All About Pocket Knives

Picked up this Queen English Jack Knife this week. It is my understanding that Queen made a limited run of these knives with the original Queen City tang stamp and jigged bone handles. Just something about this knife said you need me. So now it will become one of my every day carry knives. Have a great day

I bought one of those for my little pile of English Jacks (love 'em). I have a hard time believing its a limited run. Too many of them floating around for sale. Of course I guess they could have not gone over well. English Jacks don't seem to be a super popular pattern.

Hard to know what defines a limited run.There have been a fair number of these sold, but they mostly seem to be up above $85 - not olike discounted for not selling - Some with the wharmcliff blade were in the S & M annual a few years back and they seem to be a lower price point.

I do like a bigger knife for many jobs and these big English are quite nice, like the older #28, and 29 farmer's jacks. Little tougher on your pocket but much more capable when the blade is at work.

Here's a stag #29 English Jack with the QCCC shield and special tang stamps. They were a limited run of 100. This one is SN 34.

Here's the sales malarkey from wholesaler:

This is the debut of Queen City Cutlery Classics and a great time to start a new collection.

All knives are serialized and only 100 pieces of each were produced. The English Jack is 4 1/2" closed with all nickel silver liners.

The cut-in swedge,long nail pull, and triple threaded bolster make a dynamite look. The QCCC shield has not been used since 1928 and is pinned to the scales.

Both blades are tang stamped with Queen City logo. This knife is a full blown Schatt-Morgan finished product. The best part of all is the 1095 High Carbon steel blades that make it a user as well as a high quality collectible.

That stag is a heart stopper Waz. They made that knife in four handle materials.
Green Bone -- Which I have S/N 099
Ebony Wood
Stag -- Yours
Winter Bottom Bone

That English Jack in stag is beautiful! My compliments to the photographer! Trying to collect a bunch of these queen classics is very tough - there are just not many around.

I get confused by model numbers - Queen model #28 farmer jack was a clip blade I believe, with the spear blade farmer a #29. Not sure how some of these Queen classics were numbered. I do not know the difference between a Farmer jack and an English jack - they sure look the same to me. Help?

Thanks,

Dan, what I've noticed is a Farmer's Jack is usually a single bladed knife. The Queen City English Jack the OP posted and I posted is a 29, also the QCCC Green Bone I posted and Stag Handle QCCC Waz posted are 29s but they all have a clip main blade. Don't know what to tell you.

Here is a Farmer's Jack, Model #29-in Burnt Orange Delrin - making it a 1959 knife. I was told by a reputable guy as I bought it. No blade etch on either blade. It is 4.5" closed and with spear blade open is 8.12." It has been used, sharpened and buffed. Half stops on both blades and very strong springs. The little pen blade is 2.5."

looks just like the English Jack to me- regardless of naming a nice big, sturdy pocket knife

Keystone, I have a small collection of English Jacks and at 4½" closed, I would call it an English Jack. Great old Queen.

I won one of these at the 2013 Queen Knife show. Rear tang on the small blade says "2012". I was told at the show by Ken Daniels that only 300 knives were made with this handle material.

Rookie wrote:I won one of these at the 2013 Queen Knife show. Rear tang on the small blade says "2012". I was told at the show by Ken Daniels that only 300 knives were made with this handle material.

That may be true but there are sure a bunch of them floating around for sale on eBay. Clarence Risner is selling them for $70. That's where I got mine.

It is certainly nice to win a knife. Show knives, often with a different blade etch, are found on Ebay later. My current favorite is the big two-blade daddy barlow #71, sans blade etch, that was the 2014 show knife. Another example of a big, capable knife.

I am guessing that "farmer Jack" old #28 (clip), #29 (Spear) have been changed over to the more interesting and historic "English " Only a few farmers left (<2% ) so since we are mostly all anglophiles, we get a new name. There are some model #s that have been stable since the 1920s, but Queen has not been afraid to re-name or re-number their knives. The long time hawkbill pruner with liner lock (1L) lost its number and place in the catalog to the swing guard lockback in 1991 when that pattern was re-introduced. Again, just not that many folks pruning their backyard orchard with a pocket knife.

It would get boring if nothing changed.

Here is a early 1945-50 Queen # 28 English Jack I just picked up
(sellers pics until I take some)

Gino, that's a ............................... hottie!!!

That is a nice one . That old winterbottom bone is great in my book!
Treefarmer

That stag is mighty fine and so are the jigged bones. I'm drawn to Queen English Jacks as well-sleek and capable. Kinda like a greyhound or borzoi in my mind. Lots to my liking; long clip and pen in carbon steel with pretty good fit, finish and mechanics. Here's a couple that called my name:

I'm confused again. I bought the same 1 of 100 new QCCC English Jacks previously pictured believing they were 420HC stainless steel. At least a half dozen sellers' ads wrote they were stainless. None wrote they were not. I have yet to see one or a picture of one with a spec of patina. What do I know? I guess I better continue keeping my collectors oiled.

28 v. 29? All of my Queen made English Jacks are fairly new. All have two blades. The ones with clip masters are 29s as is the the one with a lamb's foot master. By lamb's foot I mean an elongated sheep's foot. Its back does not gradually slope down to a fine point like most Wharncliffs. My two blade S&M with a spear master is a 28. Apparently Queen changed their mind on which is which.

This is not the only case of Queen being unable to make up their mind. There are two shapes of square ended 4 1/4" Stockmans, the Reverse Gunstock and one shaped more like competing Camillus and Case 4 1/4" Stockmans. Since 1990 Queen has stamped both shapes both 49 and 50. Unlike the English Jacks they did not switch the numbers then stick with the reversal. They numbered both patterns inconsistently for over 25 years.

Info on QCCC English Jacks. Found this on bladeforums.com;

Cutlery Classics (QCCC) Three of the knives have the same serial number and the other two have different numbers. 100 pieces of each knife was produced. The English Jack is 4 1/2&#8221; closed with all nickel silver liners. The swedge, long nail pull, and threaded bolsters add to the beauty of these knives. These knives have 1095 high carbon steel.

On AAPK forum;
Re: 1095 Carbon Steel
Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:31 am

1095 is still alive and kicking, sadly not nearly enough makers use it. I know that Great Eastern uses it almost exclusively in the Northfield and Tidioute lines, as was said above. Queen uses it on a few knives (the QCCC series for example), Moore Maker (which are made by queen, and Bear and Sons) uses it, older Schrade USA knives you'd pickup on ebay or whatnot have the potential to be 1095.

A close analog is Case's CV steel, which is a high carbon steel alloyed with a bit of vanadium and chromium for wear/stain resistance (not enough to qualify as stainless). D2 is also a nice cutting steel, it's a semi-stainless tool steel. Canal Street, Queen both use that here and there.

More info I found on a search;

Yup. I concur

From Cumberland Knifeworks
"A new line of knives will debut in the Fall of 2007 bearing the name Queen City Cutlery Classics and have the old QCCC trademark shield. The significant item here will be the use of more exotic handle materials , mainly , Rams horn , Ebony Wood, Camel , Burl, and others not commonly used today. Plus, all knives will be constructed of 1095 High Carbon steel.

These issues will be all serial numbered with certificates of authenticity so collectors will be able to secure thier favorite numbers with each succeeding knife issue.

The QCCC shield was only used between 1928 and 1932 . It is sure to be a big with collectors. The first knives will be coming soon."

Not all QCCC knives are 1095 carbon steel. There are 400 large Congress QCCC knives that have two sheep's foot blades both with tangs stamped PH-D2. Like the 400 English Jacks they have nickel silver liners and serial numbers. Also like the English Jacks 100 have stag sides, 100 jigged Antique Green and 100 dark red Winterbottom bone. However, rather than ebony the 4th hundred have dark red bone jigged similar to bone stag. Queen and Schatt & Morgan Congresses with the same two D2 sheep's foot and two pen blades are among the most common Queen made Congresses. It is logical that they used existing stock of D2 blades in the QCCC Congresses.

The QCCC Congresses might have been made after the information on QCCC English Jacks posted above was printed. However, despite their being over 10 years old I've not seen a QCCC English Jack with any tarnish so I have my doubts. The next time I get in to town I'll buy some cold blue to test a QCCC English Jack. If one of you volunteer to test yours first it would save me $6. If a drop in an inconspicuous spot turns it blue that can be polished off with Mother Mag or similar metal polish.

I finally got around to doing the cold bluing test on one of my QCCC English Jacks. I used Birchwood Casey's cold blue. During the time period when these QCCC English Jacks were made Queen's standard steels were 420HC stainless and 1095 carbon. Since Camillus made my Remington 9501 Stockman out of 1095 and Buck made my 305 Stockman out of 420HC I used them for comparison. As expected my Buck 305 was not discolored by the cold blue and my Remington acquired a blue spot. My QCCC English Jack took the bluing the same as my Remington. The QCCC English Jacks are carbon steel. I am sorry for any confusion I created.

No worries, that.

He has not posted on here in years, but "keystone" did raise my consciousness that Queen had called "Farmer's jacks"(#28 and #29) what most of us identify as 'English jacks".

I went to my oldest Queen source material, and it was Lavona Ferguson's "...ROMANCE OF COLLECTING....KNIVES", 1978, in which #28 and #29 were indeed called by Queen, "Farmer's Jack[s]".

Levine, most knife students know, calls a "Farmer's jack" something very different from what he describes as an "English jack".

What is the oldest reference anyone knows of in which the term, "English jack", consistent with Levine, is used?