My friend admiring the 1996 Gold Dragon Lord by Gil Hibben/United Cutlery.I thought this pic fitting for this group.

Jeremi,

I love this pic!

"Girls like knives too :)"

Thanks my friend

Ok, I am stumped with my INPUT for Western States knives....I can not find any info on the handle materials used....ANYONE OUT THERE have ideas?

Does this help any Sue?

Western States -

"Early Western States knives were manufactured by Challenge, New York Knife Company, Valley Forge, Utica, and Case Cutlery among others" 

I would imagine handle materials used would be the ones used by those companies? Vintage Western States knives I've seen have the usual bone, celluloid, wood materials.

Craig,

Anything in here that helps?

http://www.iknifecollector.com/group/odds-ends/page/western-cutlery...

Thanks Jan, but that was actually Sue's question. LOL! 

She asked; "Ok, I am stumped with my INPUT for Western States knives....I can not find any info on the handle materials used....ANYONE OUT THERE have ideas?"  down there.......

Good info there Jan, but that was sue's question. LOL! 

She asked; Ok, I am stumped with my INPUT for Western States knives....I can not find any info on the handle materials used....ANYONE OUT THERE have ideas? - down there........

yes Jan, I have seen that INPUT...it just seems there should be more out there somewhereeeeeeeeeeee........

Sue

Thanks though !

LOL,  

Sue are so so correct.  My commitment is to get more input in here

One of the best blade charts I have ever seen

Anita,

I love it!  The scales are insane but they fit the blade style very well.  Tell us a little about it?  Steel type?  What is the handle material?  Do you do all of this yourself? 

What..does "insane" mean "crazy" or "Pretty"? Cause, I think, it's "Pretty". LOL Great job of knife building.

Anita....
I like it!

Anita, you have some grand treasures for presents from your family. I love all of them.

Anita....

Tell your husband I said, "Good Job!"  He must be a great husband.

I am liking this family already.  Father like Son.

I'm looking for a history of Kissing Crane and it's current status. I know Robert Klaas was the originator but is now its own entity. I'm looking for current maufacturing and its location(s). Can't find much of anything on the Net.

Sue,

Thought you would enjoy this

http://www.collectorbooks.com/pdf/items/7363.pdf

Greetings all !! Although I haven't been here very long, most folks know who I am, Robert Anthony Paolantonio, third generation owner, stockholder, and only Cutler from the second and third generations of the one and only original factory, Colonial Knife Company, Inc. Also RAP Cutler, and Heritage Cutler's.....

My new friend and recipient of my book "My Family Business"  Mr. Gus Marsh has compiled the most honest and acurate assesment of the company and family's history. The only error Gus was a small misspelling of grandpa Fred's home town in Italy, which was Frosolone, Italy...other than that Gus has done a spectacular job in his research!!  Here is Gus's paper..dated  5-8-2013...

And the second page from Gus...

Sue, saw this today and decided it needs to be here

http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/trademarks-and-logos.html

OMG....this is fabulous Jan, Thanks for the Indexing it works wonderful!

Truly a pleasure Ms. Sue.  Not complete as of yet but coming along well

You are so right Ron.  This group is in a large part due to to the tireless INPUT!  Ms. Sue has added for us

I have had this skinner for years and know very little about it. It is a Yukon hunter G.C. Company 047. Printed on the other side of the blade is: a face, underneath that Othello and under that Solinger and under that Germany. I would appreciate any help with origin and value. BTW this is my first time posting anything, I hope I'm doing it right.

Keith it is made by Anton Wingen, who also made knives under the name Othello and it is in the style called Canadian Skinner

There is a link HERE that will give you more info on them

G.C. Co was the importer, it is an early stamp used by a popular importer also known by them Gutmann Cutlery.  Gutmann was founded in 1947 and lasted until 1997 & was a major importer & distributor of knives & blades for approx forty years. From the early 1950's through the 1980's most of their knives were made in Solingen, Germany with some from Italy and Japan as well.

Any help appreciated. Does anyone recognize this tang stamp? I know its a shell puller but for the life of me cannot figure out the maker.

Mike, it probably isn't, but that looks a lot like the Winchester W to me.

Some great news

http://iknifecollector.com/forum/topics/hattori-knives-site

Hi, I'm hoping somebody will recognize, or help me confirm what I have found so far - some research is what led me to iKnifeCollector a few days ago. I have an old knife given to me by my dad, which was his dad's knife on a farm way back. My grandfather was born in South Africa but ended up farming in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where I was born and raised.

I asked my dad over the weekend if he knew how old the knife is, I was guessing older than 1960 since my grandfather carried it while farming and I know by 1960 he had retired and was living in a small cottage near a city. My dad said he remembered his dad carrying the knife when he was just a small boy, so it came from at least 1936 or possibly older.

The only marking on the knife is "Stainless Steel" on one of the blades, other marks possibly just wore off over time since this was clearly my grandfather's work / every day carry knife and not a collector's item to him. My dad guessed it might be an IXL, which makes some sense since Rhodesia was a British colony and had a lot of British influence. Since the stainless steel stamp in the largest blade is still there and very well defined I think the chance of other stamping being work off is very remote - but maybe the little oval inlay, or the bolsters had less defined marks that could have worn off in 80 or so years.

I hope the image emebds in here properly, on lunch right now and the proxy server at work is whining about social media in the forums. If the image doesn't make it ok, I will try to correct this from home tonight.

The closest I have found in searching is a Kutmaster Stockman which actually looks virtually identical to mine - noting in particular the very long, I think unusually long thumbnail opening groove on the largest blade.

This knife has three blades, it looks to me like clip point (? not totally sure, I'm still learning all the types), drop point and sheepsfoot - which might have been a particularly useful blade on the farm with animals, and whittling.

I really should have put a tape measure or ruler next to this knife in my image to give an idea of size - but the Kutmaster Stockman (linked above) appears to be the same size, 4 inches folded length.

Having some trouble which I'm guessing must be our proxy / content filter interfering, but I managed to upload a photo into my own album. Over time I'll show more of other knives I have managed to accumulate over the years and information IO have about them.

Another link I had found yesterday, right back here to iKC, back in November 2013 Ken Spielvogel posted on iKC about an IXL Schrade Wostenholm (image) that he had bought via eBay. Other than markings, and the absence of the little metal inlay in the handle, Ken's knife (forum link) looks almost identical to my grandfather's.

IXL could mean the blade was constructed of stainless steel. I*XL or I-XL refers to a George Wostenholm in Sheffield England.something different. These knives were exported to the Americas as well as past colonies in Africa. There is a story that Jim Bowie ordered knives from Wostenholm. As for stainless steel "inox" is another International symbol for this metal. I have read, good quality stainless knives were not made till the early 50's. I know they were made earlier than this but lack the quality there is now.

You might send your photo in an email to a member who can post this. Never the less, Allanm this is a neat and interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

I took the liberty of sharing Allan's photo here as he seems to have had trouble with doing that .

Thank you John! I'm still blaming the proxy :-) That image perspective looks a bit odd. squished but that's ok. I'll figure out access and learn the site soon enough, and that might be enough to help others to help me identify the origin of the knife.

I told my son about this specific knife it on Saturday, he's in Michigan, I'm in Virginia now. He was born in South Africa, and when I told him I am researching and cataloging the knives I have, and one day when I "croak" he will get them all with my docs, he said he's not excited about me croaking, but will be glad to inherit the family history and legacy. :-)

As to I*XL or I-XL mentioned by Clint, most likely one of those were what my dad meant. I had seen I*XL images very similar, but all have I*XL prominently on them. Apparently my grandfather "really liked IXL knives" - whichever ones they were. My sister (still in South Africa) now has a tomato knife with very fine tooth serrated blade and a round circle on the end, I assume part of the design for Victorian era tomato cutting and serving.

I'll ask her to check that out for markings and send me an image, that might give more clues about exactly what my dad meant by IXL knives - as in I*XL, I-XL or other

Merry Christmas to all on the Research & Resources Group, And the Best In The New Year!

Queen Cutlery made folding woodcarving knives for my business.  I need to find a new source so if anyone or any company is interested in providing knives, please contact me ASAP.

NEED A LITTLE INFO ON A HEN AND ROOSTER  MODEL 373C-AP  HAVING TROUBLE FINDING ANYTHING ON THIS ONE.

John,

Post a pic and description here, just hit add at the top

Knife Q&A With John McCain

Was told it may be a pumpkin whittler ???

It appears to be a swell center whittler.  What are the markings on it

Sorry pic is so bad . Blades says hen and rooster worlds finest cutlery 

It is marked 373C-AP

It is indeed a swell center whittler made by Hen and Rooster that handle material is Antique Pumpkin seed!

Any idea of its age?

Dating on a Hen & Rooster is done by tang stamp changes.  You can find the pics and years here

Bertram-Hen & Rooster

Looks like 1945-1980 thanks for your help!

John, you may be able to narrow that age down a bit, possibly by the handle material/tang stamp combination.  A little history here from the former owner of the tang, AG Russell.  If you cannot find old catalog pages on line, you could always go to our AG Russell group and ask him yourself. 

WILL DO AND THANK YOU AGAIN!