Guardians of The Lambsfoot!

Bartleby said:

Perhaps a form of gutta percha?

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That occurred to me, as well. I did a quick Google Image search of gutta percha objects, but I didn't see anything with a grain that looked like rockman's TEW.

Half/Stop said:

Ok, ok, I’ve been away for a couple of days and y’all are talking about Ole Midnight!
What’s up with that!! Something about grain!

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That's some amazing grain. Such dark and handsome horn! I admit when you first posted a picture of the "midnight special" my mind sort of dismissed the lines as a reflection of something like a ceiling fan or venetian blinds. Perhaps it's a reflection of my less than stellar photographic skills - I can't seem to capture anything beyond the shiny surface, and I assumed that was what I was looking at.

herder said:

More wonderful pictures from screened porch and r8shell, and neat to see the food background pictures from Jack and gonebad, both the knives and food look tasty.
Great camping picture from cambertree in the Australian outback, and a future destination of mine as well. Beautiful picture WhittlinAway, what type of tree is the knife sitting on?

Jack, here is that Taylor Eye Witness catalog picture from the old knives thread.

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I think it should be noted that in the 1924 and 1939 catalogues for W. JNO BAKER Cutlery of Australia that there are some obvious made by Taylors Eye Witness knives that have a Clip & Pen and also a Clip & Spey but I did not find the Clip & Lambfoot . I do not imply that they were not making one at all .
The knives were stamped with W. JNO BAKER RABBIT KNIFE and not Taylors Eye Witness . They were stated to have SMOOTH HORN covers and 3 & 1/2 long . I would like to thank you @herder for pointing out the catalogue .

Harry

rockman0 said:

You are welcome, this old bird needs to fly back home for a visit

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LOL! One of my own knives is just returning from a study period in the US!

Half/Stop said:

Ok, ok, I’ve been away for a couple of days and y’all are talking about Ole Midnight!
What’s up with that!! Something about grain!

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That really is a beautiful knife Ron, and very well photographed

5K Qs said:

Interesting collection of facts, Jack!
I may not "know my onions" when it comes to many aspects of knives, but I do know what kind of discourse I enjoy and admire. And this discussion about the handles of Rob's old TEW Barlow is the kind I like! People don't necessarily agree with one another, but they clearly, civilly, and as persuasively as possible present the "evidence" for their positions, and everyone seems to weigh these arguments with an open mind. That's pretty characteristic of the discourse throughout the thread!! I've learned tons from this thread's posts (of which there are now almost 3000!! )!

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I think we're in a sort of 'Public Inquiry' situation GT! We may not have a definitive answer yet, but we're all interested in presenting evidence which may help us draw a conclusion

Half/Stop said:

Snuck right in there I did!

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Nicely snuck!

Crazy Canuck said:

Silly question, but I can't hold back... These fancy bolsters?! Story? I should probably go way back and read, but I'm super jealous! Is this a new thing at A Wright & Son, or limited thing?

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Sorry Mike, I'm afraid they happened while you were away I got Wright's to do a limited run of 30 as a not-for-profit Guardians special edition. I made a post, since edited, inviting folks to PM me their email address. It seemed to work out OK

r8shell said:

That's some amazing grain. Such dark and handsome horn! I admit when you first posted a picture of the "midnight special" my mind sort of dismissed the lines as a reflection of something like a ceiling fan or venetian blinds. Perhaps it's a reflection of my less than stellar photographic skills - I can't seem to capture anything beyond the shiny surface, and I assumed that was what I was looking at.

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I've struggled to capture the grain in my own Guardians knife too

Old Engineer said:

I think it should be noted that in the 1924 and 1939 catalogues for W. JNO BAKER Cutlery of Australia that there are some obvious made by Taylors Eye Witness knives that have a Clip & Pen and also a Clip & Spey but I did not find the Clip & Lambfoot . I do not imply that they were not making one at all .
The knives were stamped with W. JNO BAKER RABBIT KNIFE and not Taylors Eye Witness . They were stated to have SMOOTH HORN covers and 3 & 1/2 long . I would like to thank you @herder for pointing out the catalogue .

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I think there's just a plain Clip too Harry, the Lambsfoot is as elusive as ever! @herder notes in the Old Knives thread that the Baker catalogue knives have a sticker placed over the bolster/tang, obscuring the original source, and that looks to be the case to me too. Baker imported knives in large quantities, so could have had their knives stamped with their name, but I'll have to check back in their history in the previously mentioned book to see if they did so (I don't have time this morning I'm afraid). I do think they are TEW knives though. Looking through the limited TEW catalogue images I have, TEW only appear to have used natural materials for this type of knife. Later 'Bunny Knives' made by Joseph Rodgers came with synthetic covers, but they don't have any type of grain

Have a good week Guardians

It was a raw day in Yorkshire today, but I managed to find somewhere warm

Jack Black said:

It was a raw day in Yorkshire today, but I managed to find somewhere warm

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You're a survivor, Jack!!

Here are some group shots of my little flock of lambsfoot knives.
Here's the observation deck over a pond in an ecosystem preserve. I set up my knives on the railing of the deck.


Here are the mark sides of my knives closed:


Here are the pile sides of the knives partially open so one can verify that the blades are lambsfoots:


- GT

Well I finally buckled ,waiting for A.Wright Ebony ,should be here soon.

Jack Black said:

I always look forward to your posts Chin

I was recommended camellia oil for knives some years ago. It went rancid, stank to high heaven, set in the joints, stripped polish and patina, and ruined some nice old etches The original finish on this pristine old Rodgers knife was completely ruined, with the oil setting on the blade

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I was looking at coconut oil in a health food shop yesterday. It's a bit trendy here at the moment, so the price has gone through the roof

I always wished my parents (like Meako's and many other Poms) had emigrated to Australia when I was a kid, I fancied being a jolly swagman camping by a billabong Rather than a rain-sodden urchin shivering in a blanket on the Yorkshire Moors! Fantastic photo my friend

Good point on the shrinkage of the covers on Rob's knife Chin

I like Jack's 'Gideon' moniker!

Great pics

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Nice one Jack, thanks. Ha, I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the 'swagman camped by a billabong' visual reference! Yes, while I've found very enjoyable and compelling qualities about every different country I've been to, I always feel very lucky to have been born in Australia, in terms of the lifestyle here.

Hmm, that's a terrible experience to have had with camellia oil. Makes me wonder what kind it was, or whether it was mixed with any other base carrier oil. I've used pure camellia Tsubaki blade oil for a long time on my Japanese kitchen knives with no ill effects, and used to use it on all my slipjoints as well. The only reason, I changed to mineral oil, is the Tsubaki oil seemed a little light as a joint lubricant, and mineral oil is a tenth of the price here. It's certainly been used as you know, on priceless katana and wakizashi for centuries, too. That gloop that spoiled your blades sounds awful.

rockman0 said:

Cambertree good eye Chin, I think you are right, I looked at it in good light under a 10X loupe and it is definitely not wood.

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Thanks for taking a closer look, Rob. It can be hard to tell just from photos, without handling the knife physically, sometimes.

WhittlinAway said:

It’s been crazy busy for me the past couple of weeks and will continue to be so for probably a week more. I’m way behind on this thread and the porch in general. In the meantime, I wanted to pop in and say hi to my fellow Guardians, even though it’ll be a while before I’m properly caught up on all the great recent content in this thread.

This is the one that is almost always in my pocket lately:

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Nice to see you drop in, my friend. Here's hoping you get to enjoy a bit of a breather in your work schedule, soon.

herder said:

Great camping picture from cambertree in the Australian outback, and a future destination of mine as well.
...
Jack, here is that Taylor Eye Witness catalog picture from the old knives thread.

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Thanks Herder, it'd be great to see you out here in Oz, as well. I suppose I shouldn't dwell on it too much in this thread, but I've been returning to your catalogue image, to enjoy those TEW clip blade designs quite a bit. Makes you wonder why they settled on such a mediocre town knife clip shape as the standard, these days.

rockman0 said:

Better pictures of this one.

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Given that those blades look like they may not have been resharpened, Rob, I'm curious what the blade thickness is like, just behind the edge? Are they super thin, compared to most modern traditionals?

Gevonovich said:

That is an awesome composition !!!

You have a grail piece right there...wow !!!!!

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Great to see you here, Gev. Yes, I agree - that TEW of Rob's would certainly be a grail knife for me as well.

Jack Black said:

That stew looks fantastic Keith, it is definitely that time of year ..
Yes, it isn't just Keith who knows his onions here Wood wouldn't have shrunk like that
...
Here is my Guardians Lambsfoot out in Yorkshire yesterday, at a little town called Holmfirth




The grey shape in the background of the second pic is this heron



Hope everyone is having a great weekend, and that you have a lovely Sunday

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Beautiful heron, Jack. I love all those old Norse place names in the North of England. I'm guessing Sheffield didn't get a Norse name because it was a small village, or just fields at the time of the Danelaw?

Bartleby said:

Nice pics. I usually only get to see herons on my trusty old Raleigh!

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Bart! Good to see you, my friend. I was thinking about you, the other day, wondering how you were.

black mamba said:

Thanks, Rob. From the grain I thought it wood or synthetic, and from the puckering around some of the pins I didn't really think wood either. So some kind of early micarta or gum fuddy, then?

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I'm inclined to this view, Jeff.

The regularity of the layering seems to speak of some industrial process. I could be wrong, of course.

There's some interesting material on those early plastics and composite materials on this website.

5K Qs said:

Chin, I like the sound of "Guardian Gideon" as an alias for mrknife, at least in the context of this thread!

With regard to your mention of me in the same breath with bandoliers and Mexican bandits, I'll note that if one searches hard enough, one could find a related image somewhere here where someone (perhaps the inimitable Jack Black) already suggested such a system for me!

And thanks for the photo of the Prodigal Lambsfoot on the fence post. It's been many years since I've thought about stringing barbed wire along steel fence posts (although we always had to use "insulators" for attaching wire to post since we used electrified fences on our dairy farm pastures).

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LOL, I think that's where the the idea must have been planted in my head, GT! We usually just have a single strand of electrified wire protruding on insulators, about midway down the barbed wire fence.

Bartleby said:

Perhaps a form of gutta percha?

I had been living the life, but not aware of the Sheffield part of it. When I started riding Raleighs, I figured that the "All Steel Bicycle" deserves an all steel British Army two blade lock knife as a ride along tool. This of course lead me to the joys of the lambfoot. The point forward design is just the ticket for removing thorns and such. Ironic though it sounds, there's perhaps nothing better than a keen lambsfoot to remove a goatshead!

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Interesting Porch 'origin story', Bart.

I understand there's many different types of gutta percha. I honestly don't know enough about how it's made to speculate whether that regular layering effect is consistent with some type of gutta percha.

Crazy Canuck said:

Happy Sunday Guardians.

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Nice one, CC, I like that wallet, too!

Jack Black said:

I think we're in a sort of 'Public Inquiry' situation GT! We may not have a definitive answer yet, but we're all interested in presenting evidence which may help us draw a conclusion

I think there's just a plain Clip too Harry, the Lambsfoot is as elusive as ever! @herder notes in the Old Knives thread that the Baker catalogue knives have a sticker placed over the bolster/tang, obscuring the original source, and that looks to be the case to me too. Baker imported knives in large quantities, so could have had their knives stamped with their name, but I'll have to check back in their history in the previously mentioned book to see if they did so (I don't have time this morning I'm afraid). I do think they are TEW knives though. Looking through the limited TEW catalogue images I have, TEW only appear to have used natural materials for this type of knife. Later 'Bunny Knives' made by Joseph Rodgers came with synthetic covers, but they don't have any type of grain

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Given that W. Jno Baker imported knives from various Sheffield makers in large volumes from the 1890s to the mid 20th century, I wonder if different synthetic materials were tried out for the Australian market. (The company is still around, as far as I know, but the name was purchased by a farm machinery firm, and no longer deals in knives.) It's interesting that the old horn knives you show, which have been in an English climate show very minimal signs of dimensional change, whereas many parts of Australia would be similar to the dry, hot conditions which shrunk Barrett's horn knife covers in a matter of months. It makes me wonder whether alternatives to horn were experimented with for Australian conditions, although I'm only conjecturing now on that front.

Here's a similar looking cover material on an old Solingen made Richartz knife - no 'layering' though.

If you look at the original series of posts regarding Rob's knife in the Old Knives thread, I posted a similar TEW Barlow (without a Lambsfoot blade) which has the same layering effect in the cover material.

5K Qs said:

Here are some group shots of my little flock of lambsfoot knives.
Here's the observation deck over a pond in an ecosystem preserve. I set up my knives on the railing of the deck.

Here are the mark sides of my knives closed:

Here are the pile sides of the knives partially open so one can verify that the blades are lambsfoots:

- GT

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Great to see your growing flock GT. Do you know if that curious Schrade Land Shark was exclusive to the Taylor Brands period?

Ok, last, but very definitely not least, I'd like to thank Dylan @Pàdruig for the superb Guardians pocket slip which was waiting for me on Friday afternoon, but which I haven't had a chance to show off yet.

The feeling of high quality craftsmanship was immediately apparent when I examined this slip. I actually have some quite decent pocket slips I commissioned from a leatherworker, but this slip is much nicer - a custom fit to the knife, ventilated at the bottom for carbon steel, and I especially enjoy the rich two tone colour scheme and wonderful tooling.

Very fine work, my friend - my wonderful Guardians 2017 Lambsfoot 'grail pack' is now complete!

5K Qs said:

You're a survivor, Jack!!

Here are some group shots of my little flock of lambsfoot knives.
Here's the observation deck over a pond in an ecosystem preserve. I set up my knives on the railing of the deck.

Here are the mark sides of my knives closed:

Here are the pile sides of the knives partially open so one can verify that the blades are lambsfoots:

- GT

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LOL!

Great to see your growing flock GT - and near some water! It's interesting that you included the Taylor Schrade Land Shark. We've discussed that knife before, and it isn't an original Schrade pattern. I would love to know something more about it, and how it came to be produced. r8shell very kindly sent me one a couple of years back I wonder how well the pattern sells, particularly to folk who are unfamiliar with the Lambsfoot? I guess it must do OK as it has been in their stable a few years now. If anyone has any more information, it'd be great to hear it

bonzodog said:

Well I finally buckled ,waiting for A.Wright Ebony ,should be here soon.

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I didn't realise you were after one! Great stuff, can't wait to see it

Cambertree said:

Given that W. Jno Baker imported knives from various Sheffield makers in large volumes from the 1890s to the mid 20th century, I wonder if various synthetic materials were tried out for Australian conditions. (The company is still around, as far as I know, but the name was purchased by a farm machinery firm, and no longer deals in knives.) It's interesting that the old horn knives you show, which have been in an English climate show very minimal signs of dimensional change, whereas many parts of Australia would be similar to the dry, hot conditions which shrunk Barrett's knife in a matter of months. It makes me wonder whether synthetic alternatives to horn were experimented with for Australian conditions, although I'm only conjecturing now on that front.

Here's a similar looking cover material on an old Solingen made Richartz knife.

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That's an interesting thought Chin, though I think the Baker catalogue cuts reproduced in the fantastic book you gave me specify only natural materials. Very interesting old Richartz too Various composites were used for some of the many similar British patterns, but the earliest are buffalo horn - which for the most part doesn't look remotely like buffalo horn! Example below by Joseph Rodgers

Cambertree said:

Ok, last, but very definitely not least, I'd like to thank Dylan @Pàdruig for the superb Guardians pocket slip which was waiting for me on Friday afternoon, but which I haven't had a chance to show off yet.

The feeling of high quality craftsmanship was immediately apparent when I examined this slip. I actually have some quite decent pocket slips I commissioned from a leatherworker, but this slip is much nicer - a custom fit to the knife, ventilated at the bottom for carbon steel, and I especially enjoy the rich two tone colour scheme and wonderful tooling.

Very fine work, my friend - my wonderful Guardians 2017 Lambsfoot 'grail pack' is now complete!

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Fantastic my friend! I'm so glad your slip finally landed, and thanks for posting those superb pics Great work Dylan

I'm hoping mine will be here this week Hanging onto this one today in the hope that it will

Oops, just realised this post had dropped out of my multi-quote reply Chin!

Cambertree said:

Nice one Jack, thanks. Ha, I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the 'swagman camped by a billabong' visual reference! Yes, while I've found very enjoyable and compelling qualities about every different country I've been to, I always feel very lucky to have been born in Australia, in terms of the lifestyle here.

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Yes, I was raised on stories of Ben Hall and Ned Kelly You are truly blessed my friend

Cambertree said:

Hmm, that's a terrible experience to have with camellia oil. Makes me wonder what kind it was, or whether it was mixed with any other base carrier oil. I've used pure camellia Tsubaki blade oil for a long time on my Japanese kitchen knives with no ill effects, and used to use it on all my slipjoints as well. The only reason, I changed to mineral oil, is the Tsubaki oil seemed a little light as a joint lubricant, and mineral oil is a tenth of the price here. It's certainly been used as you know, on priceless katana and wakizashi for centuries, too. That gloop that spoiled your blades sounds awful.

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I'm afraid I'm unsure of the type, it was gifted to me. I don't think I'll be experimenting with it again though

Cambertree said:

Beautiful heron, Jack. I love all those old Norse place names in the North of England. I'm guessing Sheffield didn't get a Norse name because it was a small village, or just fields at the time of the Danelaw?

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Thank you mate I'm rather fond of the old place names myself. Sheffield was a very small place before the growth of industrialisation. The map behind my Lambsfoot here dates from 1736.



People have lived roundabouts for a few thousand years though The name Sheffield is actually Old English or Anglo-Saxon in origin, but lots of the areas which make up the city today have Viking origins, I lived at Netherthorpe myself for ten years, which is only about a mile from the city centre, and the area next to this, Crookes, which I have mentioned before in relation to our pal Sam, derives its name from the Norse 'Krkor'. Just down the road is Upperthorpe, and further away up the hill there is Bell Hagg (from the Norse Belle Hagi), to name just a few

The Wikipedia entry on the history of Sheffield isn't bad (in parts at least ): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sheffield

Seem to be addicted to Sheffield knives

bonzodog said:

Seem to be addicted to Sheffield knives

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I share your pain brother! Great-looking Lambsfoot

Cambertree yes the blades are very thin behind the edge. They also taper to a very thin tip. The only knife I have that compares is a case tested. Seems the USA made knives changed post 1940 to thicker edges. I went back to your TEW barlow in the old knives thread, I didn't see it until now but that is the same cover material. Thanks for pointing that out.

rockman0 said:

I went back to your TEW barlow in the old knives thread, I didn't see it until now but that is the same cover material.

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I don't think I've seen that Rob, would you be kind enough to paste in a link please?

Edit - Sorry, I missed Chin's link!

I think I waited too long to get a Taylor Schrade Landshark. What comes up now is a "mini-landshark", which is a folding dagger sort of thing.

scrteened porch said:

I think I waited too long to get a Taylor Schrade Landshark. What comes up now is a "mini-landshark", which is a folding dagger sort of thing.

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Oh yeah! Try 'Schrade Old Timer Land Shark 190T'

Here's an old pic, from earlier in this thread, comparing the blades of a A.Wright Lambsfoot, a Schrade OT Land Shark, and Charlie's Ancient TC Barlow

Jack Black here you go Jack. Post 13018. Off to work, have a great day everyone
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/old-knives.527126/page-651

rockman0 said:

Jack Black here you go Jack. Post 13018. Off to work, have a great day everyone
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/old-knives.527126/page-651

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Thanks Rob, you too