All About Pocket Knives

I fished these two fixed blades out of the 'Bay, ten bucks for both of them! Pretty happy with that score. I know they're not high value knives, but I like 'em anyway. They were a bit rusty and crusty when they arrived, but I spent a little time on them and managed to clean them up decently without losing any of their character.
Blade length on both is just shy of 5 inches, and they both sharpened up nicely!
Obvioulsy the one with the moose on the handle is an Imperial, but the other is unmarked.
I'm hoping to gather a bit more info on these if anyone is "in the know"....
Any idea on the handle material (it is heavy and solid) or maker of the unmarked one? Possible timeframe of manufacture?
Any idea on the age of the Imperial?
The unmarked one came in the sheath, but I'm not 100% sure if the sheath originally belonged to that knife or the Imperial....or if it's original to either one...
Any info or comments you fine folks would like to share I'd be most appreciative. Many thanks!
Mike

The unmarked one may be a custom.

Ray

The unmarked is a Utica Sportsman......check for a faded imprint on mid spine........

Helluva score my brother!!!

Ahhhh, there we go! Shows how much I know. I just thought perhaps it was the work of some newbee maker.

Ray

TripleF wrote:The unmarked is a Utica Sportsman......check for a faded imprint on mid spine........

Helluva score my brother!!!

I looked under a magnifier but no markings visible on the spine or elsewhere...do you have a similar one Scott?

From where i'm sittin' the un marked one looks like bone

I like 'em both

Cutty wrote:From where i'm sittin' the un marked on looks like bone

I like 'em both

Yeah Cutty, it looks like stag...feels like bone...but something is telling me it's some sort of faux stag similar to stag-lon or something like that... ....

It is a Utica Sportsman hunting knife as Scott mentioned, and yes the handles are genuine jigged bone



Check this thread to see some others:

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... 7&start=75

Miller Bro`s wrote:It is a Utica Sportsman hunting knife as Scott mentioned, and yes the handles are genuine jigged bone

Hey Sweet! I appreciate the info Scott and MB!
I did the tooth clink test on the handle and it did indeed sound like the "bone clink"! Any idea on an age?

...mike, when I first glanced at #1, I thought it looked like my 4 line Camillus, but the top of the blade on mine is almost straight...........nice old knife, I like it !!!........... ...................

Just look at ebay for active and completed listings....

I re-handled mine .....

looks almost identical to imperials we bought in early 50s; 89 cents with black synthetic handles. knives of this period were not generally handled in delrin or the more developed polymers. in fact other than bakelight & some early plastic materials; i do'nt think delrin had been invented. maybe a poly engineer can chip in on info about the synthetics at that time.--Hipower

Here is a pic of the first knife I bought at the age of 10.It is a Utica Sportsman but did not have a blade etch for some reason.I still have the knife with the original sheath marked in pencil on the back with it's original price: 98 cents in 1954!The jigged bone scales still have the cracks at the rear rivet from some overzealous kid dropping it.

313 Mike wrote:

Miller Bro`s wrote:It is a Utica Sportsman hunting knife as Scott mentioned, and yes the handles are genuine jigged bone

Hey Sweet! I appreciate the info Scott and MB!
I did the tooth clink test on the handle and it did indeed sound like the "bone clink"! Any idea on an age?

Mike, do you not have a magnifying glass?

I could see it in the expanded pictures

Hey thanks for all the great info everybody! I'm really digging these two knives....I fear I may be developing a bit of an infatuation with these old American made hunting/utility fixed blades! First the old Schrade H15, now these two....
uh oh, I feel an expansion of the accumulation coming on!

Mike