-known Sheffield company.

Great knives!!!

Dave, your in my neck of the woods! I didn't know that we had knife mfg. in this area???
Those are awesome knives! Thanks for showin' them.

Thanks, guys. It certainly took a number of years just to put this group together, but the long hunt just makes finding one all the more sweet.

The C. Leonard is my favorite. It's also the one I haven't been able to find any info on.

Rocky, I think the Virginia knives were made on contract by better known companies. This is because I can't find any references to Virginia knife manufacturers in any of the sources I've checked (except for some Civil War-era bowie makers). Just my best guess though.

Dave,

Thanks for posting this information and pictures of what I call "local" knives. I need to keep an eye out for them.

-John

My pleasure, John. I always like to share my knives with the folks here. I hope you find some rare ones. They're out there somewhere.

You got a grate bunch of knives there.WoW+

Thanks, ironmage.

Dave,

I found out some information about your Carlin-Hulfish Co. knives from my boss, a life-long Alexandria resident. He says Carlin owned the Alexandria Gazette, the local newspaper, and Hulfish owned the town hardware store, The Hulfish Co. As it turns out, both of their huge warehouse buildings were located across Shinbone Alley from each other on King St. which is pretty much the main street in Old Towne Alexandria. The buildings were in front of the now City Hall building at 301 King St. He said The Hulfish Co. was in business for well over 100 years.

Well, back in the early 70's both buildings were condemned and unfortunately torn down. My boss delivered the Alexandria Gazette as a boy and remembers going into the hardware store just to marvel at all of the cool stuff they had. It was pretty much like today's department store but more geared toward guys than the ladies; sporting goods, hammers, hunting & camping supplies, building materials, livestock feed, etc. There was another family-owned hardware store in town and I think he said it was Carr's. He remembered buying his first BB rifle at Carr's, having saved money from his paper route. He also said Hulfish would go all-out at Christmas, they sold toys too.

Then we went over to an archive records section in our office, looked at an old Fire Insurance map from 1921 and it showed the businesses and their respective business types on the old map. I'm going to try to take some pictures of it if you're interested. I'll post them here if that's ok? So that's what I learned today.

John

John and Dave, thanks so much for this history I found it to be fascinating.I love this kind of info and I appreciate so much you fellas sharing it!-Rocky

My pleasure, Rocky, more to follow.

That is great information Red!

John, thanks so much for all that great info! I knew some about Carlin-Hulfish thanks to some old articles, but the info you posted was new to me.

I'd love to see pictures of that map. I'd be really grateful if you could post them here. Thanks a lot!

John, here's what I've found out about Carlin-Hulfish Co. so far:

Worth Hulfish was born in Haymarket, VA in 1848. Around 1862, his parents moved the family to Washington D.C. to avoid the fighting caused by the Civil War. (Haymarket is right near Bull Run/Manassas.)

In 1863 Worth Hulfish began a clerk apprenticeship with the firm English & Carlin at the age of 15. English & Carlin had been established in 1844 by James F. Carlin and dealt in wholesale hardware and cutlery. Hulfish often took the wagon to the docks to pick up shipments of merchandise. Most of the merchandise was then sold to the Confederacy during the war. Being in the hardware business, at the end of the war English & Carlin experienced an increase in business due to the Reconstruction.

By 1875 Worth Hulfish was what we would consider middle management at English & Carlin. He married Virginia Cogan in 1876 and decided to settle down in Alexandria.

In 1895 English & Carlin became Jas. F. Carlin & Sons. That same year it became Jas. F. Carlin & Co. when Worth Hulfish became an equal partner with James Carlin and George Carlin. In 1906 the company changed its name to Carlin-Hulfish & Co. Around 1908 Worth Hulfish began serving as president of the company while James and George Carlin served as vice-presidents. Worth's brother, George, was elected secretary and Worth's son, David, was the assistant secretary.

In 1919 Worth Hulfish bought all the shares held by the Carlin family. He renamed the company Worth Hulfish & Sons Inc. Worth Hulfish served as president until his death in 1930. His son, David, succeeded him as president.

In 1963 urban changes began to occur in Alexandria. In 1963/64 the buildings on King Street were bought by the city and torn down so the City Hall Plaza could be built over this area, bringing an end to the company.

Dave, here's some pictures of where the hardware store used to be and some pictures of the block from a 1921 Insurance map. Sometimes change is good but I would give anything to see one of the old hardware stores back in their hay-day.













The middle part of City Hall was added to create more office space, in the 70s I think. Now there is a weekly Farmer's Market pretty much every Saturday morning around the fountain.

Man, that is cool! I'm with you, John. It'd be something else to see what those old hardware stores were like way back when. I can't help but wonder what it must've looked like before they built the City Hall. Thank you so much for posting those pictures!

Got some new information and knives to add to this thread for those who might be interested.

First, the info. The Carlin-Hulfish gunstock seen on the first page has a "CCCC" etch on the master blade. A little research shows that that was a trademark of Curtin & Clark Cutlery Co. of Kansas City, MO. Curtin & Clark did not make their own knives, but had them manufactured by Tidioute Cutlery Company. There are no signs of alterations done to the gunstock, so the way I figure it Carlin-Hulfish probably had Tidioute Cutlery make knives for them as well. The master blade on the gunstock was likely an extra that Tidioute didn't use for Curtin & Clark so they probably just put a Carlin-Hulfish stamp on it and sent it out.

Now here are two new additions to my collection. The first is a green bone congress made for Kinson Cutlery Co. of Richmond, VA. It may look like a junker, but because it's a Virginia knife it's a beauty to me. The second one is a beefy moose made for Carlin-Hulfish & Co. of Alexandria, VA. I love the grind on the clip blade. Both blades snap like a bear trap.

Dave, love that moose, beautiful
Dan

Amen to what Dan said!! Treefarmer

Thanks, guys!

Those are awesome!