All About Pocket Knives

My father's father was born in 1895, the last of eight brothers. I suspect this may have come from his father who immigrated to the US from Bialystok in 1875. But, I have no idea how old this is. The main blade is perfectly functional but the two small blades only deploy to a 90 degree angle. The other knife in the photos is my EDC, a Spyderco Hanan. Hoping someone can provide more info.

Until I posted the photos I didn't realize that the big blade has "Germany".

The two small blades have "Solingen".

That true whittler's small blades almost certainly have 'half stops,' where they first stop @ 90° when opened. Are you sure that with a little stronger but not abusive force you cannot move them past that position to fully open? It is a very nice knife!

Henckels stopped making their own folding knives in 1960. All folding knives marked "Henckels" made after 1960 have been made by other knife manufacturers. Your knife was made by Henckels so it is older than 1960. How much older is not possible to say as Henckels did not make any changes to their patterns over time; i.e. made in 1920 or 1959 would look identical.
kj

I left out one important detail. the 2 1/2" main blade has a scandi grind.

Actually it has a saber grind.
kj

You are incorrect, sir.

The scandi grind, popular in bushcraft knives, is a single bevel. The top of this blade, just like most bushcraft knives, has parallel sides above the single bevel.

The saber grind has a long bevel above a shorter bevel.

The clip point, proportions and swedges are why I call this a Bowie blade.

Typical saber ground clip blade used on many many whittlers made by a multitude of knife makers back in the day.

Nice knife!

As kj and Colonel said, it is a saber grind.
Also, I would not use the term "bowie blade" when referring to this blade.

edge213 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 3:56 pm As kj and Colonel said, it is a saber grind.
Also, I would not use the term "bowie blade" when referring to this blade.

Re: "Bowie blade"
i have collected knives for over 50 years and i do not know what a "Bowie blade" is. Even among those who collect Bowie knives there is no agreement on what blade profile constitutes a "Bowie".
The word "Bowie" has been used/mis-used by knife companies and knife dealers to market a wide variety of knives which has created much confusion.
kj

I'd be more inclined to call it a sabre grind, as well.
But I've been wrong before.

I have noticed that several definitions and word usages have changed over the decades. Shackle has become 'bail,' and for the English ignorant, 'bale.' Covers have become 'scales.' The old timers used 'scale' to refer to slab handles on fixed blade knives only; otherwise, it meant the outside liners of a folding knife. And so on. The youngster/tactical crowd have their own way of looking at things. The word bowie is the most misunderstood word in the cutlery culture, possibly because it actually has no agreed-upon meaning at all. In fact, there is some weak evidence that the knife used by Col. Bowie was no more than a hand-forged bullnose butcher knife. The bowie controversy is meat for great entertainment and humor. Every cutler and every collector and user of traditional knives would call the master blade on the op knife 'sabre-ground.'

The difference between 'saber' and 'scandi' grinds is that scandi has no secondary grind (edge bevel), both sides meet at 'zero' making a sharp edge. A saber (sabre) grind has sides that nearly meet, just like a full flat grind or hollow grind, and then an edge grind to make for a sharp cutting edge.
The best example of a scandi grind is the Finnish puukko.
kj

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:09 pm The best example of a scandi grind is the Finnish puukko. -kj

Which is SO sweet!

Ha, well I realized "Bowie" would be controversial which I why I gave my reasons. Feel free to disagree but as a marketing matter the resemblance sells.

On "scandi" and "saber" the usage I gave is standard among those knife enthusiasts that I know and I checked before posting....

BUT now that I look further I find quite a variety of opinion so I retract my "incorrect" statement.

AAPK is not a 'competitive' type of forum in which people try to be the most knowledgeable, etc. AAPK is a forum in which we are supportive of each other and thus learn from each other.
I have made many posts which were incorrect and i learned something from subsequent correct posts. We contribute by posting whether or not what we post is 100% accurate. The only way to not contribute is to not post.
kj

I found a guide which shows the tang stamp was in use from 1900 to 1968. So I'm guessing grandpa bought this. From his history the 1920s would be the most likely period. He and his 5 brothers started Stone Brothers Jewelry and this was a prosperous time for him.

As i said in my first post, Henckels stopped making folding knives in 1960. If the stamping was used until 1968 then Henckles gave the die to the contract manufacturer (Boker) who was then making folding knives for Henckles.
Your knife is a Hencles made knife, so older than 1960, There is no way to know for certain how much earlier because Henckles made no changes to their patterns from the first knife they made to the last.
There is a certain look to the stag Henckles used back in the 'old days' If you see this stag on a Henckles folding knife then you know is goes back to at least 1920 ? or maybe 1915 ? or ?? I don't know when the older looking Stag was last used (or first used)
Yours does not have this 'older look' stag so i'd guess it to be no older than about 1920's ?
I hope someone who actually knows Henckles will post and either corroborate what i have said or suggest changes. These are my observations from owning a few Henckels knives. I have yet to find a book that discusses Henckels folding knives in detail. I have at least 2000 old Henckels catalog pages but they are not dated. They are obviously old but i don't know if late 1800's or early 1900's or even mid 1800's.
I need a Henckels mentor.
kj

Where was Stone Brothers Jewelry located ? The store front looks similar to old stores built in small towns in Western Canada around 1900.
Maybe this was a design that was used in all towns, small or big, because it gave a lot of window display area ?
kj

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 12:41 am Where was Stone Brothers Jewelry located ? The store front looks similar to old stores built in small towns in Western Canada around 1900.
Maybe this was a design that was used in all towns, small or big, because it gave a lot of window display area ?
kj

They had stores in St. Louis MO, Alton and Chicago IL, Milwaukee WI that I know of. My grandfather was in charge of the three St. Louis stores.

Nice old knife even without the family history. The family history makes it priceless.

I’d really like to see pictures of the back springs if it’s not too much trouble.

Have you made progress with opening the small blades?