Knife carriers

[jameshunt]

Note the large block covered in buffalo hide for use with skinning knives.





Note smaller carriers, one on the left covered with buffalo hide and intended for belt and note the flat sided steel in it, one on right appears home made but similar to commercial ones of the period.



Other small carriers for skinning implements.





Attributed to the buffalo range, this cartridge belt had a heavy hand forged large knife with a sheath covered in buffalo hide

[buckskin billy]

you really got my juices flowing now james.
that block, is that something you own? i would love to make something like that, if i could get the demensions.
looks to be some kind of clever in the front side pouch.
on the knives, i know with the fur trade area it is a big discussion on how knife handles were attached to the blade. for that time period it was most common to see them with 5 pins. looks like there is a mixture of 5 pins and 3 rivets in the block. maybe by the commerical hide trade they made them both ways?what would be more common for the 1870's?
would you know of any references on sharpening steels. i have seen some in a hadrware store (that are new made of course) that have the same shape handle as the one pictured in the block. i also have a old one i bought from a guy that was sharing a table next to me at a gun show. it is antique but we don't have a clue as to how old it is.
i really like the sheath that holds two knives and a steel. i wonder if the rivets that hold it together are often confused for brass tack

[jameshunt]

Billy: The large knife block had provenance to the buffalo field, it and another were in the hands of a collector and were being sold. My recollection was that the price was around $4500 - $5500, no I didn't stutter with the zero's on the keyboard - just about anything that can be documented to the commercial hide hunters is astronomical.

Below is another image from the top that may help you with dimensions:


Note the nails used, and the screw holding the strap in another photo. Getting those right is important. It was not uncommon for hunters to cover things with hide. I suspect a green hide stretched around an item and then dried would make for a pretty secure object.

Regarding knives. I would think you'd need to be careful, guy's can buy knives and put them in a collection and say they were original with a block, but who knows? For that period there appears to be both full tang and half tang (the later perhaps indication of earlier period). I.Wilson was a very common maker for both fur trade and buffalo eras, although the address on the knife was different for the later showing Sycamore St. on them. They were pins and not rivets in all the I.Wilson I have seen, but during our period there were knives with rivets. I have a knife from a German Co. of the period with rivets. The Green River Knives were also there, but todays repro has the name etched onto the blade, during the period it was stamped. There is no real reason to go repro as these old knives can be found in the area of $5 - $20 at antique stores. Below is my collection:



Regarding Steels - search antique stores, Brass who is on this board is the authority on steels and has some really nice ones picked up for next to nothing. He also has them documented via period catalogs. Hopefully he will see this and post some of the images he has of them.