All About Pocket Knives

I just picked up this old knife and the blades both appear to be quill blades with one side ground flat. My question is if the two blades is an oddity or not. I have seen only a few dozen quill knives but they were all single blades. Chance or a bit unique ?? The blades snap well and the ebony is great. They have just been used to death !! Thanks for any input. This is my only DSK knife are many still around ?

It appears to be a normal "senator" penknife that has had both blade sharpened way down.

DS&K is Dame, Stoddard, & Kendall, a cutlery store in Boston that began business in the early 1800's. They were in business until the early 2000's. At one point they had three stores, two in Boston and one in the suburbs.

Knives marked with their trademarks are fairly rare.

Thanks

bocaj wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 10:28 pm I just picked up this old knife and the blades both appear to be quill blades with one side ground flat. My question is if the two blades is an oddity or not. I have seen only a few dozen quill knives but they were all single blades. Chance or a bit unique ?? The blades snap well and the ebony is great. They have just been used to death !! Thanks for any input. This is my only DSK knife are many still around ?

Indeed DS&K are rare knives but do show up on occasion - the majority have been badly abused. Bocaj - Your knife is not a quill knife (though double-ended exist & mostly from Sheffield) but an over-sharpened pen knife where both pen blades took on the shape of a leather punch. That’s ashame but somebody had more than their moneys worth using that knife..

Here’s my one and only with an original DS&K box that was pure luck as I scored both within a few months and prior to this had not seen one knife nor box made by DS&K except for an old photo posted by Steve in 2011 of a DS&K jack with etch.

Just a little background in addition to Steve’s above if your interested - Dame Stoddard & Kendall - (1881-1901 by Goins)… Dame Stoddard & Kendall known for their fishing tackle and cutlery were pre-dated by Bradfords in the early 1800s followed by Bradford & Anthony in 1856. Bradford & Anthony became the firm Dame, Stoddard & Kendall in 1881 and subsequently became Dame, Stoddard & Co in 1900. - and so this knife dates somewhere between 1881-1900. The company later changed the name to Stoddards and even today a small branch of Stoddards still sells cutlery in MA. As I noted DS&K was most known for fishing equipment and cutlery though sold other outdoor equipment as well (skates was another advertised item). The company imported and manufactured a variety of household goods, including hardware and cutlery, and sporting goods, such as fishing tackle, bicycles, and skating equipment. DS&K was considered high end in terms of quality and at least in terms of their fly fishing rods many were made by notable bamboo rod makers of that time (the other half of my brain is all about fly fishing - while the other half focuses on knives … Supposedly DS&K had their own cutlery & their logo was “HUB Hand Hammered” (as seen on box) but they were also clearly known as agents for fine quality American and European items.

This knife is a multiblade pen knife at 2” so indeed a small knife (I have no relevant item for a size comparison in photo so keep in mind “small” ). I would coinsider this a gentleman or ladies knife (often I understand you would find these type of knives in women’s sewing boxes but not necessarily). Tortoise shell handles with gold foil underneath as seen in photo and a shape which is to my eye abit unusual but not sure what to call it - almost a serpentine shape but really can’t find others with a similar style pattern at the moment either… One friend of mine considers it a unique type of lobster pattern but not sure. The knife has 3 springs and one is split to allow the small pen blade to open to a point where it could be easily used - see 3 photos below which maybe makes it more clear. In a sense it reminds me of a lobster pattern but it is not. The knife has 8 implements (for a 2” knife) - 2 blades, a glove or button hook, scissors, corkscrew, manicure blade, tweezers and a pick (note the pick is missing but not surprised as those are often lost).. The knife appeared not be be used very much at all and definitely not sharpened much if at all - it still has original factory polish/finish despite a few spots of tarnish/staining… everything has super snap after light oiling (yes Quick Release for those interested) and even the inside of the handle still has lots of shine, aka original factory polish… Not mint but no doubt lightly used with little to no sharpening… Also there is some writing on bottom of master blade - not sure if this is a saleman’s sample but perhaps??

Just thought I’d share this as the post is about DS&K…


Here's the split spring which allows pen blade to open a usable distance:

This is a wonderful post. Thanks and your luck in finding both the beautiful knife and box is amazing.
I think my knife falls into the group I refer to as “quite unique 100$ knife with 80$ worth of blade damage”

Thanks bocaj but despite your knife being worn it has character ... we all have a few of those...