All About Pocket Knives

Found this knife at a shop in Blue Ridge Ga. I was actually looking for case knives and the owner told me he had just purchased a collection that he hadn't put on display yet would I care to see it, I said yes. I found this knife in his collection and 125.00 for it and I hope it's real.

I don't know much about the brand Jack Knife Ben but I can tell you for sure that it is one handsome knife.

Ray

Paladin wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 12:55 pm I don't know much about the brand Jack Knife Ben but I can tell you for sure that it is one handsome knife.

Ray

I totally agree with Ray. Did the shop have any farmers jacks?

Benjamin Chon used a lot of high-end knives to refurbish. This could have very well been a Robeson. Sweet example!

Sorry to say,but that knife is cold stamped.

I thought I saw some of that in the second picture too, but it's blurry when I enlarge.

Tried to get some clearer shots. What is cold stamping?

Man, that's a tough one . . .

To borrow one of Ken's posts, I'm not seeing this-

So what I've got here is a Robeson jack knife that was ground down and restamped by a jeweler in kentucky or by jack knife ben. Thank you for the info. The following pics are of a knife made by a jeweler in Kentucky.

These were done by Parker in the 90's in the Olbertz Factory in Germany not sure if your was one that Parker had done

kennedy knives wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 3:51 pm These were done by Parker in the 90's in the Olbertz Factory in Germany not sure if your was one that Parker had done

IMHO, not a Parker/Olbertz. Olbertz quality and tooling are of a higher grade. The handles on this one are 40's to 50's era Rogers bone and as Roger stated, the stamps are terrible. With that frame/handles it could have started out as a Queen or Camillus jack but hard to say.

knifeaholic wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 4:41 pm

kennedy knives wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 3:51 pm These were done by Parker in the 90's in the Olbertz Factory in Germany not sure if your was one that Parker had done

IMHO, not a Parker/Olbertz. Olbertz quality and tooling are of a higher grade. The handles on this one are 40's to 50's era Rogers bone and as Roger stated, the stamps are terrible. With that frame/handles it could have started out as a Queen or Camillus jack but hard to say.

Thanks hope I didn't imply that the OP's Knife was done in the Olbertz Factory just showing the The Jack Ben Knife Stamp Thanks Again

kennedy knives wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 6:28 pm

knifeaholic wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 4:41 pm

kennedy knives wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 3:51 pm These were done by Parker in the 90's in the Olbertz Factory in Germany not sure if your was one that Parker had done

IMHO, not a Parker/Olbertz. Olbertz quality and tooling are of a higher grade. The handles on this one are 40's to 50's era Rogers bone and as Roger stated, the stamps are terrible. With that frame/handles it could have started out as a Queen or Camillus jack but hard to say.

Thanks hope I didn't imply that the OP's Knife was done in the Olbertz Factory just showing the The Jack Ben Knife Stamp Thanks Again

Agree...it is good for everyone to know that Parker did indeed issue Olbertz made knives marked Jack Knife Ben to avoid confusing them with the real ones.

Jthoma6 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 2:37 pm Tried to get some clearer shots. What is cold stamping?

“Cold Stamping” is somewhat of a catch all term for a counterfeit stamp. Use of the term depends in what era the knife in question was made. Years ago when knife blades were hand forged, the stamps were often applied while the steel was still hot. A stamp applied later was a “cold stamp”.

However in more modern times the blade is stamped when it is “blanked” out of rolled steel. A powerfull mechanical press cuts the blade from steel and simultaneously applies the stamp. That blade is subsequently processed, including hardened using cycles of heat and cold quenching, before being assembled into a pocket knife frame, polished, sharpened, etc. Note the stamp is applied to steel that is not yet hardened, in other words it is relatively “soft”. A blade that is subsequently counterfeited by altering its original stamp is described as “cold stamped”, after the hardening process. To the trained eye, a stamp applied at that point (post hardening) often looks different than a stamp applied to softer, pre-hardened steel. See posts in the counterfeit watch forum here for examples.

BTW the example shown in John’s post above is depicting the altered grind line typically present, where the counterfeiter grinded off (aka shaved) the original stamp prior to re-stamping. That typically results in the shoulder grind being curved rather than straight. Its only relevance to this is it being a typical precursor to the blade’s being cold stamped. The altered grind line is more readily identifiable for most folks than trying to recognize the telltale signs of a cold stamp itself.

Ken

Jthoma6 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 3:22 pm The following pics are of a knife made by a jeweler in Kentucky.

FWIW since the OP posted it here, I’ll explain how to determine it’s a counterfeit. Probably made from a Utica Kutmaster stockman, which is a knife commonly altered by counterfeiters to look like a relatively expensive collectable Case TESTED XX.

Easy hint - a Case spey blade has a straight spine, whereas Utica (and some others) has a curved “humpback” spine. Then they grind off the original stamp and apply (cold stamped) new ones. See pictures for details. It takes a more experienced eye to recognize a cold stamp, so the stamp is the last thing to look at. 99% of fakes can be ruled good or bad before ever getting to the stamp. Unfortunately the stamp is the first thing, and often the only thing novices look at.

Ken

Jthoma6 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 11:49 am Found this knife at a shop in Blue Ridge Ga. I was actually looking for case knives and the owner told me he had just purchased a collection that he hadn't put on display yet would I care to see it, I said yes. I found this knife in his collection and 125.00 for it and I hope it's real.

I would return it

I knew nothing about cold stamping. That is why noobs like myself want to ask you pros about all the knives we find. There are so many traps when you don't really know anything about it yet.

One easy tip, very few Tested Case knives are stamped on all blades. Harold

Great thread; some of you guys are right fart smellers. Thanks for all your posts on this subject.

Here's a couple Jack Knife Ben stamps. The bottom pick-bone I've had for several years, the other one I took off of my cat. All blades are stamped except for the single fluted punch. I think the "K"s on mine are different than the OP knife.

The k's are different, the spacing is different, my knife does not have a shield. Although there are similarities in the stamp. I think that I did some of the changes to the tang grind when I cleaned the knife up around where the pitting is. None of your knives has union stock yards on them and most legimate jkb knives have a shield, at this point I'm pretty convinced that it's a fake. Thank you for your help. I guess you win some and you lose some, The case stockman that I posted pictures of on the thread I knew was a fake, it was advertised as a kentucky fake. Happy knife hunting, going to the gator knife club show in lakeland fl. tomorrow with my dad and brother.

Didn’t care for your comment on “some jeweler or jacknifeben.

Jthoma6 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2025 2:59 am The k's are different, the spacing is different, my knife does not have a shield. Although there are similarities in the stamp. I think that I did some of the changes to the tang grind when I cleaned the knife up around where the pitting is. None of your knives has union stock yards on them and most legimate jkb knives have a shield, at this point I'm pretty convinced that it's a fake. Thank you for your help. I guess you win some and you lose some, The case stockman that I posted pictures of on the thread I knew was a fake, it was advertised as a kentucky fake. Happy knife hunting, going to the gator knife club show in lakeland fl. tomorrow with my dad and brother.

I'm setup at the Gator show.

“ Didn’t care for your comment on “some jeweler or jacknifeben”

I agree. The comment implies that Jack Knife Ben, Mr. Chon, was a counterfeiter.

He was not.