Homage to Traditional Pen Knives

[OLDE CUTLER]

Bernard Levine has said that the older Utica knives with the arched stamping, like this one, are very well made knives. I like this big sleeveboard pattern.
kj

Aside from the cracks in the plastic handle material, this does seem to be a well made knife. Do you know a ballpark date when the arched stamp Uticas were made?

[kootenay joe]

I think the arched "Utica" ended about 1955. I need to check this. If wrong i will correct it.
kj

[TPK]

I picked up this old Utica sleeve board pen for a few bucks recently. The plastic handle material is not the best, but for now I will sharpen it up and EDC it. It may need new scales in the future.

IMG_3452.JPG
IMG_3453.JPG

Nice little knife! Looks great!

[RobesonsRme.com]

I’ve never seen a Utica knife that wasn’t well made, regardless of the stamp.

Even their most recent products are nice.

Had I known they were located on Noyes Street in Utica, New York, I might have collected them instead of Robesons.

Charlie

[LongBlade]

Here's an unusual and rare pen knife - IXL Wostenholm Double Gunstock Pen knife - According to Levine's guide it may be the only double gunstock pen ever made (and he shows an example that matches this one exactly except mine has full bolsters) - The only other 2 gunstock pens he notes are the Case Tested XX 87 (?) model and the Remington Orange Blossom (I have a Remington Orange Blossom) -neither of which is a double gunstock... This knife is 3 & 3/4" long... I may have posted this long ago but never posted it here with these new pics ... Yes that is "African Tooth" as a handle material ... this is another pattern of which I have never seen another... Marked Sheffield England so believe it to be late 1890s - early 1900s...

[TPK]

Here's an unusual and rare pen knife - IXL Wostenholm Double Gunstock Pen knife - According to Levine's guide it may be the only double gunstock pen ever made (and he shows an example that matches this one exactly except mine has full bolsters) - The only other 2 gunstock pens he notes are the Case Tested XX 87 (?) model and the Remington Orange Blossom (I have a Remington Orange Blossom) -neither of which is a double gunstock... This knife is 3 & 3/4" long... I may have posted this long ago but never posted it here with these new pics ... Yes that is "African Tooth" as a handle material ... this is another pattern of which I have never seen another... Marked Sheffield England so believe it to be late 1890s - early 1900s...


Really cool knife Lee! Thanks for posting it!

[doglegg]

Well LongBlade that is a jewel. Rare in design, hence rare in availability and in a wonderful handle material
That is a wonderful knife to own.

[LongBlade]

Thanks Tom and doglegg ..

[Waukonda]

That is an impressive knife, a real beauty, Lee. Being a relatively new member, I really appreciate you re-posting some of your knives. I have spent countless hours in recents months going through old threads. Many times, I will want to go back and take another look at a knife a couple of days after seeing it, but can't remember exactly where to find it. Unless it has very specific, or unique characteristics to type into the search field, it can be a time consuming chore to find what I am after.

[1fartsmella]

Here's an unusual and rare pen knife - IXL Wostenholm Double Gunstock Pen knife - According to Levine's guide it may be the only double gunstock pen ever made (and he shows an example that matches this one exactly except mine has full bolsters) - The only other 2 gunstock pens he notes are the Case Tested XX 87 (?) model and the Remington Orange Blossom (I have a Remington Orange Blossom) -neither of which is a double gunstock... This knife is 3 & 3/4" long... I may have posted this long ago but never posted it here with these new pics ... Yes that is "African Tooth" as a handle material ... this is another pattern of which I have never seen another... Marked Sheffield England so believe it to be late 1890s - early 1900s...

Lee, That IXL Double Gun stock is very cool. Did you know New York Knife also made that pattern? I don't have one, but I have seen one at the Mystic show for sale. Here is a scan from the 1908 Biddle Hardware catalog. Thanks for posting.
Just as a point of interest the pearl knife to the right of the Gun stock is the most expensive knife in the catalog at $48.00 per dozen wholesale.

[LongBlade]

That is an impressive knife, a real beauty, Lee. Being a relatively new member, I really appreciate you re-posting some of your knives. I have spent countless hours in recents months going through old threads. Many times, I will want to go back and take another look at a knife a couple of days after seeing it, but can't remember exactly where to find it. Unless it has very specific, or unique characteristics to type into the search field, it can be a time consuming chore to find what I am after.

Thanks Ike ... It's always my pleasure to share my knives - and as this site developed there always seems to be a few threads where a knife will fit so I like to do it for archival purposes and over time as you noted it is easier to find knives of interest ..

Here's an unusual and rare pen knife - IXL Wostenholm Double Gunstock Pen knife - According to Levine's guide it may be the only double gunstock pen ever made (and he shows an example that matches this one exactly except mine has full bolsters) - The only other 2 gunstock pens he notes are the Case Tested XX 87 (?) model and the Remington Orange Blossom (I have a Remington Orange Blossom) -neither of which is a double gunstock... This knife is 3 & 3/4" long... I may have posted this long ago but never posted it here with these new pics ... Yes that is "African Tooth" as a handle material ... this is another pattern of which I have never seen another... Marked Sheffield England so believe it to be late 1890s - early 1900s...

Lee, That IXL Double Gun stock is very cool. Did you know New York Knife also made that pattern? I don't have one, but I have seen one at the Mystic show for sale. Here is a scan from the 1908 Biddle Hardware catalog. Thanks for posting.
Just as a point of interest the pearl knife to the right of the Gun stock is the most expensive knife in the catalog at $48.00 per dozen wholesale.

Thanks Barry - I never knew NYK made a Double Gunstock - very cool and thanks very much for sharing the info ... I was only going by Levine's notes about gunstock patterns and pen knives - but this wouldn't be the first time I have seen an addition or correction to Levine ... Thanks again !!

[OLDE CUTLER]

I picked up this Landers, Frary, & Clark tip bolster pen at a gunshow over the week end for a couple of bucks. It is 3 1/4" overall with black composition handle material that has a few cracks, but otherwise in good shape. The "Universal" blade etch is still visible too. The pile side of the master is stamped U02275

[Stanwade]

Some very beautiful nice everyone! I don’t carry small knives but I love collecting them. Here are three different E.C. Simmons Keen Kutters..the first one I recently traded...I posted these on another sub forum but I figured I would post them here also..I Have several other pen knives l’ll post next time I open the safe …

[Stanwade]

A few more..

From top to bottom;

-Argyle Cutlery
Germany
-Savoy Cutlery
Germany
-Saxon Cutlery
Germany
-Sheffield
-E.C. Simmons
Keen Kutter
- A.W.
Wadsworth
&Son
Germany
-Imperial
Stainless
U.S.A.

[Stanwade]

*

[TPK]

A few more..

From top to bottom;

-Argyle Cutlery
Germany
-Savoy Cutlery
Germany
-Saxon Cutlery
Germany
-Sheffield
-E.C. Simmons
Keen Kutter
- A.W.
Wadsworth
&Son
Germany
-Imperial
Stainless
U.S.A.

Great looking knives! Very nice!



This one showed up at my house today.

Carl Rader Solingen, MOP, Crest Shield. It's in great condition. It's snappy and has a nice F&F. Took a few pictures, threw some baby oil on it and placed it in my show case. Hope you enjoy the pictures & Thanks for looking.

[New_Windsor_NY]

VERY nice "pen"manship guys.

[Stanwade]

Tom— thanks my friend and sweet pick up!

Skip— thanks my friend!

[TPK]

Thanks for the comments Skip & Ryan!

I have a story to tell about my new MOP pen knife. It was sent in a small zip-lock bag inbetween two pieces of cardboard. If you look at these two pictures, you'll see the seller's picture first, then my picture. See the difference? One handle got cracked in the mail. I was pretty sad about it.

Anyways, me being me, way too nice. Yes sometimes, even boarderline stupid. I still gave him a posative rating and then I wrote him an Email and I told him I wasn't writing to bitch or complain, just wanted him to know he needed to wrap some bubble wrap around his knives because mine had gotten broken in the mail but that I still gave him a posative rating.

He wrote back.

He said Thanks for being so nice, I have some more just like it, I'll send you a new one free of charge on monday.

Once in a while, being way too nice does pay off. Not always, but sometimes.

[WillyCamaro]

Hey Tom, that is some great news . And ole "cracky" is still a beautiful knife .
Yes, being nice has paid off, for me, many times over , not always, but most of the time .
Willy

[TPK]

Hey Tom, that is some great news . And ole "cracky" is still a beautiful knife .
Yes, being nice has paid off, for me, many times over , not always, but most of the time .
Willy

Well good! I'm glad you have had more posative experiences than me. I'm more used to being taken advatage of but that may have something to do with who it is your dealing with and their mentality, morals or ethics.

And I'm still questioning if "ole cracky" is really cracked or if he just sent me a different one than was on his pictures because I can't reeeeeally or juuuuust barely feel anything when I run my fingernail across it ("the crack") but it looks "cracked". It's like it's cracked under the surface. Does MOP sometimes look this way? Maybe those who own some MOP knives know more about this & can shed some light on the subject for me.

Either way, it's not as it was pictured for sale so I'm glad he is sending my another one. I did pay a pretty penny for it and I believe it's fair to wish for the knife to show up as pictured. When pictures are part of the description, the knife should be as pictured in my opinion. And like I said, I was super nice about the whole deal and just suggested that he use some sort of padding by his future sales so I did not force him to offer me any kind of compensation but I'm very happy that he did. Maybe I can trade this one for some other small knife sometime. That would be cool!

[LongBlade]

Nice knife Tom ...

It is not cracked buddy - that is natural in the MOP and if I am not mistaken the hafters who did the handles liked to use those pieces of MOP with the imperfections as supposedly it added to the appeal... either way it is not broken (at least doesn't appear to be and you said you can't feel it on the surface) so no worries friend - enjoy the knife

Here is a Southington of mine posted as an example so you can see the same imperfection in the MOP (and I have other examples) -

[TPK]

Nice knife Tom ...

It is not cracked buddy - that is natural in the MOP and if I am not mistaken the hafters who did the handles liked to use those pieces of MOP with the imperfections as supposedly it added to the appeal... either way it is not broken (at least doesn't appear to be and you said you can't feel it on the surface) so no worries friend - enjoy the knife

Here is a Southington of mine posted as an example so you can see the same imperfection in the MOP (and I have other examples) -

Mark Side DSCN9256.JPG

Great News! Thanks for clearing that up for me!
I appreciate you taking the time to respond Lee! Thanks!
And that's a beautiful Southington knife you have!

[WillyCamaro]

You know what, thinking bout my pearl knives, some of them have the exact same thing going on (if you can call pearl the same thing from knife to knife ). And thank you LongBlade for reassuring me and Tom . Never was quite certain if it was natural, or damage. Now I know .
Willy

[TPK]

My second Carl Rader - Solingen - MOP - Pen knife showed up today. Thanks for looking.
I'll probably keep one and offer the second one for a trade when the world gets back to normal. Don't think it's a good idea to be mailing packages around the world right now. They might get stranded or quarantined or who knows what right now.