All About Pocket Knives

Hi there all!

I decided to join in here after going two for two on buying dud knives for my Classic Camping hobby.

A bit about me, knives aren’t my main thing. But they do happen to be something that works its way into some of my hobbies, namely Classic Camping and WWII Living History.

What is Classic Camping you ask? It’s camping with the gear and the methods from the golden age of camping (and motor camping), the 1890s through the 1930s. I myself mainly focus on the late 20s into the 30s. I camp with almost entirely original gear, except for my tent which is a homemade canvas tent I “designed” by myself and built a decade ago with help from my mother, back when I was still in Scouts.

Lately I’ve been reviving my interest in antique camping gear, and in camping with it, and as a result I’ve been working on outfitting myself with some of the necessities. The one place where I’ve been running into trouble has been knives. With a mind as full as mine with so much other information, I realized it’s time I started turning to look for help from people much more knowledgeable than me when it comes to knives.

I do well enough when it comes to TL-29s, because I use mine fairly regularly when doing wire work at WWII events, but aside from them, I couldn’t tell you when any given knife was from.

I’m hoping that by being here I’ll be able to finally stop wasting money on the wrong knives, learn a thing or two, and post some cool photos every now and again!

Thanks for having me here!

Welcome and cool camping set up. There is nothing like camping to feel one with the world. As for knives, I’m sure you will get a lot of good input from some others but I think a fitting brand would be Remington. The original Remington knives were 1920-40 and deeply tied to camping/ outdoors. At the homepage up top is a research tab click on that and dig in.

Welcome to AAPK. Interesting hobby focus. Your time period of 1920s-30s is in the midst of what is known as the “golden age” of American cutlery manufacturing, which generally runs from the about 1875 to the advent of WWII. So finding pocket knives and fixed blade knives from that time is fertile ground. As you probably know already, the camping golden age was given a huge boost by the founding in 1910 of the Boy Scouts of America and soon thereafter numerous similar organizations. And with it the popular “scout” knife. Here’s a thread focused on those knives, both “official” licensed and unofficial, from numerous cutleries viewtopic.php?t=12874

There is also an entire sub-forum here dedicated to fixed blade knives. Most of the same manufacturers found in the above-referenced link also offered fixed blades during that same time.

Good luck in your research. Your biggest challenge to acquiring appropriate cutlery will be deciding which of the hundreds of appropriate options you want.

BTW, I like your camping setup. Get a period-appropriate lantern. https://colemancollectorsforum.com/inde ... 756ecc27ee


Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:45 pm Welcome to AAPK. Interesting hobby focus. Your time period of 1920s-30s is in the midst of what is known as the “golden age” of American cutlery manufacturing, which generally runs from the about 1875 to the advent of WWII. So finding pocket knives and fixed blade knives from that time is fertile ground. As you probably know already, the camping golden age was given a huge boost by the founding in 1910 of the Boy Scouts of America and soon thereafter numerous similar organizations. And with it the popular “scout” knife. Here’s a thread focused on those knives, both “official” licensed and unofficial, from numerous cutleries viewtopic.php?t=12874

There is also an entire sub-forum here dedicated to fixed blade knives. Most of the same manufacturers found in the above-referenced link also offered fixed blades during that same time.

Good luck in your research. Your biggest challenge to acquiring appropriate cutlery will be deciding which of the hundreds of appropriate options you want.

BTW, I like your camping setup. Get a period-appropriate lantern. https://colemancollectorsforum.com/inde ... 756ecc27ee


Ken

That’s actually an original Stonebridge folding candle lantern (patented 1908), one of my prized pieces!



I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for a decent pocket knife for awhile now, specifically a 4-blade, and recently thought my search was over when I found this listing:
Googling it couldn’t tell me one way or the other if it was correct, and only yesterday did I find out that it’s from 1945 or later. Fortunately I was able to file a return, so I should only be out the cost of shipping when all is said and done.

A fixed blade is something I’d like to have at some point, but that might be something I’ll have to wait awhile on until a deal comes along. So far I haven’t had to drop any serious money on any one piece of gear, so I’d like to try to keep it that way if I can.

My bad. In your picture it appears like a modern battery-powered light. Nice find!

Histories of many American cutleries and approximate dates of use for their various tang stamps can be found here by using the keyword search (found under Quicklinks on the upper left of this thread). Just FYI, German-made pocket knives and other items were not real popular in America during the post-WWI time period of your focus. As previously recommended, Remington made cutlery including scout patterns from 1920-1939 so those knives might be a good fit (lots of more recent reproductions exist however, so be sure you’re looking at original pre-1939 Remington-made knives). viewtopic.php?t=71630. However those are sought after by collectors so finding one cheap will be a tall order, but eBay usually has some. Other American (and English) cutleries also made the patterns during that time period.

Here’s a link to the tang stamps. viewtopic.php?t=39799 Be mindful that few if any companies kept good records of what stamps were used when, so many dates provided in tang stamp charts are estimates based on the company’s old catalog prints.

Ken

Cool camping set up. to AAPK! I listen to a lot of music from the 1920's and 30's, orchestra jazz.

Hi there!!! Welcome to AAPK!!

When it comes to Classic Camping fixed blade knives, few would argue a vintage Marbles would be appropriate. Like a Woodcraft for one example. I'm new here as well but a long time AAPK lurker - welcome to AAPK.