Have you heard of dyslexia?  My hands have it.  I don't know how often when typeing I hit the key with the correct finger on the wrong hand.  lol   I do that A LOT for some reason.  Thanks for the correction though.  AND, I like your understanding of the acronymn. :)  Maybe that's what my fingers were thinking also. :)

Some time back, I learned on a WR Case & Sons factory tour that Zebu cattle shin bone is often  used since it is denser than found on other breeds.  

I read too that even the OLD knife companies mainly used bone from South America.

In reference to your question regarding torched stag or bone, either of them can be torched. The knife companies  should make that clear in their advertising. I have never torched bone but I have on stag. Done properly on stag it turns different shades of yellow to orange with some darkening to charcoal to black on the high spots. It has to be done carefully as it is easy to over do it.

Jim, what do you use to "torch" the bone?  I have a small propane torch.  Will that work?

Jim, also does the torching go deep or is it just on the surface?  Should the bone be finish prior to torching?  If you sand it afterward how does that effect it? Thanks for any info.

Jack

OK, let me see if I can catch up LOL

There are still some US makers that purchase their cow bone from right here is the US.  I know that Ken previously did.  I will ask about currently

and yes Jack, some of them do torch with a small propane torch LOL.  Depending on the quantity they are looking to do.  It is a way of controlling  so as not to over do it.  

What is in the catalog is not the entire line and the line is growing.  Just yesterday we found out the camp knife makes its first appearance by the end of this week

How about when you kill a deer?  I assume you can use the anglers for handles.  How about the deer bones?  I think when you kill something you should use everything you need.  Of course not many people need the bones.  And some racks I've seen on walls would have the owner/hunter shaking all over to suggest he take it down and cut a couple of knife scales out of it. lol

Jack,

When Case Brothers started a factory behind the family home in Little Valley, NY they would harvest antler sheds each year in the woods around their home for stag to make scales.  Deer bone is too brittle and thin for knife scales - need a "beefier" bone.

I will try again - Winterbottom%2C%20Carter%20%26%20Co.-6.jpg

I thought I would add this quote from an article I wrote for Knife World Magazine this past February that may a little of Queens history and its use of imported bone during the post WWII years until the late 1960.

“They were the principle users of Winterbottom bone during this time from 1947 until the late 1960s. Fred Sampson, who was the materials manager at Queen during this time, told me that on many occasions Queen purchased that bone directly from Brazil and had it shipped to the Samuel Wintertbottom Sons Company for cutting, jigging and staining.  Queen continued to use Winterbottom bone until the late 1960s”.

I will also try to post a photo of The Winterbottom Carter & Co. Bone Factory in Egg Harbor, NJ. 1914. Photograph courtesy of Egg Harbor City Historical Society.

in -

For those of you that dont know this gentleman.  Mr David Clark!  The Queen historian, an extremely well earned title.

David do you know if Queen is using domestic bone at this time?

I think they buy most of their bone from sub-contractors that jig and dye the bone.

Is the bone still from south America? I don't know. Argentina was a big supplier of bone to the cutlery companies in the USA in the past. Perhaps someone on the thread knows if Case also imports their bone.

Thank you David, for your contribution. We are glad to have such a great historian as one of our members. Besides our cutting up, education of the knife hobby is so very important.

Case does import their bone which does not surprise me.  The sheer numbers of the scales they do, it works best dyed and jigged before coming into the factory

I think I remember seeing bone being dyed on the Case factory tour, but as Jan said, Case uses so much bone, they probably outsource as well.  As I recall, Case does jigging as well, but perhaps not all the jigging.

Here is a photo of a rail car shipment of bone to the Winterbottom factory. Samuel  Winterbottom is in the front row with the apron and tie.Winterbottom%2C%20Carter%20%26%20Co.-5.jpg

David, Love those old time pictures, thanks for posting.

David,

That pic is just awesome.  Dont even put the bone in boxes...just fill a box car and be done

FOLKS

I hear that Jennie Moore is going to be on Knives Live tonight!

What is knives live?  TV show?

Jack,

SMKW (Smoky Mountain Knife Works) [smkw.com] sells knives on a TV show - similar to Cutlery Corner (Frost Cutlery).  Some cable companies carry both shows, and some do not (DISH does, Comcast/Xfinity does not, and I don't think Verizon FIOS does either.  Jan has a link posted here on iKC so you can watch the Friday night show live on your computer, and chat with iKC members at the same time.

So how many of us have the camp knife on order?

OMG the camp knife came in today and I think I am in love

That really is quite a looker you got there, Miss Jan! Love S&M's keystone shield.

Really nice Jan

Very nice, Jan.  Love the Keystone shield.

Good looking S&M!!

Nice...hard to beat stag. Great looking knife.

Love those handles.

And who can go camping without going fishing?

Great fish knife.  Beats my old yellow handled STAG (Ireland) all to pieces.

The first real knife I ever owned was a fish knife. Never caught a "bottle cap fish" though so I never got to use the opener.

That's a pretty fishing knife!

That's a great looking fishing knife, Jan !

Dad bought this knife for me when I was 10 or so.  I remember it clearly.  I have carried it with me everywhere I've gone in life.  I keep stumbling on it even though I haven't used it since kidhood.  Never thought about what brand it was until recently.  It's not a special release knife or anything.  Just a knife that cleaned a few squirrels and cut some fire wood, etc.  Bought around 1969 or so.  Any info is appreciated on model, handle material, blade steel, etc. but not needed.  Just a knife Dad bought me that will belong to my son then grandson someday.  Doubt if it sees any squirrel cleaning though. Tons of squirrels live in my yard actually.  Wife sees them and says "cute".  I look at them and say "dinner". lol  Truth be told, I watch them myself.

Jack, really enjoyed reading your post. That knife is priceless. I don't know anything about it except that knives like that, that have been given or passed down are packed with meaning. They are "The Talking Knives". Thanks for posting and sharing with us.

Great that you still have the knife your dad gave you, and a Queen!  As I recall, cheap foreign knives were getting a foothold here in the late 60's & 70's so your dad had to wade through a bunch of knock-offs to get to the Queen.

Great knife and story, thanks.

The day Dad bought this knife we were going hunting and stopped at this little store where we always stop to get ammo or whatever we need.  I saw this knife, showed it to Dad, he looked it over and set it on the counter.  Talk about a happy kid. :) A new rifle wouldn't have made me happier. :)  Funny what we remember.

Nice old fixed blade Jack! Is that a #85?

Craig, I have no idea what # it is.  What you see in the picture is all I know.  I threw it in my tool bag so I will be using it now.  Haven't used it since I was a kid. Well, I'll be using it when someone (wife) forces me to get the tool bag out. lol  How she comes up with the crap she want's done I'll never know. Does anyone feel my terror?!  lol

It resembles the #85 pattern pretty close.  Is the blade roughly 3 inches long?  Overall around 6 3/8 inches long?  If so, it is the #85 bird/trout hunting knife.

Blade is 4" and overall is 7 3/4".  I think I'll start laying a ruler down with knives.  Probably a good way to give more info about a knife in a picture.  This was brought up about  pictures I took recently and sounds like a good default addition to pictures.

Jack, It does help.  Sometimes I will put an object that we all know the size of  next to knife, just for comparision

Does anyone know of a list of pattern numbers and what they are for Queen?  I can not seem to find one online

I have never seen a listing of pattern numbers for Queen. Neither have I seen a pattern number stamped on a knife. The only way to approximate date of manufacture is the blade stamping except for the years of 1972 &1976.

Jan, I emailed you a list that I keep on my computer.  It had the old pattern # list.  I'm not sure how relevant it is with Queen knives released in the last 5 years, as some numbers seem to be reassigned.

Thanks for the Queen Pattern Guide, Ashley.

Well excellent!  Thank you Ashley!  So now we know the current numbers.  Carl has sent me what he has for the older Queens and David Clark will share what he has.  I am going to take all the info we get and start a page here on the group with the info so we keep it without having to look all over