Clauss, Freemont Ohio

[Dilligas]

Does anyone know of any information on vintage Clauss knives? I know the majority of them were manufactured by Case and Schatt & Morgan. The only information I have been able to find is in Jim Sargent's books. I have been collecting them for a few years and would like to get as much information as possible. Here is most of my Clauss collection.

[FRJ]

Dilligas,
here's something from Goins book.

Nice knives!

[trail]

Dilligas, congratulations on putting together a nice collection of an unusual and seldom seen brand. I wouldn't be surprised if you had one of the best collections of Claus knives around. How did you get interested in them? Did you find most of them in one hoard, or have you been adding them one by one over the years?

Whoever would have thought that Fremont OH was once known as "the Cutlery Center of the World," with 25 cutlery companies at it's peak? Here is some information from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center:

"Harry L. Zimmerman, (1869-1959) an early Sandusky County, Ohio businessman, initially operated the Tick-Mitten Company until he and Paul Schaaf purchased the Henkel Company in 1913. Schaaf, perhaps the owner of Schaaf's Good Cutlery, and Harry Zimmerman bought out the interests of their three Henkel Company partners, Dr. George Zimmerman, August Henkel, and Frank Kiser. The five men had founded Henkel in 1906. In 1919, Henkel Company merged with Clauss Shear to become the largest cutlery company in the world.

"Clauss Shear, founded in 1877 by John and Henrie Clauss in Elyria, Ohio, moved the company to Fremont ten years later. Attracted by an accessible, abundant supply of natural gas, Clauss erected a plant at the corner of Ohio Avenue and Pine Street. Three years later, the plant was consumed by fire, causing 125 workers to lose their jobs. Within four months, Clauss Shear had constructed a 195 X 90 foot building at the corner of State Street and Sandusky Avenue, making it the largest shear works in the world. The early twenties marked the peak of Fremont's cutlery industry. The city, known as the "Cutlery Center of the World," claimed twenty-five cutlery businesses. In 1924, Zimmerman sold his interest in Henkel-Clauss, and moved to Florida where he invested in real estate. Zimmerman later purchased a Canadian buffing company which he operated until retiring in 1953.

"Zimmerman's son-in-law, Lawrence K. Carroll (1896-1969), moved to Fremont shortly after World War I. He entered the cutlery business as an executive with Henkel-Clauss during its early years, but left to organize the Clyde Castings Company of Clyde, Ohio in 1933. Eventually, the company was to become known as Quikut after its move to Jackson and Napoleon Streets in Fremont. Quikut manufactured the popular "Ginsu" knives. In 1964, Carroll sold his interest in Quikut to Scott & Fetzer Company of Cleveland, Ohio."

http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/mssfind/28 ... family.htm

[Dilligas]

trail and FRJ, thanks for the info and history, that is the sort of thing I am looking for. I have collected them over a period of time. My father has collected pocket knives for over 50 years, when I first became interested in collecting he gave me a Clauss that was manufactured by Case during the early 1900's. For some reason I became intrigued with the brand and started searching for them, at first I concentrated on the Case patterns then decided to collect any I could find. Other than Jim Sargent's book I have not found anything describing patterns and values, and even that is limited. I have been able to match up the ones made by Case with the equivalent Case pattern but I am not familiar with the Schatt & Morgan line to be able to match them. I have had people tell me that Case never made knives for Clauss, I just show them 2 knives I have. The second knife from the bottom is a Case Tested 6207LP, the bottom is a Clauss, hard to tell the difference isn't it?

[knifeaholic]

trail and FRJ, thanks for the info and history, that is the sort of thing I am looking for. I have collected them over a period of time. My father has collected pocket knives for over 50 years, when I first became interested in collecting he gave me a Clauss that was manufactured by Case during the early 1900's. For some reason I became intrigued with the brand and started searching for them, at first I concentrated on the Case patterns then decided to collect any I could find. Other than Jim Sargent's book I have not found anything describing patterns and values, and even that is limited. I have been able to match up the ones made by Case with the equivalent Case pattern but I am not familiar with the Schatt & Morgan line to be able to match them. I have had people tell me that Case never made knives for Clauss, I just show them 2 knives I have. The second knife from the bottom is a Case Tested 6207LP, the bottom is a Clauss, hard to tell the difference isn't it?

In your top photo, the knives that you have in the first row with the tan bone handles and the long jig trails that resemble winterbottom style jigging are the ones that were made by Schatt & Morgan - or actually much more likely Queen City, the successor to Schatt & Morgan.

I have matched many of these up to older Queen City knives with the tooling and handle material being identical. In fact many of the patterns are the same tooling that Queen uses today.

I have seen a few Clauss knives that I could not match to Case or Queen City - I suspect that they were made by Robeson.

[Dilligas]

That is interesting Steve, I had actually matched the Winterbottom whittler and half whittlers to a Case pattern but you may be correct. Clauss seems to use a lot of Winterbottom bone on their knives, I wish there was more out there about them, I even contacted Clauus but they were sold to Alco a few years ago and have zero information on the older stuff. I may take some closer pictures of individual knives and post them, I really want to learn as much as I can about them. Thanks for your help, as always you are a wealth of information.
Kirby

[Dilligas]

One rumor has always been that if you look on the back side of a Clauss shield, it will say Case on the other side, I have my doubts but if I ever get one so trashed it isn't worth saving I will find out

[Miller Bro's]

Here is a Clauss, made by Challenge Cut. Co.

Dilligas, I would like to see some of those in close up pictures

[Dilligas]

I don't have any with the blade etch like yours, but I will keep looking. Here is a Clauss 33, according to Sargent's 7th edition it is the same pattern as a Case Tested 6383.

[Dilligas]

Here are 2 Clauss 84's, big half whittlers, one is a long pull with a shield, one is standard pull with no shield.

[gino]

Dill, sweet whittlers and 1/2 whittlers. They sure are pretty. I really like the first one ::envy::

[Dilligas]

Thanks, here is another one, pattern 70.

[Dilligas]

A 51 pattern

[knifeaholic]

I don't have any with the blade etch like yours, but I will keep looking. Here is a Clauss 33, according to Sargent's 7th edition it is the same pattern as a Case Tested 6383.

See I believe that to be a Queen City pattern, similar but not identical in tooling to the Case 83. I think that you will find that the tooling is is somewhat different. Also Case used only a tiny amount of winterbottom bone handle material and only on one or two patterns. Same for the two half whittlers that you have posted.

[knifegirl888]

Here is a Clauss that Bret & I have. The 2nd image is a picture of a Camillus rope knife (from ebay). The handles sure look very similiar... even if they have different blades.

[Dilligas]

I don't have any with the blade etch like yours, but I will keep looking. Here is a Clauss 33, according to Sargent's 7th edition it is the same pattern as a Case Tested 6383.

See I believe that to be a Queen City pattern, similar but not identical in tooling to the Case 83. I think that you will find that the tooling is is somewhat different. Also Case used only a tiny amount of winterbottom bone handle material and only on one or two patterns. Same for the two half whittlers that you have posted.

You may be correct on that, I just don't know for sure. I have had conflicting information on them and would like to know for sure, I am going to study the Queen patterns some more. This is what I enjoy about this hobby, the learning never ends. Thanks for the information Steve, as always it is appreciated, I wish there was a book on the Clauss like you have written for the Case knives.

[knifeaholic]

Clauss would be a very interesting brand to collect since there are the connections to the major knife companies like Case and Queen and Challenge.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Very nice.

You are well on your way to being the authority on Clauss Cutlery. The book is yours to write.

Here is a Robeson 622026 regular jack with a pre-WWII Robeson tang stamp, but an oval Clauss shield.

Do any of your knives have a tang stamp from the actual maker, but a Clauss shield?

Now I'm curious about what is stamped on the back of this knife's shield.

Charlie Noyes

[Dilligas]

They all have the Clauss tang stamp but quite a few don't have shields. This slot knife which was made by Case has a blank shield, I have seen 3 of these and they all have a plain shield.

[Aimus Moses]

Wasn't there some Clauss brand knives made in Germany and imported into the US for J. Parker, back when he was "borrowing" old well known brand names, and Case family related brand names and having them made in Germany? Parker's defenders claim the knives he had made in Germany were Reproductions but, I honestly never saw anything on any of his suposedly Repro knives that let you know they were Repros or supposed to be Repros.

Aimus

[Dilligas]

I have still been working on my Clauss collection, here is an updated picture of most of them. I am always looking to buy or trade for any Clauss knives.

[chetr1200c]

that is a very fine collection you have. i particularly love that hobo with the can opener.
here is a well loved easy open by clauss

[knifegirl888]

Charlie,

It's very interesting that you have a Robeson with a Clauss shield.... I didn't know Robeson sold knives to them also.

Chet,

It's cool that you found Clauss EO's also!

Clauss must have had lots of different companies make knives for them. Here is one with winter bottom bone that Bret & I now have.

[Dilligas]

Nice Clauss

[bigdaddys8ball]

here is the only clauss that i have the blade says clauss but the shield says case