All About Pocket Knives

I have always liked Eye brand knives and bought my first one in the late 70s. But after I stumbled on this large stockman a couple years ago I thought I needed to keep an eye out for some others. They have some great metal in them. I know you guys got some nice ones. Let see them!

I just posted an extra large Schlieper 'Sod Buster', a little under 6" closed, here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60260
Here is a picture showing the Schlieper 4 5/8" large Sod Buster along with the 5 5/8" extra-large 'Buster'. The 5 5/8" size is rarely seen.
kj

I have a favorite or two. I have always liked the El Gallo line and this sodbuster is my first Eye Brand.

Nice 'rooster' ! Likely made for South American market. Do you know how old it might be ?
kj

The El Gallo was copyrighted or trademarked or whatever by Forest Cruze of Austin, Tx back in the late 1950s as I recall. It was designed to be a less expensive line. Used the same good materials but without a shield and without mirror polish. Later on, they added both those back to some in the El Gallo line.
Maybe Eyebjoe will check in and confirm my dates and such.

Ray

Interesting Ray. I thought "El Gallo" was much older than 1950's but i just looked in Anthony Carter's book on German Knifemakers and he says: "Brand names used on post 1945 exports to USA: El Gallo, Fan, Jim Bowie".
So my idea that El Gallo was for export to South America could be wrong.
kj

Here are some.

Eye knives take and hold a wicked edge, but the blades IMO don't stand too much abuse. They are tempered hard, and any serious twisting force could snap off a blade or cause a bad chip out of the edge. Of course, we AAPK members don't abuse our knives except in an emergency, but Bubba might.

Nice knives, I love those big ones.

Some nice Eye Brands posted here. I concur with Ray with respect to the dating of the El Gallo line of knives. The El Gallo knives were great EDC candidates and would carry a good edge with reasonable effort on a stone. Also, I do believe that Schlieper exported knives to South America. I remember seeing the term "Cortaplumas" on some of the knife boxes in my collection over the years, which translates from Spanish to "pen knife". I'll dig around in the safe and try to post some other Eyes.

Joe D.

I spent some time rattling around in the safe this weekend and picked out a few knives in response to luckydog64's request to see some additional Eye Brand knives. These are just some random pieces, but a few that seem not to come up very often. Nothing spectacular but just a few of my favorite Eyes. Hope the pictures come through OK.

Joe D.
Prototype knife with clip and sheepfoot blades only. Not accepted to be placed in the line of knives. Slimline Jim Bowie two blade. Four blade equal end knife with pinched bolsters and buffalo horn scales. One of my favorite old Fan Brand knives. Sodbuster with "Fan Co. logo along with the fan. Steel pivot pin. Mint Boy Scout knife with factory tags. Schlieper shell puller. Prototype utility knife

EyeBJoe,
Super knives. I love sodbusters and when you see one with that small pivot pin, you know it is an early one. Great stuff!

Ray

Here are a few more. Random but a little more scarce.
Grafting knife Hawkbill pruner (seen a little more often online) Small 2.5 inch pearl single blade Four knife Texas Ranger Commemorative set. 1923-1973. Texas Ranger shield. Cruse had to discontinue this set as approval from the Texas Rangers was not asked. Two blade parallel budding knife.

Thanks for showing EyeBJoe, don't think I have ever seen a scout knife or a equal end knife, very nice. Here is a stag congress.

Here is a mini trapper and a half congress I like.

My 2 blade large '3 eye' sod buster had the yellow plastic handles. I had one Eye Brand Stockman with the yellow handles that off gassed which surprised me because i had assumed these handles to be Delrin which is perfectly stable. I do not know if all Eye Brand yellow handles are celluloid (does anyone know ?) so rather than taking the chance of off gassing i sent this knife to Kaleb Reynolds, aka "Muskrat Man" for re-hafting.
The Stag he used is some of the finest i have seen on a modern knife. It is a barehead now, no bolsters and i think it suits this knife even better than the factory bolstered version.
Here it is along with my old standby EDC, the regular 2 blade sod buster which is my favorite outdoor work knife.
kj

Posted previously is a request to see BIG Schlieper knives. Here is the largest one i know of, 8 1/4". This is not a display knife. It is a properly tempered work knife along with a pick & tweezers. For comparison is the Schlieper large sod buster, 4 3/4" (or 4 5/8" depending on how you measure it).
kj

Who is it that used to say WOOT! Or was it HET!
Those are some great knives. Exceptional stag and workmanship from Kaleb!

Ray

Thanks Ray. Yes, Kaleb does very fine work. I think this Stag 'Buster looks Great !
kj

That is some beautiful stag Roland. Never seen a sodbuster that large either. If you pulled that out in a store they would call the swat team. lol Thanks for showing.

I love the Ice Tempered Survival knife, beautiful lines.
Onehikes

onehikes wrote:I love the Ice Tempered Survival knife, beautiful lines.
Onehikes

I agree. I always found that to be an attractive knife.

Ray

Was the Survival Knife made in Japan for Schlieper ?
I know there were a few knives (fixed blades ?) that although marked "Schlieper" were made in Japan.
kj

IMHO that knife is a Solingen Schlieper knife from tip to tip. When it came into the line of knives in the 1980's, Hanspeter Schlieper was still the owner of Carl Schlieper. I do not believe he would have contracted such a well built, well finished and hefty knife to any of the makers in Japan. Mr. Schlieper carried the pride of the quality in production of many of the old Solingen makers.


Joe D.

That's a pretty knife Onehikes does it come with a Bianchi sheath?