Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
- mountainad82
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
I am always on the lookout for C.M. McClung Hardware knives from Knoxville, TN. I just picked up the best example I have found so far. This particular knife has full blades and even has the “Cranberry” brand etch!
Adam
Adam
Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
That's really nice. I'm unfamiliar with them. Thanks for showing.
- americanedgetech
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
That sir, is a beautiful knife!
Ken Mc.
WTB Kershaw 2120 MACHO Lockback Parts knife
I need a pile side scale. THX!
WTB Kershaw 2120 MACHO Lockback Parts knife
I need a pile side scale. THX!
- mountainad82
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Thanks guys! C.M. McClung was a goods distributor located in Knoxville Tennessee that was sort of like a regional Sears and Roebuck that operated from about the 1890s-1970. They branded items with different trade names such as “Cranberry” “Cherokee” etc. Pocket knives were branded “Cranberry” or “Keeneredge”. I knew (from old catalog images) that the Cranberry brand was etched on the blade of some knives but this was the first example I have seen where the etch was still visible. Most of these knives got “used up”. Any guesses on who may have manufactured this one?
Adam
Adam
Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Adam, that is a mighty fine pocket knife.
David
"Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife" Meat Loaf
"Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife" Meat Loaf
- mountainad82
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
The latest C.M. McClung knife that I have turned up. It is a Keeneredge branded pen knife with pretty celluloid handle. C.M. McClung was located in Knoxville, TN. Keeper edge brand was used from the 1930’s-1960’s.
Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
I discovered the the existance of Sporting goods distributor, Fred Biffar's Trade Mark "Dixie Switch" knife in Goins. I actually saw an ad for one in the Golden Rule section of the Big Book Of Pocket Knives first, but it makes no mention of Biffar. G.R. was a Chicago based Company and it was a picture knife. So perhaps Biffar had his picture-knife version of the "Dixie Switch" made by them. Fred Biffar is a (Sears) towering giant in my opinion for trade-marking one of the cooler street names for this knife. According to goins he sold them from 1917-1922.
It took me several months to find a genuine "Dixie Switch" on E-Bay. Sad to say, finding it was one of the peak moments of my late middle age.
The truth is, I was polish-happy in those early days (about a year or so back) and while attempting to bring out the etch by way of obsessive cleaning managed to diminish it-- very nicely! it's a relatively inexpenxive A.W. Wadsworth from Czechoslovakia.
A short while later I found the other. It has no etching but there's a crisp "Fred Biffar /Chicago" stamp on the tang. I want to believe it's a Union Cut Co. as they did some contract work for Biffar along with a number of other companies. But it doesn't have that tell-tale Ka-Bar slight backward curve at the top of the spine. So I'm still investigating the origins of that one.
Cornell Publications Sells a re-print of one of Biffar's sporting goods catalogs. I purposely obscured most of the "Dixie Switch" ad so the lady who runs things at Cornell won't scold me on her web page if she happens to see this post. (Yes, she does publicly shame customers who reveal the innards of one of Cornell's many awesome re-prints-- but she does so in a fairly hilarious way.) The picture-knife version is also listed there as well as his Trade Mark "Dixie Guard" which I'm fairly positive is a Union Cut Co 4inch bowtie.
It took me several months to find a genuine "Dixie Switch" on E-Bay. Sad to say, finding it was one of the peak moments of my late middle age.
The truth is, I was polish-happy in those early days (about a year or so back) and while attempting to bring out the etch by way of obsessive cleaning managed to diminish it-- very nicely! it's a relatively inexpenxive A.W. Wadsworth from Czechoslovakia.
A short while later I found the other. It has no etching but there's a crisp "Fred Biffar /Chicago" stamp on the tang. I want to believe it's a Union Cut Co. as they did some contract work for Biffar along with a number of other companies. But it doesn't have that tell-tale Ka-Bar slight backward curve at the top of the spine. So I'm still investigating the origins of that one.
Cornell Publications Sells a re-print of one of Biffar's sporting goods catalogs. I purposely obscured most of the "Dixie Switch" ad so the lady who runs things at Cornell won't scold me on her web page if she happens to see this post. (Yes, she does publicly shame customers who reveal the innards of one of Cornell's many awesome re-prints-- but she does so in a fairly hilarious way.) The picture-knife version is also listed there as well as his Trade Mark "Dixie Guard" which I'm fairly positive is a Union Cut Co 4inch bowtie.
- mountainad82
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Very cool discovery Robo! Thanks for sharing.
Adam
Adam
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Interesting that there was a knife branded, "Dixie Switch".
"Dixie switch" was a term used to identify a toothpick or Texas Tickle style knife that had been rigged to open with a flick of the wrist by inserting a portion of a wooden match stick inside the knife's frame to leave the blade partially open and to over-ride that first little resistance applied by the backspring. The tip of the blade was still below the top edge of the frame.
I have a Gerber Applegate Combat Folder that I have rigged that way. I can open it faster than most could open a true automatic knife.
Charlie Noyes
"Dixie switch" was a term used to identify a toothpick or Texas Tickle style knife that had been rigged to open with a flick of the wrist by inserting a portion of a wooden match stick inside the knife's frame to leave the blade partially open and to over-ride that first little resistance applied by the backspring. The tip of the blade was still below the top edge of the frame.
I have a Gerber Applegate Combat Folder that I have rigged that way. I can open it faster than most could open a true automatic knife.
Charlie Noyes
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
A John Primble knife - made by Schrade and sold by Belknap Hardware.
The two Old Timers were also made by Schrade, for Belknap Hardware...Ken.
The two Old Timers were also made by Schrade, for Belknap Hardware...Ken.
HI FROM AUSTRALIA
A.A.P.N. # 5197: Member of Australian & U.S Blade Forums...KEN -
I collect Schrade knives - made in the U.S.A.- I like the 8OT
A.A.P.N. # 5197: Member of Australian & U.S Blade Forums...KEN -
I collect Schrade knives - made in the U.S.A.- I like the 8OT
- New_Windsor_NY
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
My John Primble pocket knife. The "information" tang stamp is barely legible (Belknap Hardware). The pattern # tang stamp is less legible. You can barely see the star, in the center of the tang stamp, in the center of the picture. It looks like a number "3" above and slightly to the right of the top point of the star. That's the only number that I'm almost sure of. Maybe a "0" just to the left of the "3." It is 3 3/8" closed. If anyone knows the pattern #, please let me know. Thank you. Click on a picture to ENLARGE.
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Here are a few.
Belknap Hdwre knife & stamp
Bingham knife & stamp
Diamond Edge knife & stamp
Fletcher Hdwre knife & stamp
George Worthington knife & stamp
Belknap Hdwre knife & stamp
Bingham knife & stamp
Diamond Edge knife & stamp
Fletcher Hdwre knife & stamp
George Worthington knife & stamp
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
A few more:
Hibbard,Spencer,& Bartlett tickler,harness jack,and fixed blade stamp.
Rev-O-Noc carver & stamp.
Keen Kutter ad knife & stamp;dogleg jack,granddaddy barlow,scout utility.
Hibbard,Spencer,& Bartlett tickler,harness jack,and fixed blade stamp.
Rev-O-Noc carver & stamp.
Keen Kutter ad knife & stamp;dogleg jack,granddaddy barlow,scout utility.
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Still more.
Norvell-Shapleigh fish jack(made in Germany)and stamp.
Simmons Hardware tuxedo and orange blossom.
Simmons Lady's knife and stamps.
Lockback made for S.S.Kresge Co.(became K-Mart)
Wards tang stamp.
Western Auto Supply fixed blade made by Western(not affiliated).
Norvell-Shapleigh fish jack(made in Germany)and stamp.
Simmons Hardware tuxedo and orange blossom.
Simmons Lady's knife and stamps.
Lockback made for S.S.Kresge Co.(became K-Mart)
Wards tang stamp.
Western Auto Supply fixed blade made by Western(not affiliated).
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!
Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Great assortment Knife7Knut, you meed to quit keeping those under wrap,glad u posted. Really like the Fletcher, been looking for one, also the Norvell Shapleigh
Ike
- 1967redrider
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
I did some research a while back on an Oregon hardware store to solve a Cattaraugus pocket knife etch mystery-
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=19071&p=437391&hil ... ns#p437391
Posted some links to Oakland, OR history too. I just might have to visit and take that knife with me some day.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=19071&p=437391&hil ... ns#p437391
Posted some links to Oakland, OR history too. I just might have to visit and take that knife with me some day.
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!
You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
A John Primble India Steel Works, most likely made around WW1, looks like Schrade Cut Co made to me.
- 1967redrider
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
That's a beaut, love that jigging!
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!
You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
- jerryd6818
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
A couple of McGrew's
A couple of Olsen's
A couple of Rigid's
And a Stanley SL-6
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"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
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The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Jack Knife Ben sold a lot of Schrade knives when he had a shop in Union Stock Yards, Chicago.
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
While not exactly a "pocket knife" it is a hardware store knife. Marshall Wells co. fixed blade. They were a Duluth MN based hardware store and this is the only fixed blade I've seen of theirs. It's also marked as having German makings which is new to me as well.
Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
From our "local" hardware store, three Marshall Wells knives.____Dave
- treefarmer
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Re: Hardware Store and Distributor Knives
Dave,
Those are great! HOK’s for sure.
Treefarmer
Those are great! HOK’s for sure.
Treefarmer
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