George Woodhead - Bowies and Pocket Knives
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:41 pm
Previously I posted a Woodhead Bowie a few years ago that I was very lucky to score… Recently at the NCCA show I was lucky enough to find a Woodhead Swell-Center Pen knife. It is not very often you find pocket knives by Woodhead so wanted to share the pair with you, and look forward to any others folks may have in their collection. In fact if anybody else has an original Bowie and folder from another company that made both Bowies and pocket knives please do share them. A few weeks after I scored the Woodhead, a new member posted a Barnes quill pen on AAPK (just last week) – I actually have a original Barnes dagger fully etched with a Civil War slogan – a score of a Barnes pocket knife would be perfect. At this point I only have the Woodhead and Barnes Civil War period Bowie & Dagger – I found a Woodhead pocket knife to pair with the Bowie and hoping to find a Barnes - that is something on my watch list now among a few others 
Brief History (summarized from Tweedale): George Woodhead (1808-1884) and his partner Joshua Hartley started in 1839 as spring knife manufacturers in Bower Spring. In 1841, the firm of Woodhead and Hartley started producing Bowie knives as well and were located on Lambert Street. In 1849 George Woodhead went out alone and moved to 36 Howard St in Sheffield. He employed 20 men at that time and his factory included an office, warehouse, packing room, 6 workshops, a grinding hull and steam power. The workforce expanded to 40 men by 1871 and became George Woodhead and Sons in 1876. In addition to Bowie knives which they were most known for making during that time period, they produced pen, pocket and table knives. Woodhead’s Bowie knives were considered classic in style – half-horse, half-alligator pommels, coffin-shaped but shortened handles in pearl and ivory, and his blade style was known for simple, clean lines. According to many and to paraphrase – “his knives could be spotted a room away”….
Swell-Center Pen – 3” closed; Tang stamp on master matches that of Bowie (but as you can see a letter or number on each end didn't make it due to size of tang and stamp used – Tang stamp on pen blade is full and was characteristic of Woodhead folding knives with “GW1” as Trademark and "Celebrated" at bottom of stamp. Still has strong springs, blades seen some sharpening but not abused, and the MOP has some nice iridescence - not fiery but color … Most likely made between 1849-1876 based on history.
Bowie - Spear-point blade that has a minimal amount of sharpening; Horn handles with characteristic Woodhead circular pearl inlays as seen on some on a few of his Bowies. Original scabbard. The throat of the scabbard is the most likely reason for the worn tang stamp on the blade as the stamp slides and sits underneath the brass or bronze throat, though the blade no doubt had been sharpened but not abused.
Here’s a few pics of the Woodhead Swell-Center Pen and a few of the Bowie & pen together including tang stamps (I couldn't decide which photo so included both
)… not exactly a matched set but a cool pair of Woodheads that I thought a few of you may enjoy seeing that are about 150-170 years old... Cheers...
Brief History (summarized from Tweedale): George Woodhead (1808-1884) and his partner Joshua Hartley started in 1839 as spring knife manufacturers in Bower Spring. In 1841, the firm of Woodhead and Hartley started producing Bowie knives as well and were located on Lambert Street. In 1849 George Woodhead went out alone and moved to 36 Howard St in Sheffield. He employed 20 men at that time and his factory included an office, warehouse, packing room, 6 workshops, a grinding hull and steam power. The workforce expanded to 40 men by 1871 and became George Woodhead and Sons in 1876. In addition to Bowie knives which they were most known for making during that time period, they produced pen, pocket and table knives. Woodhead’s Bowie knives were considered classic in style – half-horse, half-alligator pommels, coffin-shaped but shortened handles in pearl and ivory, and his blade style was known for simple, clean lines. According to many and to paraphrase – “his knives could be spotted a room away”….
Swell-Center Pen – 3” closed; Tang stamp on master matches that of Bowie (but as you can see a letter or number on each end didn't make it due to size of tang and stamp used – Tang stamp on pen blade is full and was characteristic of Woodhead folding knives with “GW1” as Trademark and "Celebrated" at bottom of stamp. Still has strong springs, blades seen some sharpening but not abused, and the MOP has some nice iridescence - not fiery but color
… Most likely made between 1849-1876 based on history.Bowie - Spear-point blade that has a minimal amount of sharpening; Horn handles with characteristic Woodhead circular pearl inlays as seen on some on a few of his Bowies. Original scabbard. The throat of the scabbard is the most likely reason for the worn tang stamp on the blade as the stamp slides and sits underneath the brass or bronze throat, though the blade no doubt had been sharpened but not abused.
Here’s a few pics of the Woodhead Swell-Center Pen and a few of the Bowie & pen together including tang stamps (I couldn't decide which photo so included both
)… not exactly a matched set but a cool pair of Woodheads that I thought a few of you may enjoy seeing that are about 150-170 years old... Cheers...
I've seen a number of Woodheads now and had heard this design was classic but also have seen in hand a few others with the fancy pommels - pretty amazing pieces of cutlery