All About Pocket Knives

I fished this old jack off the bay a few days ago for peanuts and just started tinkering with it. All I did so far is straighten the blades out so they aren't rubbing on each other or the liners, and I tightened the pivot pin so there is no wobble. Amazingly, it has really hard snap now. But, I'm really glad that's all I did. I just looked in Goins (last pic) and almost fell off my chair when I saw that it was made between 1820 and 1830! It is definitely the oldest knife in my collection and I don't want to harm it any further. My question is what to do about the handle scales. I can't tell if they are very worn stag or bone, or what? I have another oldie that had similar looking material, but those scales were literally falling apart and I ended up doing a full resto on that knife. I know the scales on this one look like (expletive deleted), but they are actually stable and nothing seems to be loose. Should I give it a treatment with some kind of stabilizer or preservative, or just a good coat of wax, or???? Any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, including "just leave it alone". Thanks!

Very cool find Herb!! That's actually well worn stag. Whoever owned that knife really got some use out of it, pocketworn to the max! I think it looks amazing the way it is, a coat of wax is all it really needs. Whatever you do don't soak it in any kind of oil, that's the worst thing for stag.

Eric

Very cool piece indeed, you can almost feel it's age through the pics.
I'd be tempted to clean up some of those blade scratches, but otherwise it already commands a presence.

I read a few posts on how folks preserve antlers for taxidermy, lots of varying (and simple) opinions there, I wouldn't venture an opinion but looks like there are options if you do choose to restore them a bit. Personally I think it looks great as is.

ea42 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:01 pm Very cool find Herb!! That's actually well worn stag. Whoever owned that knife really got some use out of it, pocketworn to the max! I think it looks amazing the way it is, a coat of wax is all it really needs. Whatever you do don't soak it in any kind of oil, that's the worst thing for stag.

Eric

Thanks Eric! I actually was thinking about cleaning out the blade well with WD-40 on a rag (my usual process), but thanks for you advice. I may just use rubbing alcohol. (There is a LOT of gunk in there, and I think there may even be prehistoric critters living in there.)

Herb, I have no advice for you--but I got to looking at the Goins entries, and came to realize something--when there is a G (crown) R, a W (crown) R or a V (crown) R, the first initial is for the reigning monarch. George IV was king from 1820-1830, William IV was king from 1830-1837, and Victoria was queen from 1837-1901. and perhaps the R is not for Rogers but for "Rex" or "Regina" which, I believe, is also used on British coinage (or was, anyway). Maybe you know that already, but I thought it was cool.

And I'm jealous! Great knife!

Wonderful find.

I’d follow Eric’s advice. Use rubbing alcohol to flush any gunk out of the joints, and put some on a cotton swab (those on the end of a wooden stick work great) and clean the blade well. Then a little lube of your choir in the same places (all metal surfaces). Tuf-Glide is my choice as it’s a great rust preventative, and a good lube in a mineral spirits carrier which dries quickly leaving no oily residue to collect dirt. Then apply RenWax per the directions to the stag.

Should be good for another 200 years!

Ken

Looks like it could have been made in the George IV era (1820-30) although they would likely have used the "royal warrant" after the reign.

Joseph Rodgers had a long, long run in Sheffield. This link covers much of their interesting history.

https://www.eggintongroup.co.uk/assets/ ... reigns.pdf

Jerry