All About Pocket Knives

hi. has anyone ever heard of H. L. Jayne? i have 2 fixed blade knives that look well made with this name on them. Thank you. i you have any info on this i would be grateful.

It would help greatly if you could post some pictures showing all the details of the knives particularly any blade or tang stamps.

i hope i added the pictures. there are also some other initials on the knives

Nodakfinds...WELCOME Aboard AAPK!

I suspect that; your two knives belonged to a person who's name was H.L. Jayne and he had them personalized, or...they were gifts to him and the person gifting had his name engraved on the blade. Pure speculation on my part, but at this time, seems to be the most likely thing. Nevertheless, it appears you have two very nice users that are in good shape.

i thank you for your response. i searched my little head off for this person and could find nothing.

I agree thet this could be a personalizaion of either the person making, gifting of receiving the knives. The markings appaer to be done by a pantograph macine rather than a acid etch or stamp that would more likely be used by a volume custom maker. If Jayne was the maker it could be he didn't make very many knives and either had access to a pantograph or had the knives engraved by a local jewelry store. I could find no information for a H.L Jayne maker.

thank you so much. it just confuses me a bit because the initials on one side of the blade do not match the signature and date on the other side.

it also confuse me that there is a number 5 printed on the side of the tang on the stag knife. that would seem to indicate a pattern number to me but since i am a novice i guess i really do not know. Joe.

perhaps the initials J.E. S., which appear on both knives along with the jayne name may be the maker? i should probably search for J. E S.

i decided to post a couple more pictures to see if they strike a chord with anyone

I suppose "J E S" 'could' be the initials of the knife maker, albeit, unusual marking for a maker. Possibly, JES is the person who gifted the knife to H.L. Jayne and wanted their initials on the knives too. Still, that would be unusual. Personally, I would never put my initials on a knife I was gifting to someone, but that's just me. Seems a bit narcissistic to me.

Furthermore, the date on one of the blades could be a 'birth date' or an anniversary date. The number "5" on the guard 'could' be an indicator that this was the 5th knife made. Again, a complete mystery, and more than likely, you may never know the factual history of either knife. I wouldn't bang my head against the wall trying to figure it out...use and carry them and make em work for you.

UPDATE: Okay...so, I did a search on "knife maker, JES" and found this website. If in fact you have two 'special' knives by this knife maker, that would be AWESOME! Follow the link, scroll to the bottom and you'll see he's in Tennessee. I would give him a call, or 'contact' him and send photos (clear & close up ones) and ask him if he indeed made these two knives. Looking forward to what you find out.


https://www.jesknives.com/how-they-are-made

you know, i called this guy this morning!! dead end! he said he never used a script stamp like the one on the knife. thanks for checking that out for me!

nodakfinds wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 6:10 pm you know, i called this guy this morning!! dead end! he said he never used a script stamp like the one on the knife. thanks for checking that out for me!

Well, that's a bummer. Thought for sure this was a 90% positive lead. There is another 'jesknives' web site in the UK; however, his initials on his knives are not script either.

And the mystery continues...

Found a John E. Spencer, HC63, Bpx 267 Harper, Texas 78631 It's in Houston Price's, OFFICIAL GUIDE TO COLLECTOR KNIVES
Kind of old but maybe? Good Luck, J.O'.

Whoops! That's BOX 267. J.O'.

RIdge may be on to something. The J E S mark is where most makers would normally put there mark on a blade.