IX*L Wostenholm Sheffield, UK 133JB	IX*L Wostenholm Sheffield, UK 133ST	IX*L Wostenholm Sheffield, UK 133BUF
IX*L Wostenholm Sheffield, UK 133KL		T.W. Ablett  -Littlemester, Sheffield Model AB-Ettrick

 How to Order: email, phone, fax or post - but we recommend you contact us first before mailing as many of these items are one-off items only.
Payment Options: Australia: credit card (Visa or Mastercard) emailed , phoned or faxed, money orders, and cheques, or on-line banking/direct deposit (bank details provided upon request.)  International: credit card or bank draft - in Australian dolars only.

Wostenholm I*XL of Sheffield

EXHIBITION QUALITY POCKETKNIVES

For 300 years Sheffield has been synonymous with ‘steel & cutlery’ and Wostenholm's I*XL pocketknives are still some of the very best. 

Modern hand-crafted and polished pocketknives in popular patterns bearing the world famous ‘IX*L’ trademark, granted by the Cutlers Cutlery of Hallamshire in 1787. Revered all over the United States as the pinnacle of excellence in knife manufacture, George Wostenholm of Washington Works at one time employed 800 people and was arguably England’s greatest cutlery manufacturer.

You may have seen their hand-made working models with satin-finished blades and hardwood handles –  but these are the super-deluxe renditions; stainless blades (2-mm thick), nickel silver bolsters, brass liners & pins, highly decorated handle backs and partially worked blade backs, and featuring a selection of delightful handle scales. And still handcrafted by highly skilled craftsmen in the city of origin to authentic patterns under the original trademark and tradename – it just doesn’t get any better than that! 

Feast your eyes and fumble for your wallet – every item is an affordably priced individual objet d’art bearing the best-known brand on the planet. Only while stocks last!
 
 

STOCKMAN POCKETKNIVES: Often referred to as ‘The Australian Stockman’ around the British Commonwealth and synonymous with the settlement of regional Australia.   WB133JB Stockman:  3-Blade (clip, sheepfoot & castrator) with rose-coloured jigged bone scales, highly decorative worked handle back and partially worked blade backs. Closed 10-cm. Clip (main) blade 7.5-cm long Weight 107-gm.   $339.00 + $7.00 postage click here for a closer look WB133ST Stockman:  3-blade (clip, sheepfoot & castrator) with natural stag scales, highly decorative worked handle back and partially worked blade backs. Closed 10-cm.  Clip (main) blade 7.5-cm long Weight 107-gm.  $339.00 + $7.00 postage click here for a closer look WB133BUF Stockman: 3-blade (clip, sheepfoot & castrator)  with buffalo horn scales, highly decorative worked handle back and partially worked blade backs. Closed 10-cm.  Clip (main) blade 7.5-cm long.  Weight 107-gm.  $339.00 + $7.00 postage click here for a closer look WB133KLBUF Stockman: 3-blade (clip, sheepfoot & castrator)  with buffalo horn scales, highly decorative handle back and worked blade backs and brass liners.  Closed 10-cm.  Clip (main) blade 7.5-cm.  Weight 107-gm $339.00 + $7.00 postage click here for a closer look

By definition, a little mester is a master cutler working on his own, but in a rented room in a factory, paying his own rent and dealing through a factor (wholesale/manufacturer), the system on which  the Sheffield cutlery industry was built up. 
Reference:  A Glossary of Words & Dialect Formerly Used in the Sheffield Trades. 

A ‘true blue’ Littlemesters pocketknife  by T W Ablett of Sheffield. Although a working knife concept, the Ettrick is a ‘must-have’ model for serious collectors of distinctly English pocketknives: a unique pocketknife, hand crafted by a genuine Littlemester, who still plies his now-dying trade in a quiet corner of Sheffield, once the world’s cradle of cutlery. Model: AB-Ettrick  $99.00 + $7.00 post in Australia	Click here for a closer look
By good fortune, in 2004 we uncovered a little mester still operating in an upstairs room of an old decaying brick building, a surviving relic surrounded by new generation Sheffield. His name is Trevor Ablett, an old Sheffieldian pen & pocketknife manufacturer. Is he a serious cutler? Oh yes, Trevor has to produce 100 pocketknives per week – all hand crafted – in order to pay his rent and make a living. He will tell you that he doesn’t have time to produce fancy pocketknives, but I can assure you he turns out ‘working’ pocketknives that make your mouth water.  Born in 1941, Trevor started work in the Sheffield knife industry with his Polish uncle, Emil Berek, in 1957. Berek had learned cutling at J W Colishaw (founded 1854), then started his own business as a little mester. Trevor stayed with his uncle for two years, before shifting to cutthroat razor maker, Bill Myers, where he remained for the next five years or so before returning to Emil Berek’s workshop.  Trevor worked with his uncle until around 1972. Emil Berek died in 1975. Continuing in the trade, in 1980 Trevor went to work with that famous firm that was founded in 1795, Joseph Elliot & Sons, for eight years. Elliots produced pocketknives, tableware, trade knives and razors. They were taken over in 1972 by Herbert M Slater and Jack Taylor, who already owned cutlery materials manufacturer, J Dewsnap Bowler Ltd.
Before cutlery production ceased at the Joseph Elliot & Sons Sylvester Works, Trevor started a little mester business in 1988 – T W Ablett. T W Ablett engaged the services of an old cutler, Harry Ragg, formerly of John & William Ragg (founded 1831). Back in Harry’s days with J & W Ragg the firm specialised in making ‘penknives in every variety’, as well as scissors and razors. Trevor was to benefit from Harry’s vast knowledge and experience.  Trevor’s wife Mavis still works as an assembler in the workshop. Trevor does the buffing these days, but back when Harry was still working there he had a bufferwoman  named Phyllis, who along with Harry went into retirement.