Texas Cutlery Weatherford Texas Made By Canal Street???

[herbva]

This knife arrived yesterday and I'm wondering if it was really made by Canal Street or is something else entirely. Or, perhaps is was a factory reject? I was hoping to add a Canal Street knife to my collection and this one looked like a good deal on fleabay. I don't mind the missing chip next to the lanyard hole, but the poor finish job on the scales (covers) and the bolsters really has me wondering. It was hard to catch all the irregularities in the pictures, but the scales and bolsters are only roughly finished and the blade looks like it was never ground and is duller than a butter knife. Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

[cody6268]

Sounds like a Queen that was left over from the factory shutting down. I have a Moore Maker 5201LL that is exactly as you describe. Dull bone, brushed finish bolsters, and only ground, so as dull as a butter knife.

How is your blade lockup? My 5201LL was obviously a reject, as there is some play, and the locking liner sn't springy, so it's easily accidentally released.

[herbva]

Sounds like a Queen that was left over from the factory shutting down. I have a Moore Maker 5201LL that is exactly as you describe. Dull bone, brushed finish bolsters, and only ground, so as dull as a butter knife.

How is your blade lockup? My 5201LL was obviously a reject, as there is some play, and the locking liner sn't springy, so it's easily accidentally released.

Cody, the only good thing about this knife is the lockup. I've since been told that it's not a Canal Street at all, and probably not even made in the U.S.A. Man, do I feel stupid!

[Mumbleypeg]

Texas Cutlery was a short-lived subsidiary of Teskey’s Western store located in Weatherford, TX. They may have had aspirations of a business model along the lines of Moore Maker. To my knowledge (which is limited) the knives were all made in USA. Yours is clearly stamped USA. I suspect it’s a Queen-made knife, but they also had some made by Canal Street. Eric (ea42) may know more, if it’s possibly a Canal Street.

Ken

[Reverand]

I could be very wrong, but it looks like a lot like some of the factory seconds that I have seen at the Bear and Son sales.
I do not recall seeing one with that exact tang stamp, but very similar knives.
Even if it is by another manufacturer, it does appear to be a factory second. I hope you got a great deal on it, otherwise you should look at a return.
You could always sand and polish it smooth, sharpen it, and see how pretty it looks then!

[cody6268]

Here's a Queen #3L for comparison, but the pins are wrong and the nail nick is wrong.

Photo comes from the Cutting Edge/AG Russell

[Mumbleypeg]

Bear is another possibility as is Utica. (Not saying the OP knife is a Utica). Basically the same made in USA line up as Moore Maker’s suppliers. The U.S. trademark site says Texas Cutlery is no longer an active trademark.

Teskey’s sells (in addition to knives - they’re a Case Master dealer) Western wear, tack, firearms, farm and ranch supplies, etc. It’s been a few years since I was last there, but they had a selection of older, collectable pocket knives for sale at that time. https://teskeys.com/pages/about-us

Ken

[herbva]

Thanks for the input everyone! Eric got back to me and it's definitely not a Canal Street knife and Eric doubts that it was even U.S. made. The moral of the story is, of course, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. I've already started the return process with fleabay.

[1967redrider]

The puzzling part for me is, what's up with the "CS" tang stamp on the mark side?

[cody6268]

The puzzling part for me is, what's up with the "CS" tang stamp on the mark side?

"Carbon Steel".

Here's a Bear-made Moore Maker 3206 "Large" (Bullet) Trapper I have.

Note the skinner blade's pile side tang stamp "CS USA"--looks similar, but it appears the Texas Cutlery example uses a different stamp altogether.

While the pins are generally the same, I can see quite a few differences between it and Bear Bullets (they did make a lock blade when they had the Remington license).

Also the lanyard tube looks to have a very small interior diameter. Since this one is a work knife, I have a paracord lanyard tied to mine, and standard 550 cord fits through it with room to spare.

The only other companies making Bullet style Trappers are GEC (definitely sure they would not let something this unfinished slip) and Utica (they only produce a liner lock Bullet--and they have since Remington came out with the original a century ago), and Camillus (the single blades usually had a different blade shape, and had spine jimping)--who never used pins near the lanyard tube.

[Mumbleypeg]

CS = Carbon steel.

Assuming it was in fact made with intent for sale by Teskey’s, I would be very surprised if it’s not U.S. made. Teskey’s is a longtime, locally well known Texan owned reputable family business. Nothing shady about it. They wouldn’t have something made and stamped U.S.A. if it wasn’t so. And they don’t sell junk.

If it’s counterfeit, who knows? Could be China, Pakistan, or ?? But as others have said it looks like a factory second. It may never have made it to Teskey’s.

Ken

[ea42]

Bear did make the knives for Texas Cutlery but their pin layout is different from the OP knife, especially at the butt end. The Moore Maker knife in Cody's post is pretty much identical. The tang on the OP knife is also very strange, nothing even resembling a kick there. I don't know of any US manufacturers who do a tang like that, although the shape of the Bear tangs is somewhat close. I suppose someone could round them out a bit to look like that but the handles are definitely way off from the Bear model. Just a very odd knife, almost looks like someone's attempt at making a first knife except for the fact that it has those tang stamps. I'm pretty certain it's not Queen either as they used an integral spring/lockbar that only required the lanyard tube and no pins at the butt end. Here's a video that features the Bear made lockback that was done for Texas Cutlery, the knife shows up at 4:25 into the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vkw4WAMNVfA

Eric

[1967redrider]