As surprising as it may seem, at the end of the
18th century and beginning of the 19th, there was not a
single knifemaker in all America, despite the large number of people swarming
all over it, all over that is except for the West, which was still too wild to
venture into. The few metalsmiths concentrated essentially on plowing
implements, horseshoes and odd repairs, but rarely the manufacture of blades.
It was thus logical for the colonizers to look to their countries of origin for
all cutlery requirements. The principal supplier was England. Apart from
folding knives and various all-purpose straight models produced in the purest
Sheffield style. It soon became necessary to create specific shapes to meet the
requirements encountered in the vast New World. One of these requirements was
skinning animals to make clothes, and so it was that the I. Wilson firm
designed one of the first “skinner” type knives in 1750.
In 1818, Henry Harrington established the first
cutlery factory on the continent, followed in 1834, by John Russell, whose
clientele was now much large that that of his predecessor. Descended from an
old family of English pioneers, John Russell chose the banks of the Green
River, near Greenfield, Massachusetts, to set up his first factory, to the
great astonishment of his family and friends. Here his first products were cast
steel socket chisels and axe heads followed. In fact, John did not have the
slightest experience in this domain of cutlery, his first activity having been
a silversmith, followed by cotton in Georgia, where he amassed a considerable
fortune. In 1832, he made as trip back down memory lane to his birthplace and
decided to set up home there and take early retirement.
The place was so devoid of activity, through,
that his only escape from depression was to throw him into a new professional
occupation. But why knifemaking? There was no tradition of it in the country
and he himself had no knowledge of the craft. Unfortunately history cannot
enlighten us. Perhaps he just said to himself, “Why Not?”
Successive failures, like the destruction of the
factory on two occasions by fire and once by flooding of the Green River, and
the great difficulty in finding qualified labor, did not discourage him in the
slightest. He also produced wooden tools that he sold through his brother
Francis, who had the idea of opening a shop in New York. So when the first
series of long knives was launched, there was already an excellent sale outlet
based there in the East, from which it spread out through the interior of the
continent.
In 1846 Russell was joined in business by his
brother Francis and an investor named Henry Clapp. The new factory they built
was christened the “Green River Works” a trade name that would soon be carried
on knives across America. The Russell’s developed several labor saving devices
and introduced a steam engine to power much of their equipment. Their
innovative ideas also included setting wages at a rate that lured skilled
cutlery workers from Sheffield, England. In the late 1830’s Russell began to
make what was called “An American Hunting Knife”.
This first series comprised of five models, all
of which are still sold today! Carefully planned manufacturing methods ensured
a very large production, with the nearby river providing hydraulic energy for
the power hammers. The materials were also of the highest quality, originating
from Sheffield. Of an extremely simple flatsole design with two riveted wooden
plaques for the handle, they were also intended for particular use; skinning
and cutting up animals. These included the “Buffalo Skinner” with its
characteristic wide point that turns up, and the “Dadley Universal”, which was an
early “utility” knife”. Boning knife; ”semi-skinner”, which was easier for
cutting up and skinning medium game than its big brother (for bison
essentially) and the “beef-skinner”, later called the “butcher” which had a
long 20 cm blade for cutting up meat.
In 1868, a fire destroyed much of the Greenfield Factory
and a new one was built in Turner Falls, Massachusetts. The John Russell
Manufacturing Company’s new cutlery factory was the largest in the world and featured
many conveniences not found in the company’s previous facilities. Nearly 500
employees worked there, but it was reported that the factory was large enough
to employ over a thousand workmen. Although business was good, with sales
volume near $750,000, the new factory had drained the company’s financial
resources. The company went bankrupt in 1873 and reorganization took place soon
thereafter, with no members of the John Russell family remaining as investors.
Manufacture of pocketknives began in 1875 and by
1877 Russell made over 400 different patterns and had sold over a half-million
pieces. Similar in the fame earned by Russell’s Green River knives, another
knife pattern’s name would become synonymous with that of its manufacture. A
Sheffield cutler, Obadiah Barlow, had invented the first “Barlow” about 1667
but it was Russell who would make it America’s favorite for several decades. It
became famous by selling for 15¢ and 25¢ for the one-blade and two-blade
models, respectively. When the post World War I steel price increased dictated
a price increase on Russell’s Barlow’s, consumers were unhappy and the company
discontinued its manufacture in the early 1930’s.
In 1933, the John Russell Manufacturing Company
merged with the Harrington Cutlery Company to become the Russell-Harrington
Company and was moved to Southbridge, Massachusetts. When a popular Louisville Courier Journal columnist,
Allen Trout, founded the Barlow Bobcats Club in the early 1950s. (A requirement
was to own an original Russell Barlow), the company participated for a while in
the knife’s renewed popularity by restoring Russell Barlow’s for $1.00. Factory
restored knives can be identified by the word SECOND etched on the face of the
blade.
In 2001, the company changed its name to Dexter
Russell, Inc. Knife production today is primarily in kitchen and industrial
cutlery, and pocketknives have not been made since about 1930. Another company,
probably Schrade manufactured the 12,000 Russell Barlow Commemorative knives
introduced by Dexter Russell Company in 1974, these had Delrin handles. Beginning the late 1990’s, the company had
both standard and daddy Barlow’s made for the firm by different manufacturers.
These were offered with handles of genuine stag, sawcut green bone, and sawcut
red bone. The bolsters were made of nickel silver.
Counterfeits of the standard 3 3/8 Russell
Barlow’s were factory made in Germany for a time in the early 1970s. Handled in
bone or black composition, the stamps look very much like the original stamps
and the ink stamping that reads GERMANY is easily wiped away. Luckily, examining
the end handle pin, the one furthest away from the bolster, easily identifies
the fakes. If the pin is nearly centered across the width of the handle, the
knife is likely original. If however, that pin is located very near the edge of
the handle, the knife is a German counterfeit.
I have a Russell & Co Green River Works knife that has a 13 3/4" blade and is 19" overall. I cannot find any info except a mentioning of one of their blades used as a cane cutter around 1900. Any info?
ReplyDeleteI have a original hunter bone handle russell knife I lived in greenfield mass and colrain on the green river for 45 years I am interested in selling it if someone is interested can send photos thanks ed galvin
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