•   The very early Sheffield knives carried the stamp "GR".  The initials belong to King George and Green River Knives.
• Knifemaker, Ted Dowell, served as a gunnery officer on the USS Missouri, a navy ship during the Korean War.
• 1,400 cutlery factories were in Sheffield in 1910.
• Ruffin Johnson was a Guild knifemaker known early on by the moniker of "El Lobo Solo" (Spanish for lone wolf).
• Upon completion of 50 years of service each Joseph, Rodgers and Sons Limited, employee was presented with a 5" tall silver statue of Vulcan holding the Rodgers trademark of a 6 pointed star and Maltese Cross.
• The obverse side of the blade is the front or display side bearing the makers mark.
• Knifemaker Red Watson's first name was Quinton.
• In 19th century Sheffield the men who worked knifegrinders feared grinders asthma, grinders consumption, shattering grindestones, all which could kill a worker.
• Harvey McBurnette stated, "Is knifemaking an art? I feel that anything done well is an art, be it a Rembrandt, a custom knife or the Golden Gate Bridge.  In short, what is art? More important, what isn't?"
• A cross guard has two quillons.
• According to The Knifemakers Guild Directory of the Membership, Bob Dozier is the son of a blacksmith.
• The tool used by many Sheffield cutlers to put inlay holes in mother-of-pearl scales or to drill holes in scales is known as the parser or parsey.
• The first female knifemaker to apply for membership in the Knifemakers Guild was Carolyn Tinker at the 1974 Guild Show.  However, there was also another female maker who applies for membership at the 1974 show.  Her name was Mary Jean.
• The term pocket knife originally referred to a knife with blades opening at one end only. 
• Jon Kirk and John Applebaugh were founding members of the Knifemakers Guild.
• In old Sheffield, a bolster was cast or forged from nickel, iron or brass and had a projection used to tommy it to the liner.  In this instance, to tommy means to rivet.
• Xylonite was the first of many types of imitation ivory.
• Knives with handles by burning an imitation tortoise shell pattern into clear horn with lye were known as spotted penknives.
• The Daguello, the tune Santa Anna adopted to signify no quarter would be given to the defenders of the Alamo, was originally used by the Moorish invaders of Spain.
• Harry Brearley, 1913, discovered stainless steel.

Our thanks to our friends at Blade Magazine for this interesting collection of facts about Sheffield and the early days of the Knifemakers Guild.