All About Pocket Knives

I have never seen a fixed blade knife with this way of attaching the handles to the knife. See Pictures.

Not really a "mountain man" knife, it's a kitchen/butcher knife probably from the early 1900s when the cast bolsters and designs were common.

If I'm not mistaken, the cast bolsters are made from pewter.
I have some Wallkill River Works butter knives that are made with cast pewter bolsters. I believe Queen also used a variation of this on some of their earlier knives.

OldYooper wrote: ↑Sun Aug 31, 2025 2:52 pm I have never seen a fixed blade knife with this way of attaching the handles to the knife. See Pictures.IMG_3122.jpeg

If you live in the mountains it might be. A very unusual and classy old knife. Congrats.

orvet wrote: ↑Mon Sep 01, 2025 5:22 am If I'm not mistaken, the cast bolsters are made from pewter.
I have some Wallkill River Works butter knives that are made with cast pewter bolsters. I believe Queen also used a variation of this on some of their earlier knives.

Many many companies used the cast bolsters and designs on table cutlery and kitchen/butcher cutlery. I have also seen Russell and NYK products with this feature. I agree, they used pewter for the bolsters and inlays.

The knife pictured below appears to be identical. It's marked "American Cutlery Company".

This knife is described as an 1880 Pawnee trade knife, but I know better than to believe everything I read .

Killgar wrote: ↑Tue Sep 02, 2025 3:59 pm The knife pictured below appears to be identical. It's marked "American Cutlery Company".

This knife is described as an 1880 Pawnee trade knife, but I know better than to believe everything I read .

I share your skepticism that it may have been a Pawnee trade knife. However, it could be possible. I find it more likely that a knife made for trade with the Indians would have been made as cheaply as possible. The poured bolsters are a nice decorative touch, but I think the extra cost they represent would make it unlikely that these would be widely traded to the Indians. It might have been given as a special gift to a chief, but it seems unlikely to me that a trader would go to the extra expense on something that was common trade goods to the Indian community at large.

"This knife is described as an 1880 Pawnee trade knife, but I know better than to believe everything I read"

I agree totally with the believe part. The "fur trade" was basically over by the civil war and the knife looks to be early 1900s. the sheath looks rather new but I suppose it could have been traded to a Pawnee even last week.