The world has many great knife communities.
But in America, one of the more interesting must be the village of Little
Valley, NY. It is an area filled with the corpses of dead and still-borne knife
companies. The knife companies have been gone for quite awhile, but it is a
rich area for historians and enthusiasts.
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| The Tee-shirt to prove I was there! |
Authors have spent untold miles of paper explaining
the history and complexity of the knife industry in Little Valley. Collectors
have memorized family trees and connections to the families, cousins and in-laws
involved. I can only imagine the scene as a bored wife holding up a flashcard
with a name or date and the collector rattles off the family tree or the
significance of the date late into the night.
Just to mention a few companies, Case
Knife has its roots there, as does Ka-Bar and now Cutco. Kinfolks started and
died there. Here's a meager and incomplete storyline.
J.B.F. Champlin started Cattaraugus Cutlery
in Little Valley in 1882. He hired his brothers-in-law, the Cases. I wonder
what he later thought of that because, in 1900, the Case Family started their
own knife company. Little did Case realize their future product would be
collectible knives.
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| Some of the Case presence |
But not everything was peaceful in Little
Valley. Family disagreements resulted in the formation of Standard Knife Co. in
1901. Standard didn't last long; it was gone by 1903.
In 1905, Case moved production from Little
Valley, NY, to Bradford, PA. Whenever I think about the move's impact on the
area, a scene from 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe' comes to mind. All the dolphins
are teleported to a ship as they migrate from Earth to a new and better
location. Their last words to humanity were, as I recall them, "So long,
and thanks for all the fish!"
In 1920, using blades made by Ka-Bar and
Kinfolk, Case Knife reestablished a new Standard Knife Co. This created a
low-end introduction product for the knife market. Twenty-eight years later, in
1948, they were gone.
1920 was also the start of the Kinfolks
Company, which was connected to Case Knife.
In this rolling pot of knife history, let
us remember that construction was chiefly wood, fire suppression wasn't what it
is today. Fire companies were slow to respond, bad weather, accidents, fires,
and God alone knows what else affected the factories, stores, and the small
communities in Little Valley. All of this has created a rich heritage of
knife-making.
Kinfolks ran until 1958. Rather than
unionize they closed their doors, took their ball home and that was the end. Cattaraugus
Company closed down in 1963.
In 1993, Zippo bought Case Knife.
Is that the end of knife-making in Little
Valley?
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| John Burrell grinding, the last Case family member who makes knives |
No. John A. Burrell claims to be the last
knife-making Case family member in nearby Ellicottville, NY. John told me he
closed one company in 2006 and, after a few years, decided he wanted to start
making knives again.
Case Family still has people in the area.
I ran into a woman looking for a small pearl-handled knife. I showed her a very
nice Rough Ryder with mother of pearl and an abalone shell insert. "It's
nice, but I'm a Case so…" I understood
perfectly.
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| Case informational displays |
Little Valley, rich with its tradition, in
the county of Cattaraugus, was the perfect location for a knife show.
We were at the Cattaraugus County
Fairgrounds and for a first-time effort, it was a qualified success. We
occupied two buildings, but not to capacity. If you were in the second
building, you may have missed out a bit. The show needed to have signs up
indicating there was a second building. The second building had a few knife
collectors, John Burrell, and a lot of flea market and high school booster
tables.
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| Some of John Burrell's fixed blades |
The show was scheduled for Friday from
noon to six and Saturday 9-6:00 and Sunday 9-3:00. Since the admission was
free, they started letting people in on set-up Friday morning at 9:00.
Running to six o’clock proved to be a
little too long. By three o’clock, we were down to trading between vendors and
had run out of customers.
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| The second room |
The organizers worked very hard to make it
a success; they even bought radio coverage. I learned about the show from John
Burrell, who attended a show sponsored by the Western Reserve Cutlery
Association. He walked around and gave a flier to every table at the show.
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| Radio station mascot |
You should understand that Little Valley
and the surrounding communities have low population density. It is a beautiful
rural area known for ski resorts and golf courses. But low population density
makes it hard to draw people out. It's reported that over a thousand people
were in attendance, but I doubt it.
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| First Room |
The vendors? We had tables of Randall
knives, scores of WWII theater knives, Case knives, and edged collectibles.
There was one table of new factory folders.
One wag exclaimed, "It's an old man's
knife show!" I don't know about
that, but I could see his point.
There were a lot of oddball characters, and I felt at home. An employee
of the National Knife Museum told me she was "not into knives" when I
told her she was welcome to pick up the knives.
An old man stopped by and asked
me, out of the blue, "What’s the history of Kershaw?" I was at a complete loss for words, but I
managed a few coherent sounds about who owned Kershaw and how they made very
nice knives. Of course, he didn't buy anything. Remember what I said about
memorizing family trees? If that's your norm, then you expect that of everyone.
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| John's Table. John is in the black Tee-shirt. |
I struck up a conversation with
a vendor who bemoaned his low sales due to the "youngsters who only care
for 'black' knives.” It turned out he
was referring to modern locking blades, like Spyderco, Benchmade, CobraTec, and
so forth. He never noticed that's what I was selling. He specialized in dirty
stag and horn-handled friction folders with patinaed blades at high prices. He
had a lot of competitors.
We stayed down the road a bit,
and over breakfast I got into a conversation about Case Knife and their designs.
I was told Ken Steigerwalt has been trying to meet with Case to discuss new
knife designs, but Case is a hard company to talk to. I didn't ask him his
connection to Ken.
Case Knife was a sponsor but had
almost no presence besides a few door prizes and posters. During my setup, I
was asked if I minded being next to Case Knife. Case had three tables reserved,
including the endcap of my row. Of course I'm fine with anyone set up next to
me. Case marketing showed up late Friday night, dropped off a couple boxes of
Tee-shirts and departed, never to be seen again.
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| Mark Zalesky, owner of Knife Magazine was on hand to evaluate older knives |
Later, Mark Zalesky, owner and
publisher of 'Knife Magazine' occupied one of the tables reserved for Case
Knife, and the show promoter took the end cap table away. That was a better
result than I could have hoped for!
The best quote I got about Case
Knife was, "Case never jumps into anything with two feet." That may explain their stuttering presence.
Perhaps because the show was
free, maybe it was the demographic, but I saw two types of folks at my table.
Well, actually three. The third type were the ones who cheerfully admitted they
had no money, but if they did, they would buy a knife and they’ll start saving
to ensure they will have the bucks for the next show. They were amusing and a
tiny minority.
The other types consisted of folks
who were there just to kick the tires and play with your knives. They are not a
problem. After a few moments you tell them it looks like they like that knife
and ask “Can I wrap it up for you?” That
usually moves them to another table.
You also get the ones who only
want to tell you how they just bought the same knife as on your table. A
slightly different variation is "I bought this in 1968, and I always carry
it," This usually is accompanied by
flashing me with an old pocket knife with a third of the blade missing from
years of sharpening.
Okay, I’m a little mischievous
about the show.
It was a great first effort. The
show chairman, Brad Lockwood, worked very hard to promote the Village of Knives
Show. There were many activities, tours, and interesting people to talk to.
Forged in Fire champion Walter Baranowski foraged three special knives for the celebration
and John Burrell handled them. They were amazing.
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| One of three made by John and Walter |
We had customers, there were
treasures to find, and everyone had an excellent time. It's lovely country, and
Ellicottville Brewing Company has excellent beers and food. I wouldn't eat
anywhere else if I was in town.
Put it on your calendar for 2025.
You'll have fun.
