All About Pocket Knives

I was taking photos and cataloging some Bulldog knives today, and discovered one more difference between true 1st generation, and “second release” 1st generation knives.

After comparing some Tobacco Sowbellys (pictured below) Stockman, and Cattleman; I found the same thing with all of them.

The newer knives have much thicker bolsters and are not finished out as well as the old ones. You can see grind marks on the news ones, whereas the older ones are polished out nicely.

I don’t know if this has been written up before, but it’s worth mentioning again.

Take care………………………..

The center liner's much thicker, also... and "squared off".

Less time = more knives = more profit. (Sigh)

JR

Thanks gmusic I have been collecting bulldogs for several years, but only
try to get 1st gen. but a few newer knives have caught my eye,bought a
few!Thanks for the info. Ain't no wonder it's called "AARP"

I suspected that the older Bulldogs had thicker brass, but have never measured it. Thanks Gary!

I did measure all liners from a new Saddlehorn from Bulldog and from a Steel Warrior, they were about the same if not exact, I'd have to remeasure to make sure on that, though.

Don't fight the Chinese on their own ground - you LOSE!

gmusic wrote:I was taking photos and cataloging some Bulldog knives today, and discovered one more difference between true 1st generation, and “second release” 1st generation knives.

After comparing some Tobacco Sowbellys (pictured below) Stockman, and Cattleman; I found the same thing with all of them.

The newer knives have much thicker bolsters and are not finished out as well as the old ones. You can see grind marks on the news ones, whereas the older ones are polished out nicely.

I don’t know if this has been written up before, but it’s worth mentioning again.

Take care………………………..

Are my eyes playing tricks on me? The bolsters on the newer knife are not the same thickness along the edge...

I've noticed, fit/finish not the same, which leads to my comment about trying to fight the Chinese on their terms, cutting corners is a bad move. But then check a Steel Warrior, dang Chinese knife has better fit/finish. AND I hate to say that, but it is an honest opinion after tearing a few apart and putting them back together.

Tod, there may be a couple of mm difference, you can definitely see it!

Your welcome Hukk. It is so clear now that I know what to look for, it's a big red flag. I'll be asking sellers to take pictures of the knife on it's back!

The craftsman of old were just that, craftsman! They took pride in their work and were no doubt thinking of the repeat customer (job security.) Unlike some of the factory makers today they look at numbers produced, and quality is subject. One would think it would be the other way around; quality as you build in numbers.

I bought a Marble's large Trapper recently. I really liked the rough saw cut bone in the picture and it was cheap, 32 bucks (dead give away) so I ordered it. When it arrived upon initial inspection I though WOW.......pretty nice! Tight, well fitted, razor sharp, really nice bone handles, great dye job..................whats this!!!!! China.............WTF.
After my indignation resided I looked it over again. I thought hummmmmm, I could send this to a couple of USA makers (I'll not mention names) for them to use as a model.


Gary

[quote="Hukk"]I suspected that the older Bulldogs had thicker brass, but have never measured it. Thanks Gary!

it appears to me that the newer knife has thicker liners.

jonet143 wrote:

Hukk wrote:I suspected that the older Bulldogs had thicker brass, but have never measured it. Thanks Gary!

it appears to me that the newer knife has thicker liners.

I'll put that on my 4 page project list. I'm just about done with my vaccuum chamber, I should go take a picture of it. It's 1/2 inch welded steel and should take 29.3 inches of mercury using 30 inches of mercury as a perfect vacuum and about 28.5 inches of mercury being absolute. I should be able to hook up a large "new" refrigerator compressor I got from a junkyard for $20.00. I'm shooting for 27.5 inches of mercury in use. Need to get the right gauges also. It should be able to take nearly 2000 psi also, though my compressor only goes to 150 psi. I need to see how much pressure I get from the refrigerator compressor. By reversing, I can get both, but I think vaccuum will be high and pressure low.

Hukk wrote:

jonet143 wrote:

Hukk wrote:I suspected that the older Bulldogs had thicker brass, but have never measured it. Thanks Gary!

it appears to me that the newer knife has thicker liners.

I'll put that on my 4 page project list. I'm just about done with my vaccuum chamber, I should go take a picture of it. It's 1/2 inch welded steel and should take 29.3 inches of mercury using 30 inches of mercury as a perfect vacuum and about 28.5 inches of mercury being absolute. I should be able to hook up a large "new" refrigerator compressor I got from a junkyard for $20.00. I'm shooting for 27.5 inches of mercury in use. Need to get the right gauges also. It should be able to take nearly 2000 psi also, though my compressor only goes to 150 psi. I need to see how much pressure I get from the refrigerator compressor. By reversing, I can get both, but I think vaccuum will be high and pressure low.

huh?

Hey Johnnie,

The newer one does have the thicker brass! It's on the left in both pictures.

What the heck is Hukk talking about....LOL

Inches of mercury, vacuum, 2000 psi...................

gmusic wrote:Hey Johnnie,

The newer one does have the thicker brass! It's on the left in both pictures.

What the heck is Hukk talking about....LOL

Inches of mercury, vacuum, 2000 psi...................

Mercury...HMMM maybe that explains the distorted vision

hukk, how are the meds?

jonet143 wrote: hukk, how are the meds?

Actually, kinda scary, been off the meds for a while. I was just throwing 1 of my projects out, in this case a small steel chamber that can handle very high vacuum and very high pressure using a compressor from a refrigerator to dye wood and possibly even stabilize my own wood! It will definitly dye wood through!

What a bunch of jokers, You guy's know I've always got some project going. One that I obviously never talked about in this case.

I worked in EXTREMELY high Vac in the manufacture of semiconductor IC's. So, what I'm building is a more Manual method of the PLC (programmable Logic Controller, Ladder Type in most cases, cause it's pretty simple) driven High Vac Chambers used to deposit precious metals and thinfilm technologies. Since I repaired and maintained these multi-million $$$ machines I could easily build a crude one at home. Next I have to find 2 gauges, one for vaccuum that goes to 30 inches of mercury (unit of measure for Vaccuum or I could use milli-Torr) and for pressure one that will go to 2500 psi. I need to take them apart to remove the pin at 0 on both otherwise, they will both get bent (needle), depending on what I'm doing.

just giggin ya hukk, you can tell us anyrhing......you quoted me and i thought your reply was to another post! i reread the whole post twice thinkin i missed something. lookin for mercury and vacuum reference. you do have a lot of projects.

jonet143 wrote:just giggin ya hukk, you can tell us anyrhing......you quoted me and i thought your reply was to another post! i reread the whole post twice thinkin i missed something. lookin for mercury and vacuum reference. you do have a lot of projects.

I'll have to take some pictures tomorow. If it works well, who knows, I may try to stabilize wood, but I think I would need to add a heating element and possibly a second refrigerator compressor. Yeah, I know the giggin, But I really should make a project list. If it works, well, make a larger tank out of stainless. There's a lot of stainless here in the wine country, or is that whine contry.