The News from ElephantToenails.com

Couple of D W's favorites

MY NAME IS D.W.COVER FROM SOUTHEAST IOWA U.S.A. I SOLD ALL OF MY NEWER CASE AND FIGHTN ROOSTER TOE NAILS AND KEPT MY CATTARAUGUS AND HIBBARD SPENSER BARTLETT. I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING FOR 35 YEARS AND HAVE A LARGE COLLECTION OF CATTARAUGUS AND JACK KNIFE BEN, UNION STOCK YARD KNIVES. THE ONLY KNIVES I WANT ARE THE OLD ONES FROM 1940 ON BACK. I RETIRED FROM STANDARD OIL AFTER 47 YEARS AND GO TO ALOT OF ANTIQUE AUCTIONS. I HAVE ATTENDED THE IOWA KNIFE SHOWS AND THE ONE IN SPRINGFIELD MISSOURI. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS WMCOVER@MEPOTELCO.NET.

We are glad to have D W ’round here showing us his old toes and appreciate him sharing his profile with us too.

We had better be displaying our toenails for everyday viewing! I hate it that 90% of my collection is stashed away from preying eyes (including my own ). Don’t you hate it when you can’t display them for you to see at a quick glance? To be able to enjoy them anytime you want right there next to your desk? Maybe you can.

I was sent this cool picture of his display by a fellow collector, Mr. Keith Easley from PA. Even though Keith refers to our favorite knife as a sunfish, which is OK by me, he has a custom Sunfish display for his prized catches.

I know it is hard to see but Keith has some real jewels. I know he has a pearl WRC Bradford, a CB LVNY ‘51, a jumbo, a Robeson swellcenter and many others of the real oldies.

I haven’t heard from Keith in a while but hope he is doing fine. Thought you would enjoy seeing this. If you are out there Keith give us a shout sometime. Maybe I can even get a collector profile from him. Keith has a real passion for toenails and is an avid collector.

Hello everyone, my name is Clay Strong. I live on the southwest coast of Florida along the Caloosahatchee river, not far from the Everglades with its swamps, mosquitoes, and alligators.

I have a small collection of a variety of knives. I haven’t concentrated on a particular category, partly because I like all knives. The investment aspect isn’t as important to me as is the utility and design of a knife to meet a given purpose. The elephant toe-nail was born out of necessity. A tool was needed to perform a particular task in the field and it was not meant to be used for much else. I’m sure that men who carried them learned to do just about everything else that came along though. That’s part of getting to know your knife.

I’m sixty years old. And, since I can’t remember not trying to accumulate one more knife, I guess you could say I’m a lifetime collector. I only have a couple of toenails. They’re beat up and tarnished, but they tell me a story, as do most of my knives. I grew up in the middle of the Texas oil fields. Members of my family and others that I knew worked on oil rigs. My father told me that the big knives carried by his uncles were used a lot to splice steel cable. Rope was never used extensively, except for towing and securing equipment. He mentioned once that my great-aunt’s husband carried a Sunfish all the time. He was the father of the famous golfer Ben Hogan. How’s that for trivia?

My background is a duke’s mixture of experiences. I’ve worked on just about every motorized transportation there is, including airplanes. I was in the Coast Guard and on Navy submarines. I got involved with computers as a result of my military training. Today, I spend most of my time on the web visiting interesting sites such as this one, working on my various websites, writing blogs, and moderating a knife forum. I attend the local shows sponsored by arms and knife collectors. I am amazed at the variety of toenails that are displayed. Each with its story.

Well, that’s my story. I look forward to reading yours, one and all. Give me a shout sometime.Clay Strongeditor@knifelinksunlimited.com

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