# Help identify this old Carbon Steel Chef's Knife



## rustyoldcrap (Feb 24, 2014)

Hi everyone,
I got into old carbon steel knives from my culinary school grad friend who started refurbishing them. He was mostly interested in the Sabatier type.
I found this old knife at an estate sale for $3 and shortly thereafter became obsessed with trying to identify it. It's been a challenge and I think I'm going to need your help.
Description:
It's a high carbon steel blade that's 10" long. The blade has serious black pitting and irregularities from the forging process. The blade profile resembles Dexter or Foster Bros but the blank seems to have been made for a uniblock rather than forged handle, although it could have been ground down.
The handle appears to be hickory and it seems to have had an ebonized finish at some point. There is a single hole where there may have been a rivet, although the handle is very secure and the detail was likely cosmetic. I haven't been able to find this type of handle on any chef knife. The shape of the handle is too perfect to be hand made. I'm guessing it was a generic replacement handle available at the hardware store.
The blade itself has waves along the cutting edge that angle toward the tip and extend no more than halfway up the sides. The are also carbon lines along the blade edge. Does this mean the edge was hammered? The blade also has what appears to be a faint stamp.
Pictures:
When I got it it was very rusty



I had to clean it up a bit. Sorry



Stamp?


----------



## rodneyat (Feb 24, 2014)

anxious to hear the experts chime in on this one. Appears to be a very cool knife!


----------



## rdwng303 (Feb 24, 2014)

Looking at the bolster and the faint logo on the blade it appears that this could possibly be a Universal LF & C.


----------



## SpiceOfLife (Feb 24, 2014)

rdwng303 said:


> Looking at the bolster and the faint logo on the blade it appears that this could possibly be a Universal LF & C.



That's what I'm thinking too. The mark looks a lot like this one:





From this thread: http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/10997-Universal-L-F-amp-C

- Steve


----------



## sachem allison (Feb 24, 2014)

yep, that is what it is.


----------



## Keith Sinclair (Feb 24, 2014)

Yes it's a Landers my guess with the hidden tang the knife is old.


----------



## rustyoldcrap (Feb 25, 2014)

You guys are amazing! I spent probably 5 hours looking at old high carbon kitchen knives and trying to figure out who made it. About 20 minutes of that was spent going cross-eyed trying to make out words or shapes from that very faint stamp.

Any idea on the age? The steel is very rough as you can see. I'm guessing that means it's on the older side.

It's not worth more than $50, right? So I can go ahead and use the thing?


----------



## rustyoldcrap (Feb 25, 2014)

keithsaltydog said:


> Yes it's a Landers my guess with the hidden tang the knife is old.


This old cleaver has a similar handle config - bolster type and single rivet. Though this one is walnut, I believe.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Old...557?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232ec76fb5
"In the 1890s the trade name "Universal" was adopted for the company's products."
http://www.toaster.org/landers.html
The earliest Universal logo looked like this I bet
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-LF-...meter-Butcher-Knife-RAZOR-SHARP-/291040379630
The 1930s boy scout knives have the same style universal stamp. So maybe 1900-1930?

This is cooL!


----------



## rdwng303 (Feb 25, 2014)

That particular design with the bolster was patented in 1896. In 1904 that design ultimately took top prize at the Worlds Fair in St. Louis. I have see later versions using this design with similar bolsters that state that fact on the blade. This knife could date 1896 to early 1900's. The handle does not look to be the original, but I am solely basing that assumption off of similar knives in this style from Universal LF&C that I have seen. In any regards it is a cool very old knife. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Keith Sinclair (Feb 25, 2014)

You deff. have the bug,I did the same thing when restoring old carbon carving sets.The really nice ones are fr. the 1800's.I would look up the forges that made them & the history.

Just scored a LFC set on E-Bay made in 1890's.It is quite nice,only surface patina Art Nouveau style sterling silver collars & but caps flowing lines sterling leaves blend perfect wt. the blk. Stag handles.

Art Nouveau was popular fr. 1890-1910 the first world war pretty much killed off the movement.Based on flowing forms fr. nature.


----------



## rustyoldcrap (Mar 28, 2015)

HEY I got another one for you all!
I've been collecting carbon steel knives and I found another Universal L.F&C.
This one is very unusual. It has a Santoku like curved down knife tip and a straight edge.
I've only found one like it and it was called a prep knife. It has a similar very high carbon steel as the chef knife which is awesome BTW
This one is newer maybe '30s? But still way before Japanese knives were cool


----------



## sachem allison (Mar 28, 2015)

sorry, not a santoku. tip was broken and reground. They didn't make knives with that shape. it is old but, they made that type of knife from the 20's until they went out of business. very difficult to nail down the exact time.


----------



## rustyoldcrap (Mar 28, 2015)

Ah good call about the tip. I gotta say it looks original so they must've done a good job a very long time ago


----------



## rustyoldcrap (Mar 28, 2015)

I still think it's cool... Not bad for $5! I'm going back tomorrow for a large scimitar butcher knife for a friend


----------

