Northampton 10" Bullnose Slicer Double Shear Steel Ebony Mass. USA 1920s?

This knife was hand forged after drop forged and hand ground (after the Ideal pattern in France was developed in 1920s?), with a thin semi flexible blade. It had been sharpened in a bit and became thick behind the edge, it has now been thinned and re-surfaced here. This is a great knife for carving roasts, integrating an old English style of knife designed to slice large roast beefs including the small birds head pommel design.

This knife is a great example of the cutlery made in the North East during the American Industrial Revolution in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 19th and early 20th century. Northampton Cutlery Co operated from 1871 to 1987 along the Mill River in Northampton Massachusetts. In the 19th century the bulk of American cutlery manufacture was done in this area and grew to be a competitor of major European cutlery manufacturing centers. American knife makers were early adopters of machinery to speed manufacture and make cost competitive knives. 

Double shear steel was a 19th and early 20th century steel that was made by case hardening bars of iron in ceramic boxes packed with charcoal, large numbers of these were heated for days on end at high temperatures and the resulting bars were broken up (it would break or shear rather than bend once carbon added hence 'shear' steel) and forged welded into a larger mass. This process was done twice on double shear steel creating a steel with a higher carbon content.

One handle scale has a crack but is tight and secure

9 7/8" blade, 15 1/4" overall 6.11 oz