Some of my favorite resources for getting started in exploring the rich history of traditional pocket knives.
Getting Started:
- Levine's Guide to Knives & their Values by Bernard Levine and Bud Lang
- The Standard Knife Collector's Guide by Roy Ritchie and Ron Stewart
- American Pocket Knives A History of Schatt & Morgan and Queen Cutlery By David A. Krauss David's book is an excellent read on one of my favorite old companies. Also, David's intro on knife history is a must read.
Fascinating Reads:
The below are all in the public domain
A Man of Samples - Something about the Men He Met "on the Road." by William H. Maher · 1886
The Cutlery Trades An Historical Essay in the Economics of Small-scale Production by Godfrey Isaac Howard Lloyd · 1913
The Manufacture of Steel Containing the Practice and Principles of Working and Making Steel by Frederick Overman, A. A. Fesquet · 1873
Archaeology dig of the New York Knife Company by the University of the State of New York. · 1999
This is a fascinating look at the survey and excavation of the grounds of this former powerhouse of a knife company. What was left behind will shock and astonish readers!
The American Cutler - Official Organ of the Cutlery Industry
US Trade mag from the early 1900s targeted to manufacturers, job shops, and retailers. Multiple bound years available.
Catalogs:
One of the best ways to piece together knife history - and maybe even test urban legends.
Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett and Co - One of the best hardware stores of our great-great grandfather's time! Famed hardware store based in Chicago and originator of the True Value brand. The below catalog PDF links are large downloads.
Web Resources:
Queen Cutlery History
Self-descriptive! This site has many good reads on both Queen and Schatt & Morgan with new content added frequently
Knife Magazine
Support a great magazine and writers. A digital subscription also gets you access to their lengthy magazine and book archive.
Great Eastern Cutlery
The World's best manufacturer of production pocket knives. You can get them from Austin!
--------------------------------
Resources in the Public Domain:
History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire Vol. 1 - 1905
History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire Vol. 2 - 1906
Mechanic Exercises or the The Doctrine of Handy-Works - 1703
On the prevention and treatment of the Sheffield grinders' disease - 1857
Sheffield: Past and Present - 1873
The Sheffield Dialect - 2nd Ed. (1st published in1839)
The Cutlery Trades - An Historical Essay in the Economis of Small-Scale Production - 1913
Coward, Henry. Reminiscences of Henry Coward. London: J. Curwen & sons Ltd, 1919
Books:
(Note: I've provided a list of books I've read here. Some may be out of print or difficult to find, but it doesn't make them less interesting!)
Tweedale, Geoffrey. Sheffield Steel and America: A Century of Commercial and Technological Interdependence 1830-1930. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Tweedale, Geoffrey. The Sheffield Knife Book: A History & Collectors Guide. The Hallamshire Press, 1996.
Tweedale, Geoffrey. Stan Shaw, Master Cutler: The Story of a Sheffield Craftsman. Hallamshire Press, 1993.
Tweedale, Geoffrey. Tweedale’s Directory of Sheffield Cutlery Manufacturers 1740-2013, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition. 2nd ed., Knife World, 2021.
Turner, C. Sheffield Heritage: Anthology of Photographs and Words of the Cutlery Craftsmen. University of Sheffield & Sheffield Trades Historical Society, 1978.
Housley, Herbert. Back to the Grindstone. The Hallamshire Press, 1998.
Binfield, Clyde, and David Hey. Mesters to Masters: A History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire. 1st ed., Oxford University Press, 1997.
Jenkins, Clare, and Stephen McClarence. On the Knife Edge: The inside Story of the Sheffield Cutlery Industry. SCL Publishing, 1989.
Drewry, Mick. Intimidation: The History, The Times And The People Of The Sheffield Outrages. Austin Macauley Publishing, 2017.
Bill Adams (Editor). Sheffield Exhibition Knives. Old World Publishing, Ltd, 1999.