Posted 7 years ago
Ridgeviewer
(1 item)
This was my grandad's knife. He worked for the railroad and ive been told the knife may have been made as gifts for the railroad men. It has what appears to be a black plastic spacer in one end of the handle as opposed to a second blade. Bone handle as you can see. No markings that i can see. Thanks for any and all help!
You have a "sleeveboard" jack knife; given its size some would call it a jumbo sleeveboard. The name refers to its silhouette which looks like the small ironing boards folks used to use to iron shirt sleeves. This handle pattern was usually made int0 a two- or three-blade knife with blades at both ends. The spacer you refer to allowed the maker to leave out the other blade(s) and make a less expensive version using the same spring. This is usually an indication of a European knife. It is unusual that there is no name stamped at the bottom of the blade, where it pivots; although there may be something under the small amount of corrosion there - your pictures are not clear enough to judge that. Alternately, some identification may have been etched on the blade and has worn off with use.
Thanks UncleRon.. i imagine this blade was marked in some wway originally.. ill try a good magnifying glass at the base of the blade. Cant make anything out with naked eye. Would yyou have any guesses as to brands to researh?
Also, if it helps i can remember my grandpa using this knife 46 years ago and it was quite old then..
You can scrape gently on the tang area, with another knife, to remove rust. Some tang stamps are so shallow that any dirt obscures them and any actual rust pitting destroys them.
I suspect the knife is German, but in any event there are far too many manufacturer's to even begin trying to figure out who made a knife like this. It could easily be 100 years old. It may have been a contract knife for a particular hardware store that wanted a decent knife as inexpensively as possible (maybe even for a promotional gift). Leaving off the manufacturer's tang stamp would reduce the cost a bit and then, possibly, having the store's name etched on the blade would be good advertising.
Thanks again UncleRon! Based on my age an my grandpas age when i was a boy, id say approaching 100 years is close. He carried it and years later i carried it for many years.. still tight as a new knife..