All About Pocket Knives

been trying to add one of these to my collection every since I saw them in the 1921 catalog in the knife makes who went west .

Good score!

That is a great one!! I have that razor and 4 other different ones all made by Western! I believe they are pretty rare, only made between 1920-1930 I think.

I lucked into these recently. They were never on my radar and info is hard to find. It seems your catalog has description of some of the other ones I have. Do you mind posting a photo Of those pages?

I think Zzyzzgoten would be the most informed about these!

The 22 straight razors in the 1921 catalog pages in TKMWWW are the same 22 razors depicted in the 1925 catalog (which was NOT included in TKMWWW).

The 1919 catalog pages do not show any razors, and no razors are ever shown in any catalog I have seen from 1931 onward.

I firmly believe, but cannot prove with documentation, that Western sold razors and strops almost from the git-go out of Boulder. Razors and strops were a very well established product in the West by 1912 and Western survived by selling lost of cutlery related items until 1919, which is when they started producing their own products.

I think Western quit making razors about the time the Great Depression began, say 1928 or 1929, but again, I have no proof for that. I would dearly love to get my hands on a 1928 catalog, which would have had the initial Western-made fixed blades depicted and show whether or not razors were discontinued around that time.

The 1919 catalog pages are not a list of everything Western sold. It was, I believe, just the models WESTERN was making as of 1919. Nothing from the 1912 to 1918 time frame was included in TKMWWW, which to us collectors is disappointing, but not surprising, since the purpose of the book was to document the company's history AND be a ego builder for Harvey Platts.

The desires of future collectors of Western knives was a distant afterthought, if it crossed the editor's mind at all.

Thank you again zzyzzgoten! 22 different models!! I would love to find an original strop. I have lived in the NorthWest most of my life, Western knives were very common here once upon a time. I will keep an eye out for that catalog at the local antique/junk shops. It’s a shame there isn’t more info about Western Cutlery like many other “mainstream” knife makers.

That’s a fantastic collection. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you. They also came with 2 original boxes! 100 year old cardboard . I notice that the bone handle version has all the Western Boulder tang stamps, but includes the word Germany

I also have this Denver Barber Co. razor. Do you all think it’s related to Western Cutlery??

I don't think that Western supplied the Denver Barber Co, with their razors, unless it was done before they started making their own circa 1919/1920. This is because both the 1921 and 1925 catalogs have a large "MADE IN U.S.A." logo on the 2nd page of the razor section.

Thank you Zzyzz as always! You are correct, the only Western States razor I have that has “Germany” underneath looks like an older tang stamp than the others!

Felanmac wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:15 pm EFF51513-52FF-46F2-A729-96FD75145A28.jpeg

Wow ! Those are some great looking razors ! Thank you for posting them .the only one I have has one handle damaged and I repaired it with some glue .still yet I feel lucky to have it added to my small western collection .