Yet Another Lot Score

[cody6268]

Said I wasn't gonna buy anything more this month. However, I forgot I had a bid on an SAK the seller had. However, he also had this. I just could not pass it up. The lot was $30 plus the cost of a flat rate box.

Seller claims "no China knives". That's not really true. The SAK clone, Ohio Forge tool, and Gerber AR 3.0 are all China-made. I bought it for one knife, the original Russell Barlow in it. Hopefully, the snap's not bad. As far as old-school knives, there's still a bunch in it, though most appear to need a little work. There is a Stockman with quite pretty Rogers bone handles. There is what appears to be a halfway decent US Navy Utility Knife. There's an original Russell Barlow (which has a broken handle, which I might be able to patch up). There's (what I think is) a Queen Peanut, which I'm going to have reworked. It ought to be a nice little slim EDC once fixed, and have the (broken) pen blade removed. I'm having bright bone handles put on it. And the English Jack with also quite pretty bone handles. As well, there's an Imperial Toothpick and a couple other shell-handles. A beat up Case Sodbuster I'll put to hard work. A decent Opinel #6. Not fancy, but usable knives.

The leather Bassett keychain tool is going on my keys, like it's intended. I've lost my SECOND keychain knife in a month! Thankfully this time, it was a cheap China near-POS. Not a $30 AG Russell Ti Penknife, which unfortunately was the last one I lost. And if I lose that one, there's a second in this lot.

The three China-made knives. I'm up for doing another POS Exchange when we do it next year, so that's where they're likely to be seen again.


I am hoping Multitasker will repair the black-handle multitool. I've sent them an email, asking if they could repair it, and I would gladly pay for any repairs made. It's a Multitasker Series 3X tool for AR rifle maintenance. They are $150 new. I don't shoot an AR, but it's a really well-designed tool. I have use for the carbon scraper and 1/4 driver. The threading will accept a common cleaning rod. Since the pliers are D2 tool steel, I'd like to know how in the heck this guy broke it.

[cody6268]

And the other two photos:

[Steve Warden]

Looks like ya done good

[cody6268]

Looks like ya done good

I was looking at the used prices on Russell Barlows, and those in about the same condition or less were what I paid for that lot alone.

[doglegg]

Several of those make it a good deal! Excellent! Those old navy knives are an addiction of mine. Congrats.

[WillyCamaro]

I think you did very well on those IMHO, especially for the price.
What can I say , part's are worth that alone.

[glennbad]

Nice grab, some good stuff in there for the price, for sure!

[cody6268]

They showed up today. Quite a few have no snap, and the Sodbuster's got a busted backspring (gonna send it off to Case).

Here's what I feel are the two nicest ones.


Valley Forge Jack, about 3 3/8" closed. Bone is dry, but not cracked or broken. Pen blade has no snap (backspring is cracked), but main will still rip your fingernail out. Half stops on both blades.

Main blade tang stamp "VALLEY FORGE" over "CUTLERY CO" OVER "NEWARK NJ" over "MADE IN USA"

Pen: "VF" in a circle. From what I'm seeing, this stamp was added after Boker bought Valley Forge, and means about 1920-1950. I'm thinking it's probably prewar.

Boker Teardrop Jack (not a USN Utility, but roughly the same size as my Camillus four-line USN Utility). Pretty sure it's a USA model, but the tang stamp is just "BOKER" on both main and pen. Tang stamp charts say "1930s-1970; US production", but pretty much every USA Boker I've ever owned says "BOKER USA". Good sized chunk of bone gone near bail. Patchable or full-on rehandle needed?

Main tang stamp "BOKER".

Pen tang stamp. Same "BOKER" in block letters, but smaller.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Cody, what shape was the Russell Barlow in?

[cody6268]

Cody, what shape was the Russell Barlow in?

Just got it cleaned up:


As expected, but it's not that snappy. As I could tell, even with the really poor photos the seller had, that the front scale is missing a huge chunk.

The main blade snaps, but I can tell there's tang wear. Pen does not snap at all.