All About Pocket Knives

This isn't a counterfeit knife. Perhaps cobbled or reworked but certainly not factory original. The topic of rotary tool jigging has come up before but I saw this knife floating in the bay and thought it would be good to post it here.

Empire Winsted CT jumbo sleevebord pattern. The back handle isn't original and has been added to the knife with hand rotary tool jigging. I asked the seller if he thought the handle was original and he said he didn't really know. The auction was taken down so I'm not sure what happened to the knife.

If you look at the back handle you can see that whoever worked on the knife tried to replicate the jigging on the front handle. Notice first that the color is different. No big deal because you see that often enough on bone handled knives. Then notice that the front handle has very little if any flat surface to it. Jigging surfaces are all rounded off at the edges and the handle ends are rounded off and void of jigging mostly at the liners. This is typical of old factory bone and pocket wear does contribute to this over time.

The back handle doesn't have the rounding of the jigging surfaces that the front has and the handle ends at the liners have much more jigged surface than the front. As usual with rotary tool jigging done with a round bit there is a lot of depth and rounding to the jigging itself and there is more of a gouged look to it. Also note that some of the jigging is void of the dark dye that would be normal and as seen on the front handle. This isn't the worst example of dremel jigging I've seen but still looks pretty bad to me. Certainly not original to the knife.

Here are a couple of other AAPK posts about dremel type jigging. The first is back handle only. The second fornt and back.

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=68612&hilit=dremel

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=60978&hilit=dremel

There are two possibilities here. 1. Someone is attempting to mislead by jigging the bone to look like something original, they may or may not have done an adequate job.
2. Someone has repaired the knife and has just done the jigging with a Dremel in such a way as to make a usable old knife without an attempt to deceive. For comparison purposes, I have included pictures of a couple of knives that I have repaired by making new bone handle material from Angus beef legbones that I obtained at Petsmart that they sell as dog bones. The pictured Valley Forge plier knife (top in both pictures) has had BOTH the mark side and pile side replaced and the pictured Voos jack (bottom in both pictures) has had one side replaced. Just for kicks what would be your estimation of which front or back on the Voos did I replace? I did the jigging on both knives with a Dremel. I try to do it as randomly as possible and not duplicate any original patterns to make it apparent that the bone has been replaced.

Back of Voos is Rogers bone.

I think that both examples look beautiful!
As long as a repaired knife is represented as a repaired knife, and no one is trying to pass it off as original, I personally have no problem with it.
If the seller took the listing down after you questioned it, then he/she is very likely an honest seller who didn't realize that one side might not be original. I respect a seller who will "back up" and re-examine a knife that is in question.
And I tip my hat to anyone who can jig bone that well with a dremel!

btrwtr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:31 pm Back of Voos is Rogers bone.

You are correct. Notice how the original jigging on the pile side "flows" along the length of the knife and I always throw in a few perpendicular to that. Pretty obvious, right. On the Valley Forge I dont completely cover the scales, there are bare spots. Makes it obvious to a knowledgeable collector that it is not original.

Here are a couple of folders I made years ago. The bone is pet supply bone I cut, jigged and dyed for the knives. Old 35mm camera photos so clarity isn't good.

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:55 pmFor comparison purposes, I have included pictures of a couple of knives that I have repaired by making new bone handle material from Angus beef legbones that I obtained at Petsmart that they sell as dog bones.

I think they look great. The bone you got, did you use a sealer or stabilization epoxy on it? Was it already dry enough or did you cut it and let it age, and how did you get the color dyed(what color dye)?

I soaked it in acetone to degrease it. The dye used is Feibings dark brown leather dye. No sealer was used.

btrwtr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:53 pm Here are a couple of folders I made years ago. The bone is pet supply bone I cut, jigged and dyed for the knives. Old 35mm camera photos so clarity isn't good.

Those turned out great. Making your own bone slabs is a lot of work, but it is worthwhile. I use Culpepper bone most of the time.

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Thu Dec 09, 2021 3:26 am I soaked it in acetone to degrease it. The dye used is Feibings dark brown leather dye. No sealer was used.

thanks for the info.

Very nice work. I’ve done some jigging by chucking up a ball cutter in the drill press to hand jig. I like the way it turned out O. C.

#goldpan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:21 am Very nice work. I’ve done some jigging by chucking up a ball cutter in the drill press to hand jig. I like the way it turned out O. C.

Randy ,great idea will have to try that .
Hope you had a great holiday week end so far .