All About Pocket Knives

I just received this Parker Brothers lockback knife from my friend. He thinks they are Sambar stag; it would be nice to have confirmation from experts and catalog material, if such exists.

What we know so far:
Tang stamps: "Parker Brothers Chattanooga TN" on front; "K126" on back, maybe this model # can help?
Box: "Eagle Brand Cutlery #95149
So can we be sure if this is a genuine first cut stag knife? thanks

Welcome to the forums! As to the knife posted:
"Sambar" stag as I understand it was antler material imported from India for use on knife handles and other uses. Whether Parker used Indian stag or some from other parts of the world is open to question. Parker Brothers stamp was first used circa 1978 and according to Jim's book there were 2,400 of that pattern produced in,"genuine stag" before being discontinued.
I really like stag scaled knives;especially older knives that the scales are thin and fit very closely to the knife. More modern ones usually have poorly matched scales that are very thick and sometimes uncomfortable to use.
Second cut stag usually resembles jigged bone and is usually burnt to color it.The scales on your knife are the outside (or bark)of the antler even though a lot of the grain has been ground away to fit them to the knife.

knife7knut wrote:Welcome to the forums! As to the knife posted:
"Sambar" stag as I understand it was antler material imported from India for use on knife handles and other uses. Whether Parker used Indian stag or some from other parts of the world is open to question. Parker Brothers stamp was first used circa 1978 and according to Jim's book there were 2,400 of that pattern produced in,"genuine stag" before being discontinued.
I really like stag scaled knives;especially older knives that the scales are thin and fit very closely to the knife. More modern ones usually have poorly matched scales that are very thick and sometimes uncomfortable to use.
Second cut stag usually resembles jigged bone and is usually burnt to color it.The scales on your knife are the outside (or bark)of the antler even though a lot of the grain has been ground away to fit them to the knife.

Thank you! I've been aware of this forum for a while now, first time posting. I started out with precious metal scales, and have gradually come to admire the practicality of "living" materials: stag, horn, wood.

So to make sure I understand you correctly: there should be 2400 Parker Bros knives like mine? Are we able to get any specific information on K126?

That is all the info that I could find relating to that knife. From "The Official Price Guide to Collector Knives" published in 1987 by Jim Parker. They list a collector value of $30.00 in the book but that really doesn't mean much today. The knives were as I recall made in Japan and were of decent quality. To get a better idea of the value today you might try checking e-Bay's sold items. Someone on here should be able to tell you how to do that;unfortunately I cannot.

By the looks of your knife, it appears to be Sambar Stag, but I know of no way to tell for sure except by comparing it to others that are known to be stag. It is called "fat stag" because of the way the scales were cut using the "bark " but not cutting it thin so you could see the rough bark all along the entire length of the handle. I have several newer type stag pocket knives and they are of the fat stag type. Most older stag handled pocket knives show the rough contours on the complete handle. Terry

Here are some photos of my stag knives. Top one (2nd photo) is a new Remington trapper, next newer Remington jack knife, next is a 1991 Queen with not too fat stag scales and last is an old CaseXX trapper with stags (nice and thin) but pocket worn. Terry

terryl308 wrote:Here are some photos of my stag knives. Top one (2nd photo) is a new Remington trapper, next newer Remington jack knife, next is a 1991 Queen with not too fat stag scales and last is an old CaseXX trapper with stags (nice and thin) but pocket worn. Terry

Terry, thank you for those. The "fatness"/thinness of the scales is not something I paid attention to earlier. Do you think they have anything to do with durability, or just a matter of aesthetic?

Xiphos wrote:
Terry, thank you for those. The "fatness"/thinness of the scales is not something I paid attention to earlier. Do you think they have anything to do with durability, or just a matter of aesthetic?

I think it is mostly due to the fact that it takes less time to fit a handle to a knife by cutting it thick and just grinding down the ends to fit. On early(19th century) knives the stag was sliced very thin and if necessary steamed to straighten it for fitting to the knife.There was no grinding of the ends to make it fit.Here is one example.

I don't think there are any issues with durability, like Knife7knut said, I believe it is easier and faster to cut it thick and grind it to fit. Almost all antler or horn has a natural curve and you have to grind it to make it flat. I've never tried to steam it straight although it might be possible. Terry

Thanks to both you guys.

In my experience the usage of "fat" stag is a relatively recent occurance, within the last 40-50 years. Stag handles prior to that were generally thinner and cut to fit rather than hafted to fit. I'll speculate that this change was driven by collector preference for fatter stag, and lower cost to manufacture, but I have no way of proving that.

Ken

"Sambar stag", at least originally, was stag taken from the antlers of the Sambar deer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_deer

I have seen "India stag" and other variations of stag that are not from the Sambar, and I have to assume that -- like with so many other terms in cutlery over the years -- it has been "adapted" to refer to more than its original intent in the intervening years. I've even seen Parker (the elder) marketing knives as "Sandbar stag" which ended up referring to a kind of carved bone stag IIRC. These days, unless I know the provenance, I often assume "Sambar stag" is referring to mystery horn from (hopefully) a deer of some kind.

As far as "fat stag" goes, it seems to be a description mostly used in marketing knives to refer to, plainly, thick stag slabs. I have one or two knives that I consider "FAT stag", but mostly I see the term thrown about by Parker (the younger) online.