All About Pocket Knives

Guys,
I need a 'little' help on this one. It is hard to age or date a fixed blade and I don't have a clue as to the age of this fine knife.
I am hoping one of the Robeson experts will check in a help out.

Ray

Edit,, I failed to give the blade length and it is 5 inches with an OAL of 8¾ inches.

Ray, I've never collected the long knives from Robeson unless they were U.S. military issue.

They cannot be dated by tang stamps.

I know nothing re' their sheaths or when they used any particular style or design.

To me, the knife looks circa WWII, maybe before, maybe after, but probably not during, as they were filling government contracts during the war.

In the mid to late 50's they started using their ShurWood handles.

Charlie

Charlie,
Thanks for that info. It is likely older than I thought.
Appreciate the help,
Ray

Ray, I could not date mine either, but both look to be from the 1930s by the pommel, if anything is to be inferred by looking at the CASE and Western States hunting knives. The blade on mine is about 6 1/8 inches.

tongueriver wrote:Ray, I could not date mine either, but both look to be from the 1930s by the pommel, if anything is to be inferred by looking at the CASE and Western States hunting knives. The blade on mine is about 6 1/8 inches.
rob 1.JPG
rob 5.jpg

It is anybody's guess on these. Your sheath looks older than mine as mine is carved or tooled. Looks like hand work but might be machine done.
As we say around herebouts 'quien sabe'?

Ray

Ray, If I was going to make a wild guess, I'd say it is probably a pre war knife. Just going by all the Westerns I have seen, the butt looks similar to the cast aluminum style. Really nice example, the spacer colors are a little different on the two shown, don't know if that means anything or not? Terry

Thanks, Terry. I'm in agreement.

Ray

Those are a couple of very handsome fixed blade knives. Robeson sure knew what they were doing.

Robeson used a wood pommel on some of the Mark I knives they made for The Navy and the rest were aluminum. Both were the same shape.

I don't know which was used first, but I suspect the wood preceded the aluminum.

I don't know if they ever used wood pommels on their commercial hunting knives.

Charlie Noyes

Charlie, I'm sure the wooden butt knife was a WW11 made knife do to the shortage of alum for the war effort, but you probably knew that. Very nice example of a USN Mk 1. Terry

I think the OP knife could have been made after Robeson purchased the Kinfolks plant in Little Valley c.1957. The straight-line stamp without the "Shuredge" mark and aluminum fittings on the knife point in that direction. This blade 5" style was a standard offering from Kinfolks.

btrwtr wrote:I think the OP knife could have been made after Robeson purchased the Kinfolks plant in Little Valley c.1957. The straight-line stamp without the "Shuredge" mark and aluminum fittings on the knife point in that direction. This blade 5" style was a standard offering from Kinfolks.

Wayne,
I think you may have it right. I have a Kinfolks that came to me in the same batch of knives. There are some distinct similarities in the two.

Ray