All About Pocket Knives

Would like to get information on these old F. Dick sharpening steels I recently bought. The arrows go in a different direction, I have heard the the arrow pointed toward the handle is the oldest one and the arrow pointed toward the tip a little more recent made. Also the one has "made in Germany US Zone stamped on it, which I assume had to be made after WWII?. They are both 14" steels plus the handle.

Nice steels, Terry. Apparently the F. Dick stamp is pretty desirable.
I wasn't aware of the arrow designation. Interesting, for sure.

I have two, in 14 inch and 10 inch. The 14 inch steel is pretty neat with a flattened oval pattern for the blade.

terryl308 wrote:Would like to get information on these old F. Dick sharpening steels I recently bought. The arrows go in a different direction, I have heard the the arrow pointed toward the handle is the oldest one and the arrow pointed toward the tip a little more recent made. Also the one has "made in Germany US Zone stamped on it, which I assume had to be made after WWII?. They are both 14" steels plus the handle.

means made between 1945 -1952. I do not know about the arrows. F.Dick still in business. I have a knife slick with a orange plastic handle. meaning no lines or roughness. Just re-aligns the wire edge.

found this info. There's a few guys at work with pre war (WW2) f dick steels,(the arrow points to the handle instead of to the tip of the steel) getting pretty rare these days but shows the quality. ​

mrwatch wrote:found this info. There's a few guys at work with pre war (WW2) f dick steels,(the arrow points to the handle instead of to the tip of the steel) getting pretty rare these days but shows the quality. ​

some of mine. mainly Garage sale finds.
KNIFE STEELS
Gotham Cutlery
F. Dick smooth surface orange handle both for 1.50
Wilson, cast steel With a maker's stamp bearing their barleycorn and diamond
hallmarks, it reads, "I. WILSON, SYCAMORE ST., SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND.".
Unmarked in kitchen drawer black handle with the Remington set.
Black Bakelite handle .50
J. A. HENCKELS 1.00
Jewelstik Diamond 1.00
CASE XX SHEFFIELD ENGLAND
WUSTHOF DREIZACK HARTVE CHROME 1.00

Here's an older deluxe F Dick steel with fancy nickel trim and a fine carved horn handle. Still works well I use it often on my kitchen knives which are mostly Henkels Germany knives.

Here are two I have. 20" OAL (14" steel) and 13" OAL without the rings. The larger is an oval profile steel.

I always liked the "flat" steels but have never found a nice antique Dick one in usable condition. I have several steels I use but the horn handled Dick gets the most use, maybe because it has a finer cut than my LF&C or Henkels steels.

Thanks for all the responses, interesting subject. I used a F. Dick hog skinner back in the 50's and 60's great old blade. I'm still confused about my old one that I understand it a pre war (arrow toward the handle) but has "made in 'germany U.S. Zone under the arrow and F.dick stamping. Don't believe there was a "US Zone" prior to WWII. Maybe it's a "transition" model using the old arrow stamp.? I'll send a little better photo.

Gunsil, I really like your carved horn steel, does the arrow point toward the handle, can't quite read it. I assume that is a pre war model. really nice. Terry

That is a beautiful steel you have, Gene.
How long is the steel?

Thanks, Joe and Terry!! The arrow points to the handle and the steel is 14" long plus the handle. It is marked Made in Germany so I think it is likely circa WW1 since the term Germany was not used a lot before then. Could be earlier but Prussia was often used for that part of the world before 1900. Terry, I had never heard about the arrow orientation for dating these but yours has to have been made post war by the "US Zone" marks.

I forgot about this one. 11" blade.
How about a sideways arrow time frame?

FRJ, Very nice looking flat steel, I've never had one but have seen photos of them, I assume it is a newer production, but that's just a guess. I am going to try and get some info from F.Dick on the history of their steels, if they respond I will post what I find out. Terry

I didn’t even know about flat steels! It’s no wonder I haven’t been known as a sharpening savant.

Thanks guys and especially Terry for this thread.Brings back fond memories. If anyone has any of those GEC 15’s , you may remember the stories of my younger days at the Butcher Shop. I don’t remember how, but the tip is broken on this one from the shop.

Wlf, a little off topic, but we used to use the steels for tightening up the nut on the outter ring of our meat grinder.. maybe your steel got broken doing that? since steels are very hard they might also be brittle, just a guess however, Terry

Were they stamping steel back in the 40s or are even the cheaper looking knives forged? I found a filet knife that seems like an interesting restoration project.