Pewter Bolsters

[grabenkater]

Preparing to hilt a new blade and I'm bouncing the idea around to pour a pewter bolster. I really like the look of an antique pewter bolster separating antler from the blade. Are there any period examples or is this a modern contemporary way of making 18th century knives?

[rich pierce]

Given the difficulty in accurately dating individually made old knives it's tough to generalize. Pewter bolsters are popular on antler-handled "stick" knives among current makers and customers. Some think the numbers of locally made antler handled knives versus trade knives was likely 1:50 or less. But they look cool and are artistic. Got to have at least one!

[Elnathan]

Last I heard the consensus was that pewter bolsters were probably not PC for the 18th century. Don't know if that has changed.

I only know of a handful of examples that I feel reasonably certain are 18th century, and none have pewter bolsters. With maybe two exceptions all are very crude, BTW. Of the two exceptions one has a solid pewter handle with a lion's head grip, and the other has a iron ferrule.

I think that there might be some 19th century examples with cast bolsters, though.

[B.Barker]

There quite a few "old" knives with pewter bolsters and inlays. But whether they are 18th century or not is hard to tell. If you read old first hand accounts they usually call their knives butcher knives. Which were on many trade list along with scalpers. I think most blacksmith made knives we see in books are from the 19th century just like the shot pouches. Knives were used hard on the frontier and were used till completely used up. I don't think many made it through time.

[Tim Crosby]

 No date but take a look at Pg. 167 in Grant's The Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch.

  Tim C.

[Hungry Horse]

A Revolutionary War American musket is shown in one of my books with pewter furniture. I would say that if they used pewter for gun fittings, they most likely used it for knife fittings as well.

  Hungry Horse

[B.Barker]

Tim that's the only one I know of that I would possibly put an 18th century date on.

[Elnathan]

A Revolutionary War American musket is shown in one of my books with pewter furniture. I would say that if they used pewter for gun fittings, they most likely used it for knife fittings as well.

  Hungry Horse

The problem is that knives (as opposed to daggers) with fittings of any kind are pretty scarce, and cast fittings pretty much unknown, as far as I know. A musket with pewter furniture is just the use of an usual metal for a normal purpose, but a pewter bolster is an entirely different construction technique.

If you want to be as PC as possible, just stick a piece of antler on the tang with cutler's epoxy or plain ppine pitch and leave it at that. If you want to go fancier, a brass or iron ferrule is more plausible than a pewter bolster.

[B.Barker]

I don't think cast fittings were unknown in the 18th century. Native Americans used lead to decorate items they were making. So it wouldn't be a far leap for knives to get the same treatment. I'm not saying it was widely used and it may have been used for repair work. Lead would have been more likely metal to use to stop a cracking handle on the frontier than sheet brass or iron and you don't need to be metal worker to use it. The same reason rawhide was used instead of sheet brass or iron for repair work. Most everything we make from tow worms to rifles are more elaborate than most originals.