The News from ElephantToenails.com

My name is Merle Hagen

2. General geographic area you call home

Pahrump Nevada moved from Minnesota five years ago, no snow to shovel or grass to mow here

3. What first got you into collecting toenails?

I belonged to the The North Star Blade Collectors in Minnesota and a member had Napanoch for sale, just had to have it. I love the large bdes and the double and long pulls.

4. How long you have collected toenails?

That was my first tonail late eighties I think.

5. Do you collect other patterns in addition to toenails?

I collect canoes mainly and rigging knives. I’m a tin can sailor and being a norske from Minnesota I collect Nwegian fixed blades.

 6. Do you collect old or newer toenails?

I’d like to collect more old toenails but most are out of my price range. I have a napanoch the others are newer.

7. What is your favorite toenail?

My favorite is the napanoch 

8. What is your profession?

I’m retired

9. Do you attend knife shows? If so about how many a year?

There aren’t many shows here, I think they have one in Reno every year but I haven’t been able get up there. Not alot of intrest in knives here mostly guns. I’ve been shooting with the local cowboy action shooters.

10.Are you currently looking for any particular toenail to purchase? 

No

11. Any other information you would care to share with the members here at ET.com.

There aren’t any knife clubs around here closest ones are in california. I keep in touch through the ET.com club here and case collectors forum and levine’s forum.

I’d Like to hear from anybody in the Las Vegas area. tracker_42@msn.com

Some of Merle’s favorite sites are:

Merle’s Space http://cid-126b9538976b5d2b.spaces.live.com ;

THESTRIPPER http://www.papercut.com/emailStripper.htm ;

rednecks www.redstateupdate.com ;

Fred’s Place www.geocities.com/dixref1/fred;

ThePahrumpsters www.geocities.com/dixref1;

ethanol not www.healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm 

Before I began allow me to be the first to announce Mr. Don Singer as the First-ever Inductee into the Toenail Collectors Hall of Fame! As you read his fascinating account you will wholeheartedly agree with his induction.

I was introduced to Mr. Don Singer from upstate New York by a fellow ET.com member, Mr. Jerry Frank (you can read my interview with Jerry in the Old Timers section of ET.com). Jerry told me I had to talk with Don because “he is a toenail collector.” So, I gave him a call this evening and thankfully I did! While I enjoy talking with all toenail collectors, there are a very limited number of bona fide Old Timer toenail collectors still out there today. It was a real treat for me. The following is a summary of my interview with him.

Mr. Singer started collecting toenails 45 years ago (he is currently 77 years young). “It was almost by accident,” as he describes it. “I was at an antique show tagging along with my wife. I was digging through in a box of stuff and spotted the first toenail I had ever seen. It was an old very dirty knife and it didn’t have a backspring. There was just something about it to the point I bought it and for six dollars. I remember the blade would spin around in a circle since it didn’t the backspring. I got home and began cleaning off the handles to reveal really nice bone- and it had no cracks.”

He remembered taking that old knife out off and on to what he called “mess with it.” His wife, unbeknownst to him, sent the knife to her father who sent it to a man who put a backspring it in. Then she “gave” it back to him as a Christmas present! While I failed to ask, but I can assure you he still has that knife in his collection today.

“The hobby of collecting is a very worthwhile experience. It is a great pastime. Knife collectors are a friendly group and always willing to share information,” he said. “Collecting (toenails) is just a joy!” You can tell from talking with him- he is still as every bit as passionate about toenails as we are.

I found my conversation with him to be extremely rewarding. It is so rare to be able to visit with a die hard toenail collector from a different era. (To put in it perspective, he started collecting at the beginning of knife collecting as a recognized hobby by knife manufacturers. Mr. Singer was out there looking for toenails before the first edition of The American Blade, or Knife World was ever published. Before the hallmark legislation, the 1968 Gun Control Act, that is said to be the most significant factor to cause knife collecting to become the “industry” that it is today. Ten years before The National Knife Collectors Association was formed in 1972.) He is sharp as a tack; remembering details clearly.

“I used to get to 24- 25 shows a year and as I was beginning to build my collection,” remembers Mr. Singer, “the biggest amount of my finds occurred early and then as time went on, it became harder to find toenails to add to my collection. I remember stretching myself to buy certain toenails and ‘would have to eat bread’ for a little while after some of my purchases.” But obviously he would sacrifice to add that one rare jewel for his collection. His collection grew to 52 toenails.

When I asked if he had a favorite brand or specific toenail, Mr. Singer said “no, not really- I liked them all. Later I did go after hardware co. brands and odd ball stampings- I really enjoyed that. These knives were a smaller group of knives. Sometimes they would be stamped with a hardware company or company’s name from areas of the country not known for knives, like Barnsley Brothers. I may have to look for while before I would find one- but when I did it was a real high point!”

“I enjoyed the handle materials of the toenail and the blade- it is such a big piece of metal. The toenail is a big knife,” he said. I could tell as we talked, Mr. Singer is the real deal- a true toenail collector. I asked him if he used a computer and he said a little, but that he is slow. He did tell me he has been to the ET.com site. “I have printed off some of the pages of the site.” That made me feel real good.

“I loved how the employees at old knife companies worked with such precision. Selecting comparable handles that matched so well. The variations of the different toenails among the same maker is very interesting too. I found the pattern to be so intriguing. It had a long history and is a great choice of a pattern to collect.”

I asked if he favored any New York maker, like Case Brothers, for example. Not really, but when I asked about who might have made the first toenails, he said “It could have been Case Brothers. A lot of rope was used down in the oil fields and they were there. You know they were in very close proximity to the need. So, I could see them being one of, if not the first to make the knife.”

Mr. Singer loved to mine for nuggets too. On many occasions he talked to Case about certain historic facts about the toenail. One specific fact he had run down was about how Case would send blades over to Camillus when Camillus was making a run of toenails. “In 1915, I think it was, Camillus was making a run of 200 or 250 knives and made some for Case.” He had a friend who worked at Camillus who confirmed this from their records. Mr. Singer added, “it was just about as cheap to run 500 knives as it would have been to run 250.”

While Mr. Singer doesn’t buy toenails today, he fondly said, “Toenail collecting is a total hobby and it is even better when you have a quest!” I hope one day I have a chance to meet Mr. Singer in person. I asked him if he would be making it to the Case Collectors Appreciation Day in Bradford, Pa this coming July. He said he doesn’t travel much anymore.

We are so privileged to have veteran toenail collectors like Mr. Singer and to share in their passion and to hear the excitement in their voices about toenails. Thank you Jerry for arranging my time with him. I will treasure the memory of it.

Mr. Singer summed up his pursuit of toenails for us all when he said, ”It was a great trip!”

If you don’t already know Mark, you don’t have to talk to him very long before you clearly see he has the collectors’ interest at heart and does not mince works when talking to the “establishment” that we are the lifeblood of the knife world. Mark has always encouraged me with ET.com and trying to use technology to advance our hobby.

One of the things I like about Mark is he is not shy about his editorial comments, which is why my favorite “section” of Knife World is his editorials. You can find “Irons in the Fire” now on page 4 of each edition.

If you don’t already know Mark, next time you are at a knife show look him up as he will probably be there based on the number of shows he attends. 

I have made Mark Zalesky our first honorary ET.com member (I can do that, can’t I?).  With that I’d like to introduce my friend and fellow cutlery enthusiast Mr. Mark Zalesky. 

Hi Scott,
I’d be happy to accept, thanks very much for thinking of me. Will do my best to answer your questions…

General geographic area you call home (country, state/province)

Knoxville, TN

What first got you into collecting toenails?

I’m not precisely a toenail collector, though I’ve owned quite a few over the years. I think Scott has a couple of them…

How long you have collected toenails?

A second-generation knife collector, I’ve been collecting & trading antique knives since roughly 1974… age 5 if you can believe that. Going to gun shows with my Dad was a lot more exciting than staying home and baking cookies with Mom!

Do you collect other patterns in addition to toenails?

My primary interest these days is in pre-Civil War bowie knives by American makers, but I collect or have collected over the years a number of different things… pre-1875 American made lockbacks, Marble’s knives, American made exotic pearl handled knives, wharncliffe patterns, straight razors with patriotic or political motifs, 19th century cutlery related ephemera, and so forth.

Do you collect old or newer toenails?

I’m definitely a rusty blade guy, though I will admit to owning a few modern handmade pieces.

What is your favorite toenail?

I only own one “keeper” — a stag handled M.S.A. Co. that is one of very few holdovers from my Marble’s collecting days. It’s badly worn, but absolutely authentic… and I just can’t bear to part with it.

What is your profession?

Editor of Knife World magazine.

Do you attend knife shows? If so about how many a year?

Roughly 20-25 knife shows or other knife related events a year.

Are you currently looking for any particular toenail to purchase?

Not really… but actively collecting lots of other stuff on the list above.

Any other information you would care to share with the members here at ET.com.

Kudos to Scott King for the fabulous collecting resource he’s created… here’s hoping that he can find time to pen more KNIFE WORLD articles in the future!

Are you willing to share your email address to the membership?

I’m easy to find… just go to http://www.knifeworld.com
Mark

My name is Derek Smith and I live in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I’m relatively new to knife collecting, only 4 or 5 years. My primary interest is with anything that was made by Cattaraugus Cutlery or the Champlin family. The big folders are of course my favorites.

One of my first purchases was a Catt toenail.  As a new collector (new, green and uneducated) I was was thrilled to obtain this cool old knife that was in really great shape. 

Some time later when I was considering selling it in order to “trade up” for something else I wanted, I thought I should get acquainted with Scott.  I put a few unsolicited photos together and emailed them off to him, of course he responded very quickly. 

As it turns out Scott seemed more interested in my photographic skills than he was in the knife. 

To make a long story short, the knife was a little “too good to be true” and was not authentic.  Whaaaa, that’s the bad news.  The good news is, I got a new friend out of the experience.  Thanks to Scott, I won’t be buying any more fakes.  You can see the knife at:  http://www.dereksmith.com/el_toenail

I am a professional photographer by trade and I help businesses with their marketing. What ever folks need to sell or promote, It’s my job to make it look good. You can take a look at my work at: http://www.dereksmith.com

I have three wonderful kids who have a mild appreciation for their dad’s kooky obsession with old pocket knives.  They and their mother are direct descendants of JBF Champlin who of course started Cattaraugus Cutlery in Little Valley, NY.

Utah is a long ways from the knife shows so I’m still looking forward to attending my first one. I have however had the pleasure of visiting with older members of the Champlin family who grew up in Little Valley and hearing first hand their own accounts of what took place all those years ago.  

It may come as a surprise, but they are not very interested in collecting knives.  Accurately preserving the family history is what’s important to them.  

If you have any questions or comments I can be reached at:

ds@dereksmith.com 

I first met Bernard from Angoulême, France a few years ago when he emailed a catalog page from a 1906 French manufacturer showing their toenail (little did we know at the time toenails were an international pattern). We have some challenges with our language barrier. I speak southern, he speaks french. Tough combo. I have taken the liberty to attempt to reword some of his profile and hope I didn’t misinterpret any of Bernard’s meaning. With that, please meet a fellow knife enthusiast and toenail collector, Mr. Bernard Givernaud.

 I am Bernard Givernaud. I live at Angoulême, the France chief town of strip cartoons since 1999, but I was born near Paris in 1968 (I’m 40 this year!).

I have collected knives since 1994. I have beginning with french regionnal’s knife. I would like to do a book of them, but others people have done before me! I also collected old invoice and catalogue about french cutlery.

In France we have two magazines of cultery. In 2005, I proposed to do a first article in “La Passion des Couteaux” about the french ET: “le bouledogue” (The Bulldog).This knife was made in Thiers for “La manufacture d’arme et de cycles de SAINT ETIENNE”. This firme all year had a new catalogue which was very interesting about arms and manufactured objects with their price. I did not know your excellent site (ET.com) then and after the article publication I found it and was very surprised. I was especially surprised by the Jumbo swell-center, and I hope I find one someday.

Since I have concentrated my research on three subjects : the Nontron knife (Nontron is a town 40 kilometers from my house, and we say it’s the most elder knife in france). I send you the eldest I have a nontron about 1855. I have write 4 articles about this knife.The second is Opinel : I have try to find N°1 and 11 (see picture) which are not made since 1930’s and I am writing an article about.The third are figural knife (like the pig). I have made two articles about them. I would like to do a book, not only with my collection and then if US collector have it, I will be very proud to share pictures.sophie.givernaud@free.fr

 Here is the 1928 toenail from the manufacturer of Saint Etienne. 

 Here are two of the other knives he references.

The first is the Nontron 

 The N 11 Opinel

Roger Cunningham.

I live in southern Ohio. I look out the backdoor at the Kentucky hills.

I`m a life long farmer and own and operate a small insurance agency. I`m married for 17 years and have 2 boys 16 and 14.I have always liked knives, growing up on a farm. I always had one in my pocket. As a small kid I can remember Dad buying knives by the dozen on a card(metal handle imperials with colored plastic coverings).

My 1st knife that I put up was a Remington repro. 1988 muskrat, that I got at a gun shop.I didn`t get interested in collecting knives until about 2000. I picked up this and that for a year or so, then settled on Drs. knives. I got some Case classic Drs. and really liked the quality. I got some other classic patterns, and one day bought a classic toenail. I found out I really liked that big knife. I picked up 40 or so of them.,

One day while reading Knife World I saw this ad for a web site for elephant toenails. I looked up the site (it was ET.com) and did some reading and learning. I didn`t think a lot more about old toes until going to a gun and knife show in Lexington KY and a dealer I knew had a Robeson swellcenter on his table; it was love at first sight. I bought it and have been hooked every since.

I have since sold or traded most of my other knives. I pretty much just collect old toenails and have for last 3 or 4 years. I like them all, but mostly in very good to better condition.

I love knife shows and go to 8 or 10 a year. I`m a member of the NKCA, Fort City,Oregon, and Case collector clubs and a life member of the NRA.

I read anything I come across on old knives; you can`t learn too much.  

As I now begin to receive short bios/profiles from individuals from all over (I was sent one from a gentleman in France a little bit ago), I wanted to say how good it is to finally get to “see” you.

Putting a face with the name really changes things for me. You and I have never met and receiving your photo sure makes what I am doing here at ET.com much more personal.

“Talking” to faceless names by email (and especially writing to the “masses” through this website) is one thing, but finally getting to “see” you sure brings perspective….to me anyway. It is like we have finally really met.

I know this post may be uncharacteristic for a “web-host,” but as I get older, I am coming to realize some things about life and how important people are. So, at the risk of being too sentimental, please excuse me, but I wanted to say thank you for your support and participation. I can promise you this- if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t do it.

One final note: I have received several emails from folks who don’t feel they warrant a “profile,” because they are either new collectors, or don’t have many, if any toenails. Please, the point of the profile is for us to get to meet you. Just the fact that you come ’round here is indicative of the fact that you share in this same interest as we do. My goal for us is simply to put a face with the name and a brief “this is who I am” - not to prove who had the most knives or the most valuable. We are just individuals who have a common interest. 

Scott 

David and I have corresponded over the last few years primarily pertaining to his articles in Knife World.  In the Jan. 2006 edition, he wrote “Little Town with a Big History.”

Now David has joined us here at ET.com.    

David L. Anthony of North West Pennsylvania , near lake Erie

I learned of toenails years ago due to my love cutlery from the

state of Pennsylvania. Of course the knives from Eldred, PA 

Platts relations and the popular toenail. I hope to someday own

one of those giant Platts knives.

I have been into all Pennsylvania knives for more than 35 years,

but toenails have been a passion for at least 20 of them.

I don’t focus on patterns as much as I do Penn related tang stamps.

All of my knives tend to be vintage, older than 1970, mostly

older than 1940.

I am a municipal manager and oversee a large Township on Erie

county Pa.

I love knife shows, but only get to a couple a year due to their

location.

My dream knife is a Union Razor Tidioute Toenail. I hope to get

one someday. Of course I would love a Platts as well.

Please take a look at my Book “Tidioute: A Town With an Edge”

Scott has been kind enough to mention it here on this site. It

has photos of Toenails sent to me by Scott and also some history

on them from Tidioute as well.

my e-mail is dragon@velocity.net  feel free to contact me with

comments or questions

Thanks David for stepping up and sending in your profile. I did a review of his book and it is “filed” under the Book Reviews category here in The News.

 Stayed tuned for the next ET Member Profile.  Go ahead and send yours in so we can meet you too.

Many of you who have been around since I started ET.com back in 2003 know me pretty well, but what can I say- I’m nuts about old toenails.

I like the historic aspect of old cutlery firms, the Who/What/When and Why to them and their knives.

If you have visited the About Me link in ET.com you know how I got started back collecting knives and how I first got introduced to toenails.

I am a father of four wonderful kids, ages 12, 14, 16 and 18. My wife of 22 years thinks I am nuts, but is glad I have something relatively constructive to invest my time (but no money) in. We live in NE Alabama.

I am a principal in a national real estate auction firm and travel all over meeting with folks with real estate holdings.

I have limited my focus to only toenails and really only old ones. The older the better. I have been tempted by custom toenails and even once or twice by Classics.

What am I looking to purchase? Well, would love to find a pearl and stag MSA, a Case M250 (metal toenail), a stag Case Brothers 5251- to name a few.My favorite toenail? Well, honestly, I like most all of them. I like Jumbo swellcenters probably the best and winterbottom and Rogers bone (stag and pearl too!) handles on any brand. I would say celluloid toenails are my least favorite.

I do have outside interest and one of my most fun is driving top down in my Shelby

….see that wasn’t so bad, now its your turn.

One of the aspects I thoroughly enjoy about hosting ET.com is the pleasure to meet collectors, new and old, from all over the world. Last week, I had the opportunity to meet Dario. He immediately got on my good side with this message:  (more…)