All About Pocket Knives

Hey Everybody! I'm new here and knives are out of my depth of knowledge. Ya got a sports related question I'm your guy o access to a guy.... Knives not at all!

My father passed away few years ago and I'm going through stuff. The man left 80 yrs of stuff behind 12k cookbooks etc.

I'm from Rhode Island and these knives/ group all have th Colonial Prov RI stamp on them [except for the one that looks like a butter knife. Also only one has the Kamp King brand on it ... but all seem identical. Any help would be appreciated!

Are they ALL KAMP-KING knives?

Are the black ones a set of some sort?

Age? I've seen some sites reference before 1930s.

Thanks to all of you!

Some pictures didn't upload in the correct order.... trying again smh.

Welcome to AAPK. I’m not well acquainted with Colonial brand knives, but several here are. Be patient, they will likely see your post and questions sooner or later and provide some answers. Meantime there is a dedicated Colonial sub-forum here viewforum.php?f=87 where you might be able to find something. I do know those camper patterns like yours were popular sellers in the Colonial line, so there are a lot of them around.

Ken

Very nice group of Colonial brand knives. Your knives look like they may all be made in what is called shell handle construction. That meaning that the handles are made of thin sheet steel pressed in a die. The handles are actually hollow underneath and secured to the liners by metal tabs on each end of each handle. They all look to be in fantastic condition. Shell handles were a cost cutting measure to produce a cheaper but very functional knife. I don't think these were part of a set but given their appearance they could have come from the same source of from a common display board. The folding fork did come from a set that also likely included a single blade folding knife and a single blade folding spoon of the same type of construction. Colonial started business in 1926. Interesting that one of your knives is marked High Carbon Steel which is a trademark normally associated with Camillus brand knives made for Sears and Roebuck but this knife also looks to have been made by Colonial.

The shell handles for Colonial are a little different than described, but close enough. They were a company that produced high quantities of inexpensive knives. This makes them lower in collector's value, yet being made with good steel, they make good EDC knives.
From the pictures it looks like your father took good care of them.
I recommend putting a drop of oil on the pivots, and putting one in your pocket every so often in remembrance of him.

I appreciate the info. My father was born in 1934 ... he passed several years ago. As I'm going through stuff I completely regret not asking more questions about everything from

Where'd you get this
What is it
Keep or Toss

All the way to learning about previous generations. The man taught me a ton of stuff- had a fantastic relationship [he had me when he was 51!] But still feel like some missed opportunities to learn more!

I'm from Providence and from you guys telling me the company started in 1926 he would've been 8 yrs old at the time. Knowing my dad he probably had a weapon around the age of 2 as his EDC "Forget the blankie where's my blade!"