All About Pocket Knives

I've always liked the look of "Bowtie" guards (curved S hand guards) on knives, and who doesn't like the look of a classic Italian switchblade stiletto with S type hand guards. S style guards date back to the 1400s in Italy on swords and daggers and were also quite popular throughout Europe for centuries. Commonly seen on French and German knives, the United Stated also produced their fair share from many companies including Case, Remington, and Schrade. It seems that S guards are usually found in conjunction with "fishtail" type rear bolsters, but are also found with a variety of rear bolster shapes.

Enclosed is an example from Boker marked "H. Boker & Co. Improved Cutlery". Boker produced models with the S guards from around 1908 to around 1930. Boker also made basically the same model without the guards during and after the hand guard model timeline.
Also enclosed is a pair of post WWII American spring fired models which include a Schrade Walden (bottom) and a "candy stripe" Imperial. Both these models were also offered without the guards.

Please add some more examples...

VERY nice Mason; Especially the H. Boker!

Very nice.

I assume folding "S" guards need not apply, as "Bowtie" generally refers to that specific pattern.

Charlie Noyes

I`m like Charlie,I don`t think of that as a bowtie.But maybe I learned something today.

thegreedygulo wrote:VERY nice Mason; Especially the H. Boker!

Thanks Greedy. The "USA" marked fishtail models without the guards seem to show up now and then, but we don't see the German made versions with the guards very often.

RobesonsRme.com wrote:Very nice.

I assume folding "S" guards need not apply, as "Bowtie" generally refers to that specific pattern.

Charlie Noyes

I don't know how official it actually is, but I have always thought of a "Bowtie" guard as being a S or possibly straight guard within the top bolster. I guess that might resemble a closer representation to a real bowtie on a man's neck???
A thread on various fixed and folding guards would be pretty interesting.
Enclosed is a picture from the "Official Price Guide to Collector Knives" by Price and Zalesky showing a Case "Bowtie" model.

All the original catalogs I have seen describe them as a "fixed guard" never seen bowtie.

Miller Bro's wrote:All the original catalogs I have seen describe them as a "fixed guard" never seen bowtie.

That's true, but most original catalogs also don't incorporate many commonly used specific model names such as, "Hobo", "Coke Bottle", "Sunfish", "Saddle Horn", and so on. Original catalogs are generally pretty spartan on their descriptive terms and tend to use fairly generic categories, whereas guide books such as "Goins" and "Levines" use a much wider spectrum of names and terms which have become endeared by collectors.

I'm gonna go with "Cross-Bar" knives

Yes, Imperial used that name, but I'll stick with Bowtie.

Waking up this six year old thread

Picked up this display card in the original shipping box!

Miller Bro's wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 6:24 pm Waking up this six year old thread

Picked up this display card in the original shipping box!

I love these old display cards.
They are extremely hard to find at an affordable price range.
Great pick up!!

Very nice find MB!

COOL!

Great card Miller Bros.!!! They are hard to find especially in that new condition.

Here is another card with Edgemaster knives.

Thanks David, Wayne and Tom!

Mason wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 9:37 pm Great card Miller Bros.!!! They are hard to find especially in that new condition.

Here is another card with Edgemaster knives.

Thanks Mason

That Edgemaster card is impressive

There must be someone else on this forum that has some of these knives to post in this thread!!

Dimitri’s card knives would probably have been priced, “$1.29; Your Choice”.

Mason wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 9:37 pm Great card Miller Bros.!!! They are hard to find especially in that new condition.

Here is another card with Edgemaster knives.

Gorgeous!!

MB

Thanks Roger

Thanks, M.B. and edge213.
No Bowtie thread is complete without at least one classic Italian S guard picklock switchblade.

Mason wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 1:45 am No Bowtie thread is complete without at least one classic Italian S guard picklock switchblade.

Nice one

Here are a few.......

Miller Bro's wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 5:04 am

Mason wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 1:45 am No Bowtie thread is complete without at least one classic Italian S guard picklock switchblade.

Nice one

Here are a few.......

Thanks, and great examples of some cool old Italian models.