My old Rizzuto switchblade

[WindyCity4Life]

Hey everyone, how’s it going? I am New to allaboutpocketknives, although I’ve been reading your forums for quite a while now. So I’m very excited, as I found my old Rizzuto switchblade at my grandpa’s old house! I was 11 years old, it was the spring of 73, when our family took our last vacation together, from Chicago to Southern California and Tijuana. Now, when I say together, I mean that my folk’s divorced a year later; but I’m not trying to get emotional here. My siblings and I figured that divorce meant two Christmas’s, so it was all good!Aha Anyways, as you can imagine with me being 61 years old, my dad is now very old and my grandfather has been gone for a while now. So long story short, my brother, sister and I had to go clean out my grandpa’s old barn/garage at his old house as my dad just sold it, and boy did we find some great stuff! So back to 1973 on our vacation in Tijuana, I bought this black Rizzuto switchblade for about $8.00. I actually remember that my whole family bought some souvenirs on that trip. I bought this Rizzuto and a cheap Butterfly knife, my brother bought brass knuckles and some weed smoking toy that was also a frisbee to throw back and forth to exchange tokes.ahaha Our parent’s actually thought it was a frisbee too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the butterfly knife or weed frisbee, but finding my old switchblade was such a treat. After being in storage for God knows how long, I can’t believe what type of shape it’s in. Even though I bought it in 73, my good friend who’s a knife expert, thinks that it seems like a late-60s Rizzuto model, but I can’t be sure. What do you guys think?! My grandpa came to the U.S. from Sicily, at 13 years old, and knew how to fix everything; I’ve never seen so many different types of tools in my life, some are easily over 100 years old. I also found his old yacht rigging Case knife, that he kept in surprisingly great shape; he had a passion for sailboats, yet it almost looks as if he never used it. I’m actually surprised that he saved my switchblade, as he really hated that I had that thing back then, he’d always say in a thick Italian accent, “whattaa youa wantaa bea’ some Greasa’ball hood o’ someting?!” They were taboo where he came from I guess, I don’t know. Anyways, just thought I’d share my story with you guys, I’m excited as all Hell; I already bought a display case for the two knives and am going to start collecting all kinds of knives! I wish I could show you guys all of these antique tools that we found too, I’m having a great time restoring them. Anyways, hope everyone is doing well; thanks for listening to my story. My wife is sick of me talking about it by now.aha

[QGofLake]

That is a nice old Rizzuto! Love the story behind it. The weed frisbee sounds pretty interesting too

[Bill DeShivs]

I would say that if you bought it in 1973, that it was made within a year or so earlier. It could have been made in the 1960s and sat around in Tijuana for 4-5 years, but these were popular tourist items so that's unlikely.
It doesn't make any difference in value.

[C-WADE7]

Nice memory and knife. There is a “Cool old tools” thread on this site, we would love to see some pics.

[jw517]

Beautiful. You had good taste even as a youngster.

[Madmarco]

to AAPK, Chicago/WindyCity4Life, get it? Ha, ha, ha!
That's a nice ole' Rizzy you rediscovered, and it appears to be in great shape. 10 3/4" oal, right?
I enjoyed your intro, and it's nice seeing someone so excited about a knife, I'm like that all the time!

[Panzerfaust]

That's great that you found it again after all of these years. I missed the Rizzuto era because they were selling Korean swing guards in 1984 when my cousin bought one for me. The Rizzutos are desirable because of nostalgia and being in so many movies and TV shows in the 1970s through the 1980s. I don't know if you can still buy switchblades in Mexico, but it doesn't matter since they have become so plentiful in the USA. I saw a Chinese-made stiletto switchblade at a local convenience store that sells cheap knives.

[tenntuxedo]

.. great memory and story there, Windy,... !!! .. where at in the city did you live,..??? ... I lived in Oaklawn area near Bridgeview in the late 50's-mid 60's,... we had a "gang' that controlled the 8800 block of South Harlem then,... never was as violent as the South Side boys, ... we mostly tried to act tough,... !!! ... a few of our guys had switchblades then.. I only had a big, intimidating looking manual... we had some fights with other kids in the area, but no one ever actually used his knife that i am aware of... just open one and everyone would run,... !!! ... we were mostly Italian and Irish kids... My Dad got tired of the city, (I might have been part of his decision) and moved our family back to where he was from in Tennessee,... here only need a knife to whittle or peel an apple,...!!!.. I now collect vintage Italian switchblades,... getting to be an expensive hobby,... !!! ... BTW,... Welcome Aboard...!!!

[Madmarco]

That's a teriffic line-up you posted, TnnT, !
The smaller all-black knife on the far-left has a rustic look to it, was it made by chance by Lele' Floris, or perhaps Antonio Continni, cuz much of their work looks like that? Thx!

[Mario]

Welcome to the site, WindyCity4Life! Cool story. Thanks for sharing it with us. It’s always fun to read about the special memories people have of finding their first switchblade. Always see folks saying it was a Rizzuto in Tijuana or a stiletto in Italy. As Panzerfaust said, with all the switchblades now available in the states it’s made buying them at Tijuana markets obsolete. Do you remember what the butterfly knife you got looked like? Might it have been a Filipino handmade? The butterfly knives didn’t really start to become popular in the US until the early 1980s. I believe Benchmade started out in 1979 as Balisong USA and then became Pacific Cutlery Corp. shortly thereafter. I think they were the first US company to make a balisong in the states. Look forward to chatting knives with you on the forum. Have fun with building your collection!

[tenntuxedo]

... Madmarco,... the knife on far left is a 7 1/2" Shell-puller made and stamped by Domenico Piscitelli in Frosolone circa 1930's-'40's... not to hijack this post, I will feature it soon in a new topic... Thanx...

[Madmarco]

We can get pretty excited around here when we're talking knives, TnnT, and as a result threads can get hi-jacked but we usually spot this before things get out of hand and we get ourselves back on the rails, so no need to apologize or feel badly since you did spot it and took the appropriate steps to correct it.
Thanks for the info on your knife, I've not heard of that maker before this and now I can search for and admire his work. With a name like his I have little doubt that he makes a nice knife! lol!
I'm looking forward to your post/pictures about that beautiful little knife, and you'll know your way around here in no time!

[WindyCity4Life]

Hey everyone, I apologize for my delayed response; it’s been crazy lately! Thanks for all of the replies, yeah I know that I got it around the spring/early summer of 73. I was surprised myself, at how well the knife held up being in my grandpa’s rustic old stuff over the years; especially given the rusty tool box it was sitting in. Luckily it was sheltered in one of the higher slots, because below everything else, all was rusted to complete s.... Anyways, I saw somebody ask about that Bali song; talk about stereotypical 70s kids, weed frisbees, butterfly knives and Rizzuto switchblades.aha If I remember correctly, the Balisong knife handles were of like a dark brown wood finish. From a YouTube video I recently saw, it resembles an authentic Filipino Balisong knife, so it’s a shame that it went missing in action. I should also update everyone, that I also found a pair of brass knuckles among my grandpa’s old stuff, that weren’t my brothers from Mexico . They look more aluminum and seem to be pre-1950s, but nobody seems to have any backstory on them. A while back, my dad gave me a bunch of grandpa’s old hunting guns too, one an old Remington 12 gauge auto square back, the other a Remington pump 12 gauge, just like the ones used by the Untouchables in the DeNiro version of The Untouchables and my dad’s old 22 pump action rifle. I love all of this old stuff, that we’re finding; maybe that Balisong and weed frisbee may surface as we clean stuff out of my dad’s old house in Chicago, as he’s now becoming a permanent Florida resident. He tells me that he bought a picklock switchblade back in the 50s, but has no idea what happened to it, so maybe we’ll find that with some luck as well. We’ve found tons of vintage pocket knives too, I’m a big pocket knife collector, so it’s fun to fix some of them up. Anyways thanks guys, hope all is well!

[WindyCity4Life]

Oh yeah, I’m reply to Tenntuxedo, that’s a great collection of blades there man! I lived near Belmont and Harlem on the northwest side! The Gaylord’s and C-Notes were the dominant gang in our area, especially by my time in the 70s, things were shifting from fists, knives and bats to zip guns and of course overall “guns”.aha By the late 70s, it was no longer the greaser type of guys anymore. I was mostly skeptical of the Stoned Freaks, I think they were; those guys were not to be messed with.aha My mom didn’t want my sister and I going to Steinmetz high school, so we moved out to Melrose Park by 78 or so. Everyone in our old neighborhood was Italian, Polish or some type of Slavic back then. My grandpa first lived over on Westside, near Smith Park I think, but left for the Northwest side when my dad was a toddler.

[jw517]

Would anyone have a black ,back side handle piece/scale for a 8-9 inch Rissuto? I need one. P.M. me.

[WindyCity4Life]

I believe I saw a post for Rizzuto parts on the AAPK store not too long ago. If it’s one of the earlier single pin skins, be extremely careful putting it on, as you have a 50/50 chance of breaking it.lol That’s why I’m just leaving mine the way it is in my knife case. Best of luck in your search.

[jw517]

Oh boy. A Saint from our forum is sending me one. It appears to be the correct size or very close. It’s the back side with three 2mm pins. I don’t like plastic but I don’t want to rehandle it with horn either.( not original). Yes,I’m nervous already and the doner part isn’t here yet.

[jw517]

I believe I saw a post for Rizzuto parts on the AAPK store not too long ago. If it’s one of the earlier single pin skins, be extremely careful putting it on, as you have a 50/50 chance of breaking it.lol That’s why I’m just leaving mine the way it is in my knife case. Best of luck in your search.

I worked like a Beaver on this. It’s harder than it looks to take a switchblade apart rehandle it and install new pins! I was very careful peening because of your post but the back spring pin cracked the handle. I didn’t hit it either. It does not look tight either! I got it all together,all pins peened starting with the blade pin,and it would not stay shut! I peened the blade pin tighter because it was loose but NO,that was not it.I had to grind the peen off and start again. This time I left it loose like it was when I got the knife. It shut now! This stuff is a labor of love for sure! You have to be a Watch maker,jeweler,type with four hands.

[1OldTreeClimber]

Did you happen to take notice while it was apart is the switch made of steel or aluminum/pot metal? The steel units tend to hold up better.

[jw517]

I left that side together. The bolsters are slightly soldered to the liners and the problem was the other side so no,I didn’t explore the business side.

[jw517]

It seems the rear pommel bolsters might be too tight or tighter than the front . When I released the tension on the rear where the bail is,it locks shut a lot better. Go figure.

[jw517]

These things are so CHEAPLY made it’s hard to work on them. They have to be loose it seams but just right. I don’t think I’ll do that again unless I put new handle material on.