All About Pocket Knives

Hi, New to the forum and wondered if anyone can tell me the maker of this knife?
I know the age just pre-dates 1880 as it has been in the family since it was bought by a family members future wife and their pre wedding initials are inscribed on the knife and a fancy font. The over laid initials are ADC and SL at each end on the back of the nail file as this is the widest flat area.

It has another pair of initials which are K.H. with CAST STEEL in a half moon over the top of the K.H. this sits in the middle of the fancy initials.

As you can see it is a well crafted knife which although is used and has some damaged blades, it has a lot of blades as well as saw, scissors, clock winder, cork screw, needle, hook, nail file, tooth pick and tweezers / snuff spoon or ear spoon etc.

Although this is an old knife the blades are still razor sharp and I have never seen one with so many blades and most are differently shaped blades.
It does have a the end of one side of the tortoise shell damaged as it looks as if it had been dropped many years ago but adds to the history and charm.

As this was made before the so called Swiss Army knife it fascinates me and the history so wanted to find out more about who may have made it and what country it was made in.

Cheers,
Paul.

Very cool and to AAPK! That hook is a button hook incidentally, back before zippers were invented.

Welcome to the forum. Someone will be able to help you, lots of good and experienced people here. Enjoy your time here.

Beautiful old knife, and a priceless fairy heirloom! Thanks for showing it here. Many of these multi-bladed all-purpose “grooming” knives were made in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia or thereabouts during the latter half of the 19th century. Some may have been made in Sheffield also.

Sorry I can’t help more. I have a similar multi-blade knife having many of the same blades including button hook, earwax spoon, toothpick, etc and the same “pellets” construction for opening many of the blades. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to identify a definite country of origin for it either.

Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

Hi all,
Many thanks for the welcome and comments on this knife.
It does not seem to have the normal makers mark on the blade like I have seen on other knifes.
I was lucky to find this forum while searching for the maker online.

The blades being cast steel are very dull but I expect this for such an old knife.
I hope to preserve it in the condition it is now so it does not suffer any more degradation or damage and enjoy it as it has such good family history attached. The knife belonged to my Great Great Grandad on my Mothers side and a pre-wedding gift most likely from his wife to be. They married in 1880 but she passed in 1895. The Initials of my grandfather are ADC over laid and his fiancee was SL over laid.

Very neat old multi-blade knife. It looks to be '8 thick', i.e. 8 'layers' of blades/implements, which makes it one of the more complex knives of this type.
Likely it was one of the most expensive knives in the cutlery store at that time.
Most likely made in Germany or Nixdorf Austria. I have looked through my book on German Knife & Sword makers 1850-1945 and do not see "K.H." as an identifying mark.
It could have been made in Sheffield England but somehow has more of a 'German' look to it.
Because the tang area on these blades is so small it is fairly common to find them unmarked, so it can be impossible to know the manufacturer.
This style of knife was made by many manufacturers in the 1800's making ID even more difficult.
kj

Really great old knife!!

Hi and thanks for all your replies.
You could be correct to say it is German, it does look similar to a Dittert knife I saw a picture of even down to the cross marking on the edges of brass dividers between the blades.
Similar to this one in the below link but mine has more blades -
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... 2074409322

it is very similar even down to the tweezers and build and blade shapes etc.
Listing all the blades on my knife -
One side - Button hook, saw, cork screw, 10 blades all different shapes and sizes, scissors.
On the other side - Clock winder, needle, nail file and cuticle pusher, auger.
In the tortoise shell sides - tooth pick and tweezers and ear spoon thing.

Regards,
Paul.