Estate Sale Knife Hunt!

I went estate sale shopping today and found some knives.

Vintage Zwillings Twinworks 202-10" and L F & C Universal Chef's Knives

Let me first post these two chef's knives. The top knife is the L F & C Universal chef's knife, the bottom one in the picture is the Zwilling Twinworks chef's knife.

The L F & C is a vintage carbon chef's knife with a giant 12" blade. This knife was made in a process that we call stamped. A stamped knife is made by cutting out (stamping like using a cookie cutter) the knife shape out of a specially prepared steel blank. If you look down on a stamped knife you would see one long length of steel. It is made of carbon steel. Carbon steel was used to make knives before stainless steel was developed. The gray mottled appearance tells us it is carbon steel.

This knife is marked L F & C UNIVERSAL MADE IN U.S.A. It is in excellent shape!

Friodur Twinworks Forged 202-10" 10" Chef's Knife

And here is the Zwilling knife. This is a stainless steel forged knife made by Henckel.

A forged knife is made by taking an amount of steel and pounding it — usually using molds — into the desired knife shape. You can usually identify a forged knife by the bolster (the bolster is where the handle meets the blade). The bolster on a forged knife is think metal, and if you are looking down at the top of a knife you would see how the bolster is made of the same metal as the blade, but gets wider where it meets the handle.

This Friodur Twinworks chef's knife is a forged 10" bladed knife forged from stainless steel.

Dexter and RusHar Knife Honing Steels

I picked up two knife honing steels. Both are 14" one is made by Dexter, and the other is a RusHar. The Dexter seems to have had little use, the RusHar is more worn — but I am not really sure how a steel wears out. What I mean is my guess is that a steel that has been worn smooth with use should pretty much still hone the knife edge back to good condition.

Ontario Pacific Carbon Steel Paring Knife

This little knife is marked Ontario Pacific. It seems to be a small utility knife, being that I found it in Santa Clara County — my guess is that it is a cot knife, a knife used in the apricot industry that was big here years ago.

Cutco Knife Sharpener

I came across this handheld Cutco brand knife sharpener. I bought it just because I know that any Cutco items are always desired. I have already resold this guy.

Cutco Knife Set and Cutco Knife Wall Rack

The same estate sale had this set of Cutco knives. The rack that they are in hangs on the wall (with the handles facing down), and you lift the knife up and out.

Cutco Knife Set

Here is the Cutco knives out of the wall rack. There paring to chef's knives, and also a serrated spreader.

I sharpen Cutco knives every day — and everyone that I ask says that they love their Cutco knives!

What's on Display at my Mobile Knife Sharpening Business's Display Tables

My knife sharpening business is mostly sharpening — but not exclusively — I also sell new knives, buy, sell and trade knives, and repair and restore old knives.

Kitchen Knives on Display

Let's start with my new knives on display. The picture above shows (from the left) Boker ceramic chef's and paring knives. Next to the Bokers (and kind of under them) are my carbon steel Old Hickorys. I usually have at least five of the Old Hickory knives available. The knives on the far right are Mundial, there are four knives unpackaged on display on the table, and in the red boxes are Mundial knives individually packaged, and also packaged sets.

Sporting and Folding Knives

This shot shows my folding knives, hunting and skinning knives, and fish filet knifes. I see Kershaw, SOG, Boker, Spyderco, Arno Bernard, White River Knife and Tool and others.

Vintage Handmade Kitchen Knife

Lets talk vintage! I love vintage knives, and I always have an eye out for them. This one, though, is not mine. A customer brought it in wanting to have it restored. He said it is a handmade knife made years ago by his grandfather. He asked to have it cleaned up and sharpened.

Vintage Handmade Kitchen Knife Cleaned Up

Here is the knife before sharpening but after cleaning and restoring. The steel was cleaned and polished, the wooden handle was cleaned and oiled.

Vintage Handmade Kitchen Knife Restored.

Here is the finished knife. I see that the lighting was not the best — kind of makes the knife looks a bit flat and washed out — but here it is! Sharpened, cleaned, oiled and ready to go. Maybe I will photograph it in better light before it is picked up by its owner...

Handmade Forged Woodcraft Knife

Here is a beautiful one of a kind hand made forged knife. This is what one might call a 'woodcraft knife' or 'fieldcraft' knife. You wear it on your belt while tromping around — you will find a fieldcraft useful for any number of things.

Forged Fieldcraft Knife

Here is the bad boy in the sheath with the curly maple handle visible.

Handmade Woodcraft Knife and Sheath

Here is the knife and sheath. The knife blade is made of 1095C carbon steel, the handle is curly maple, and the sheath is vegetable tanned leather.

Five Knives At the Doorstep Today

A beautiful Wednesday here in Northern California, which called me out to ride my motorcycle. Me and a buddy rode up over the Santa Cruz Mountains to the ocean and back.

Steamer's Lane Santa Cruz

The ride was great fun, and icing on the cake was my knife shipment waiting for me.

My Shipment of Knives

Here are the knives. a couple of SOGs, Ontario RAT, Boker and Kershaw.

SOG Twitch XL with Rosewood Handle

I received another Twitch XL with rosewood handle. I received one just a bit ago, but sold it and I thought to replace it.

Kershaw Knockout Assisted Opening Folder Brown Aluminum Handle

Next up is this Kershaw. It is a limited run of (I believe) 400 pieces. It has a bead blasted finish on the blade, an anodized aluminum handle in brown, and is an assisted opening knife.

Kershaw Knockout

Here is the Kershaw Knockout again. I think it is on the large size, the clip can be repositioned, and made in the USA.

Ontario Knife RAT Model 1 Folding Knife

RAT Model 1 by Ontario Knife. RAT is short for Randall's Adventure Training. This is a manual opening knife, full sized and strong.

Ontario RAT Model 1

Here is the RAT's clip side. The clip can be repositioned to any one of the four ends.

Boker Anti-Grav Folding Knife

This is a nice, light knife. Boker Anti-Grav. The blade is ceramic, and the handle scales are carbon fiber.

Boker Anti-Grav Clip Side Folding Knife

Here is the clip side of this beautiful Boker knife.

SOG Spec-Elite Automatic Knife

Last up is this SOG. It is a fully automatic knife, the silver button shown above releases the blade. This is the Spec-Elite.

SOG Spec-Elite Automatic Knife

Clip side view of the SOG Spec-Elite.

This Old Knife

Digging up old knives is my passion! I always have my eye out during my daily travels.

Last Saturday I found these two knives:

Cattaraugus Chef's Knife and Cattaraugus Slicer Knife

These are stamped Cattaraugus. I believe that Cattaraugus was in business from 1890 until 1963, based in Little Valley, New York. The top knife is a 8" chef's knife, the lower knife is a slicer knife. They are carbon steel knives, and I believe that the handles are made of Bakelite. These are stamped knives.

Cattaraugus Knives

Here is a closeup of the Cattaraugus name stamped onto these knives.

Robinson Carbon Steel Chef's Knife

Here is a Robinson carbon Steel chef's knife. Made in the USA, and I believe it is carbon steel and then plated. There is rust coming through the finish, that I what makes me feel that it is plated. This is a full tang stamped knife.

Robinson Chef's Knife and Original Chipboard Sheath

Here is the Robinson knife photographed with its original paper sleeve or sheath as you wish.

Sabatier Forged Carbon Steel Chef's Knife

This beauty is a forged carbon steel knife made by Sabatier. It is forged (I believe) but the bolster is not forged, it is a cast piece that was soldered to the knife.

Dufresne & Co La Trompette Forged Chef's Knife

This knife is marked Dufresne & Co La Trompette, and marked France. It is a forged carbon steel chef's knife.

I must have much more to post. Let me find some more pictures and get back to this!