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60 or 70's Gift shop knife?

Purchased this little gem off of ebay as it peaked my interest for being a bit different than most. It reminds me of a gift shop knife that you might find at a Gift shop in a theme park.

Its actully in very good condition. No blade wobble, the lockback seems to secure when its opened and its got a steel liner. I gave it a quick cleanup on the bolsters and it looks pretty decent.

there were several of these type knives that were on ebay and nearly all were in pretty bad shape and then this one appeared with a buy it now. Shipping and purchase were $10.99 and I thought that was fair enough.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 8, 2018 at 19:30

Looks like a gift shop knife to me also but appears in great shape. If it locks tight and retains an edge you have a winner for a great price

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Permalink Reply by Wally Guittard on May 9, 2018 at 5:45

It says Stainless steel with Japan under that on one side of the tang and on the other side it has a model/serial number?. (RK090) Looking the number up gets no results using Google.

The knife shows very little wear if any on it as it looks like it may have been used until the blade got dull and then it wound up in the dresser drawer. The blade has very minor scratches on it and they could probably be polished out with out much trouble. It does have an Eagle etched on one side of the blade and I'd be afraid that polishing the blade might destroy the image on the blade.

The scales are some kind of plastic and the Eagle is metal and very well attached.

I thought I'd sharpen it as the blade is pretty dull. I used a magic marker to mark the blade edge so I'd be sure to sharpen it to the correct angle. I started with a 25 degree and it was to much so I went with the 20 degree and apparently that's the right angle to sharpen it at.

It sharpened up very nicely........... nice clean edge and if I had any hair left on my arms I'd almost bet it would shave them. I won't be using it for edc as I believe it needs to be kept in the condition its in. Not because it worth any more than what I paid for it but because its unusual in the way its looks. If you took the scales off of it, it would just be a plain old edc.

Someone kept it preserved over time and if it is indeed a gift shop knife maybe it held some fond memories for the original purchaser.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 9, 2018 at 18:34

Interestingly enough there are a good many metal airhose fittings with the designation RK090 but even more interesting is a Korean company named Rilakkuma hospitality which among its many MANY items produces kitchen ware for hospitality companies like hotels.

I cant say there is a connection but maybe it is from a gift store that uses that company

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Permalink Reply by Wally Guittard on May 10, 2018 at 2:30

I got back on the net and spent some time looking for the same type knife and came across one that had the statue of liberity on the scale and the torch etched on the blade. The seller listed a manifacturer for the knife and listed VF225 as the maker and that the knife was made in Japan. The seller also listed the years of manifacture from 1974 to 1986

I looked up the number and came up with a lot of air fittings and something called a 3D knife. That referenced back to knives that have glow in the dark scales. That kind of makes me wonder if the scales on the one I have, if left in the Sun light will glow in the dark. The scales are different looking from what I'm used to seeing as to color. I think I do that tomorrow and see what happens......... and the mystery deepens...........:)

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Permalink Reply by J.J. Smith III on May 10, 2018 at 8:50

Hmmm, I've got a Statue of Liberty knife, somewhere. Now I've got to dig it out...

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Permalink Reply by Wally Guittard on May 11, 2018 at 19:04

J.J. I'd like to see that Statue of Liberty knife and see if it looks like the one I saw on ebay. I have not tried leaving mine a window with the Sun shining on it yet....... however tomorrow is looking good to try that

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Permalink Reply by Sue OldsWidow on May 23, 2018 at 19:25

Nice Eagle

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Permalink Reply by Wally Guittard on February 2, 2019 at 22:58

thought I'd do an update on the gift shop knife that I purchased on ebay a while back. I came across several of these knives on ebay recently. A couple have scrimshaw on the scales along with the eagel on them and I also came accross one with the statue of liberty on it.

I purchased three of these knives and all are celebrating the bicentennial.... for me all the more reason the purchase them. The statue of liberty knife is a bit different as it does not say made in Japan. It has Coyote Prov USA on the tang. i did a bit of research on it and it may be a Colonial made knife.

I found a web page that lists different brands made by Colonial and Coyote is listed as one of the brands along with several others. I'm still doing more research as the knife is quite different as far as scale material and it has what may be a part of a series as its numbered.

I don't have pics yet as the knives are in transit. So I'm awaiting their arrival. It should be around the middle of the coming week........... more to come

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on February 3, 2019 at 16:08

Wally,

I am willing to bet that yes, that Coyote Prov USA is a Colonial. Steve is a member and I am sure he could verify that for you. https://iknifecollector.com/profile/stevecolonialknife . Just give him a week or so to respond because he is on the road a great deal

Waiting patiently (?) to see the pics LOL

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Permalink Reply by Wally Guittard on February 7, 2019 at 10:57

Well a few pics along with a disaster that took more than I thought to repair it, although it sure raised a few questions

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Permalink Reply by Wally Guittard on February 7, 2019 at 11:34

As you can see the scales came right off of the Coyote knife. What caused it.. well I think bad glue and warm tap water plus dawn dish soap. I let it soak for about an hour cause the blade was hanging when trying to open and it looked like something had been spilled in it.

When I went to take it out of the solution the scales just fell off..... Talk about a panic moment!!. however it did give me a chance to look the Coyote knife over real well. It is Colonial built and the way the frame is fit and put together it shows a quality build.

The scales are another story..... just a blob of glue to hold them on and not a very good fit to the frame. I do not know if Colonial sold the knives to the vendor with out the scales installed on the frame. As There is a considerable difference between the quality of the scale material and how they were fitted to the frame.

I had to sand them down on a flat surface to make sure I would get 100% contact to the frame when I went to reinstall them. I used my favorite...... gorilla brand epoxy and then put them in my little wooden vice for 10 hours. I can assure you the scales are very well secured.

I should have taken more pictures as I was doing that but never thought about it. The scale with the standing liberty on was about a bit over a 16th of an inch above the rear bolster. So I used my Dremel tool to sand it down for a much better fit.

I still have two knives that are on their way and according to the USPS they should be here tomorrow. The other two knives are Japan built and one has E C 250 and SS Japan stamped on the tang it also has 200 eched on the blade. The other has J S 070 along with the SS and Japan stamped on the blade.

They both have some very nice scroll work on the bolsters and the scales have scrimshaw eched on them but have different eagels on the scale. So enough for now as I've rambled to much............. more to come later