All About Pocket Knives

This makes the 5th Canal Street knife that I have. So far I have only bought and never sold any Canal Street knife. I have been looking at this one for a very long time and finally pulled the trigger this week and bought this one. I should have bought it sooner.
The seller says that these were made in 2007 by Canal Street from Queen parts for Rigid. Rigid was attempting to up their game and have knives made in the USA. The effort failed and there were only 100 of these made. Through some finagling these ended up being sold on Kniveslive by SMKW and sold out w/in minutes.
I hope someone here can verify this story. He has another one and I am thinking seriously about making an offer for it too.
I am really struck by how gorgeous this knife is.
SSk

Gosh SSk, Knives don't get much more beautiful than that.

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:This makes the 5th Canal Street knife that I have. So far I have only bought and never sold any Canal Street knife. I have been looking at this one for a very long time and finally pulled the trigger this week and bought this one. I should have bought it sooner.
The seller says that these were made in 2007 by Canal Street from Queen parts for Rigid. Rigid was attempting to up their game and have knives made in the USA. The effort failed and there were only 100 of these made. Through some finagling these ended up being sold on Kniveslive by SMKW and sold out w/in minutes.
I hope someone here can verify this story. He has another one and I am thinking seriously about making an offer for it too.
I am really struck by how gorgeous this knife is.
SSk

SSK take a look at the thread I've provided a link to below. About half way down Rusty1 posted a comment about the Rigid Knives made by Canal Street having been sold by A.G. Russell. Perhaps that info will be helpful to you.

viewtopic.php?f=71&t=52834&p=582932&hilit=Rigid#p582932

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:The seller says that these were made in 2007 by Canal Street from Queen parts for Rigid. I hope someone here can verify this story.

ea42 wrote:

I am very confident that Canal Street made this Rigid knife and I concur they are super nice. The "from Queen parts" seems odd to me because it seems like Queen would also do the assembly if they were providing the parts.

Eric, are you familiar with the Rigid knives and how they came to be produced?

philco wrote:

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:This makes the 5th Canal Street knife that I have. So far I have only bought and never sold any Canal Street knife. I have been looking at this one for a very long time and finally pulled the trigger this week and bought this one. I should have bought it sooner.
The seller says that these were made in 2007 by Canal Street from Queen parts for Rigid. Rigid was attempting to up their game and have knives made in the USA. The effort failed and there were only 100 of these made. Through some finagling these ended up being sold on Kniveslive by SMKW and sold out w/in minutes.
I hope someone here can verify this story. He has another one and I am thinking seriously about making an offer for it too.
I am really struck by how gorgeous this knife is.
SSk

SSK take a look at the thread I've provided a link to below. About half way down Rusty1 posted a comment about the Rigid Knives made by Canal Street having been sold by A.G. Russell. Perhaps that info will be helpful to you.

viewtopic.php?f=71&t=52834&p=582932&hilit=Rigid#p582932

Phil and Ralph, Thank you for the information. I will try to post the information that the seller included w/ this knife when he sold it, it was quoted detailed. From the thread that you posted it sounds like this wasn’t a A.G. Russell offering like you see in the catalog, but one that someone sold through them. This seller said that he has had 4 complete sets of all these knives. You can bet I will be contacting him about more of these. I am really taken by this one and can see the value of adding more of these to my collection. I love the collection of these that you have Phil, thank you for bringing me up to speed on this.
SSk

Here is what the seller said about this knife: TODAY WE ARE LISTING AN *ULTRA RARE/MINT-AS NEW*, *2007 LIMITED EDITION *RIGID(U.S.A.) KNIFE*, *VINTAGE STYLE-WILDCAT DRILLER/SUNFISH*(4 1/2" Closed), *HAND-MADE BY CANAL STREET CUTLERY*. THE *RIGID TRADEMARK* WAS OWNED BY *UNITED CUTLERY U.S.A.*.
THEY WERE LOOKING TO UPGRADE THEIR COMPANY, & THE *RIGID* NAME, BY OFFERING VERY HIGH QUALITY, *U.S.A. BUILT*, TRADITIONAL POCKET KNIVES.
IN 2006 THEY HIRED *CANAL STREET CUTLERY* TO MAKE THE KNIVES(Combined, The 5 Owners/Employees Had Over 200 Yrs. Of Making Quality Knives For "Imperial-Schrade, Schrade Walden(USA) Cutlery"). THEY COMPLETED THE KNIVES USING "QUEEN/SCHATT & MORGAN" PARTS, ADDING AN ADDITIONAL 200 HAND PROCESSES, TO UPGRADE THE QUALITY, FIT & FINISH *CANAL STREET KNIVES* ARE KNOWN FOR(Remember, This Was At A Time When Canal Street Was Just Getting Started--All Of Their Knife Parts Were "Out-Sourced" From Queen Cutlery, For The 1st Year & A Half).
THE ORIGINAL RUN WAS TO BE 300 EACH OF (6) DIFFERENT PATTERNS---;
** A FULL SIZE 4 1/2" SUNFISH OR WILDCAT DRILLER(As Us Old Folks Called Them),
** A 3 1/2" GUNSTOCK,
** A 4 1/4" (4) BLADE CONGRESS,
** A FULL SIZE 4" MUSKRAT,
** A 4 1/4" KING STOCKMAN,
** A 3 1/2" WHITTLER;
A Total Of 1,800 *1ST RUN KNIVES*(100 Sets, Of (6) *Serial Numbered* Patterns, PLUS 200 Each Of The (6) Non-Numbered Knife Patterns).
UNFORTUNATELY *UNNITED CUTLERY'S* NEW U.S.A. BUILT KNIVES NEVER TOOK OFF. AFTER LESS THAN 35 SERIAL NUMBERED (6 Knife)SETS, & APPROX. 35(Each) OF THE NON-SERIALIZED PATTERNS, *UNITED CUTLERY* ORDERED CANAL STREET CUTLERY TO STOP PRODUCTION OF ONE OF THE RAREST (USA)KNIVES EVER MADE.
*BLUE RIDGE KNIVES* PURCHASED THE UNSOLD STOCK FROM *UNITED CUTLERY*, THEY HAD THEIR SISTER COMPANY *SMOKY MOUNTAIN KNIFE WORKS*, SELL THEM ON THEIR HEAVILY-WATCHED, *KNIVES LIVE* T.V. SHOW(I Was Told There Were (6)-6 Knife Numbered Sets, & approx. 150 Individual, Non-Numbered Knives Remaining--All Were Sold In Less Than 20 Minutes(Phone Orders, Paying W/A Credit Card).
** THE KNIVES FEATURE BEAUTIFUL *BURNT AMBER JIGGED BONE HANDLES*,
** (420 or 440) SURGICAL STAINLESS STEEL BLADES, FRAME, BACK-SPRINGS,
** QUALITY NICKLE SILVER BOLSTERS, & VINTAGE STYLE *BOMB* SHIELD,
** HAND-MADE BY THE FAMOUS *CANAL STREET CUTLERY GUY'S*, NEVER PLAYED WITH, NEVER USED, CARRIED OR SHARPENED, *COMPLETE W/THE ORIGINAL BOX*.
** AN ULTRA RARE *RIGID KNIFE*, OF SUPERB QUALITY, FIT & FINISH--WOULD BE GREAT FOR ANY COLLECTION, OR A PERFECT KNIFE TO CARRY!!! PLEASE USE THE PHOTOS AS PART OF THE DESCRIPTION. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR BIDS, TAKE CARE, GOD BLESS!!!
**WE ALSO HAVE (1) OF THE ULTRA RARE, RIGID(USA), *COMPLETE (6)KNIFE NUMBERED SET(#26), THAT WE WILL BE SELLING. *ALL ARE MINT-AS NEW*. ANYONE INTERESTED, PLEASE ASK FOR INFORMATION, AS TO WHEN WE WILL BE SELLING ON EBAY**

Well I couldn’t stop thinking about this collection after I bought the sunfish. So now I have all of them. These are beautiful knives. I have an extra sunfish that I could sell if someone needs one to complete a collection of Rigid knives by Canal Street.
SSk

SSK, I've already said that they are pretty on another thread but those are pretty enough to say it again.
That little whittler is just fabulous. My pick of the litter.

doglegg wrote:SSK, I've already said that they are pretty on another thread but those are pretty enough to say it again.
That little whittler is just fabulous. My pick of the litter.

That Whittler is very sweet. The stockman is my favorite, but not by much.
SSk

Of all my CSC knives the Rigid branded ones are some of the very best.
The "assembled from Queen parts" is correct. Queen was helping CSC to get some knives to market quickly by supplying them parts until CSC was able to get their own tooling up & running.
Eric (ea42) can tell you exactly which of the early patterns were made with Queen supplied parts.
kj

I have the Rigid CSC muskrat and I got to tell you, the swedge grinds on the blades really make the knife stand out.

dweb, it is indeed a looker.

Beautiful knife dweb, and you are right; those swedges are unique. I don't believe I have ever seen them before with this or similar patterns. Both are finely executed imo.

dweb1897 wrote:I have the Rigid CSC muskrat and I got to tell you, the swedge grinds on the blades really make the knife stand out.RIGID MUSKRAT.jpeg

I noticed that on mine as well. Normally I don’t like muskrats but I like this one. Although the nail nick is too close to the pivot point and makes it a little hard to open.
These are all gorgeous knives.
SSk

Hi Tom,
WOW mate, you have a super collection of Canal Streets there.
Have you built another room on your house yet to house all your collections. I never get tired or checking out all you fine cutlery.
One thing i did notice and that is the quality of your pics. You are not reading the right books yet mate. LOL.
All the best my friend,
Tony.

This followed me home yesterday.

WOW Phil. That is just an absolute wow! Congratulations.

Phil, it is a good day for me when I get 'a' new knife, maybe even a couple. How do you describe your day? Wow that is a knice collection. Proud for you.

philco wrote:This followed me home yesterday.

Funny Phil I bet you had 2 hands on them all the way home

philco
Wow Phil that set makes my 1st Year Set look rather small.
Tony.

Gee golly wow Phil !! That is a beautiful set. Please tell us what you used for bait to lure them back to your house. We are all a bit green with envy with your good fortune. Lucky you!!

Thanks guys. I felt fortunate to be able to snag this set. To be honest, up until just a few days ago I did not know such a set ever existed. It showed up on ebay but was quickly removed. I was able to track down the seller who was in a nearby town and the rest is history.

Great job Phil...That is definately a "Keeper" Set. Good find and I am very Happy for you.

Tom

Phil, your first year set is magnificent. Your detective work and pursuit paid off. Congratulations!

philco wrote:Thanks guys. I felt fortunate to be able to snag this set. To be honest, up until just a few days ago I did not know such a set ever existed. It showed up on ebay but was quickly removed. I was able to track down the seller who was in a nearby town and the rest is history.

Phil,you obviously made him an offer he couldn't refuse.