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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Inside Antiques, by Robert Reed   Inside Antiques: Great American Knives: From Bowie To Switchblade   By Robert Reed The glory days of American knife making were spread over two centuries and expanded to all parts of the growing nation.   American knives have truly been historic. From the Bowie knife, which everybody owned but no one could fully define, to the switchblade, which everyone could define but no one was allowed to own.   James Bowie, of Remember the Alamo fame, has always been the namesake of the legendary Bowie knife. Accounts vary, but most speak of Bowie’s unique weapon in regards to a late 1820s brawl in Mississippi. Apparently, the man and the knife both acquitted themselves well and the Bowie knife became part of the country’s language.   Even to this day, The American Knife and Tool Institute notes there is no known definitive description or drawing of the knife Bowie actually used in that 1827 melee. The whereabouts or disposition of that original knife is likewise unknown.   However, the incident and the concept of such an awesome knife spread throughout the frontier. Everyone wanted such a knife, and just about everybody set about making their own - or finding someone nearby who could accomplish the feat.   Consequently, many types of the Bowie knife appeared. By the time of the nation's Civil War, they were arguably the most universal weapons to be carried by soldiers on both sides.   Civil War historian Francis Lord has indicated that early in the war volunteers for both the North and the South brought their Bowie knives along - although they varied considerably in pattern and length. Lord cites one account in The Civil War Collector’s Encyclopedia when a Northern minister officiated at a ceremony where such knives were passed out to a group of Federal war-destined volunteers.   Lord and others suggest the homemade Bowie knife was likely more favoured by Confederate troops and Northern troops may have liked English-made knives better. But the Bowie was nevertheless prominent. In some accounts, they were referred to as sheath knives or side knives, but their genesis was the same.   Some states like Georgia purchased mass quantities of these knives from a large number of makers. Indeed, almost any blacksmith shop could be readily organized for production. Larger examples came with 18-inch blades and reportedly weighed as much as three pounds each.   Confederate knife makers included Knight’s Blacksmith Shop in Amelia, Virginia, and Etowah Iron Works in Etowah, Georgia. Others were Bell and Davis of Atlanta, Georgia, Gitter and Moss of Memphis, Tennessee, Union Car Works of Portsmouth, Virginia, and Burger and Brothers of Richmond, Virginia.   Federal contractor knife makers included Ames Manufacturing Company in Cabotville, Massachusetts, and the William Rogers Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut. Others were Brown and Tetley in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, John Chevalier of New York City, and the Hassam Brothers of Boston, Massachusetts.   The ultimate in Civil War cutlery, however, were the fine quality military swords offered by the Schuyler, Hartley & Graham Sporting Goods Company. The firm, formed in 1860 by Marcellus Hartley, rapidly became one of the largest such operations in the world Among other things, it was noted for its highly regarded presentation swords for field and line officers in the Union army.   Later in the century, the remarkable Hartley would acquire E. Remington and Sons and reorganize it into the formidable Remington Arms Company.   Elsewhere, but in a similar time span, the Simmons Hardware Company was launched by enterprising E. C. Simmons in St. Louis, Missouri. One of the company’s first trademarks was Keen Kutter. Simmons Hardware was soon the standard for the very best in fine carpentry tools and cutlery, including knives.   The latter part of the 19th century found many enterprising knife makers and knife merchants advertising their wares.   A regional leader in the late 1880s was Mather and Grosh in Toledo, Ohio. One of their most popular knives was The Ohio Farmer. Mather & Grosh promised in advertisements: "if not good, no good ones can be made. It is made on honor, it is our leader.”   The Ohio Farmer was priced at only 50 cents, but potential customers were urged to "compare it with the rubbish sold in your store at 50 cents and even any dollar knife there.”   Mather and Grosh also offered the library knife "that will delight the book man. It will cut leaves, sharpen a pencil, split a peach, or erase a blot.” Their picture knife came with "pictures of actresses in the rivet" and for 'professional men' there was the Congress Pattern knife.   Meanwhile, pearl handle knives with four-blades were advertised nationwide for $1 each in the early 1890s by Perry Mason and Company from Boston, Massachusetts.   By the last decade of the 19th century, an obscure company that would be a forerunner in knife making, began offering the Marble Safety Axe. Another American of the 1890s, George Schrade, began perfecting what would become the modern switchblade knife.   Early in the 1900s, big things were happening for Simmons Hardware Company’s Keen Kutter line. The company was busily distributing 25,000 hefty dealer catalogs around the United States. In 1906, the Keen Kutter catalogs alone required 16 railroad cars of paper and 2,500 pounds of printer's ink. At the post office, they weighed in at a half million pounds.   The company that successfully marketed Marble Safety Axe was now well into the making of well crafted knives. Among the favourites was Marble’s Ideal hunting knife, complete with a "blood grove" on its six-inch blade.   By the 1920s, Marble knives were the hit of the Sears, Roebuck and Company’s mail order catalog. As advertised, Marble’s Ideal Knife was "the greatest knife a sportsman ever carried.” Price, including sheath, was $2.48. Another Marble offering was the Flylock, which could be opened by the sportsman simply by pressing and then sliding a single button. Including its Stag pattern handle, the price was $1.98.   Meanwhile, in the same Roaring Twenties decade, the Remington Company of proud armaments production, began producing pocket and hunting knives for the consuming public. It was a new venture for the expanding company, which had pumped up manufacturing capacity shortly before during World War 1.   For Remington, it was in some ways an ironic return to the cutlery business as the parent company, Schuyler, Hartley and Graham, indeed had made swords for the military.   And if Marble’s press button Flylock was selling well, the full switchblade knives of the George Schrade Knife Company were selling even better. Switchblade sales at Schrade’s, and later Schrade-Walden, did well during much of the first half of the 20th century. They also did well at similar American firms.   All that changed however in the 1950s.   In 1955, a move titled Blackboard Jungle featured a scene with a teacher was confronted by a switchblade-wielding teenage gang leader. Many adults were horrified, but many teens saw it as unbridled. Even the gang leader’s use of the defacing term Daddy-O became teen slang.   On the heels of it all came still another movie, Rebel Without A Cause. This actor, James Dean, had a starring role in a film in which a switchblade knife fight was featured. Once again teen audiences were wowed, but the great switchblade scare was on.   “Teenagers adopted not only the language, but the clothing and props of the movie figures, which included switchblades,” noted the American Knife and Tool Institute in their study.   By 1958, the “scare” ended after many states passed laws and the Congress enacted a federal law prohibiting the manufacturing and sale of such switchblade knives. Companies were forced to close.   “Telling them they could not make switchblades for sale in interstate commerce was effectively the same as telling them not to make switchblades at all,” concludes Bernard Levin in Switchblade Legacy.   Today, a continuing number of classic American knife makers are a part of history.   Photo 1: Remington “outdoor knife” listed in 1927 Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalogue   Photo 2: Various knives produced in early 1890s by Maher & Grosh of Toledo, Ohio   Photo 3: Military swords in the Schuyler, Hartley & Graham's catalogue of 1860s   Robert Reed has written on antiques and collectibles for more than two decades. He has also authored 15 books, including his recently released Antiques and Collectible Dictionary, available from www.collectorbooks.com       Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2009 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster