I was out shopping for a new settee today, but ended up buying a couple of cheep antique pocket knives and a pound of steak mince... as you do.However, the other knife I thought was far more interesting and that's why I bought it. It's an old or oldish EKA with quite a charming blade on it, but what really caught my eye was the back spring - it was brass. I can't remember every seeing that before, anyone else?Anyway, I'm going to clean it up tomorrow.
Yeah, it's ah... not got the greatest snap on it.
Brass springs were common in the days when stainless alloys were decent for blades, but proved too brittle for springs. Somewhere I've got a little Latama keyring knife that's got chrome plated brass springs. That's a nice looking EKA. I really don't like today's plastic scaled ones as they're always cracked right out of the box, not to mention $25-30. I paid $8 each for the two Swede 88s I have, and woudln't pay a penny more; even though the Sandvik 12C27 steel is awesome. My favorite EKAs are the three-bladed Gentleman's Knives, with a blade, nailfile, and combination screwdriver/bottle opener. Not to mention cool scales based on Viking patterns.
Quote from: cody6268 on January 08, 2019, 09:36:49 PMBrass springs were common in the days when stainless alloys were decent for blades, but proved too brittle for springs. Somewhere I've got a little Latama keyring knife that's got chrome plated brass springs. That's a nice looking EKA. I really don't like today's plastic scaled ones as they're always cracked right out of the box, not to mention $25-30. I paid $8 each for the two Swede 88s I have, and woudln't pay a penny more; even though the Sandvik 12C27 steel is awesome. My favorite EKAs are the three-bladed Gentleman's Knives, with a blade, nailfile, and combination screwdriver/bottle opener. Not to mention cool scales based on Viking patterns.Go on, post a pic - you know you want to!
Quote from: Fuzzbucket on January 08, 2019, 10:24:58 PMQuote from: cody6268 on January 08, 2019, 09:36:49 PMstuff...stuff...stuff...The Gentleman's Knife advertises Flygt, a Swedish pump manufacturer. Comes with a sewn ( upholstery vinyl?) pouchThe Latama (made in Italy, but Latama was an NY based importer, not a manufacturer) has three blades: knife, nailfile, and snuff spoon/cuticle pusher. These were made in the 1950s and 1960s. The blade is not damaged, they came from the factory with this weird tanto-like tip. The boxes even had an illustration that showed the tip (should have bought that one, it was cheap, and having never been used) Don't know what it would be good for. And a removable tool, which is a combination tweezers and scissors, really good ones I might add. There should be a shackle, but it has been broken off or removed....
Quote from: cody6268 on January 08, 2019, 09:36:49 PMstuff...stuff...
stuff...
A darling!
And, somehow, that does seem to make a difference.......
Cleaned it up a bit.
Quote from: Fuzzbucket on January 10, 2019, 04:45:26 PMCleaned it up a bit. Looks good Fuzzbucket! I think it is a cool knife!