All About Pocket Knives

Have an easy opener jack knife tang stamped SIMMONS HDWE on both blades in a font not shown in Goin's, nor that I have found online. Am looking for some input and information - Has anyone seen this tang stamp before?

Have attached a photo of the knife and the tang stamp. The stamp simply says Simmons Hdwe with no country of origin; I know that Simmons imported knives from both Germany and England, but have never had one to compare stamp fonts. It is a well made knife, does not appear to have been cobbled together; the frame size, shape and bone jigging remind me of the Robeson EOs of the 1940s and early 50s.

Would appreciate input; I don't want to misrepresent this knife when I list it for sale.

easyopener wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:16 pm Have an easy opener jack knife tang stamped SIMMONS HDWE on both blades in a font not shown in Goin's, nor that I have found online. Am looking for some input and information - Has anyone seen this tang stamp before?

Have attached a photo of the knife and the tang stamp. The stamp simply says Simmons Hdwe with no country of origin; I know that Simmons imported knives from both Germany and England, but have never had one to compare stamp fonts. It is a well made knife, does not appear to have been cobbled together; the frame size, shape and bone jigging remind me of the Robeson EOs of the 1940s and early 50s.

Would appreciate input; I don't want to misrepresent this knife when I list it for sale.

Nice looking EO ! The Easy Open is one of my favorite, besides the 72 Camillus. Can’t say much about tang stamp ,other than never seeing Simmons stamp like that ? Good luck with your questions.
Welcome to AAPK , Great people that make it a great place. Someone will get you good info, thanks for posting your knife
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours .

The main thing concerning to me is the position of the period in HD.WE in the stamp. Is there any marking elsewhere? Goins’ has a listing for SIMMONS HDWE. CO. but says “Keen Kutter” is etched on the blade and “England” is stamped the the pile side tang.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:28 pm The main thing concerning to me is the position of the period in HD.WE in the stamp. Is there any marking elsewhere? Goins’ has a listing for SIMMONS HDWE. CO. but says “Keen Kutter” is etched on the blade and “England” is stamped the the pile side tang.

Ken

Kind of like a counterfeiter didnt know what HDWE meant, so they put a period in it? This is to me also a tang stamp for Simmons Hardware that I have not seen.

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:28 pm The main thing concerning to me is the position of the period in HD.WE in the stamp. Is there any marking elsewhere? Goins’ has a listing for SIMMONS HDWE. CO. but says “Keen Kutter” is etched on the blade and “England” is stamped the the pile side tang.

Ken

Ken ,thanks for mentioning that about the period ,that didn’t look right ! Have a good one .

Fake stamp.Letters will be square at the ends and not rounded on an old stamp.
Also,it may be my imagination, but I think I can see the remnants of the original stamp.

For comparison.

That may not be a misplaced period in the tang stamp, might be just a rust pit. (There are other spots on the tang). But the font is strange. Like Roger points out it looks like the remnants of another older stamp may be present. The shield and jigging look like Winchester (Simmons owned Winchester at one time) and made several EO patterns. The stamp is certainly odd and I’m not suggesting it’s legit. What is the closed length of the knife?

Ken

Thanks for all the input, I agree that there appears to be a period between the HD and WE on the master blade tang stamp; the pen blade tang stamp does not have this period.
The knife is 3-5/16 inches closed, little smaller than many easy openers, but a fairly typical size for those made around WWII by Camillus, Robeson, Imperial, etc. I do not see any grind marks that would indicate an old stamp had been removed and both blade tangs are the same thickness as the back springs. Couple other items - the liners are steel, not brass and the crest shield is not let into the bone, it is sitting on top. Again, the knife does not appear to have been taken apart or reassembled from parts. Everything fits together like it should and the scale pins are all spun on.

I think it is a well made counterfeit knife. I have not seen this one before. The 3 USA fakes i have were assembled from parts and fake stampings and are as good as an original.
kj

Thanks again for the information and input. Seems strange to me that someone would go to the trouble of counterfeiting a tang stamp without even trying to match the format and font of the original, but who can justify the wisdom of a counterfeiter?
I have a lot of easy openers and still believe this one was probably made by Robeson in the 1940's or early 1950's. Their jigging was unique.
I will heed the advice received and make it clear in any listing that the origin of this knife is unknown and that the Simmons tang stamp is most likely not correct.

The handles could well be older Robeson but this does not prove Robeson made. There are guys out there who have a good supply of new parts from a variety of now closed USA knife manufacturers and they assemble them into well made completed knives.
I think this is a possible explanation for this knife that should be kept in mind until some solid evidence arises that shows otherwise.
kj