Queen Cutlery & Friends

Knives have been made at the factory of Queen Cutlery Company of Titusville Pennsylvania for over 100 years. It is arguably the oldest and last American Cutlery that truly continues to produce knives in the same way as they were produced there when the factory opened in 1902. The factory’s first tenant was the Schatt & Morgan Cutlery Company: Queen Cutlery Company displaced Schatt & Morgan there in 1933. Queen City Cutlery Company first began to produce knives in 1918 around the end of the First World War, incorporated in 1922, and shortened their name to “Queen Cutlery Company” in January of 1946.  Purchased by Daniels Family Cutlery Corporation on September 18, 2012

LINK TO Complete Guide to Queen and Schatt & Morgan Knives and History

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  • Tobias Gibson

    Hi Jared, from what I understand and the good folks at Queen cultery can help me out but defore the Daniel's family took over the Queen was owned for some time by Ontario Knives. 

    At some point in time, Ontario either:

    a) let the TM lapse and Kevin Pipe of SMKW claimed it.

    or

    b) Ontario sold it to Kevin Pipes of Smoky Mountain Knife Works.

    or

    c) Queen granted exclusive rights of the Queen City tang to SMKW

    Whatever the case, for a time SMKW  used the Queen City tang on Special Factory Orders  sold thru  their TV show, KnivesLive TV and also in their store in Tennessee.   These knives were still made by Queen, they were just exclusive to SMKW  I don't know if  SMKW or Ontario let the TM lapse before the sell to the Daniels Family but this may be what led to the SNAFU.

     

  • Tobias Gibson

    Best of luck to Boothill Blades!  I was looking over your page when the the snafu first hit, Jared.  It looks like you have a fine line of cutlery!


  • KnifeMaker

    Jared

    Thanks Tobias. Everything we do currently is from repurposed steel, but we may branch out into other steels in the coming months. I enjoy a nice hunting knife, but kitchen cutlery is where my passion really lies.
  • Dave Steiner

    I'm glad the Queen City issue worked itself out.  I need to check out those Boothill Blades!


  • KnifeMaker

    Jared

    Haha thanks Dave. We are fulfilling the Kickstarter rewards as of now, but hopefully we will get back to normal production over the summer.
  • Jan Carter

    Queen Cutlery Company’s “sandblasted” Blade Markings

    who would have thought it?  Sandblasted blade etches!!!!

  • tim payne

    cool stuff jan

  • Dave Steiner

    Interesting Queen City ad knife I picked up on ebay (hasn't arrived yet):

    -ds

  • tim payne

    grrreat vintage addition dave.  I like that.

  • Dave Steiner

    I've gotten my second Queen #54 pearl stockman.  The first one has the Q76 tang stamp

    But the second one has

    Queen Cut Co

    TItusville, PA

    which I can't find anywhere

    It also doesn't seem to be the same quality of the first one.  Any idea of the dates for this tang stamp?

    -ds

  • Jan Carter

    The Q76 is 1976 only I believe

    Queen Cut Co was 1932-1942.  To be sure though go here Queen Tang stamps

  • Jan Carter

    DAVE!!

    That is one cool commemorative Queen knife

  • Dave Steiner

    I've looked at the tang stamps but don't see this one anywhere... sorry for the out of focus photo:

    -ds

  • Carl Bradshaw

    I have a Queen 2005 coke bottle knife that has that exact same tang stamp.


  • In Memoriam

    Leopold Lacrimosa

    I just got these two beauties


  • In Memoriam

    Leopold Lacrimosa

    And this one

  • Dan Lago

    I think the Queen tang stamp fold-out is under revision.  I am quite certain there have been more stamp variations than shown since the 1991-1996 version. Carl's looks just like, but "Titusville" is larger.  And it is clear that not every knife shows the year of production after 1990. (While many do) - There are a bunch of ambiguities about modern Queen knives, especially during the later Servotronics era, IMO.  I think a lot of them relate to the economics and sponsor decisions of various SFO knives and limited runs - such as you might get in nice pearl handled ones. Leaving off the year saves a bit of money in new stamps and set-up, and leaves a little more flexibility in marketing and selling. 

    Moving forward, more special editions announced through the Internet provides more chances a given knife can be located in history.  I hope Queen's current emphasis on documentation continues, but SFOs will often remain a mystery.  I am OK with this state of affairs, since it adds a bit more interest to the search - the catalogs will never be enough.    

  • Jan Carter

    Production on the next Queen Classic Knife has just started...BG-42 steel!!  Stag, Buffalo and Mahogany...WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS??????????

  • Jim Thompson

    Another Cotton Sampler. Since the blade design is like the other Queen/Perdue issue I assume ??  the blade stamp will be the same. ??? on Stag since the previous one was stag. If they do it in Mahogany it would be virtually identical to the W. R. Case issue around 1900/1915 era.

  • Jan Carter

    This Queen Classic is being done by Franks Classics.  I hope it has his old man shield!  Interesting thought on the Blade stamp, dont even know if there will be one

  • Jan Carter

    Jim, I am a cotton sampler fan so I am looking forward to seeing this one.  I know the Mahogany will be jigged.  It will be interesting to see if I need that one too LOL

  • Stanley May

    Jan the answer is yes you will need that one too.

  • Jan Carter

    LOL, I think you may be right Stanley LOL

  • Jan Carter

    D2, AMERICAN ELK AND 3.34...THATS A WINNER FOR ME

  • Jean-François

    For me too! What a beauty!

  • Billy Oneale

    Wow, great looking knife.
  • Ron Cooper

    Nice one, Jan!

  • Jan Carter

    Think I’ve finally sorted out the Special Run Queen Woodsman Lockback release.  First, as previously stated the blades are 1095, NOT D2.  There are also a few Tortoise Shell Acrylics thrown in with the Cracked Ice.  And, the Worm Groove Bone has a thumb stud.  Sorry for the confusion, but I just posted the info that was originally passed onto me.

    That being said, the Woodsman Lockback is a really nice pattern.  Visibly, it’s very similar in appearance to the GEC 73 Linerlock.

    Queen Woodsman (L) GEC 73 (R)
    To read the side by side comparison click here

  • tim payne

    couple of sweet queens jan!  thanks for sharing.

  • Jan Carter

  • tim payne

    *QUEEN 1978 WINTER BOTTOM BONE FOLDING HUNTER KNIFE USA, tang stamped "Q 78", 2-bld 5-1/4" closed, nickel silver bolsters/brass liners/pins, w/lanyard hole.

  • Patti Olsen

    Nice pics... Looking forward to more!


  • Featured

    Charles Sample

    Queen #46 fish knife.  One of 70 made for Chattahoochee Cutlery Club in 2005.

    From David Clark, Queen historian:
    The handles are bone - Winterbottom bone from the Winterbottom Bone factory of Egg Harbor, NJ. The bone was from c1958 and had been in storage but was found and used on several pattern in the 2005 time frame.

  • Gary Munford

    So, I wasn't able to make it to Blade 2015 but I have some friends there doing some shopping for me. I asked them to check on some Queen knives and my buddy Pete said Queen wasn't even there this year. Are they in some sort of trouble? (some vendors had some Queen knives, but not what I was looking for).

  • Carl Bradshaw

    That's surprising they weren't at the Blade show.  But I know the Queen show coming up this August is all scheduled and ready to go.  I haven't heard of anything to say Queen isn't doing well.

  • Patti Olsen

    Excited!!! Have a bid on a Queen Cutlery Knife.... Hopefully It'll be mine by the end of the week!

  • Ashley Nottingham

    Queen was definitely at Blade! Check out our website and there are some pictures and special Ruple pictures there too!

  • Jan Carter

    LOL Gary, they were there!  I hung out at the booth a lot.  They were even giving away free bags, I am sorry they didn't get by there for you

  • Jan Carter

    A friend did a bit of a review I thought you might enjoy

    Work Horse Barlow, Fallkniven U2 & Weekly Review 6.12.15

  • Jan Carter

    WINTERBOTTOM BONE Knife Handles

    NEW~ Historical Documents Article ~NEW


  • Featured

    Charles Sample

    Very interesting article to me because I have a Queen fish knife with genuine Winterbottom bone from the Egg Harbor factory.

    http://iknifecollector.com/photo/queen-cutlery-company-fish-knife-1

  • Carl Bradshaw

    Good Article, thanks Jan for posting it.  And thanks Dave for writing it.

  • Rick Hooper

    One event that led to formation of Queen City , that has interested me is the ball game between the Schatt and Morgan employees , which ended in such a ruckus, management decided to put an end to lunch break baseball! In true American spirit , the employees quit to form their own cutlery company , and play ball , when they choice to. Maybe this where the term: playing hardball started!
  • Jon Salmon

    Jan - Great article on the history of Winterbottom Bone handles (still my favorite bone jigging pattern). Thanks very much for the interesting info.

  • Jan Carter

    BG-42 is a former super steel manufactured by Latrobe, originally designed as a Ball Bearing steel using VIM/VAR technology. What made BG-42 unique to 154CM was the addition of Vanadium, increasing the wear resistance and edge retention

    WONDER WHY I AM IMPARTING THAT LITTLE BIT OF STEEL INFO???

  • Tobias Gibson

    BG-42. A stainless steel with 1.15% Carbon, .50 Magnesium, .30 Silicon, 14.5 Chromium, 4.0 Molydium, and 1.5 Vanadium. It is considered a a forerunner to S30V. It is considered hard to work with but has excellent edge retention however it is somewhat brittle.. HRC 61-63. It is better than 440C but not as good as S30V

  • Jan Carter

    Tobias I actually like it more than S30V.  The ones I have with it are far from brittle, it seems easier to sharpen to me and needs touch up less often

  • David Clark

    A question for Rick Hooper please: I have never heard this baseball story before. Do you know of its origin? I am attaching a picture of the S&M baseball team that played against local townships and villages but non of these players were among the five that started Queen City Cutlery.

  • Rick Hooper

    It was a story I had read many years ago. I checked Jim Sargent's and Bruce Voyles guides , but it may have been a Levine story in an old knife world article. I remember , it was the five to nine employees justification , for leaving S&M , while moonlighting the production of Queen City blades on S&M machinery. Some articles say the men were fired and some say they left voluntarily, because of the lunch time ballgame incident. They has planned to go on their own anyway! Is their anyone else , who read this story? 

  • Rick Hooper

    Also , the baseball incident was in the 1918 or the early 1920"s, so probably had new players by then!