Posted 6 years ago
Arlette
(41 items)
I found this knife , cleaned it up , it is stainless steel and Is marked G. Ibberson and has a patent number . It is a sailors knife. But what I don't know is the year . Does this style look old or recently manufactured? When I found it I had no idea what it was, glad it cleaned up so nice .
Definitely fairly recent. George Ibberson was in business ca. 1700 through 1988. This knife is probably from their last decade of operation. If you have time and patience you can probably find the patent in the British registry records online but that will give you the terminus post quem. Right now it's 1920 which is the time when stainless steel was first used in knives.
A sailor friend told me the oval slot was for wingnuts. Same sailor friend who told me over-proof rhum wouldn't hurt me !
The oval tool is a shackle key. Sorta like a wingnut.
I have an identical one to this. The 'blade' with a cutout is a shackle key. The lanyard ring locks the marline spike in place. I found the hinge on the blade very stiff. With cold wet hands it was almost impossible to open the blade, very tricky on a wet deck at night when you need a sharp knife in a hurry.
I drilled a hole in the top of the blade and put a small cord loop through it as a hand hold. That worked but I ended up welding a portion of a large stainless steel washer to the top of the blade. This now acts as a thumb-hole. The blade, by the way, is very good steel and holds a good edge.
I had the handles on mine fall off so I had to epoxy them back on. The only poor design fault of the knife IMO.
Thanks for your info. I asked a sailor friend of mine and he didn't know what it was , I told him he was a lousy sailor lol. Thanks UncleRon . blunderbuss2 your friend sounds like my dad " white lightening and burnt brown sugar goes down smooth" , thanks Onedtent