All About Pocket Knives

Finally getting around to posting some wonderful knives I got a recently from knife-nut. These are marked North American Wichita Kansas and they are all superb pieces. All blades have half-stops, lock up tight on opening, and snap like a gator! Haven't been able to find out much about the company - Goins says c 1921-1927. No source to verify but I'm guessing the company contracted with others for these knives to be made with their stamping. Interesting that the stampings are slightly different on each knife.

First up is a large (5-1/4") single blade Jack with worm-grove jigged bone handles. Has a crack in the bone at pile side center pin. It's all there though, and tight. Next a two-blade cigar Jack with jigged bone handles. Has seen a lot of pocket time. Tight crack on mark side handle. Next a three-blade pearl whittler. Has two backsprings, no wedge. Mark side pearl handle has a crack at the shield but it's tight. This one is stamped Germany on the pile side master blade tang. Ken

Ken those are super knives. Great looking bone. I am thinking that a recent search on eBay just turned one of those up. I will have to go back and check my watch list.

Those are good looking knives, Ken. It's good to see the interesting stamps and placement of stamps. Thank you.

Thanks for the comments. It's a rare stamping I had not seen previously. They appealed to me as good looking cutlery but also because I have relatives in Wichita and always enjoyed visiting there.

Hey, it's as good an excuse as any!

Ken

Did you notice the tang stamp on the cigar Jack is upside down?

Beautiful knives Ken, I love that big jack WOW!!! it's something. I'd sure like to know who made them.

bighomer wrote:Beautiful knives Ken, I love that big jack WOW!!! it's something. I'd sure like to know who made them.

Thanks bighomer! I am hoping maybe Mark (knife-nut) knows more about them and will share it with us. Roger (peanut740) posted these comments about the big jack in another thread:

Ken,I believe your knife is older than Goins guess.He says c1921-27.Your knife appears to have steel and bolsters and the long matchstrike pull indicates Phoenix Knife Co is the manufacturer.Phoenix burnt down in 1916 and went out of business.Goins didn`t have much to go on and in most cases they did a heck of a job putting the info together.But in this case I believe he was off by a few years,Nice knife and a rare mark.

I appreciate his wisdom. I'd sure welcome anything else anyone has to offer about the knives.

Ken

This is the only North American I have. A half Congress at 3- 5/16 in length, has a crack through the pile side but that Rodgers Bone never gets old. Nice group of knives Ken. Mike

There re some North American Cutlery Co. Stamping from Beaver City, Nebraska. I don,t know if they were in Kansas first or Nebraska. I have a friend that lives in Beatrice, Nebraska that collects the Nebraska stamped ones.

In Brad Lockwood's book "The Case Cutlery Dynasty" he references the North American Cutlery Co. In Beaver City Nebraska being the Case family's first knife venture.Ca. 1890.

Beautiful congress there, Mike.

That's a beauty Mike! Thanks for showing it. Gotta love that old Rodgers bone.

And thanks for the additional info Mark and Roger. Sure would be nice to know the connection, if any, between the Nebraska and Kansas versions.

Ken

There were a few other companies that were in Wichita. Mcknight Cutlery Co. ,Wichita Cutlery Co. And Kanokla. Very little information on any of them. I tried researching Mcknight and they started around 1898. Last year i could find for them was 1902. Mcknight had a very interesting family history, but i could not find out much about the knife company.