All About Pocket Knives

Last Sunday on Father's Day my dad gave me a couple of great old knives. One of them was this Boker jumbo congress. I'm a big fan of big knives, and big ol congress knives in particular. This one is delrin, and like most of them is missing the shield. It doesn't have a pattern number that I can find, but it is a hair over 4 1/8" long.

Can any of you Boker experts suss out what the pattern number is? I'm thinking 5974(?).

Any idea of the date range for this knife? The best I can come up with is 1960's to the present according to the tang stamp charts, since it would have had the Tree Brand banner type shield that would knock it down to 1971(?), and since it has ringed bolsters that means 71- early 80's? I have a newer one about like it with ringed bolsters that I was told was from the late 80's. But reading the knife, I think this one is older. It has much thicker and heavier blades than the newer one.

It's a heavy duty old thing with big ol thick blades. I'm liking it real good for a working knife.

I purchased one of these knives, this time being the Boker USA version, not the German version, in 1970 while working construction, and I carried it as my only EDC until nearly 1990, at which time it was utterly totally worn out. Then in 2016 I bought a new one, a German version from an AAPK store. My notes say that it was post-1961 manufacture, but I don't know the source for that information. Here is the new one. The pattern number is seen in the etch. The main reason I like these knives aside from the generous size is that all four blades are different and well-chosen.

Thanks Cal. That’s a looker. I love those 4 1/8- 4 1/4” Knives. Just the right size for me. And those big ol congresses are just so dang useful. Good to see other appreciate them too.