All About Pocket Knives

Tuxedos, they're not for everyone but the makers of old always put together a good knife.

This knife pattern must have been highly thought of years ago. Many companies made them.

If you have a tuxedo please show it here.

Thanks for looking.

Only one. A Wabash Cutlery thanks to the generosity of Bill (edgy46). It's a great little knife and if the opportunity ever presents itself, I'll get another.

Very nice Jerry especially the handles

BWT wrote:Very nice Jerry especially the handles

Thanks. I like it quite a lot.

FRJ wrote:Tuxedos, they're not for everyone but the makers of old always put together a good knife.

This knife pattern must have been highly thought of years ago. Many companies made them.

If you have a tuxedo please show it here.

Thanks for looking.

Nice collection Joe. Do you know anything about the OD Gray? I have a quill knife made by them.

That's a beauty, Jerry, thanks, and very clean.
Not one of mine has a shield.

Nice collection Joe. Do you know anything about the OD Gray? I have a quill knife made by them.[/quote]

Thank you, Bill.
Actually no, I know nothing of OD Gray. They are mentioned in Goin's Encyclopedia but there is no date mentioned at all.
I haven't looked in my other books.

Thanks Joe.

I dug up a few photos of tuxedos and a couple that may not be considered tuxedos.The reason I am going to post them is I am not sure exactly what they are.They have the general appearance of a tuxedo pattern but are somewhat different. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
#1:top to bottom Cook Bros.-Suffolk Knife Co.-Henry Wilton-Stainless Japan-Adams & Bro.-I*XL-two Miller Bros.
#2:Bingham's Hardware Co.
#3:Colonial Prov.RI
#4:Humason & Beckley with horn handles.
#5:I*XL
#6:J.M.Schmid & Son Boston Mass.
#7:Silver Steel(owl head on reverse)
#8&9:Two Ulsters both with ebony handles.
#10:W inside a diamond-United Cutlery Germany-Griffon Cutlery Germany-Aaron Burkinshaw.

Here are a couple that have some of the characteristics of a tuxedo.
#1:Three pearl handled German knives with fileworked bolsters and handles.
#2 Wismar Cutlery Co.Germany 4 blade
#3:Edge Co. Germany with wood handles.
#4:Henry Sears & Son 1865 3 back spring with unusual horn handles.
#5:Worcester Cutlery Co. 4 blade.

I really like tuxedo knives, and I have found it somewhat difficult to find them in good condition and without cracked handles. I'm thinking the thin body makes them rather fragile - which in most collectible markets means excellent condition examples become more and more rare over time.

I have the Camillus tuxedo.
It's a great little knife!

Ray, thanks for posting your knives. There are some very interesting examples in there.

TwoFlowersLuggage, thank you, it's true, these knives do show up with broken covers and other issues. Those that are in "sock drawer" condition are few and far between but they do exist. Few of mine are in great condition including lots of blade wear. It seems odd to me, but years back people used these kinds of knives rather heavily to account for blade wear and sharpening. And yet still the mother of pearl covers are intact. And consider the little Union knife with tortoise covers.

Thank you, Beavertail.

Beautiful knives, fellas!

I think one of my books states that the tuxedo pen knife is one of the oldest known patterns. Imperial even made one in their shell handled line.

WB

Thanks you, WB.

Is the knife shown an Imperial? Does it have solid bolsters?

Nice old knife.

knife7knut wrote:I dug up a few photos of tuxedos and a couple that may not be considered tuxedos.The reason I am going to post them is I am not sure exactly what they are.They have the general appearance of a tuxedo pattern but are somewhat different. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
#1:top to bottom Cook Bros.-Suffolk Knife Co.-Henry Wilton-Stainless Japan-Adams & Bro.-I*XL-two Miller Bros.
#2:Bingham's Hardware Co.
#3:Colonial Prov.RI
#4:Humason & Beckley with horn handles.
#5:I*XL
#6:J.M.Schmid & Son Boston Mass.
#7:Silver Steel(owl head on reverse)
#8&9:Two Ulsters both with ebony handles.
#10:W inside a diamond-United Cutlery Germany-Griffon Cutlery Germany-Aaron Burkinshaw.

That is the same problem I have. Is there an exact definition of a tuxedo knife? Is it a swell center pen of up to a certain length?

OLDE CUTLER, my impression is that a tuxedo doesn't stray too far from 3 inches with two blades working off each end of the spring.
Unfortunately that's the best I can offer at this time. I haven't looked in my books for a description.

Great thread Joe for an old classic pen knife that deserves some attention - In fact I have been meaning to add these to the "Homage to Pen Knife" thread under Knife Lore - when I do I will cross reference this link as well

Great showing of tuxedos above from all ... very cool ...

This is just my view of tuxedo pens in terms of definition - many call them small swell-center pens with rounded ends - but to differentiate them from other swell-center pen knives tuxedos are small slim swell-center pens (slim is the key word) and all had 2 blades to my knowledge. Swell-center pens though the same length had more girth or a larger diameter (and Ray showed a few above). Most I have seen are 2 & 7/8" or 3" and definitely no longer.

In terms of bolsters I would say most are elongated - some are round but bulbous (called swell-center balloons), some pointed and some have pinched bolsters... For example The Northfield tuxedo was known for its unique pointy tips of the bolsters and when Western States made them they called them "The Northfield" but indeed the Platts were referring to the ones they made at the Northfield shop (years before starting Western States). Note Joe's Union Knife Co Naugatuck and my Union tuxedo below have pinched bolsters. The others are balloon bolsters in my group. In terms of handles many used quite nice handles - MOP, ivory, tortoise shell and my Northfield below has jigged bone but have not seen very many with bone except Joe's Camillus and Jerry's Wabash but believe Case made some tuxedos with jigged bone too... one also sees them on occasion made from celluloid or shell handles as WB showed above... The Miller Bros tuxedo has a center band of nickel silver which I think was a nice touch and never saw one from them without it - you can easily pick them out in a lineup

There were a few nicknames for these tuxedos in addition to the Northfield - supposedly Holley of Lakeville CT and Shipley of Philadelphia called them "Jenny Lind" knives after the famous opera singer of those days (the "Swedish Nightingale")... Nonetheless they were considered Ladies' or Gentlemen's knives - they were indeed eloquent little knives ...

Here's my CT tuxedos - from top down:
Northfield Knife Co (jigged bone)
Southington Cut Co (ivory)
H&B (tortoise shell)
Union Knife Co Naugatuck (MOP)
Miller Bros (MOP - and some lost its lustre)
Empire Knife Co (MOP - and some of the most fiery MOP I own )

I recall reading somewhere that part of the reason the tuxedo looks the way it does is because they wanted to minimize the amount of MoP required. So, they used long bolsters and sometimes a center stripe of a different material. Does that sound correct?

Never heard that TFL - I just think they were made small as nice little EDCs for those folks wearing nice fancy clothes ... and though they may exist I never saw another other than Miller Bros with the center band - I would like to see others if any other companies did the same

Lee, thank you for that great show of very nice tuxedo knives you have. And thanks for taking the time to give us some history too.
I think it's really interesting. I just can't take the time to dig for it myself these days.
It would be fun to compare our Union Naugatucks at some time.

Thanks Joe ... and my pleasure to put some background on here but I think you knew that already ... I know your time to dig for this stuff is limited these days buddy - and I also know you appreciate it...

I think our Union Naugatucks are siblings for sure - just wearing different pairs of pants .. No doubt next time we get together we can compare those and a few others - based on the last time I think we'll need a 2 day session and during a break we can visit another old cutlery building to visit in the area

Here's a couple...........

I found it - it was from one of our own members here at AAPK:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=55761&p=627401&hilit=tuxedo#p627401

Nice knives, Dimitri.