Old Keen Kutter Knives

[Duffer]

Great Walden made Tuxedo knife from a great guy to another great guy Dan thanks for all your wonderful insights and knowledge into the EC Simmons KK Brand!!

[peanut740]

Dan

[danno50]

Thanks for the comments woodwalker, Lloyd and Roger.

[LongBlade]

Nice knife Dan ... and kudos to Mike for the gift to your wonderful KK collection ..

[danno50]

Thanks Lee.

[wlf]

Great additions Dan from two gentlemen who’ve helped me with gifts in my endeavors.

[JohnR]

This little beauty showed up in my mailbox yesterday, gifted to me by galvanic1882. A 3" tuxedo, pattern K7206. Sellens says it was in the catalogs from 1905 to 1920.

That's a great old knife Dan, pretty nice gift from Mike.

[danno50]

thanks for the comments, Lyle and John.

[jxr1197]

I don't look for old lobsters but this one sure caught my eye. Simmons crammed a lot of character into this little guy

K4943

1917 catalog image from COSRUS

[KnifeSlinger#81]

I don't look for old lobsters but this one sure caught my eye. Simmons crammed a lot of character into this little guy

K4943
K4943.jpg

1917 catalog image from COSRUS
cat.jpg

Wow, that is one heck of a knife. Quite expensive for the time too.

[jxr1197]

Wow, that is one heck of a knife. Quite expensive for the time too.

Thanks Paul. When you go through the old Walden catalog the first thing that grabs your attention is the prices. This knife would have been about $100 wholesale (adjusted.) All the patterns were kind of expensive, but man were they pretty !

[KnifeSlinger#81]

Some people are willing to pay big bucks for high end or fancy knives, I guess back then wasn't much different.

[danno50]

That is a beauty, Jason, great find!

[1967redrider]

I don't look for old lobsters but this one sure caught my eye. Simmons crammed a lot of character into this little guy

K4943
K4943.jpg

1917 catalog image from COSRUS
cat.jpg

That's really nice, great find!

[jxr1197]

Thanks fellas - I appreciate the comments

[LongBlade]

Late to the party but that is an awesome Simmons knife and cool pattern Jason .. pretty unique design for a lobster too imo ... Thanks for sharing that catalog cut from 1917 as well ...

[wlf]

Nice knife. It’s always icing on the cake with their catalog cut

[jxr1197]

I just picked up this interesting Keen Kutter 3.5" jack. The tang stamp is 3 lines: SIMMONS - H'DWARE - CO
It's not in Goins. The same stamp with England beneath it is a known 1868-1905 mark so it's likely the same era. Any guesses on who made it?

[New_Windsor_NY]

It looks like the price is Per Dozen.

[jxr1197]

It looks like the price is Per Dozen.

You're right but I think you may have missed the year. It would break down to a wholesale of about $4.66 per knife in 1917 which would work out to about $100 today. At $56 per, we'd be talking about a $1200 wholesale cost.

[danno50]

Interesting stamp, Jason, I have not seen that one before.

[JAMESC41001]

I’ve seen Keen Kutter knives advertised saying the are made with “Sheffield Steel” does anyone have information that can shed more light on this. Like what year this started or ended. I recently purchased Mr. Sellens book but have to say I’m a little disappointed with the lack of information. Makes a great catalog though.

[danno50]

I’ve seen Keen Kutter knives advertised saying the are made with “Sheffield Steel” does anyone have information that can shed more light on this. Like what year this started or ended. I recently purchased Mr. Sellens book but have to say I’m a little disappointed with the lack of information. Makes a great catalog though.

Good question. Below is a page from the 1912 catalog. Hopefully, it is readable. Under the section titled Blades, it has a description of the blades being hammer forged from the "Highest Grade of English Crucible Steel imported especially for the purpose". The 1917 catalog has exactly the same description. The 1930 catalog says the blades "are forged from the Highest Grade of Steel especially for the purpose". So they quit importing English steel sometime between 1918 and 1930?
In the picture of the boxes, I believe the box on the right may be from before 1905, when the wedge and bar shield was first used. It states that the knives were manufactured from S & C Wardlow's English Knife Blade Steel. This still doesn't answer when they first started using English steel?

Have to click on each of the images to make them large enough to be readable.

[stockman]

Jason, I have a couple KK's marked like yours. You have a nice old knife. It is before the Bar and wedge logo, probably pre 1905. IMO.

Harold

Sorry I did not read Dans reply. Edit

Harold

[JAMESC41001]

Thanks Dan, That’s perfect I think I may be able to fill in the blanks. Picked up an interesting book. I think I will be able to connect some dots using the info you provided here. Much appreciated.
Jay