Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Seeking History/Value of Knife, "Roberts Roost"

Hi all. Anyone know history/value of the knife pictured below? My son picked this up second hand and, though not interested in sellng, he said he has seen knives with similar markings go for a couple hundred on E-Bay. Markings on blade are, "Roberts' Roost, Stignatius, Mont". Any info appreciated. Thank you.

TR

p.s. I hope the pic or link comes through below. Anytime a Web site is updated, it seems to set my skills back years!!

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j23/totesfleisch87/IMG_0208.jpg

Many years ago, there was a guy by the name of Ruana (sp?) from Monatana who made knives looking like that one.
The knife looks like a good one.

Don

From what I've been able to learn from other sites, the company was started by Jesse Roberts of St. Ignatius, Montana. The business is now owned by Jim Jennings, who continued making the knives in St. Ignatius, and later moved the business to Kalso, B.C.

Judging by the pitting on the blade, it's looks like an older knife, but the stamp on the blade will probably determine the vintage of this particular knife.

You can contact him to see if the knife was originally made by Jesse Roberts or if it was made by Jennings himself:

Roberts' Roost
c/o Jim Jennings
PO Box 834
Kaslo, BC
Canada, V0G 1M0

I remember him very well, from various gunshows and craft shows in my hometown, I also knew his son-in-law, a draftdodger from Texas, who lived in Kaslo. I am from Nelson, a larger town some 50 miles south of Kaslo, on the main Kootenay Lake.

I thought then, some 30 years ago, that the knives were pretty crappy and still do, he would not say what steel(s) he used and his whole attitude was foreign to us. He has been dead for quite a number of years and I have no idea if anyone from his family still resides in Kaslo, I expect to be up there again in a few months to go fishing.

Each to his own, but, since several of my friends bought these knives and I own Ingram's as well as other custom knives, I would maybe pay $50.00 for one, tops, they do not come close to an Ingram's.

You guys are great. "Ask and ye shall receive". I appreciate the information. That was way more powerful than any internet search!!

TR

troberto, the value or worth of a custom knife often has little to do with the quality of the blade or the steel used and absolutely nothing to do with the owner's son-in-law being a draft dodger. It's all about scarcity and demand. I've seen some old Scagel knives that looked as crudely made as they come and you couldn't buy one of them for $20,000.

If your son's knife was made back in the 60's in St. Ignatius by Jesse Roberts, and you have the original sheath, I'm willing to bet that you can buy any knife that Ingram makes, maybe two of them, for the value of the Robert's Roost knife.

That is true, insofar as market price of a given object is concerned, however, here in BC, where big game hunting is a way of life, "value" is defined by how functional a given item is under field conditions. Anyone who thinks that a RR knife is even close to an Ingram's in this sense obviously has very little field experience gutting, skinning and caping game.

Jennings made knives that really were not superior to most of the better factory production of that time and inferior to Russell Belt Knives. While they may have some interest to a knife collector, I would never buy one as a using knife, after sharpening and using those that friends of mine bought.

Good info guys.
I learned something from your posts.
Thanks.


Don

Kutenee, rather than call BS on your posts, I'll just say that your recollections are wrong, which I guess amounts to the same thing. I just spoke on the phone with Tom Satterly, a part-time knife maker apprentice with Robert's Roost Knives since 1991. He said that Jim Jennings has not "been dead for quite a number of years" as you stated. In fact, Jim Jennings is alive and well, still owns Robert's Roost Knife Co., still lives in Kaslo B.C., and is still making knives the same way that he always has even though he's not making as many as he used to in the past.

The steel used for every knife made by Jesse Roberts, the founder of the company, and Jim Jennings, the owner of the company since the mid-70's, is high carbon steel, which Tom Satterly thought was 1095. It has never been a secret or something that was witheld from anyone who wanted to know. The materials that go into the making of these knives is well described in the catalog that the company has been putting out for years.

Excuse me, but, the fat American who sold these knives at gunshows, etc. in the late '70s, TOLD me that, "the steel I use is a trade secret", this is an exact quote. I was told that he had died, but, this may be an honest error.

I am a member of one of the original, founding families of this area (and the Province of BC) and I was actually stationed at Kaslo, twice, while in the BCFS. His son-in-law, one Ring Huggins, from Texas, was a Yankee Draft Dodger and that is how I met this guy. So, calling BS is just nonsense and has jackschitt to do with what I said.

Funny how you NEVER see this guy at the big gun shows here, while custom knife makers from across Canada attend regularly.BTW, I find it just a bit odd that someone has been an ...apprentice...since 1991 AND actually does NOT KNOW exactly what steel is used in these knives.....BS, you say?????

Darn, it never occurred to me to ask if Jim Jennings is a big fat guy who used to go to gun shows and why doesn't he attend them any more. If I had more foresight, I could have verified the veracity of your new comments.

I will look these guys up in the summer when I am next in Kaslo and then see what is what. I am not interested in a pizzing contest with you as I simply posted what I remembered as honestly as anyone can; so, implying that there is a lack of veracity in my comments is not worth my replying.

I first went to Kaslo in 1957, I know some of the pioneer families there and have lived, worked, drank, fished, climbed, snowshoed, skied and hunted all through that area. In fact, my last station with the BCFS was there, in 1974, when I resigned and my wife and I may actually move there in the near future

Kutenee, here's the deal, troberto posted a question regarding the Robert's Roost knife his son had acquired and was asking if anyone knew anything about the history or value of the knife. I did some looking and asking to help answer his question.

I'm sure you meant well, but he didn't ask whether it was as good as an Ingram, or whether the maker's son-in-law served honorably in the military, or if the maker was fat and had insulted a member of the first family of Canada and whose forebears had landed in North America centuries before Columbus, he just wanted to know something about the KNIFE.

So, that's what I tried to give him, some REAL history of the maker as I knew him; your attempts to slur me and my family are typical and not worth notice.

BTW, genius, it's "forebearers", not ...forebears..., again, a "Wikipedia" wonder with the intellectual acuity of a slug.

WELLLLLLLLLLL I guess that I can in-lighten U about Roberts Roost, St Ignatius, MT. Jesse Roberts owned a BAR (drink) in st.i. MT., called the 44 BAR, He sold it and went into custom knife making. His daughter sent me one in 1963,64?. Jesse died and I don't NO what happened to the knife business. HOWEVER, I gave all my info,newspaper,catalog to Bernie Levine, knife expert,Knife World contributer. www.knife-expert.com; bernard levine POB 2404 eugene OR 97402-0124 or Whut Izzit, c/o Knife World Box 3395,Knoxville, TN. 37927 On line, Bernard charges a FEE 4 the information.

why pay a fee when we have the info here?

Kute, it is a TREAT to see you posting.

Mannlicher, just a point of information. Kute's last post above was in 2007. He now posts over on Accurate Reloading in the "Canada" forum.

L.W.