The written stories of Knife and Cutlery Making in Sheffield go back over 700 years (the unwritten stories further still), and we aim to tell you as many as we can when we have the time. But the most important story of all doesn’t include The Canterbury Tales, Royal Patronage, Winston Churchill, Colonel Bowie or General Custer…
…The most important Stories of all are from the 1980s.
It was in the mid 1980s that Egginton Brothers, manufacturers of Sharpening Steels since 1872, bought up the trademarks and patterns of the Worlds most famous knife and cutlery brands – saving them from being taken out of Sheffield or disappearing altogether.
There have been many impersonators since, unscrupulous copyists of our heritage trademarks – too many to police – so we must rely on our discerning customers, those enthusiasts who know these genuine authentic Made in Sheffield products are only available from Egginton.
Other than the craftsmanship that goes into making every blade and every fitting in steel, nickel silver or brass – the beauty of our edge tools is enhanced by the carefully selected natural materials added as handle sides and decoration.
Egginton have searched, hunted down, and bought in stocks of the best materials at every opportunity – over many, many, years. Including both traditional materials, used by our heritage brands for centuries, and exciting new materials as they have been discovered or become available.
Together these include the finest Mother of Pearl, Hardwoods and Buffalo Horn, alongside beautiful Mikartas, Real Wood Laminates and Stabilised Burrs.
Some of the rarest of materials can only be obtained in very small batches – for instance, we still hold precious stocks of the best available Indian Sambar Stag Antler for pocketknife handles.
Little wonder that our limited editions are highly desired by collectors, or bought as thoughtful one-off gifts for someone special – you’re allowed to count yourself as someone special.
The Egginton Timeline
1682
The Cutler Joseph (sometimes called John) Rodgers operated out of a building in Hawley Croft, close to Sheffield’s present-day cathedral. In 1730 his two sons, Maurice and Joseph, took over the “Little Mesters“ business. The trademark of The Star and Maltese Cross was originally registered in March 1682, by a Benjamin Rich. However, it is with Rodgers that this mark will forever be associated, as they bought and registered it in 1764.
1759
While William Ibberson (one of the rarer names even then) was making cutlery in Sheffield as early as 1666, there is no evidence to connect him to Joseph Ibberson who, 60 Years before the first Industrial Revolution, was plying his trade as a Little Mester.
In 1700 Cutlery and Knife making was already a very old trade in Sheffield – it was hard work; grinding was done by foot peddled stones, before water mills took the weight of stamping, shaping and grinding.
George Ibberson, we do know, had been apprenticed to the aforementioned Joseph Rodgers – there is much more to this story than we have space for in timeline – but George acquired his Violin trademark (“Fiddlebrand“ a Guarantee of Quality) from cutler John C Skinner in 1873; we know because Egginton is the owner of the mark and its patterns for table, pen and pocket knives, carvers, trade knives, and razors, but he was most celebrated for his trade knives, hand-forged pen, pocket, and sportsman’s knives made in pearl, tortoiseshell, and ivory.
Who knows what we may make from the archive next!
1785
George Wostenholm and Joseph Rodgers were the most celebrated brands of their day, both had huge prestigious factories and counted Royalty and Presidents amongst their followers.
George Wostenholm (as Joseph can’t hear us) is possibly the most famous name in cutlery. A major road was named after him in an area of Sheffield he was chiefly responsible for designing – its wide tree lined thoroughfares and tall houses designed for the burgeoning middle classes, many of them working for George, – was based on the village of Kenwood which he fell in love with through his many visits to the USA.
There are 14 towns in the USA called Sheffield – hardly surprising when over 90% of the cutlery sold in the USA at that time came from the original city in Yorkshire, England. But very few places in the UK are named after American place names. Kenwood Road and its various offshoots plus George’s magnificent home (most lately a grand hotel) in this leafy suburb still today a huge indicator of his love for the USA.
Joseph and George, both magnificent manufacturers of high quality knives and cutlery – each passionate in their competition to the other.
Hopefully now bound in fraternal friendship since their famous brands have found a home under the same roof
1830
The famous I Cut My Way Brand, was made in Sheffield from the 1830s by the William Rodgers Company. On William’s passing in 1855, it was bought by John Clarke & Son, and then briefly changed hands again before being saved for posterity by Egginton Brothers, in the 1980’s.
The William Rodgers brand is known for the edge tools and knives used in frontier countries by Pioneers, Trappers and Hunters, Backwoodsmen, and Explorers. Their knives became steeped in folklore from Nova Scotia to the Rockies and far away Sitka. Early examples are still hunted by collectors.
Even the logo is not just a trademark but the unique shape of an Ulu (Inuit for “Woman’s Knife“, used for over 4,000 years by indigenous tribes of the Arctic Circle for shaping and scraping hides before stitching into clothes, and nomadic homes) the version requested from Sheffield makers in the 19th and 20th centuries were used by hunters and traders in Alaska.
By the 1940’s the William Rodgers brand was to be found on commando and fighting knives as part of a soldier’s standard kit and in the 1950’s The Boy Scout movement allocated William Rodgers knives (The Scout Knife) to its young adventurers for woodcraft and wilderness training.
The heritage and history of these robust and useful edge tools will be continued – for multiple different purposes – with the knowledge that the eras and occupations in which they were tried and tested, will ensure the reliability and longevity longed for in peaceful 21st Century pastimes.
1872
Egginton, formed in 1872, created and maintained a successful niche in the world cutlery markets, with their Sheffield made, high quality Sharpening Steels. They are the world’s leading experts in knife sharpening.
In the past, many of Sheffield’s other historical firms faced factory closures, with many famous cutlery firms lost forever in the process. Unwilling to allow the demise of Sheffield’s famous cutlery patents and trademarks, and reluctant to allow famous company names to further vanish, the directors of Egginton came to the rescue.
They purchased Pocket Knife manufacturer George lbberson in 1983 and with it, The Egginton Group of Companies was formed. In 1986, the group was expanded when possibly Sheffield cutlery’s two most famous names, Joseph Rodgers and George Wostenholm were added.
Their duty today is, and always will be, to make products which Joseph and George themselves would be proud to own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Egginton Group
The indisputable owners and exclusive manufacturers of edge tool brands still made, using almost identical craft skills and techniques, that were used in 1682, 1759, 1785, 1830, 1872.