All About Pocket Knives

anybody have any info on when platts bros. made knives in eldred pa.?

1897-1905 when they merged with case. levines3rd. got one?

yes, i have a large jack.

I have seen a lot of newer Platt's knives. I believe Jim Parker was associated with the name in later years.
Tom

post some pics. i like to get to see it.

will do, its a old original. another question for you? my brother has a old ec simmons kk, other than the shield and stamping it looks to be the same knife. the bone might be a little different? im not looking at his knife. but once we laid them side by side and we both were amazed. the old keen kutter probably dates around the turn of the century too. do you have a opinion on this? did old knife companys sometime use the same frames? was there a merge?

Remember that very few companies actually made knives. They were jobbers and had others make them for them with their stamp. Platts made knives for a lot of other companies. the dates quoted in this thread are correct for the Platts Bros. era.

Knife World had a great story done on Platts about three years ago. I met the author at a knife show and he was VERY up on thier history. A lot more to it than most realize. for example, platts helped with the Eureka Cutlery Company in Pennsylvania.

Great stuff if your into that sort of thing like me.



when your ready to part with one of those originals, let me know first

PA is right on on this knife. Keen Kutter never actually made a knife. Platts could of made it for them. Early keen kutters were made by a lot of different companies. When Simmons bought controlling intrest in Walden knife company, Walden made the majority of Simmons knives as well as Winchester. Until the end of simmons and wincesters merge. Then Schrade made the majority of Simmons knives.

Charles H. Platts and his sons Charlie,H.N.,Joe, Ray and Frank made the finest pocket knives in the country in Eldred,PA from 1897 to 1900 when Charles H. died. The business then became C. Platts' Sons and continued until 1905 when it was sold and moved to Bradford,Pa to become the manufacturing base for the new W.R.Case and Sons Cutlery Co. In October 1905 Charlie and Frank set up an office on Elm St. and began jobbing cutlery bearing the stamp Platts Bros. Eldred,PA This business ran until 1907 and the establishment of Platts Bros. Andover,NY where Charlie,Joe and Frank actually began to manufacture cutlery again. All antique pocket knives with the Platts Bros. Eldred,PA stamping were almost certainly made for them(between 1905 and 1907) at the Eldred Cutlery Co. which had been set up inthe old C. Platt's Sons building in Eldred.
Dave Anthony is quite correct. Most of the product of C. Platts and Sons as well as C. Platts' Sons was made for others and will be stamped accordingly. It was not until 1903 that C. Platts' Sons decided to sell primarily to the retail market with the C. Platts' Sons marking.
The Eldred Cutlery Company's focus was also almost entirely on supplying the"private brand" market. Relatively few knives would have been marked with the Eldred Cutlery Co. brand for local consumption.

Dave Pierce

Hi Dave. Are these Platts related to James Platts who worked for Joseph Rodgers for most fo the latter half of the 19th cent and into the 20th at least 1861-1911? Thanks in advance. s-k

S-K, Unfortunately I simply don't know whether James Platts was related to Charles H.Platts or not.
Here's what I do know courtesy of Joe Platts' grandaughter who had a woman in Sheffield check the census.
1851 census for Crooksmoor(a suberb of Sheffield) shows:
Charles Platts 41 yrs head penknife cutler
Ann Platts 37 yrs wife
Charles Platts 12 yrs son scholar
Emma Platts 9 yrs dau scholar
Alice Platts 7 yrs dau scholar
Walter Platts 4 yrs son

The 12 year old is Charles H. Platts. In the 1861 census Alice Platts is absent, so she may have died. Apparently When Charles H. Platts left Sheffield for America in 1864,he left behind a brother and sister. I assume that Charles was working at Joseph Rodgers at the time he left but have no idea whether James Platts was related to him. Best Regards,Dave Pierce

Thanks very much for the information Dave. Much appreciated. . James Platts is in this photo of Rodgers employees with at least 50 years of service taken in 1911. He is 6th one in from the left on the back row. s-k

S-K,
Amazing, many of those workers started at 10-12 years of age and worked for 50 years. You don't see that type of company loyalty, or employee loyalty for that matter, in the 21st century.

If that type of longevity was typical of cutlers at that time and earlier in the companies of Sheffield, no wonder Sheffield cutlers and their knives were so highly regarded. A person can learn a lot about their craft in 50 years.

Dale