Vintage Knives

Such little activity, thought I'd throw a softball up. I kind of collect vintage knives. I started with Sabatier and moved on from there. Pretty much just carbon, though I've picked up a few stainless. Those I might see if a carbon version was ever available. Not at that point yet. Any ways, anybody else? I know Japanese knives and custom are all the rage. I have those too. I'm still looking for a Cuba Knife Co. slicer (see here). Does anybody know about the Star Knife Co. of Taunton MA? I think late 1880s. I don't know if they even made kitchen knives.

 

I have a few old knives from my grandparents. A bunch from one who was a butcher in Virginia City, NV. One from my other grandfather when he worked in a grocery store in Goldfield, NV. Nothing super special, except for sentimental value. Some may go into a light box display, and I may re-handle one or two. I'll try to take some pics later, as I forget the companies.

 

Long term my goal will be to refurb, rejuvenate what I have. But right now I don't have the space since we moved and all of my tools are in storage.

 

My dad found several old knives at an estate sale, mostly carbon, that I have rehabbed and gave away to family. The rehabbed knives always seem to be their faves before long.
It can be a fun and rewarding hobby to get into.

 

Took a lot longer to do this than I was thinking. It didn't help that my keyboard was out of commission for a while either. Here are a couple of the older knives I have. The cleaver is staying the way it is. Still pondering about what to do with the others.

 

i have a fork and knife set like that but with antler/stag handles and silver fittings. the forks bipod thingy is a cool trick

 

I'm not a huge fan of the plastic handle on them, but they were my grandfather's brother's special occasion knives, so they'll most likely end up in a picture box on the wall to preserve the history of them. Not everything I have has to be fancy. I've yet to try the fork, as I do most of my slicing away from the table where it's not needed.

 

Cool! Do you know the makers of any of those?

 

In the top picture, the boning knife is a Forgecraft. The two in the middle of the picture have no maker's mark, and the cleaver is "Samuel Lee Knives and Steels".

The bottom pictured knife and fork are "Universal L. F. & C."

 

Nice to have a family heirloom that is knife related.
Thanks for posting them.

 

Looks like I need to return the favor and post some pics

 

I touched up a few yesterday. Long term goal is to refresh the handles but that's many years from now. In the meantime they still work as intended.

 

Nice assortment there. I particularly like the English pattern (Wostenholm?) and the one directly to the left of it.

 

Here is my contribution:

From left:
American Cutlery Co.; buckeye burl, copper pin.
Sabatier ‘S. Honere 84’; dyed sycamore (Lacewood)
Forgecraft; brown mallee ferrule & Live edge red mallee w/ synthetic spacers (Mike Riggen)
Geo. Wostenholm; Maple burl w/ pollyanna burl ferrule & end cap, synthetic spacers (Mike Riggen)
Forgecraft; Briar burl w/ dyed maple burl spacer

All handles other than the Riggens were fabricated by Dave Martell.
All knives were refurbished/modded and all handles were installed by Dave Martell.

 

Some still in the queue:

All unmarked old carbon.

 

Not sure about this one. Original ebony (?) handle is still in good shape. Couple of minor cracks that can be filled in with cyanoacrylate. No idea who made this behemoth, but it’s wicked distal taper, nickel silver ferrule, and overall finish shows real craftsmanship.

 

Wonderful collection Chef!
Thank you for posting them.

 

Found a few more, Jim. I think that’s the lot.

 

Well, almost:

 

Awesome collection.