All About Pocket Knives

Have to say that I have not seen as many traditional type pocket knives since I was a kid
where did the English makers go?
there seems to be a good market in the USA

Yeah, does seem to be a resurgence in the classic patterns. After too long of one after the other, all black, pocket clip jobs.

The English makers? I dunno. The brand 'Sheffield' is now used in American big box stores and the products are all made in China.

I've been meaning to post in the trade forum, offering classic American Brands in trade to our members from the UK, and anywhere else, in return for a knife from their country.

Anyone be interested in that???

Phil

Hi Alie. The demise of most of the old traditional makers is sad. However, there are still lots of taditional pocket knives made in Sheffield these days. You are probably aware of Trevor Ablett. I have a few of his knives and they are quite nice. A Wright and Sons are still making traditional pocket knives too. I think John Clarke & Sons are making the Eyewitness brand and many of the others e.g., Wostenholm, Rodgers, Ibberson are made by the Egginton Group. These are not what they once were however.

In response to your other post, Ebay is a good source for old beaters if you want to replace the scales, a broken blade etc. s-k

YUP PERS E-Bay "The BIGGEST GARAGE SALE in the world."...

Hi Alie and welcome. You might check on eBay with a guy whose ID is doodlefroodle. He comes up with all kind of older knives and many are English made. He does ship worldwide. I have bought from him and was very pleased. Good service.
Jerry

Alie, I like Sheffield made knives but old ones. Here are a few pictures of some of them. I might be willing to let a few go for the right price. All made by Rodgers.

Mike

alie wrote:Have to say that I have not seen as many traditional type pocket knives since I was a kid
where did the English makers go?
there seems to be a good market in the USA

I remember reading somewhere about WW2, where a lot of the cutlers from Sheffield that had went to war were killed in one battle. It almost wipped out all of the old cutlery companies of their skilled labor. I don't think they ever gained there dominance back in the cutlery industry.

I wanna say that was Dunkirk, but s-k will know, for sure. What I remember about it was, that they were one VERY tough group of soldiers !

Britain lost a lot of talent, in that battle.

This would be a great essay topic for an Advanced Sheffield Knife History class. There were a large number of workers killed in the war. More than 1/2 of the Wostenholm force went off to fight. However the decline began much earlier. Sheffield never fully recovered from the heavy tarifs imposed on knives imported to the US in the late 1800s. Even in the decades before WWII, the industry was very traditional and slow to change. By the time of WWII the degree of mechanisation in Sheffield lagged far behind that in America for example. The industry had suffered from years of under investement and poor marketing. The industry made a comback to some degree in the 1950s e.g. Richards made a huge fortune by selling millions of those inexpensive shell-handled knives. However, in most cases, the outdated modes of production, poor marketing and relatively higher costs versus the competition eventually took it's toll. Some similarities exist in comparison to the recent US industry and the demise of big companies like Schrade and Camillus. Most of this refers to the traditional pocket knife aspect of the industry. In the 1950s and still today, pocket knives represent a relatively small proportion of the output (1950s only 6%) compared to the production of kitchen knives, table knives, razors, scissors, industrial blades etc. I hope this partially answers the original question. s-k