All About Pocket Knives

Howdy Boys,

----- I would like to ask my good knifer friends if any of ya'll collect Bob Cargill's line of knives which are called Cripple Creek knives, now I'M not talking about the newer ones that have been made by Black Jack knives but the older ones, say around 1986? ... I have in my personal collection a few, one is a 1 of 50 ever made - 1986 three blade Stockman that is 4" closed - brushed Carbon Steel blades - Golden tosted Stag handles that are very well matched in thickness, grain & color - raised Nickle Silver Oval three legged Buffalo shield with round Nickle Silver bolsters. My other one is a 1 of 100 ever made - 1986 five blade Sowbelly that is 3 3/4" closed - brushed Carbon Steel blades - Stawberry Roger's bone handles - raised Nickle Silver Oval three legged Buffalo shield with round Nickle Silver bolsters. I think in my own opinion that these are some of the best made knives in the hobby & would like to hear from my other knifer friends that own or have owned any of Bob Cargill's early pieces?


"Texas collector", Roger - 50/2050

Hey Roger,

Those sound nice.

I have a few KnifeWorld Cripple Creeks, and I have this one I got from Houston Price. No year, not a club knife, just a nice single blade trapper made by Bob Cargill.

Bill

Hey Bill,

----- Very nice piece my friend! ... What is the Tang Stamp information Bill, on all the eary pieces they have ---> Cripple Creek - Old Fort - TN. - U.S.A. (front side), back side of the Tang Stamp is a large circle with Cripple Creek & the date (1986 through 1991) inside, main blade etch would read ---> Cripple Creek - Old Fort - TN. - U.S.A.


"Texas collector", Roger - 50/2050

My knife is a bit of an enigma...

CRIPPLE (long tailed C...after all he was a Case repairman ).
CREEK
U.S.A.
On the mark side. The pile side of the tang is blank...no date, nada, zilch.

I believe he may have made this knife right after he delivered the first 500 KnifeWorld 5th Anniversary knives, and before he finished the other 1500...maybe late 1981 or early 1982? Another possibility is, it was made for an individual just before the move to Tennessee, trying to use up some blades so he didn't have to move the parts. Houston couldn't remember for sure, if he got it from Bob, or from someone else.

Bill

EDITED: For clarity of thought.

Just to help keep this fire burning a little bit.....

Here is one of my KnifeWorld 5th Anniversary knives from 1982. These show up on eBay pretty often and can usually be found at a reasonable price (under $100), and they are excellent knives.
Most of Cargill's other work seems to go for upwards of $150...and some, (especially non Club/Organization etched), much higher.

Good topic Roger.

Bill

hey there fellas,

Nice to meet a few other Cripple Creek Collectors. I have been collecting them for about 5 years. I'll see if i can get a picture of my Pride and joy. A 10th Ann. 5 blade pearl Conoe. Most i ever paid for a knife. I still have scars where my wife skinned me with it.

soulmanticore,
That is a real beauty!

Here is a KnifeWorld 10th Anniversary Cripple Creek. This Cigar/Moose is a BEEFY knife.
This one is #349 with a normal configuration, and a center liner. I also have #26, which has NO center liner. For whatever reason, Cargill did the first ones (not sure how many?) without a center liner. So, I managed to get one of each. The one with the center liner has better "walk and talk."

Keep 'em coming!

Bill

El lobo,

I believe that the first 100 were the ones without the center liner. Here is a pic. of the knife world Ambassador. This is a picture of McGreg's knife. His picture turn out better than the one I took of mine.

Nice one!

MckGreg has quite a collection of Cargill's work.

Next!

Bill

that he does El Lobo. And he know a lot about the knives too.

Has anyone been buying any of the Cripple Creek knives from Ted Loy? The ones he puts on Ebay always has a pretty nice prices attached. I actually bought his set of CD's he sold. And he has some beautiful knives. One of a kinds and Pearls. Sweeeeeet. Just wondering if anyone has talked to him? Is his Prices a little more,lets say, Out of the clouds?than the ones he puts up for auction.

Here is a picture of a C.C. hunting knife. Ta Na Si series. bought this one at the knife show in Mt. Vernon from Greg Harmon

I don't have much to share here. I only have 1 Cripple Creek knife to my name. Nothing special, just a club knife...

American Edge Collectors Association...

Not Much? Any cripple creek is something to see in my book. Where did you pick that one up Bryan? Just wondering if your heading to the auction tomarrow in Clay City. Looks like there are a few nice Case knives on it. Catch you later, Shane

Hi Shane,

I figured you might react like that . I traded my dad out of that knife. He didn't think it matched up with the rest of his collection.

... and since my collection is absolutely directionless It fit right in, so we swapped.



I did go to the auction today, but everything went too high for me to buy anything.

It was obvious that the deceased got a LOT of good use out of the many knives he owned, which I thought was very cool. Most of them were very well worn.

I didn't know the guy, but you could tell that he lead a lifestyle where good knives were essential. The estate was right on the river. He had like 20 hoop nets, countless cane pols. A canoe, and a couple jon boats. Guns out the wazoo, and the ground looked like a good place to house many deer, turkeys etc...

Almost made me want to live there.

Bryan

hey Bryan,
glad to see you made it. I ended up not going. Had some family come in from out of town unexpectedly. Feels good to hear i didn't miss out on anything though. Better luck next time. here is a picture of another bannana knife. Though it is not quite as pretty as yours though

Those are some mighty fine looking knives s-k

I just so happen to have a couple of Cripple Creek rarities. One is a pearl fiveblade sowbelly of which only 33 were made and another is a three blade gunboat that if I recall is from the early 80's. Any interest I can be reached at [email protected] Will trade for vintage American automatics.

hey knfcollector hope im not to late, but im interested in both knives. I tried to email you earlier today but it is not working for some reason. Any way if you have a way to send some pics i would love to see them. And let me know what your asking for each of them. Thanks Shane Stone
e-mail: [email protected]

Roger,
I have a Cripple Creek knife that I bought from Bob Cargill back in 1985. He was in San Francisco at the Cow Palace at a gun show. It's a golden toasted eather stag or cow bone(I'm not sure which) handle with the good carbon steel blades. One blade is pointed and the other is rounded. The words "Cripple Creek USA" is stamped on the pointed blade. Not on the main part of the blade itself but at the bottom on the square piece near the handle and the round blade is stamped in the same place with "Cripple Creek" in a circle and "85" in the middle of the circle.
It also has the 3 legged buffalo medallion on the handle. Would you by any chance have any idea what this knife might be worth?

Alan

Hi.

I picked up this Cripple Creek barlow a while back and have a question about it. It has a buffalo shield and the date of 1994 on it. The tang stamp has Effingham Illinois on it. I believe this means that it was made by BlackJack Cutlery. My question is about an engraving in the blade. It reads "LSANKCAP1OF25". Does this mean it was a prototype for the National Knife Collectors Association? Is it one of 25 made. I have seen just a handful of these and this is the only one with this engraving that I have seen. Any help is appreciated as always.

There's a cripple creek for sale on Ebay right now that is the same as yours. Type in Cripple creek knife in the search box and you'll be taken to it.

That listing is one of the reasons I posted my question. I saw that one and thought maybe something about mine was different. The one on eBay right now doesn't have the the buffalo shield and seems to have only one blade without the engraving I mentioned. Still, that one is already more than I paid for mine some I might not have been rooked!

Thanks a bunch!

OK,

The one on eBay...
I'm 99% sure that was made for Blackjack Knives by Queen...even while Bob Cargill worked at Blackjack.

Here is an interesting thread that I remembered...but first...

I've hesitated to post this as it was from another forum and represents only ONE side of the story...and I have no dog in this fight.
But it is quite historical about the brand near the end...

http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showt ... ek/#339589

So, here is a link to Bob Cargill's website...

http://www.fortunecity.com/silverstone/ ... /index.htm
(Sorry about the popup )

Anyway if you wander around in there you will probably get some feel for another side of the story.

This is just as information and history.

Bill

Hey, I appreciate it. I always enjoy hearing the lore and history of knifemakers. It was interesting reading it.

Still, all I was wondering was what the LSANKCAP1OF25 means. I can imagine that that the NKCA part is for the National Knife Collectors Associate. Of course, no matter what, I am very pleased with the knife.

Thanks for the info and the link.

Dennis

Bill,
Thanks for Cargills web sight. I've been looking for information about him and couldn't find anything. I checked out the other sight ..something about barlows (whatever they are) but I'm not understanding the conversation. I seemed to gather something about someone not being happy with Bob's work?????? What's the conversation about? If you have any more information about Cripple Creek and what happend to Bob Cargill I'd sure appreicate knowing it. I hear he's no long making knifes. Do you know why he stopped?? Thanks again for get "great" web-sight.

Alan