Colonial knife company?

Colonial Knife was incorporated in 1926 by three brothers; Antonio, Domenic, & Fredrick Paolantonio. It grew to become one of the largest pocket knife manufacturers in the US during the 1960s. The company shut down in 1998, but was back into production under the Colonial Cutlery International Corporation in 2001. Colonial Cutlery International, Inc. brand is the imported line of knives and tools while the U.S.A.- made products fall under the Colonial Knife brand.
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snorkel
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Colonial knife company?

Post by snorkel »

Anyone know anything about the Colonial Knife Company:
http://www.colonialknifecompany.net/

The have a lockback that looks exactly like a schrade LB7 and apparently it's made in the US.

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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by knifeaholic »

There was an article about Colonial in a recent issue of BLADE magazine.
Steve Pfeiffer, author of Collecting Case Knives: Identification and Price Guide published by Krause Publications.
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snorkel
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by snorkel »

Do you recall anything from the article? I can't seem to find out if they are actually made in the US or imported ala Taylor brands.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by Absintheur »

All made in China, the only ones made in the US are the ribbed plastic handled autos.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by snorkel »

I picked up one of the lockbacks, not a bad knife at all, it's all stainless steel construction and
is a lot more scratch and tarnish resistant that brass or NS knives.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by snorkel »

Check out my post here :
****Link to Post****

I customized one of these and it's pretty darn sweet. These are great lockbacks and make a excellent canvas for customizing.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by colonial knife corp »

yes, long history. Why do you ask?

Steve P.
Colonial Knife Corp.

colonial knife corp. com
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snorkel
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by snorkel »

colonial knife corp wrote:yes, long history. Why do you ask?

Steve P.
Colonial Knife Corp.

colonial knife corp. com
Steve,
your web page is not working anymore? What's up with that?
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by big monk »

I've got this one that is stamped Colonial Stainless USA,on the main clip blade,and has patent 2,817,996 on the spey blade,no marking on, sheepsfoot blade. It's a three blade stockman pattern, 3 7/8 in. closed.with an anvil shield. The handles do appear to be some type of molded, plastic or delrin,and the backsprings and liners seem to be carbon steel,cause they have some light rust. I don't know the year of mfg. ????????? Most of the anvil shield knives similar to this one,on ebay read Anvil-Prov.USA _________any more information, on this knife,would be greatly appreciated____not trying to hy-jack your thread Snorkel,just trying to add some info________Monk ::tu::
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I'm not young enough,____to know everything !!!!!!!!!!!!

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Re: Anvil Brand knives by Colonial

Post by colonial knife corp »

introduced into the Colonial line of products during the 1970's the Anvil brand series was desgined by the students at the Rhode Island School of Design. there were the standard three size, small med. and large all three blades.
The Anvil sereis was manufactured until the the year 2000.

Steve Paolantonio
Colonial Knife Corp. :D
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by knife7knut »

Welcome to the forum Steve if no one hasn't already do so.I have quite a few Colonial brand knives including a lot of early ones.My first switchblade was a green scaled Colonial fishtail that I promptly broke the spring on and repaired it with a piece of a large hairpin I got from my grandmother(I was about 12).

Although most of the early knives I have are of excellent quality I must tell you about one I acquired some time back that was a bit less.It apparently was a giveaway and in my opinion not a good choice as one.
It came in a small leather pouch and the scales were ink stamped,"Compliments of Colonial Knife Company".The tang stamp stamp had been ground off and the knife was finished VERY poorly.I am enclosing a picture of it.

Anyway welcome to the forum and looking forward to seeing some of your posts.
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ColonialSecond1.JPG
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by colonial knife corp »

we would do this so it would not be confused with 1st. qualtiy production pieces.
does it cut well
happy holidays,
Steve Paolantonio
Colonial Knife Corp. :D :D
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by knife7knut »

colonial knife corp wrote:we would do this so it would not be confused with 1st. qualtiy production pieces.
does it cut well
happy holidays,
Steve Paolantonio
Colonial Knife Corp. :D :D
I understand Steve.Actually it doesn't have a very good edge at all but I don't consider it a problem.More of a curiosity than anything else.My current passion is for unusual knives and this one fit the bill.
Happy Holidays to you as well.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by colonial knife corp »

all Colonial products come with a lifetime warranty, if we can't repair it we will replace it with one of equal or higher value.
hoep this finds you well,
Steve P.
colonial knife corp.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by knife7knut »

I appreciate the offer Steve but I like it the way it is.I had a similar experience several years ago.

My brother-in-law got me a Franklin Mint knife for Christmas.It was marked as being a tribute to the 1957 Chevrolet and had a pic of one in the scale and the bolsters were shaped to look like bumper ends.Only problem was the blade was stamped with an image and lettering of a 1953 Corvette;a knife they had yet to introduce.

I sent a letter to the company informing them of the error and suggesting they check their inventory for possible other errors.Several weeks later I got a note from the company president thanking me and offering to replace the knife.I told him that I would just as soon keep it as it was a one-of-a-kind piece.A week later I get a correct one in the mail thanking me for my effort.Now I have one to compare it with.

Unusual items like this are what I mostly collect now.I've been collecting knives since I was 10 years old(I'll be 67 in another 6 weeks)and as a result have a few(thousand).Still enjoy looking for the unusual one though.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by colonial knife corp »

updated web site is http://www.colonialknifecorp.com

colonial knife corp. com

give it a try, love to hear feed back

Steve Paolantonio
:D :D
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by SC1052 »

So,did Colonial make the Anvil knife or what? I have an identical knife that was sold to me as an Anvil Cutlery knife. Mine has Anvil on the tang with Prov, USA underneath. Another blade has the patten number of 3,317,996, the Colonial name is nowhere on my knife.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by orvet »

Steve Paolantonio posted this answer on the previous page of this thread.
colonial knife corp wrote:introduced into the Colonial line of products during the 1970's the Anvil brand series was desgined by the students at the Rhode Island School of Design. there were the standard three size, small med. and large all three blades.
The Anvil sereis was manufactured until the the year 2000.

Steve Paolantonio
Colonial Knife Corp. :D
Anvil was a trademark owned and manufactured by Colonial Knife Corp.
I have one of the Anvil knives. It is a good quality user knife, on par with an Old Timer or a Camillus. A quality knife made to use!

There are millions of Old Timer brand knives & Uncle Henry brand knives, yet there was no Old Timer or Uncle Henry knife companies. They were merely brands owned and sold by Imperial Schrade Corp. The same is true of Anvil; the brand name is owned by Colonial and was manufactured by them.

I hope that clears things up a bit.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by SC1052 »

Well, I did a google on the patten number and it shows the registration belongs to Colonial, even though the name Colonial is nowhere on my knife. There was a real Anvil Cuttlery Company that make actual Anvil pocketknives from around 1920 to 1922 but they went out of business and that is where the Anvil knife originated. My knife was sold to me as being made by the original Anvil company 1920-1921, and I'm very disappointed to learn otherwise. Ive seen two identical to mine except they have Colonial on the tang, mine has Anvil USA and a patten number that turns out to be Colonial. There is one for sale now on ebay for a buy it now price of $99.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by knife7knut »

I'm in the process of updating my photos of my knives and will have more to show but for now here is probably my most unusual Colonial knife with folding cleaver blade.Picked up on e-Bay awhile back.Not a very practical design from a couple of points:the pivot rivet really isn't strong enough to absorb much of a blow as the result of using the cleaver and probably the most important:with the cleaver blade folded,it is almost impossible to grip the handle to use the clip blade.
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by Miller Bro's »

knife7knut wrote:Not a very practical design from a couple of points:the pivot rivet really isn't strong enough to absorb much of a blow as the result of using the cleaver and probably the most important:with the cleaver blade folded,it is almost impossible to grip the handle to use the clip blade
That is why every one I have ever seen was in unused condition, or only very lightly used ::nod::
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by knife7knut »

Here's a couple more Colonials:
A TL-29 type advertising the Buckley Powder Co and DuPont Explosives.
A TL-29 with saw cut scales.
A TL-29 type Barlow.
A WWII era pilot's survival knife.Only two companies made these(as far as I know):Colonial and United Cutlery of Grand Rapids Michigan.I have both.
A two blade peanut style with cracked ice scales inset.
A 3-blade TL-29 type with wood scales.One blade marked Colonial and another marked High Carbon Steel USA.
A baseball bat knife advertising a Chrysler dealership.
A letter opener knife with a serpentine handle and inlayed cracked ice scales.
A yellow scaled lockback.
A pipe knife.
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BuckleyPowderCo1.jpg
ColonialSawCut1.jpg
ColonialBarlowTL-29.jpg
Colonial1.jpg
Colonial2BladeLeftSide.JPG
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Colonial3BladeHC1.jpg
ColonialBatKnifeOpen.JPG
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ColonialLetterOpener.JPG
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ColonialLockbackLeftSide.JPG
ColonialLockbackLeftSide.JPG (20.03 KiB) Viewed 10605 times
ColonialPipe3.JPG
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by Joe Dirt »

A more appropriate blade for a coke bottle frame :lol:

5 1/4" Basket weave cell fish knife - 1940s? ::shrug::
These can be found in red basket weave also.

..... Joe
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Colonial coke bottle fish knife.JPG
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by Miller Bro's »

Image

Never seen that handle material before ::tu::
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Re: Colonial knife company?

Post by knife7knut »

Miller Bro`s wrote:Image

Never seen that handle material before ::tu::

Those started showing up on e-Bay awhile back;I believe there was blue,red,and green.Somebody posted a couple in one of the threads but I can't recall where.
At first I thought someone had got hold of a bunch of old knives and re-handled them(I still do)but supposedly they were legit.Maybe Steve from Colonial will see this post and comment on it.
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