J Russell & Co Green River Works 14.25" Bullnose Slicer Carbon Steel Ebony 1874-~1900s

J Russell is an important US maker for a number of reasons, both as being emblematic of the New England style of knife making, utilizing skilled hand labor and modern machinery of the day. Russell would go on to make knives that rivalled the highest standards of British or European cutlery makers in quality, but they had humble origins. 

The John Russell Green River Co. was one of the very first American cutlery makers to supply outside of their immediate community. Established in 1834 in Greenfield, Massachusetts, initially forging axes and chisels, J. Russell went on to produce knives at their Green River Works, before long making Greenfield, Mass., the epicenter of American industrial knifemaking and an important first step in the American Industrial Revolution. Not having a huge pool of skilled cutlers to draw from, J. Russell aggressively recruited from Sheffield, England, offering twice the going wage there, and was eager to use machinery that was scoffed at in older, heritage knife-making centers of Europe. The trip hammers, which sped production, were referred to in the UK as American Hammers by the time some manufacturers there adopted them in the late 19th century. J Russell was keen to use drop hammers and other methods to speed production, but also relied heavily on skilled labor. Many of the English immigrants from Sheffield brought their manufacturing style to the Russell Green River Works and can be seen in 19th- and early 20th-century work. 

Russell had great success supplying the Western expansion. In 1868, a fire destroyed the Green River Works, and they moved to nearby Turner's Falls with big ambitions. At the time, the plans for the Turners Falls factory would have made it the world's largest cutlery factory, but it never came to fruition. Despite their success in many ventures, the effects of economic upheavals in the 1870s and ‘watering’ their stock by oversubscribing to their shares led to the near bankruptcy of J Russell, and a new company was formed: the John Russell Cutlery Company, which did not include any of the original Russell family.

John Russell Cutlery Company was eventually bought by Rival Harrington Cutlery, AKA Dexter, in the 1930s, forming today’s Dexter-Russell. Harrington continues many of Russell’s designs to this day, albeit with modern production rather than trip hammers and stone wheels.