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Military Knives

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Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on August 16, 2013 at 13:52

The Half Hawk is a Klein but the other is Wards.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on August 16, 2013 at 16:03

I've got a Klein Half Hawk. Really good knife. Wish I had a Wards. Both were made under contract by Camillus.

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on August 16, 2013 at 16:46

Tobias, was Klein Tools a tool company - I guess so, is the Wards, Montgomery Wards??? Were they made for the military??

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on August 16, 2013 at 19:34

Klein is still in business and they are indeed a company that makes tools, primarily for the electrical trade. Ward is Montgomery Wards. As Klein is an old Chicago Company dating from before the Civil War i was some what interested in them While Klein makes quite a few hand tools with many of them still made in America, many of the pocket knives were done under contract, including varous electrician knives. The contracting was done by many companies with Utica and Camillus being the two most common.

As with Camillus and other brands, you can normally date a Klein knife with some certainty by looking at the Tang stamp. From what I saw your Klein is probably from the 1970s. The real question is Carbon or Stainless as they produce knives with both types of blades consecutively. At that time the springs were almost always carbon from what I can tell. Good solid knives that will last a life time or two or three if taken care of!

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on August 17, 2013 at 5:14

Tobias, I was always under the impression that the TL-29 was made for military - but was it made for the Civilian electrician as well?? or did it just cross over from military to Civilian use?

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on August 17, 2013 at 9:15

I'll need to do some looking into that one, Ken. Not sure which way it went. But it has been used by electricians for a long, long time. Klein even makes several versions of electricians knives with a variety of blade options.

The ones at the link have been in teir line up for as long as I can remember

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/knives-cutting-tools/pocket-kniv...

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on August 17, 2013 at 14:18

Tobias, thanks for the link. Does mine look like a sheepfoot or a half hawk???

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on August 19, 2013 at 10:34

The term is practically interchangeable however in my book the blade needs to have a little hook or re-curve to the blade to be considered a half-hawk. A sheepfoot has a straight cutting edge.

The thing is, a sheepfoot blade also has a spine that is parallel for the cutting edge for the length on the blade. If the spine is narrow near the pivot and gets wider as it progresses to the tip before ending, then it is another type of half-hawk blade.

As always, just one man's opinion but based on a heck of a lot of eye-balling and reading.

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on August 19, 2013 at 10:51

Thanks Tobias, Looks like mine is a Half Hawk then.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on August 19, 2013 at 11:01

Yeah, it gets goofy because there are no true standards and in the end it is whatever the maker decided to call his/her blade. This is especially true when it comes to clip blade, and drop point blades.. Part of the joy of knife collecting is the fact that there are no hard-fast rules on how to make a certain blade so you wind up with hundred of variations and many blurred definitions. So much so that one man's coping blade is an other man's sheepfoot. (or is it just a Camillus coping-sheepfoot blade?)

Permalink Reply by Donald Lee Hargrove on August 22, 2013 at 8:36

Hi, Ken! Here's my Kuttmaster (Ulster, NY) TL-29 to add to the collection. This is my favorite EDC. I like the bail, the wood handles (cocabolo?), the screwdriver (aka knife blade pry bar, lol), and having at least part of the "TL-29" paint still showing. And I can tell that someone used this tool for work. Hmm, we got a TL-29 group yet?

Ken Spielvogel said:

The TL-29's are: Camillus, KaBar, Robeson and Ulster

Ken Spielvogel said:

Here are some TL-29's. This is an Electricians Knife used in the Military mostly - although many Electricians carried and used this knife. My Brother was an Electricians Mate on the USS Ticonderoga in the U.S. Navy and he carried one. He is passed now, don't know whatever happened to that knife. Wish I had it.

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on August 22, 2013 at 10:01

Donald, Very nice Ulster TL-29, I see why you like to carry it. I like to carry mine to. Seems like a TL-29 can do anything. NO, I don't think there is a TL-29 site yet, except this military knife site, I think they are originally made for the military. But if you would like to start one, that would be great. I love knives that looks like someone used them and also took care of them. They are what I call "Talking Knives". Ken