Honk Falls Knife Co. 1921-1929

[wlf]

Thanks to you and Eric James.

[Waukonda]

That is some great info James, thanks for a look into cutlery history. Stuff like this, in my opinion, is one of the best things about collecting knives, love the history. I gotta admit, hadn't really explored this forum before and just finished going through all the posts. Some really, really nice old knives pictured. Thanks again!

[JAMESC41001]

I’ve been gathering a bunch of interesting info. Just need more time to put it all together. Here is another Honk I’ve picked up along the way.

[BWT]

Very nice James, I have never seen a Honk Falls in person

[JAMESC41001]

They come around occasionally on eBay Bill. Still few and far between. A little pricey as well. I pretty much stopped buying knives just in case one pops up somewhere.

[Duffer]

Here is a Honk Falls 3 & 1/2 inch coke bottle Jack I recently acquired. I have been looking for a HF for a couple of years and finally found this example. The handles are in great shape with no cracks or splits that I can detect. The blades have some loss but are fairly full. Anyway, very pleased to finally have one

[peanut740]

Very interesting ephemera James.Lloyd,that is a dandy!.

[Waukonda]

Lloyd, Great looking knife, a coke bottle pattern no less!

[edge213]

Here is a Honk Falls 3 & 1/2 inch coke bottle Jack I recently acquired. I have been looking for a HF for a couple of years and finally found this example. The handles are in great shape with no cracks or splits that I can detect. The blades have some loss but are fairly full. Anyway, very pleased to finally have one

Beautiful knife

[TPK]

Looks very nice Duffer! Congratulations that you found one you like!

[danno50]

Very interesting paper work, James, thank you for posting it! Lovely Honk Falls pen knife as well!
Beautiful knife, Lloyd, congratulations on a great find!

[JAMESC41001]

Great knife Lloyd! That was actually the first pattern I got as well. Mine has been rehandled on one side. The gentleman I purchased it from told me it was damaged in the factory fire. I always believed it was done in the Barn Mr. Cushner set up. Now with this info I can confirm this. I’ve seen about six of these coke bottles and I notice some have steel pivot pins and some brass. Yours looks perfect. Maybe it made it out the door before the fire. The fire was In October 1929. Thanks for posting it. One of my favorite knives for sure.

[Duffer]

Thanks my friends for your nice comments on this Honk Falls Jack!!

[LongBlade]

F7F49B64-3854-42F2-A788-05CE5C46E2AE.jpeg

I’ve been gathering a bunch of interesting info. Just need more time to put it all together. Here is another Honk I’ve picked up along the way.

Lovely pen knife Jay ... Looks like it has some heft to it for a pen knife ... I'm looking forward to your new interesting info ..

Here is a Honk Falls 3 & 1/2 inch coke bottle Jack I recently acquired. I have been looking for a HF for a couple of years and finally found this example. The handles are in great shape with no cracks or splits that I can detect. The blades have some loss but are fairly full. Anyway, very pleased to finally have one

Stunning Hunter Lloyd ... Great bone and I'm really liking the secondary blade along with the clip - you don't find many Hunters with a secondary blade - I remember Miller Bros made one with a clip and I believe a big spear blade but it is a very rare knife...

[JAMESC41001]

Thanks Lee. Did you take a look at the papers I posted?

[LongBlade]

Hey Jay - I was abit behind on here ,,, but saw the papers/letters on previous page - fantastic stuff ...

[JAMESC41001]

Some research on the Napanoch punch. This pic was printed from a glass plate negative circa 1915.

Napanoch knife began making knives in 1900. The application for a patent for the punch was filed 1907 and awarded in 1908.

By 1919 Napanoch was sold to Winchester. Winchester continued to make knives under both the winchester and Napanoch name. Some Winchester knives have the distinctive punch and some do not. By 1921 some ex Napanoch employees set up shop in the old Napanoch factory under the name Honk Falls Knife. By 1925 all three companies were listed as manufacturing pocket knives.

In 1929 the Honk falls factory was destroyed by fire but Honk falls knives continued to be manufactured in Napanoch in a different location. When Winchester went into receivership the Naponoch name and the intellectual property ie the patents and trademarks came with it. The owner of Honk Falls, John Cushner began making Napanoch marked knives in Napanoch once again.

Of the half dozen Honk Falls knives I’ve seen with punches none have the distinctive Napanoch punch and I do not recall ever seeing and Napanoch knives that did not have the distinctive punch.

These are two of my Honk falls. I think it’s likely Winchester used existing inventory until the supply ran out. What happened to this specialized piece of equipment is not known but it does not appear to fit into the “production line” style of manufacture winchester was moving towards and may not be suited to pressing out with a press or drop hammer. It appears after the sale to Winchester these punches were never again made in Nappanoch. This may or may not be an accurate statement but I put it out there in an effort to get input from others who can add to this research. As an interesting piece of info this was posted in the Winchester thread here. The knife pictured is very similar to the scout ive shown here with a Honk stamp.

[danno50]

Great research, James, very interesting!

[Jacknifeben]

This could be one of the oldest Carmen punch blades?

[JAMESC41001]

Thanks Dan. JKB that is an early one. Probably 1907 according to the paper work. Thanks for posting a pic. Is that a Nap?

[Jacknifeben]

No NAPANOCH. This is a JACK KNIFE BEN from UNION STOCK YARDS CHICAGO. There is a lot of history about this man BENJAMIN CHON started selling knives at the stock yards before 1900 to all of farmers when they would bring their live stock in. All of the knives were on contract from different cutlery companies. There are some articles on web sites. Through the years I have ended up with an extensive collection with three Winchester’s and ten Jack Knife Bens with the Carmen punch. Plus about 80 from different cutlery co. With the Jack Knife Ben and Jack Knife Shop stamp.

[JAMESC41001]

I read some history and your right it is a great story for sure. Love to see a better pick of your knife there if possible. Also I recall seeing a pat pending punch on a winchester somewhere. Do any of your Winchester’s have pat pending on them? Thanks for the info on Jack Knife Ben.

[RalphAlsip]

This is a Jack Knife Ben cattle knife that I think was made by Napanoch. Am I right? I highlighted the stamps and cleaned up the Pat'd stamp to make it easier to read.

[JAMESC41001]

I believe it is Napanoch. Weather it was made in NY or Connecticut I can’t say. Here are pics from Rhett Stidam’s book. It is shown twice. Only difference I see is the price and the language regarding the punch. Probably before and after the patent being awarded.

[JAMESC41001]

Actually looking closer your blades are configured differently. Here is a winchester from the 1926-27 catalog for comparison.