Now we have a Colonial thread,Show'em

[whitebuffalo58]

Only got a few Colonials, but I like 'em!

WB

[Bonfire bob]

Very nice WB!!
All classics for sure so I'll take them one at a time....
Or famous S-409F shell fishing knife in retro green! (wicked nice)!!, around late 50's era.
Next is another classic fish knife, our S-410F, Coke bottle very old design in a very old
camo green Celluloid! WOW, curved tang and all!! Where the hell did you find this one!!
This one's dated mid 50's and is probably worth $50-70 bucks easy; to the educated Colonial collector.. FYI, the S is for stainless and the F is for fish.....

Next pic is our CY-15, Coyote large LB, plated brass bolster's followed by a "Sabre" version of the Coyote but with Nickel plated bolster instead of brass. Both had stainless blades.
These were made from early 70's to late 80's.

And to top it all off is a very valuable "Shur-Snap" push button with nice colored Cell. handles. Late 40's for this classic baby..another one worth better than $ 80.00 bucks!
NICE SHOW PAL!!
Bobby P., CKCo...CFE....

[FRJ]

I got this knife at a flea market today.
I've never heard of an Ambassador before but found it is a trademark of Colonial Knife Co.
This is a great little jack knife. 3 3/8". With half stops X two. Nice covers and good springs.

[OLD GAR]

Got this one off the Bay for less than $3.00 Seller thought it was a Colombia ? ? but the "FISH KNIFE" shield intrigued me and I looked closer and saw it is Colonial. It has the pressed steel handles but looks like the scales may be solid material like Delrin instead of thin plastic. took just a little cleaning and sharpening on the blade to make it an edc today.

[Bonfire bob]

Nice find's gentlemen!
First, FRJ shows us an old 2-blade jack # 44. The box or 1/2 tang is an old design before the rounded tang we are all used to today. This was an Ambassador tang stamp knife which would make it part of the Ad Specialty team and would be blade etched or stamped with company logo's. The other factor is the old sheild design which was longated with fancy ends. The newer sheilds were very similar to the Swiss Master sheilds that were actually stamped on rather than an actual steel sheild. This knife dates around early 50's.
The newer one's were renamed # 4602, and were made from the mid 60's and up, with that swiss type sheild..Nice find!

Old Gar shows us an old # 902 but with only one blade, the dropped the "F" for the omitted
scaler blade. Again, late 50's, early 60's on this one. Again, years later, the two blade version was a # S-409F for fish knife.
Just so you gents know, these are both "shell" knives which means that they started with skeleton knives; liners, blades and springs, completely assembled and after, plastic handles were pinned on to full size shells and the very tips of the bolster's were crimped on with a tool and bench press..check out the very tips of the bolster's and you'll see what I mean.
I hope I was helpful guys; there is so much production info running through my brain and it's remarkable I can be so thorough!! They could never take my knowledge away from me; I earned it in the trenches.
Bobby P., CKCo.(factory Bible), and Cutler for ever!!

[FRJ]

Thank you, Bob, for that information. "Box tang" eh, a new term.
I found two more Colonials.
One, a little equal end jack which is a bit shorter(3 1/8") than the Ambassador, and cigar pattern.
A cattle knife or stockman. I think the spay has been abused; looks like a pen.
As for the bolsters being crimped, I don't see it on my two jacks. It's obvious on the cigar pattern.
Thanks.

[Just Plain Dave]

Sure enough boogie them scales on two of those knives are NOT shells!

I've seen enough to KNOW!

[knifetime]

Well Dave they are shell bud. They have little tab on the inside that holds the shell on,not on the ends. Open all the blades and look in the frame you will see the tab´s that hold the handle shells on. Not all shell handles have tabs on the end.

[FRJ]

Well Dave they are shell bud. They have little tab on the inside that holds the shell on,not on the ends. Open all the blades and look in the frame you will see the tab´s that hold the handle shells on. Not all shell handles have tabs on the end.

Looking down in the blade well I can see how they could be attached ............. somehow...........
Thanks guys.

[Bonfire bob]

Fantastic observations gents and lets start with Joe; FRJ...smart man!!
As Joe shows our old # 350 and the next one Cat. # 2633, are both excellent examples of how we hid the tip crimping as time went on. These two models and many others had a
"mid-crimp" shell handle design! The tooling was simple changed from tip crimp to mid-crimp.
This explains why Just plain Joe shows no end crimp on these knives..
My pal Phill, (knifetime) hit the nail right on the head !! Good eye buddy and you've helped me explain the method we're talking about.
Terms like"box-tang" and "mid-crimp" were factory terms we used and I doubt you'll see these terms in sales descriptions..
COLONIAL'S were all made with solid bolster, solid assembly pin construction, or they were shelled construction using a few different crimp on handle assembly's!!! Don't forget, the old timer's started with skeleton type assembly's and worked from there. Solid bolster and pin assembly's were tuff, time consuming and involved much more finish work. Take it from me; I've built, assembled, taken apart and re-assembled over 100 solid bolster knives and I learned more than you can imagine from this..including making hand made assembly pins from rolled, round old NS stock.
Any further questions or doubts, please ask me...I have taken apart HUNDREDS of knives of all kinds and have made THOUSANDS of knives by hand, for the most part...
These are the facts that make me a CUTLER, and dam proud of it!!
Robert Anthony Paolantonio....

[TripleF]

More questions in this forum await your reply Bobby!

Just scroll up and click on "Colonial Knife Collector's Forum, right above the words "Show 'em" on this page.....

[Bonfire bob]

Hey gents!!
I've scrolled down and I see I've explained most of these before but since the top one was re-posted by Mr. garddog56, I'll go to it again; no problem my friend...
Very nice Dickies cargo pant background by the way...
Top jack was our old # 650, part of the three sized TP-333 gang..probably dates early 70's. From there we have an old # 2621 two blade jack, about late 60's production, and the final winner, our LB-125 Lock back; hot die stamped imprint, anywhere from late 70's and up!!
Nice collection buddy...Bobby P. CKCo...

[mickeyevans]

mostly Imperials, but what the heck, now that I know they were cousins, and I always thought of them as the same
I have always thought of them as inexpensive or 'cheap' knives and had not much interest, no offense Bob
I am here to learn
I never liked the crimped bolster and wonder about them, but I do have a few of both with 'reqular' ones
here are some I have, just put the Hammer in to show the 'tab' bolsters I don't like, as a example of a 'cheap' knife that I don't like
Mick

[Bonfire bob]

Man oh man.....
Every now and then, something like this comes down the pike!
When I was very young I would find or inherit a knife like this and
chop it in half and put it back together, usually with mint
results. Even with a broken pen blade tip, this piece of history is just that.
I'm going to estimate about early 40's production for this old baby.
I tell you what fascinates me about knive's like this. This knife was very
possibly carried by multiple generations of folks! Who, where and how,
we don't know! We do know when and where but it's exact history is unknown.
Solid NS pins, bolster's and look how they actually made a solid pin bail AND,
a solid pin bolster construction!! Look how far back the center pin is; to
insure a good spring tention and good snap.. Old brown jigged bone, just like
old Colonial's and just built like a tank!! That's why it's still alive....
They even notched the bottom to get the blades out easier!!!
I'm going to look but I think I have one of these very similar, and a Colonial,
same era same design. This is actually the birth of the Electrician's knife!!!

If I check my knife cases I'll see what I have and post the pics...
This knife is very valuable my friend, or it will be some day...
Now you know why the EL. knife was re-designed with a bigger, stronger
secondary blade. We added the secondary "Locking" wire stripper/screw driver.

This is a hand me down Mick; and I mean to your children's children.....
You can copy this evaluation from me with only my opinion but to find an
Imperial pro to re-evaluate it, your probably going to have to dig them up....
Bob P. Colonial Knife Co., RAP Cutler, Heritage Cutler's...(CFE)..

I will get back in a bit about those other gems!!

[mickeyevans]

thanks Bob I was so surprised when I found that knife, like I said, I always thought of Imperial and Colonial as cheap knives.
I am new to collecting and learning allot, I am leaning towards Robeson, Camillus or the old Hudson vally Knives, since Remington, Case and Winchester are so popular already. I don't have a 'specialty yet
I lived and worked in Orange County for 35 years and know the Ellenville plant and the waterfalls in Walden so well
Napanoch on Rt 209 and other early knife making areas were all around my 'history', so no one appreciates these old knives more.
I was told that the Ellenville plant stamped the better knives Schrade and the cheaper knives imperial, but maybe Imperial and Colonial are just the under appreciated knives I may specialize in.
I like to think the previous owner used this knife allot and maybe made a screwdriver out of the small blade on purpose.
It was used but not abused and well cared for, I will take more photos because the two sides are very different in color

[Bonfire bob]

Mick, I know it won't answer all of your questions but I'll offer you this...
You seem to be a knife person, and I will send you a copy of my book...
There it is folks, Mick's getting a copy of my book. The newstand price is
$ 25.00 with shipping anywhere in th U.S....
If you would like and if you haven't already visit my blog : myfamilybusinessbook@gmail.com
Let me know for sure Mick after viewing my blog, I'll send you my book,
read it...and if you don't find it interesting or worth it, please send it back!!

Just so you know, most of my close friends here already have my book and
are satisfied with the information that comes from the point of view of a factory man.
I'm an honest Cutler with an honest 100 year family history to tell, to the best
of my ability...

Those old Celluliod handled baby's are beautiful!! That material was so incredible
but the consequence's were deadly!! From my personal experiences, very dangerous stuff!!
Not only FLAMABLE but COMBUSTIABLE....grinding, sanding, drilling and even polishing, there was a bucket of water near your machine, in case!! THE STUFF WOULD IGNIGHT RIGHT IN YOUR HANDS!! If you got it too hot, forget it..!!

I really would love to take you all for a long, boring 2 hour walk through the old factory...
"nothing in the world would make me happier"..
To me, nothing in the world can replace the feeling and power of standing next to a running, pounding 65 TON blanking press, and being in charge of the blanking run, and watching the blades fall from the bottom, mikin' them, and watching the automatic press do it's job....bang, bang, bang, every 1/3 of a second.
That's how I learned what it takes to make pocket knives....
Thanks Mick, it was all a treat..
Bob P. CFE

[bdev]

Hi Bob....
I think you made an error when posting your blog address...

It should be

http://myfamilybusinessbook.wordpress.com/

Bruno

PS....How do I order your book?

[mickeyevans]

thanks Bob, I have a few more Colonials to post here and I clicked that link and got a email address , so I emailed you
now I will go look at your new knife Co
The only new "old" knives I have are Canal Street Cut Co, even though I hear GEC are better, it is that Ellenville connection

[Bonfire bob]

Thanks Mick....
Bruno my friend your right ....I have had trouble from time to time and I neglect to list
the wordpress approach. Sometimes it works, for others they get in with the g-mail address....thanks for the heads up..
As soon as you send your shipping address, I will ship your book, $ 25.00 shipping is free. When you send your address, I'll give you mine to ship the money order for $25.00.
People that send me private messages here sometimes all I get is an "Unknown File". message from AAPK????
Can anyone help with this dilema??
Bruno, you can also send to my email : bonfirebob11@cox.net
Thanks pal...Bob P. CFE

[aaron1956]

I picked this up today at an antique shop. Needs a good cleaning but not bad shape.

[Bonfire bob]

Nice score aaron...an old # 350Y for yellow....
One of the earliest shell knives but very old. I'm thinking early to mid 50's here my friend!
Nice pics; inside or side pics will define or substantiat the shell design...
Nice score pal, it's an old classic for sure...
Once again, hidden center pin is proof of shell design..
Bob P. CKCo...

[msteele6]

I've developed a soft spot in my heart for these old pre-WWII Colonials. The quality is not as high as some of the old brands but they are still a pretty nice knife for their intended use.

These four include some with the most attractive cell handles and a rough black knife that is the highest quality Colonial I own (check out its giant long pull). It's quality is the equivalent of the old Imperials (another brand I have a soft spot for).

BTW the picture enlarges nicely.

[Bonfire bob]

Very nice msteel6!! 2 and 3 blade jack knives with curved tang stamps!!
These are mid to late 30's for sure and are some of Colonial's oldest pocket knives!!
These could be worth over $ 50.00 each to the serious Colonial collector..
All the knives from this era have nice long pulls; this always dates most knives..
Very nice once again; thank you!!
Here is a few of my own.....
Bobby P. CKCo....

[Joe Dirt]

Very nice knives, msteele6 !!!
I too have a soft spot for old colorful celluloid. And you're very right about the old Imperials also!

Bobby, that serpentine moose just kills me! Sooo nice knives guys!

Here is a well loved rough black with a VERY EARLY stamp.

.... Joe

[Bonfire bob]

Joe it's exetremely unique...in many way..
Tomorrow I'll get back to you on this babay.
Any other important info would be very appreciate..
Bob. P. CFE