Ebay Purchase Of Clyde Round Knife - How Did I Do?

[centerisl]

New member here. Longtime woodworker, new to leather, my second project will be a belt for my 3yo grandson.

I read a few threads here trying to get up to speed on tools, and yesterday I pulled the trigger on this well used Clyde round knife (pictures below). I have Stohlman's "Leathercraft tools" book where I read his opinions, and read here about (and rejected) the Stohlman "stainless" knife. I looked at the Bruce Johnson vintage knives. I learned that new CSO knives (like the 70) weren't as highly regarded as the old ones. And the lusted after knives were in the $200 range - a little rich for me at this point.

So I bought this Clyde. Not much on the forums about this maker, but Bruce said several nice things. No apparent issues with modern offshore copies. It's a slight bit larger at 5.25" than Stohlman's recommended 4.5". My only concern was the rough polishing that seems to have erased most of the maker's mark. The Ebay seller was solid, and the collection he was selling included mostly CSO plus a Dixon groover, all tools look well cared for, and all tools came with some forum of edge protection (this one with a sheath).

$65.95 including shipping.

So how did I do? I'm betting everyone here has bought something like this on Ebay - and there were more than a dozen watchers for this item and a few are probably on this thread. But I know very little about leather tools, so I'd love to hear the collective wisdom of this forum. Don't worry about hurting my feelings.

Edit: I have a Tormek so I can easily sharpen this knife.

Edited January 1, 2016 by centerisl

[bruce johnson]

Likely nobody had to work very hard to polish out the maker mark. The Clyde and Shapleigh knives made by Clyde had an etched marked that is pretty light. A lot of them you just ID by the handle shape because the mark is pretty much gone. I like them - nice knives and especially for a first knife. They are a good mix of "hold a pretty good edge but don't take all day to sharpen". You will have to strop and stone them more often than the higher end knives, but they will do the job for you. Price wise - you paid ballpark for one.

[centerisl]

Likely nobody had to work very hard to polish out the maker mark. The Clyde and Shapleigh knives made by Clyde had an etched marked that is pretty light. A lot of them you just ID by the handle shape because the mark is pretty much gone. I like them - nice knives and especially for a first knife. They are a good mix of "hold a pretty good edge but don't take all day to sharpen". You will have to strop and stone them more often than the higher end knives, but they will do the job for you. Price wise - you paid ballpark for one.

Thank you Bruce for the additional insight on these knives - I appreciate your response and willingness to add to the knowledge of used/vintage tools.

A "nice" knife for a fair price - that's exactly what I was looking for.

I've seen quite a few posts on this forum from newbies in the same position - trying to intelligently choose among all the same choices (Tandy, Chinese, Ebay, high-end) and paralyzed at making a "mistake". So I figured a thread that outlined my thought process could be useful. Almost 100 people have viewed my original message, so I'm assuming that someone would have pointed out any obvious "mistake" by now.

Edited January 2, 2016 by centerisl

[lonesome dove]

I have two of these knives, both marked Shapleigh Diamond Edge, and both have performed very well. They have maintained an edge well with only occasional stropping needed. They do not carry the collector value the Osborne knives do, but for a working knife I find them both extremely acceptable. I think you did very well.

[centerisl]

Thanks for those Shapleigh images. How large is the larger one?

Were sheaths commonly supplied with this kind of knife? I note that the <DE> logo on the small one does not match their logo and those letters look like a common set of stamps I've seen, so I'm wondering if this was typically left to the buyer (who was, obviously, a leather worker).

Shapleigh ceased operations around 1960, but Clyde continued at least through the Vietnam war (found a 1964 pastry knife on Etsy)

Edited January 3, 2016 by centerisl

[Oldtoolsniper]

Be careful, you will end up with a whole bunch of them.