Honk Falls Knife Co. 1921-1929

[peanut740]

The top knife has a German look to it.The bolster pins show up like German knives.Or it could be because the handles are celluloid.

[JAMESC41001]

That is interesting Roger. I finally got the book “knife makers that went west” by Harvey Platts yesterday. There are a few knives pictured in there with what looks to be very similar style bolsters. Like the one pictured here. I can’t recall seeing other manufactures who use

this feature. ??? Are there other that I do not know about?

[FRJ]

Any idea what manufacturer did work like that that?

Here are pinched bolsters on a Union Knife Co. tuxedo. I believe it's from Naugatuck.

[JAMESC41001]

Very nice knife there. For some reason I’ve been staying away from calling the bolsters on the Honk Falls “pinched”. Thought maybe these were a bit different From what I understand that to be??

[JAMESC41001]

Been looking at Napanoch’s relationship with Case and all the associated companies. Found something interesting. This is an add from a 1904 hardware publication. Check out the factory locations at the bottom.

[LongBlade]

Been looking at Napanoch’s relationship with Case and all the associated companies. Found something interesting. This is an add from a 1904 hardware publication. Check out the factory locations at the bottom.

Very interesting Jay .. I find the relationship among companies to be sometimes much more extensive than one may imagine...

Here's another knife with pinched bolsters - Jonathan Crookes Congress - Sheffield... I may have a few others with similar bolsters but just another example..

[JAMESC41001]

That’s a beauty Lee. The pinched bolsters on the western Knives are pretty distinctive. The Platts story has a lot of twists so it’s a bit hard to navigate. The factory collection is laid out in Jim Seargents book. Lots of knives from different manufactures until they started manufacturing themselves again. If I had to guess though right now I would say the two Honks I posted were made by western or possibly Union made them and knives for western. I thought maybe someone here may have a better idea but not much coming back. Oh well

[KAW]

Interesting piece of the puzzle you found there Jay... Lately I've become more interested in knife ephemera as it points to clues that there is more to the story than the documented history we have so far. Unfortunately... finding a piece like you have... proves there are several more missing pieces to find before we really get the big picture.

[JAMESC41001]

It’s true Ken. I’ve been spending more on books lately the knives. I don’t own any Case, Platts or Union Knives but the more I’m learning I kind wish I did. Crazy how many companies are part of the Case story.

[wlf]

Nice knives fellas, and I agree with Lee. I expect the cutlers had a fraternity and had influence across boundaries, on all levels of the industry.

[JAMESC41001]

Here is some communications I found really interesting and lucky to get. Half of these papers were listed under Ulster and the other under Honk falls. Luckily a friend (thanks Eric) grabbed the ulster half and I purchased the Honk Falls half. These as you know don’t come around everyday and to be able to put all the correspondence together is just luck. What you can see is a request from Honk falls to Lampson Goodnow to job some Kitchen and butchers cutlery. In turn Lampson reached out to ulster to inquire about the Honk falls knife co. You can see they gave a less then flattering response back. These papers answer a few questions for me and this is the first official letterhead I’ve seen as well.

[Duffer]

Thanks James for posting photos of this correspondence! I find it very interesting and it also answers some questions I have had about Honk Falls too. Thanks again

[JAMESC41001]

You Bet Lloyd.

[edge213]

2DC6FF8C-B469-4E96-A8E6-B41EA54B15A6.jpeg3EAA63BC-027D-4B40-BC41-A7AD1139C9A7.jpeg7C9AC7DD-19C9-44BD-9D89-B81121FB69BB.jpeg3FCD10E6-F8FC-469E-AEAE-D1C06007D7A8.jpeg01F7DA15-C256-4596-8266-7E59F13BF8DC.jpegF705A94D-7BF0-41E8-BFEB-C07F31A946A7.jpegHere is some communications I found really interesting and lucky to get. Half of these papers were listed under Ulster and the other under Honk falls. Luckily a friend (thanks Eric) grabbed the ulster half and I purchased the Honk Falls half. These as you know don’t come around everyday and to be able to put all the correspondence together is just luck. What you can see is a request from Honk falls to Lampson Goodnow to job some Kitchen and butchers cutlery. In turn Lampson reached out to ulster to inquire about the Honk falls knife co. You can see they gave a less then flattering response back. These papers answer a few questions for me and this is the first official letterhead I’ve seen as well.

Thank you for posting, I found it very interesting and enjoyable to read.

[JAMESC41001]

Glad you guys appreciate this stuff as much as I do.

[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!