Interesting Comparison

One of my customers sent me this scan showing a Joseph Rogers knife from around the same era. Darned if it isn't just about the exact same design as the Russell blade...from the book by Kreps called Camp and Trail Methods.

Nice Folder Shots

This is a real beauty. I picked it up at the Marlboro knife show last year. It's slim and the bone handles are gorgeous. I don't mind the small cracks or the fact that it has been sharpened so many times that the blade tip now sticks up past the liners. It's a sweet little folder and probably made right here locally before 1936.

Russell Pocket Knife?

I'm not sure if this is a Green River folder or not but it may be.

Couple more shots

Sorry I haven't had time to add much to this blog since I started it but here's a few more shots of the fixed blade...if anyone has pictures of Russell knives in their collections that they would like to share please email me and maybe I can add them to the Blog.

Green River Knife

My dad gave me this neat old piece with the fancy ebony handle. The leather sheath is still in pretty good shape and the blade is not bad at all considering that it probably dates back to the late 1800's. Too bad there's a big chunk out of the checkering on the back side of the handle. Oh well...it's still cool! :)

Pocket Knife Blanks

Definitely pocket knife blanks. I was intrigued to see how they stamped them out cookie cutter style and was reminded of how with today's technology of laser and waterjet cutting the nesting of parts and utilization of the material is so much better.

Butcher Knife and Dinner Knife Blanks

The dinner cutlery is obvious but the bigger knives could be either butchering knives or large carving knives. Hard to say but they are quite good sized. Some of these blanks are 10-12 inches long. Notice how the shape of the blade is curved upwards. This is a natural shape that would evolve from forging the straight steel bar. As the one side gets thinner the material keeps getting pushed upwards until the whole bar ends up with a curve in it. If you have ever done any forging you will know what I mean. Anyway, they worked with the natural tendency of the steel and made the blades curved.