Curious - Do you know?

I was going through my parents/grandparents "stuff" and came across some interesting items that I wondered if anyone had any knowledge of. They look to be BBQ/Carving utensils

The two with black handles definitely say "Craftsman". Could not find anything readily online. Guessing they are all 60-80+ years old.

The other three have absolutely no brand name or any other marking to indicate they were "manufactured". My grandad was a big time hunter (only way to survive in the depression days), so I'm wondering if they were antlers fashioned into tools needed.

Would be curious if any of you have ideas or have seen items like these before. Sorry they are not cleaned up yet, but Brent is about to go do that :wave:

BBQ_Carving.jpg
 
the antler ones look to be done very well for home made.. but the knife looks like it hand forged so they could all be homemade.. but i see them as cutting the easter ham or thanks giving turkey not just BBQ utensils..
 
That many years ago, I don't think they are BBQ. Weren't many BBQ's back then. I think they were carving utensils for turkey, ham and roasts.. at the dinner table or in the kitchen. Nice ones. I seen forks before like the antler one with the two doodads just before the handle, fact I think my wife had one in some of her treasures..
 
Reminded me of the old German carving sets. Similar to those shown here: https://www.google.com/search?q=vin...Vb-cPMKrNoKghGg&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1088&bih=541


Ted has it right..... Ding-ding-ding....

My parents bought a similar set in Germany in the late 1960's when we lived there. My in-laws did the same in Germany in the late 1960's. I can't remember the manufacturer right off hand, but they are still made and we bought them a current set a few years ago. They are a Turkey carving set......used at Thanksgiving mostly.....
 
The things that look like rods are actually knife sharpening tools. I don't know what they are called but they are common place in a commercial or many home kitchens.

The forks are common carving utensils.

The knife is an over sized carving knife.

There is no doubt that could be used to dress a deer or something like that, though I am not a hunter and have never dressed anything larger than a few dozen chickens, and many hundreds of salt water fish.
 
Sharon
I have a set just like the one on the right that my dad gave many years ago. They are meat carving sets. The tang on the fork is to elevate tines from the table cloth. The rod is a sharpening steel. The knife really gets a fine edge and really do a fine job of carving.
David
 
The things that look like rods are actually knife sharpening tools. I don't know what they are called but they are common place in a commercial or many home kitchens.

Knife sharpening steel (traditionally doesn't actually "sharpen") or Honing steel. Some/many of them aren't made out of steel anymore amusingly enough- traditionally they weren't actually a hone either, although the non steel ones are more of a hone than the steel ones. Confused yet? :rofl:
 
That many years ago, I don't think they are BBQ. Weren't many BBQ's back then. I think they were carving utensils for turkey, ham and roasts.. at the dinner table or in the kitchen. Nice ones. I seen forks before like the antler one with the two doodads just before the handle, fact I think my wife had one in some of her treasures..

Yes they did Paul Everyone had one BUT they were called cook stoves or Hearths or campfires back then :D
 
The things that look like rods are actually knife sharpening tools. I don't know what they are called but they are common place in a commercial or many home kitchens.

Yup. They are called sharpening steels, and I still have and use one. The forks are for holding the roast still while you carve it. I have worn out a couple of sharpening steels in my lifetime.
 
Mystery solved.

The black handled ones are the "Retro Craftsman Vanadium Black Handled Carving Set" (minus the knife itself).

For the set on the right, Brent found the manufacturers name on the knife blade "Henry Sears and Sons 1865". I see they were big in the razor and pocket knife business as well. From the posts I saw the handles are real stag antlers and not faux ones that many in the day were made of.

Oh and one of my parents silverware sets (Royal Crest Wildflower pattern) goes for almost $2000 on ebay. Some items individually sell for $1-200 apiece. They were definitely not folks of great means, but I know my mom was always proud to haul the silver out for special occasions. I see a lot of buffing in our future and we'll carry on the tradition. :wave:
 
Knife sharpening steel (traditionally doesn't actually "sharpen") or Honing steel. Some/many of them aren't made out of steel anymore amusingly enough- traditionally they weren't actually a hone either, although the non steel ones are more of a hone than the steel ones. Confused yet? :rofl:

Yup. They are called sharpening steels, and I still have and use one. The forks are for holding the roast still while you carve it. I have worn out a couple of sharpening steels in my lifetime.


The round steels included with many knife sets aren't really meant to 'sharpen' a knife. They are meant as a means to 'Hone' it. Sharpening and Honing are two different activities.

Sharpening involves removing steel to create sharp bevel. The bevel of a sharp knife should be nice polished and come to a very fine point.

As a knife gets used, that bevel gets somewhat abused and tends to get bent to one side or another.

The Steel, or hone is used to align that bevel back to a point. At some point, the bevel gets worn down to a point where no amount of working with a hone or steel will bring the knife back to 'sharpness'.

Looking at the stag handled carving knife, it has been pretty abused on that steel a lot, and has a lot of scars on the flat side of the knife where I think someone was doing a lot more flicking of the knife on the steel for show, rather than actual sharpening. The blade on the knife was about as dull as a butter knife and I doubt I could have broken my skin with it if I tried.

Just took it out to the garage and put an edge on it with my Wicked Edge Sharpener and now I have very little hair left on my forearm from testing the sharpness. I sharpened it at a 20 degree angle and It took an edge quite well.

I'm thinking next step will be to make a nice little box for these and to use them when we do the holiday Turkey/Ham/Standing Rib Roast kind of thing. Will be a lot fancier than my current fibrox handled Victorinox set, although they do work pretty work well.
 
These may be old, but when my wife and I married about 20+ years ago, we got a carving set much like the one with the black handle... don't know what happened to them, as we don't have them now.
 
When my oldest brother was stationed in Germany with the Army in 1961-62 he bought my mom a bone handled carving set very much like the one on the right. it was in a very nice leather bound case with a red velvet lining and it came out three times a year (Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas) when the family was all gathered for the big holiday meals. I believe it is in the protective custody of my oldest sister presently and still gets used at big family gatherings.
 
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