All About Pocket Knives

I've been on an Eye kick lately and now have these four. They have identical shields and stamps but the blade etches are slightly different. I wonder if the different blade etches indicate a difference in age? All have a badge shield with the Eye over Soligen. The extra large stockman's blade etch is three lines.. Surgical Steel over Premium Quality over Hammer Forged. The moose and regular stockman are etched... Surgical Steel over Hammer Forged over Soligen Germany. The tiny moose's etch is Surgical Steel over Soligen Germany. The tiny moose is the only one that has a pattern number... 40 SS RF. Does having a pattern number help to age it? What does the RF stand for.

Nice Eyes! There are numerous different etches and in your case, I believe the shield gives more info on age than the etch does. The logo shield started in the early 1970s. Pattern numbers came along in 1979. That particular tang stamp was used from 1970s to about 1981 and I'm sure that the existing stock accounts for its use in years past 1981.
For what it's worth, the brown bone was used on stainless blades except in the real early knives.

Thanks. You are correct about the brown bone and stainless. All these knives are tang stamped "rustless". What does the RB stand for on the pattern number on the small moose?

bkazz5 wrote:Thanks. You are correct about the brown bone and stainless. All these knives are tang stamped "rustless". What does the RB stand for on the pattern number on the small moose?

No clue about that one. I assume that the 'B' part stands for Bone but even that is just my best guess. RUSTLESS maybe??
Maybe HiPower will chime in on that issue.

Great group of Eyes!

I had been under the impression that RB stood for Red Bone.
You see lots of model numbers ending in Y (yellow handle) or DS (Deer Stag).
A quick search on eBay revealed a couple with RB that actually had Red Bone scales.
Who knows, maybe they ran out of red bone handles at the factory and used what they had.

keithw wrote:I had been under the impression that RB stood for Red Bone.
You see lots of model numbers ending in Y (yellow handle) or DS (Deer Stag).
A quick search on eBay revealed a couple with RB that actually had Red Bone scales.
Who knows, maybe they ran out of red bone handles at the factory and used what they had.

Works for me.

Thanks for the feedback and the free education. Here are a couple more.

Very nice!

those congress patterns were some of the last real high quality knives congress made. usually they had a mirror polish. is that a real pearl, if so i would consider it pretty rare. the cruses [son & dad] used rustless earlier than surgical steel desigination. in fact they were the 1st to use term surgical steel on their knives; did'nt copy right the term & several other knife companies quickly picked up the moniker.HiPower

I have gone back and forth as to whether it is pearl or not. It is not obvious that it is not but i think it is imitation.

Mine is an only child

A couple more. The stag on the trapper looks a little different than any other German Eye stag that I have. What do you think?

That first group of four Eyes is fantastic. Very nice

Thank You. Now that I have added a few to my collection I am always watching for them at shows.