Old Pruning and Horticultural Knives

[wlf]

Unorthodox pruner N-W NY.

Great old pruning lineup John, sorry I missed you on my last post.

Unique old pruners Lee.

[JohnR]

Used but not abused Case XX pruner, love how the red bone has turned orange from carry and use, still a lot of life left it.

[LongBlade]

Really nice hawkbill John ... I personally think the faded color is very cool ...

[JohnR]

Really nice hawkbill John ... I personally think the faded color is very cool ...

Thanks Lee, the color really pops on this knife.

[FRJ]

Very nice old Case, John.
I've never seen a knife handle turn color like that.

[JohnR]

Very nice old Case, John.
I've never seen a knife handle turn color like that.

Thanks Joe, I've seen it on these XX era Case's that were used and carried a lot, most will also show a lot of patina, maybe sweat changes the color. Couple Barlows from the same era showing orange but not as dramatic as the pruner.

[FRJ]

Thanks John, I guess that's a grandaddy Barlow with the secondary blade in front?

Beautiful knives.

[JohnR]

Thanks John, I guess that's a grandaddy Barlow with the secondary blade in front?

Beautiful knives.

Thanks Joe, it's a regular Barlow, Case has changed the position of the pen over the years, they have also had the nail nick in different spots.

[JohnR]

Another of the knives I picked up Saturday, Ka-Bar hawk bill with unusual jigged wood covers, appear to be factory done.

[smiling-knife]

I'm sure I posted this many years ago, but I'm starting again if that's OK. One of my favourite pruners made by Harrison Bros & Howson, Sheffield, early 1900s.

[LongBlade]

Another of the knives I picked up Saturday, Ka-Bar hawk bill with unusual jigged wood covers, appear to be factory done.

Nice John ... Unique - I never saw jigged wood covers....

I'm sure I posted this many years ago, but I'm starting again if that's OK. One of my favourite pruners made by Harrison Bros & Howson, Sheffield, early 1900s.

Welcome back S-K ...

Stunning Harrison Bros & Howson .. I know you mentioned early 1900s but curious if there are integrated liners bolsters? I know we often say integrated means pre1860 but not sure if some carried that style post1860 especially on Hawkbills

[smiling-knife]

Hi LongBlade. Thank you for your welcome and question. This knife does not have integrated liners and bolsters. I think you are right about the date of 1860s or earlier for that type of construction. They were forged from one piece of iron so labour intensive. Machine cutting liners from brass or nickel silver was much more cost effective so rapidly became the norm.

[smiling-knife]

An old French pruner with thick stag scales.

[LongBlade]

An old French pruner with thick stag scales.

S-K - That Hawkbill is a real beauty ... Stag and a big Hawkbill blade is the perfect combo ..

[smiling-knife]

Thanks LongBlade. This one is Humphreys and Co, Sheffield.

[gsmith7158]

Thanks LongBlade. This one is Humphreys and Co, Sheffield.

Hard to beat the stag on that one S-K.

[FRJ]

Very nice Sheffield and French knives, smiling-knife.

I wish I knew who made this one. 4 1/4".

[smiling-knife]

Beautiful knife FRJ. Looks like Sheffield made. From the photo... Integral liners and bolster? Looks like a hand forged spring. Does the spring get thinner and wrap around the butt end? Tang square and flush with bolsters.

[FRJ]

Thank you, smiling-knife. Bolsters are separate from liners.
A view inside the well and the end of the spring. Quite the strong spring, I might add.

[smiling-knife]

Nice FRJ. This one has a similar spring which is tapered, pounded thin and wrapped around the end.

[LongBlade]

Those are some great old Hawkbills Joe and S-K ...

[smiling-knife]

Thanks very much LongBlade. This is a French prunner with horn scales.

[LongBlade]

Nice old French pruner S-K ... and here's another knife with horn handles...

Here’s abit of a different knife for this thread that I think belongs here imo… The knife called a Billhook or Pruning Knife (or sometimes a Fascine knife though many fascine knives had cutting blades on the spine as well) is essentially a fixed blade hawkbill… I know they were used for many things from cutting branches to vines, clearing brush etc etc. They were used here in the US from the 1700s into the 1800s and probably early 1900s in some areas. … I’ve read it has alot of versatility and in fact was used throughout Europe as well many other countries around the world - it is considered a very old knife pattern – lots of utility. Definitely not a fancy knife by any means and a real work horse as a tool.

I believe this knife is old but really hard to date – I would say 1800s is in the ballpark – some say possibly latter half of 1700s when these were often used here in early development. While this came from a local estate and it was believed to have been made in the US and was on temporary display at a New England small museum as such there is no solid evidence or provenance surrounding the knife. Billhooks such as this were made in France, Italy and England among many countries – fixed blade billhooks were not as common in Spain from my reading but were made as folding pruners in far more numbers. Supposedly some billhooks were made in the US but not in great numbers and only by small shop blacksmiths. Billhooks were brought over during our early history from England and France & Italy is a possibility – in any event it was no doubt all handmade and forged with a hammer – and one can see the marks of hammer forging in the right light… Many were made by blacksmiths and stamped but only with initials etc and generally not a location which makes these even harder to ID… I showed a photo of the stamp which looks like “RC” or “RG” – I think - but no clue as to origin….. The blade is 6 1/4" and handle 4 1/4" ...

The handle is 2 pieces of horn pinned to the tang (no ferrule) - handmade pins and hammered – you can see the layers of horn from age and wear… Interestingly most old billhook handles were wood with a metal ferrule to prevent handle splitting though horn handles were used as well. The end of handle is actually the tapered tang of the knife which extended through the handle. I am not sure the end of the tang was made to encircle the butt end of the knife and act as a permanent bail. It may have originally acted as a hand guard but was bent over the end at some point or perhaps was not comfortable to the user’s hand so it was reconfigured to be out of the way - a few different photo angles were taken to try and show it best – In my hand if it was a hand guard I can see how it would not be comfortable given my grip… I will say this billhook had alot of use – when holding the horn handle you can feel exactly where the original user(s) fingers would grip the handle given the wear… In the hand it is no doubt very comfortable - heavy but well balanced. You can see where it was hammered on the spine during use.

Anybody have any thoughts regarding this knife? any other info on billhooks or billhooks to share? Just curious - when researching this type of knife on the internet I found there are no doubt some billhook collectors out there NOD

Thanks for looking!

[TripleF]

No name....

[djknife13]

Lee, I had one of those laying around for years and I don't even remember where I got it from. I think I picked it up just because it looks like a big hawkbill. I think sugar beet harvesters use them out in the beet fields on the western part of the state. Mine has a wooden handle and appears to be a newer USA version with just the number 34 hand stamped on the blade.____Dave