How can I tell if a pocket knife is CW era?

[CoilyGirl]

Found it this afternoon,the wood has rotted away except for a small sliver which disintegrated in my hands when I was washing it. Should I try and get the blades out and if so how? The mister found an old cider tap a few feet away so we know "they" were there.

 

[KEYSHUNTER]

no picture,cw,china works lol hope it is old ,no wood left soak in wd40 for acouple days cant hurt

 

[Tnmountains]

Every pocket knife I have dug on cw sites were a mess. I doubt it would ever open.Can not say with certainty they were even civil war. Same with harmonicas.

 

[empty_pockets]

This might help............knives of the civil war | American Civil War Forums

 

[gunsil]

How about a pic Coily?? May be able to tell something about the style. In general though most old rusted out pocket knives will be unidentifiable as to age or maker. There are styles which are older or newer, and some styles that haven't changed much in two hundred years. There is also really no way to open them up since the rust usually corrodes them too badly, and if you could open them up the maker's name on the blade is usually gone from rust. The ONLY positive way to date a knife is by the maker's mark on the blade.

 

[CoilyGirl]

I probably won't try and open it then. Here it is. I've seen some that are completely toasted and some not so bad. Let's just say I'm gonna pretend like it is ,lol. I'll be glad if I ever find anything identifiable 100 % without a doubt.

 

[gusser]

Search---sailors knives of the civil war.

 

[gunsil]

I probably won't try and open it then. Here it is. I've seen some that are completely toasted and some not so bad. Let's just say I'm gonna pretend like it is ,lol. I'll be glad if I ever find anything identifiable 100 % without a doubt.

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Now I believe we can date it. The piece that goes down the center and is humped up at one end is a liner lock mechanism. The liner lock was patented in 1906 for the Cattaraugus Cutlery Co. of Little Valley, N.Y. and became widely used after about 1930 by many other firms, commonly used on "electrician's" knives. The knife frame, with only a bolster at the top end is typical of electrician knife construction. So your knife Coily, is made after 1906 and more likely 1930s- 1940s, although they still make knives exactly like it today. Most of the modern ones have plastic handles so I'm thinking prior to WW2 with the wood handles although the government had a lot of the wood handled ones made during the war, and there were wood handled ones made through the 1960s. Even the frame of an old pocket knife can speak volumes to those who know the language.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Thank you ever so much Gunsil.

 

[Tnmountains]

I thought they all had that center section down the middle. Guess not . I learn every day. I need to dig some of mine out and look.

 

[Peyton Manning]

Coily, if you ever find one with wood intact and it has inscribed " stonewall Jackson" send it to me ( Yes I know he didn't go to TN)

 

[gunsil]

I thought they all had that center section down the middle. Guess not . I learn every day. I need to dig some of mine out and look.

Most two bladed "jack" knives have a center liner, but not all. Most "jacks" have two blades at one end of the knife. Most "pen" knives are smaller knives with one blade at each end. The liner lock mechanism has a defined "hump" at the blade end that sticks up above the side liners where when you open the designated locking blade the liner springs over and prevents the blade from inadvertently closing while in use. You then must manually push the "hump" part of the liner back out of the way to close the blade.

 

[Judepb]

I was wondering about this I found too. I found it on a civil war site i think it's one side of a handle of a pocket knife but it's a metal does anyone have a idea about this one thanks