All About Pocket Knives

I have this Robeson ShurEdge Rochester knife I can't find anything on, anywhere and according to RobesonsRme.com's thread on tang stamps the pen blade shouldn't have that tang stamp. It's 3 1/2" long, closed, and walks and talks like a brand new knife. Any help or info greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

- BIll

Charlie will be along soon...bet he can shed some light on it ,for ya!

COOL KNIFE BY THE WAY

junebug wrote:Charlie will be along soon...bet he can shed some light on it ,for ya!

COOL KNIFE BY THE WAY

Thanks, that, and I thought Id better add the length (3 1/2") so quick edit.

Interesting knife.

First, let me clear up an apparent misunderstanding.

I don't think I've ever written anything relating to the tang stamps on the secondary blades of Robeson pocketknives except to have stated, repeatedly, they offer little to no assistance in dating a knife.

I confine myself to the stamps on the master blade only.

Secondary blades on certain high quality Robeson knives such as pearl handled multiblades are often stamped exactly as the master. That finding is an indication of age and premium quality.

Otherwise, the secondary blades were stamped with one of two arched Robeson stamps:

ROBESON (arched) / CO. / CUTLERY or ROBESON (arched) / U.S.A. / CUTLERY

The first of those was also used as a master stamp about 1900 - 1916. The second was reportedly used as a master stamp 1917 - 1939.

Secondary blades were marked with some other stamps, but these two will be found on the vast majority.

Some knives have secondary blades with no stamp at all.

As stated above and elsewhere, you cannot date a Robeson knife using the stamps on the secondary blades.

As to the knife above, it has handles applied using a patented process assigned to Robeson by its inventor, who was a Robeson employee.

The handles are held in place by the oversized, over-lapping nickel-silver liners. I have seen such knives with no handle pins whatsoever.

A Robeson 035 pattern knife was a 3 1/2" regular jack.

The addition of the 1/2 suffix to the pattern number indicates a departure from the norm, such as a different master blade, a bail, or a different handle attachment, as on your knife.

No body, myself included, has fully understood Robeson's pattern numbering particulars, but I do know that a suffix to the number indicated a change from the norm. What's confusing is the number of different suffixes that have been seen; 50, 100, 125, 200, 250, 1/2, 1-2, etc.

The ROBESON / ShurEdge (script) / ROCHESTER stamp on the spear master blade of your knife dates it 1922 - 1939, according to Tom Kalcevic in Knives Can Talk!.

Here is another knife with the same handle attachment process. Notice there are no handle pins, just the center pin. Also, this knife has no suffix appended to the pattern number.

Charlie Noyes

RobesonsRme.com wrote:Interesting knife.

First, let me clear up an apparent misunderstanding.

I don't think I've ever written anything relating to the tang stamps on the secondary blades of Robeson pocketknives except to have stated, repeatedly, they offer little to no assistance in dating a knife....

Thanks, Charlie. I was merely referring to your entry regarding the tang stamp which I found to most likely match the stamp on the pen blade on my knife: "ROBESON (arched) / U. S. A. / CUTLERY on master blade 1917 - 1939"
But I see I misunderstood your comment "on master blade" to mean that that stamp is only found on master blades - which isn't what you meant at all. I get it - if that stamp is found on a master blade, then the knife would fall in the 1917-1939 range. Could the wood on the handles be walnut or cocobolo?

Thanks, again.

- Bill

Of course, I don't have the knife in hand, but I suspect the handles are a black composition that Robeson used, not wood.

Charlie Noyes