All About Pocket Knives

I just got another IXL Whittler. My oldest to date. Pre 1890 with horn handles. Great walk and talk. Half stops on both secondary blades. The blades took a very keen edge.

Tom

An old Ulster.

That is one clean Ulster you have there.
Very nice.

Barry, beautiful tip bolster Ulster whittler.

Very nice knives, Tom and Barry.

Sweet Ulster Barry.

Here is my Cattaraugus I just rescaled back to how it was originally made. MOP with a warncliffe blade.

That's really beautiful.
Nice work, Twhite.

Barry, gorgeous Ulster! Nice rehandle job Twhite

Nice old whittlers fellas.

Barry do you think your knives handles were made by the Walden Handle Co. ?

Lyle, Looks like "Bone Shop" jigging to me.

Terrier and Robeson's numbering system is different. The following Terrier split back spring whittler has the number 125 stamp. Is this a production
number or can it be related to handle material, liners, # of blades Etc.. Is there reference material on Terrier numbers. Thanks Tom

Tom, that is a gorgeous Terrier in very high grade condition! Our resident expert Charlie Noyes will probably be along shortly and can tell you a lot more about it. That number on the sheepfoot blade is probably some kind of pattern number. What kind of camera are you using? Or is it a cell phone camera? Your tang photos are a little blurry. Even with less than stellar photos it is easy to see this Whittler is a beauty

She sure is a beauty!

Fine knife Tom, as said C Noyes is the Terrior guy.

That is fine little knife there. Terrier knives - 1910-1916

Is there a number under the 125 stamp?

I think Charlie taught us that Terrier stamps were reverse of Robeson stamps.
That is the first three numbers were reverse of the last three.

Oh, I hate muddying good water.

Fine knife Tom You might post it in the Robeson thread.

This one came from galvanic1882 in the 2019 POS Roundtable. At first I just saw it as a piece of crap like the others he had sent. But the more I looked at it and coon fingered it, the less it looked like crap and the more it looked like a gem in the rough. This old gal is a real sweetheart.

The handles are smooth bone and I can't find any flaws in them. All three blades have "Waltham Cutlery Co" stamped on them, a Swedge (both sides on the main) and they snap like gators. The two secondary blades both have half-stops, the main does not. There are two back springs separated by a brass wedge shaped liner. There are a couple of fairly major "bites" out of the edge on the main blade and a few other bug bites. The more I handle this little 3-7/16" beauty, the more I like it. For something that came in the POS Roundtable, it's great.

Lloyd, Galvanic, Lyle, FRJ and Roger... I thank you ... Lloyd not to good on these pics built me a photo box still trying to fine tune that operation...
using my phone for pics,,, can't help to think that I should get better as time goes on.
Tom

Jerry, I think that's a beauty.

Stunning Terrier Knife Tom ... and welcome to AAPK ...

Jerry - I’m with Joe - that old Waltham is a cool old whittler ..

jerryd6818 wrote:This one came from galvanic1882 in the 2019 POS Roundtable. At first I just saw it as a piece of crap like the others he had sent. But the more I looked at it and coon fingered it, the less it looked like crap and the more it looked like a gem in the rough. This old gal is a real sweetheart.

The handles are smooth bone and I can't find any flaws in them. All three blades have "Waltham Cutlery Co" stamped on them, a Swedge (both sides on the main) and they snap like gators. The two secondary blades both have half-stops, the main does not. There are two back springs separated by a brass wedge shaped liner. There are a couple of fairly major "bites" out of the edge on the main blade and a few other bug bites. The more I handle this little 3-7/16" beauty, the more I like it. For something that came in the POS Roundtable, it's great.

.....great old whittler, jerry!!!..................... ...............

That's a beautiful Terrier.

Not all Terrier knives had pattern numbers, not all Robesons, either, for that matter.

Generally speaking, a Robeson pattern number consists of two groups of three digits:

First Number = Handle Material
Second Number = Number of Blades
Third Number + Bolster/Liner Composition
Second Group of Three Digits = The Handle-Die Shape Number

A Terrier knife, however, will have those two groups of digits reversed.

i.e.:

First Three Numbers = Handle-Die Shape Number
Fourth Number _ Handle Material
Fifth Number + Number of Blades
Sixth Number = Bolster/Liner Composition

I do not have a Robeson like that Terrier, so this will require a bit of educated guesswork.

There may be another set of three numbers below the 125.

If that is the case, then the Handle-Die Shape Number for that pattern of knife is 125.

Your Terrier looks to have nickel-silver bolsters and liners. If that is the case, the six digit pattern number for it would might be 125 / 633 or 125 / 636. They used both a 3 and a 6 to denote nickel-silver bolsters and liners. I do not know why.

Tom Kalcevic said that the "6" denoted iron bolsters and liners, but I can prove that incorrect with dozens of examples.

However, if there are no other numbers below the 125 and I realize they might be there, but completely obscured by the bolster, then we have another situation.

Robeson utilized a series of pattern number suffixes to designate a departure from the usual pattern configuration. That might be a different blade option or the addition of a bail not usually used or any other number of things.

These suffix numbers included some fractions, 1/4 or 1/2, sometimes stamped as 1-4 or 1-2 and a number of three digit suffixes, 100, 125, 150, 200 or 250.

I have no idea what all of those mean. I do know, from observation, that 1/2 or 1-2 means a different than usual master blade, i.e. a clip instead of the usual spear. I think Case used a similar system, but I believe Robeson's was exactly opposite from that of Case.

Actually, 125 is the suffix I have seen most often on Robeson knives. I do not think I've ever seen a pattern number suffix on a Terrier. Doesn't mean they didn't do it. No reason why they shouldn'thave, that I know of.

But, if that 125 is the only actual number on the knife, it might just be there to denote a departure from the usual pattern and/or blade configuration, etc.

Fascinating knife in great condition and I am envious.

PM sent, BTW.

Charlie Noyes

The Terrier appears to be 3 1/2” long.

These two Robeson swell-center jacks are both 37/16” long. I measured them both just now. That’s an odd length, so maybe they both lost a 16th inch in final polishing. Who knows?

The spear bladed knife is a 284 pattern and the clip a 285.

I have seen some two blade pens and identically shaped three blade Whittlers that have the same handle-die shape numbers, i.e. 623319 and 633319 and 622225 and 632225.

We don’t really know, yet, what the handle-die shape number is for the Terrier, but if Robeson had been totally consistent, which they were not, it should have been 285, I suspect.

Charlie

I've had a whittler hankering of late. Here are a couple of recent pick ups.