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When were 'Stewart's Hand Made' knives made?

I had a knife given to me little while back. It was pretty nasty looking, but I thought from the shape and stuff, it was just an Old Hickory knife. One of those cheapo kitchen knives. As I was cleaning it up, I saw it was not what I thought, but rather a 'Stewart's Hand Made' knife. Yes, Hand Made is in two words.

It looks a LOT like the Old Hickory knives. This one has two (2) rivets in the handle not the three that I have found examples of.

The blade is obviously a plain jane carbon steel. it takes a nice edge, but I do not know yet about the edge retention.

Does anyone have any information of these knives? When were they made? Why the 3 rivet vs 2 rivet handle? is there a date of manufacture that corresponds to the number of rivets?

I am not expecting this to be worth much at all, but I really want to know more about the company, but for whatever reason, I am not finding much at all so far. I need your help! :)

"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, You're my only hope!"

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Permalink Reply by Kevin D on Saturday

The rivets were recessed into the handle .015 - .020". Besides the difficulty in cleaning the rivet heads, I really didn't like that look much. So I sanded the top surface of the handle down so that the rivet heads are now flush with the wood.

In my opinion, it looks and feels better!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin D 1 hour ago

Just finished cleaning and sharpening this knife tonight. Before I started cleaning it, I thought it was an Old Hickory knife. Old Hickory is not known for their out of this world, top notch materials and quality.

Barely into the cleaning I discovered that this was NOT an Old Hickory, but rather a Stewar5ts Hand Made knife. From what I have gathered so far this was a small time, short lived company that did not do much in the mass production world.

It is my speculation (speculation only! not verified) that the aluminum rivets are indicative of a war time manufacture. Brass and copper were in very short supply during WWII and even the penny was made of steel in 1943. The brass adjustment knobs on the Type 17 Stanley Bailey Hand Planes were made of steel or rubber (Mine is made of rubber).

Anyway. Here is my cleanup and restoration of my SHM knife.