Dave Shirley Marbles

Webster Marble formed Gladstone Mfg. Co. in 1892. That company created the first folding Axe in 1893 which lead to the incorporation of Marble's Safety Axe Co. in 1898. The company became Marble Arms & Mfg. Co. in 1911 & enjoyed years of success until succumbing to a shut down of production in 1974. The brand was brought back to life in 1994 & enjoyed a grand rejuvenation that later gave way to another shutdown in 2009. Many great knives & tools were crafted over the company's storied history.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by GardenGram »

Would you happen to know how many of my prototype were were made with smooth stone handle? 2001.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

GardenGram wrote: Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:21 am Would you happen to know how many of my prototype were were made with smooth stone handle? 2001.
This is just my thoughts on you Prototype most of the time they do about 2 but have seen as many as 10 .
Not sure that your knife was a Marbles original prototype looks like it may have been rehandled most Prototypes would not mark through the original name on the box and put Stone unless it had a different handle to start with . Still a nice knife just don't recall it in any of the Marble Sales Catalog ::handshake::
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by GardenGram »

Yes, tortoise is crossed off. I'm guessing because its marked prototype on the blade they tried stone, interesting and beautiful just the same.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

GardenGram wrote: Sat Nov 28, 2020 5:59 pm Yes, tortoise is crossed off. I'm guessing because its marked prototype on the blade they tried stone, interesting and beautiful just the same.
I agree any of the Davy Shirley Marbles are a rare find these days . They were all limited number. I haven't seen any more than 450 of each Pattern and that was split up into different handle material which is a low Number for knives. ::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu::
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by GardenGram »

I went and picked up the rest of them. The more I look at them,they're too pretty to leave behind.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

GardenGram wrote: Fri Dec 04, 2020 10:25 pm I went and picked up the rest of them. The more I look at them,they're too pretty to leave behind.
Nice haul I would have done the same ::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu::
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by GardenGram »

It'll be fun to learn all about these beautiful knives. There doesn't seem to be too much information about them. I loke the fact that they are all 1 of xxx. Are these stainless blades? Im a big fan of case, but these are just beautiful in every way.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by Sharpnshinyknives »

GardenGram wrote: Sat Dec 05, 2020 1:30 am It'll be fun to learn all about these beautiful knives. There doesn't seem to be too much information about them. I loke the fact that they are all 1 of xxx. Are these stainless blades? Im a big fan of case, but these are just beautiful in every way.
The blades are all 1095 carbon steel. I have some information I kept from a seller on Ebay that had a lot of information on all of these knives. If you like, I can send it to you?
I would not have been able to walk away from those if they were offered to me. You have some handles that I didn’t know they made.
SSk Mark “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Ronald Reagan
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by GardenGram »

Thank you. I sent you a pm. I just can't get over the quality of these let alone the interesting handles.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by stagman »

On Marble's fixed blade knives...1998-2001..in the Bobcat box,,
I bet I ran up on over 50 of them that had the handle material,
or pattern that was crossed off and had the new description wrote in on em

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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by 1967redrider »

herbva wrote: Fri Dec 11, 2020 5:04 pm .

Check out this thread, Herb. ::tu::
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by robcelani »

First post on AAPK although I've been a member for a while. I tend to read a lot and post a little on the different knife forums.

Here’s a couple Marbles MSA folders from 2002. They are both Doctors knives, one in Stag and one in Mastadon. By the way, why did Doctors need their own special knives?


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One interesting note about these. I bought 18 MSA knives total. The only one that had paperwork was the 2002 Stag Doctors knife. I am one of those people that really digs that kind of thing. I've always tried to keep the knives I collect as original as possible including keeping boxes, sheaths, pouches, papers, etc.

I saw a Marbles MSA Easy Open Teardrop Jack for sale on EBay maybe a year ago. That got me interested in the knives. Finding a large group was really cool. Some of the 2001 models I purchased were sold to me as groups of 6 together. The group included a Stockman, Teardrop EO Jack, English Jack, Congress, Doctor and Whittler. I assume those groups were sold together but I don't know that for sure.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by Sharpnshinyknives »

Very nice Rob. I think Dr. knives may have something to do w/ them also serving as their own pharmacists, thus the pill crusher on the end and the spatula could be used to measure powders.
I saw several sets of six Marbles on the Cutting Edge over the last few months. I noticed that all had sold except the imitation tortoise shell handled ones. Would yours have come from there by chance?
I enjoy hunting down the ones I don’t have and just biding my time until I see them come up for sale. I get as excited as a kid at Christmas.
These along with my Rigid by Canal Street knives are some of my favorite USA made knives.
SSk Mark “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Ronald Reagan
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by Quick Steel »

The base of the knife is square so that it could be used to crush a pill turning it into a powder. Then the spatula blade could be used to place a part or all of the powder into an envelope. The sharp blade could be used to cut a pill in two.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by 1967redrider »

This is a great thread of newer traditional knives. Thanks for the information Kennedy Knives, (Will) stagman, Sharpnshiny and GardenGram. ::tu:: ::tu::
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by 1967redrider »

stagman wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:38 pm He was pesky at times but always straight forward and honest...it was during his
time in Okemos Mich when he founded Bowie Corp knives I had contact with him..
Dave was also the Founder of Northwoods Knives...as well as working with
Mike Stewart of Bark River knives when he was the president at Marble's (before Bark River)
and...doing work for the Marble's Custom Shoppe LLC
He also gave a lot of info & pics to Arni when he was writing his Ency. of Marble's sporting collectibles
I used to talk every year with famed Michigan sheath maker Jack Mosher every year at the WKCC show in Novi, Mi
He told me when Dave moved up to the UP him and Mike Stewart were jawing and that is how the name Northwoods came about
Them were shinning knife time's for me back 1996-2002...and all eye to eye in person yacking, no internet !!!
Bet I sold better than 400 Marble's knives on my Clear Creek Knives store I had on AAPK for 13 1/2 years !!!
And we ALL got one man too thank for that...Mr Bryan...founder of AAPK

Stag

Will, do you know if Dave Shirley came up with the Northwoods blade spline stamping from the Chris Wolf/Jess Crouch single blade utility folders made years ago? I always thought they looked very similar in style. ::nod::
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by robcelani »

Sharpnshinyknives wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:11 pm Very nice Rob. I think Dr. knives may have something to do w/ them also serving as their own pharmacists, thus the pill crusher on the end and the spatula could be used to measure powders.
I saw several sets of six Marbles on the Cutting Edge over the last few months. I noticed that all had sold except the imitation tortoise shell handled ones. Would yours have come from there by chance?
I enjoy hunting down the ones I don’t have and just biding my time until I see them come up for sale. I get as excited as a kid at Christmas.
These along with my Rigid by Canal Street knives are some of my favorite USA made knives.
Thanks Mark. I bought a Stag set of 6 from 2001 and a White Micarta set of 6 from 2001 on Cutting Edge. I'm not big on acrylic handle material so not really interested in the tortoise shell. I was searching for the Teardrop Easy Open version for a while. Finding this thread helped me narrow the year down to 2001. I stumbled on the Cutting Edge site in a google search and decided to make some offers. Worked out good for me.

I have several Dave Shirley knives and enjoy them all. I read different stories about how much his shop was actually involved in the production of these MSA knives as well as the Scagels and Northwoods. The version that makes sense to me is he provided handle material to Queen who used it to make his knives. Dave then had a crew that finished them in his shop.

My question is how finished were they when delivered from Queen? Was there an actual Gladstone MI hand involved in the finished product?
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

robcelani wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:29 pm
Sharpnshinyknives wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:11 pm Very nice Rob. I think Dr. knives may have something to do w/ them also serving as their own pharmacists, thus the pill crusher on the end and the spatula could be used to measure powders.
I saw several sets of six Marbles on the Cutting Edge over the last few months. I noticed that all had sold except the imitation tortoise shell handled ones. Would yours have come from there by chance?
I enjoy hunting down the ones I don’t have and just biding my time until I see them come up for sale. I get as excited as a kid at Christmas.
These along with my Rigid by Canal Street knives are some of my favorite USA made knives.
Thanks Mark. I bought a Stag set of 6 from 2001 and a White Micarta set of 6 from 2001 on Cutting Edge. I'm not big on acrylic handle material so not really interested in the tortoise shell. I was searching for the Teardrop Easy Open version for a while. Finding this thread helped me narrow the year down to 2001. I stumbled on the Cutting Edge site in a google search and decided to make some offers. Worked out good for me.

I have several Dave Shirley knives and enjoy them all. I read different stories about how much his shop was actually involved in the production of these MSA knives as well as the Scagels and Northwoods. The version that makes sense to me is he provided handle material to Queen who used it to make his knives. Dave then had a crew that finished them in his shop.

My question is how finished were they when delivered from Queen? Was there an actual Gladstone MI hand involved in the finished product?
Post some pictures ::handshake::
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by robcelani »

Ok, here’s a few. I haven’t decided for sure which of these I’m keeping and which I’m selling yet.

I think these 4 along with the 2 Dr knives I posted prior were all from the same owner. Since I bought them from the consignment site I didn’t talk to the original owner however he left notes on all the boxes. Some were just the name, handle material, production year and a price. I don’t know if that’s what he paid or maybe what he was asking? Some of the notes had comments about production #’s. I showed pictures of those.



2001 English Jack, Stag - The box says they made 252 in Stag. That’s different from the earlier post about 400 if I remember right.
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2001 Electrician’s Knife, Ivory Micarta - I haven’t seen one of these posted in the thread yet. The box says 1 of 137.
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2002 Small Trapper, Smooth White Bone
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2002 Linerlock, Red Stag - Box says only 9 made in Red Stag.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

Nice Robcelani Keep them coming . I will try to post some tomorrow ::handshake::
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

Looking for Dave Shirley Marbles
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by Quick Steel »

Holy Smokes Gary. What a fine collection.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

Quick Steel wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:50 pm Holy Smokes Gary. What a fine collection.
Thanks Garry looking for more :D :D if you look on ebay there is no good ones all China ::td:: ::td:: ::handshake::
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by Sharpnshinyknives »

Very nice Gary. I check for these Marbles every day on Ebay and you are right there are none to be had.
Such a fine looking group, the stag on all of those is very nice.
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Re: Dave Shirley Marbles

Post by kennedy knives »

Sharpnshinyknives wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:00 pm Very nice Gary. I check for these Marbles every day on Ebay and you are right there are none to be had.
Such a fine looking group, the stag on all of those is very nice.
Thanks Mark I guess everyone is hiding them or got them stashed away in the safe ::handshake::
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