Knife World Publications, PO Box 3395, Knoxville, TN 37927 Vol. 34 No. 2 February 2008 www.knifeworld.com

Nehi Leg Knives

by Mike BlackBlackjack Knives is a

brand that has been on thescene for over twentyyears. Founded by MikeStewart in the 1980s, it iscurrently owned byCutlery Hall of Famemember and editor emeri-tus of the Knives annual,Ken Warner. Ken proudlypresents himself as theonly registered owner ofthe Blackjack Knivestrademark and a knifeenthusiast who hasalways been committed tomaintaining the highdegree of performanceexcellence whichBlackjack Knives has beenrepresentative of from itsinception.

One of the distinguish-

ing features of theBlackjack Knives brand isits use of convex groundedges. A convex edge iscreated by grinding theedge of the blade as theintersection of two curvedarcs rather than the inter-section of two flat groundsurfaces. The theoreticaladvantage of this edgestyle is the edge being sup-ported by more metal,thus making it moreresistant to damage fromextreme usage. In somecases the convex edge alsoseems to slice into certaincutting media with moreefficiency than flat groundbevels.

It requires a highdegree of skill to grind con-

by Dennis EllingsenI do not recall exactly

how I got involved in theRemington Nehi premiumadvertising leg knife. I hadbeen aware of it since itwas offered as a noveltyknife in the 1980s. I hadonly assumed thatRemington made one forNehi in the 1920s era, butI had no proof nor docu-mentation to support this.And for a long while it wasnot that necessary for meto pursue. But then oneday...

At the turn of the centu-ry in the early 1900s,Royal Crown Cola was bot-tling a ginger ale drink. In1905 a product was intro-duced called Chero-Cola.

Nehi, a product of RoyalCrown Cola Co., had itsdebut in the early 1920s aspart of the Chero-ColaCompany. At the time,Chero-Cola was the fea-ture soda line, and Nehiwas introduced to providea multi-flavor drink. Sinceit was so successful, thecompany changed its nameto Nehi Corporation.

To promote its product,Nehi had many promotion-al prizes available. In theirpromotional booklet thatappeared in the early1920s, one could get prizesfrom wagons to knives. Inthis first booklet theknives shown were a lady’sleg knife with a celluloid

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PRSRT-STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDLOUISIANA,MISSOURI

63353PERMIT 11

$3.50

Three from the current line of Backjack Classics. Top to bottom: the Model 7 inleather, the Model 5 in leather, and a black Micarta handled Trail Guide.

This group of leg knives with Nehi advertising contains both originals and repro-ductions. Which are original and which are not? See page 8 for the answers...

February 2008 Knife World Page 5

handle and a four bladeutility pattern knife. Thereare no clues as to whatstamp these knives had. Ifyou saved the requisitenumber of Nehi bottle capsand paid a small sum, youcould go down to your localstore and purchase thesepremium prizes.

The 1920s vintagecoupon booklets wereprinted by the bazillionsand can easily be found oneBay. One time, just inpassing, I observed a Nehipremium knife advertisedin a Nehi booklet, and itshowed a Remington etchon the blade. This particu-lar Nehi catalog page also

showed a Remington fourblade utility knife that hadthe Remington etch on themain blade. It took about ayear of diligent searchingfor me to again locate one

of these premium catalogsshowing the Remingtonknives.

As difficult as the book-let was to locate, the offer-ing of the Remington leg

knives must have beenshort lived too. The bookletgave a date of 1929, whichdocuments when this knifewas first offered. A bit of

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Note the Remington blade etches on these illustra-tions from a 1929 Nehi coupon booklet.

An original Nehileg knife flanked by two

reproductions. The pointedpiece of steel protruding from

the original’s handle is for grip-ping a bottle cap – a clincher for

identifying an original.

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guessing and putting cluestogether made me thinkthat only one run of thisRemington Nehi knife wasmanufactured. It was pur-ported that Remingtonhad the ability to produce10,000 knives a day so abunch of knives werepunched out to satisfy theNehi program. TheDepression in the early1930s would have put a

stop to the making of thisknife; and in a 1930Remington catalog, thisgeneral pattern R019 wasmarked discontinued.When considering the rari-ty of the originalRemington knife, it can besurmised that there was avery limited production.

You wouldn’t think theRemington knife to be rarebecause a replica knifeappeared in the 1980s.These replica knives weremade by the bazillions andsold for very inexpensiveprices.

In 1982 Jim Parker soldNehi reproductions and

continued to advertisethem for sale into the late1980s. At one point theywere sold for as little as$36 a dozen. They wereoffered with nickel silverhandles or with brass han-dles. These were anextremely close copy of the

original Nehi advertisingknife. So close, in fact, thatwhen they had theRemington tang stamp, itwas difficult to tell theoriginals from the repro-ductions.

I watched eBay with apassion to try and deter-

mine how to identify thereproduction from an orig-inal. I couldn’t do it fromthe pictures so I startedbuying all the variationsthat appeared. I knew thatthe brass handled oneswere reproductions; and of

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GeorgeCousino

7818NorfolkDrive,

Onsted, MI 49265

517-467-4911www.cousinoknives.com

A closeup of the various Remington tang stampsencountered. Only the second knife from top is anoriginal Nehi.

They do look nice,but none of these is anauthentic Nehi knife!

This 1982 ad shows how the reproduction knives were marketed to collectors.

© Copyright 2008, A.G. Russell Knives, Inc.

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course the ones that had“Japan” lightly stamped onthe blade were also notoriginals. A few wipes witha cloth usually took thismark off the blade; andnow, like magic, it was anoriginal Remington knife.Yeah, right.

All in all I had about adozen variations of thereproductions until I gotmy first real, in the flesh,original Remington Nehiknife. I also came upon anadvertising knife forRaybestos in the leg pat-tern that helped to authen-ticate my originalRemington Nehi. TheRaybestos company madefriction brakes for automo-biles. The Raybestos knifeby Remington was thesame in all the ways ofconstruction that provedboth knives to be original.After making this discov-ery I went back to eBay tosee how many more origi-nals would show up forsale. Slight few, I foundout.

I then thought I wouldsell the secrets I found toidentify the realRemingtons. Somethinglike 39 Nehi bottle capsand $39 seemed a fairprice to recoup my expen-diture of many dollars inacquiring knives to discov-er the secret. But dearelayne is my conscience,and this plan wasscrapped.

On the tang of thereproductions can be foundthe following markings:

NEHINCCOREMINGTON MADE

IN USAREMINGTON UMCPARKER CUT COSURGICAL STEELAnd on the original we

find:REMINGTON UMC -

MADE IN USAAt one time I thought

that I could detect an orig-inal Remington by the“Made in USA” tangstamp. I didn’t think that aJapanese knife manufac-turer would be so bold as toput this mark on animported knife. But theydid. The only differentia-tion is that the original hasthe UMC mark under theRemington name on thetang. The reproduction hasa straight line under theRemington stamp, and the“Made in USA” encirclesthe Remington mark. Butthen again there is thetang mark on the repro-duction that has the UMCmark but no “Made inUSA” around the circle.

All of the reproductionshave stainless steel bladeswhereas the originalRemington has a carbonsteel blade. Some of thereproductions appear to beworn and rusted to makethem look like they areoriginal so you have to becareful. Blade steel is diffi-cult to determine based onan computer picture.

I studied the originalsand the reproductions witha magnifier and finally dis-covered a few clues to spotdifferences. One slightvariation was the bottleband that was located onthe bottom of the bottleshown on the knife. Mostreproductions do not havethis band shown. But notall. The other minor cluewas the size of the rivets.The original versions hadsmaller rivet heads thanthe reproductions. This isdifficult to spot on a pic-ture, but two knives heldside by side reveal this dif-

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The Raybestos knifepictured here helped to

authenticate the originalRemington Nehi knife, as

the construction details areidentical. Instead of soda

pop, the Raybestos companyproduced automobile

brakes.

ference. One blatant clue isthe positioning of the rivetnear the heel of the shoe. Ifthe rivet touches a line orbisects the line, then thisis a reproduction. The orig-

inal designs had the rivetabove the line and in theopen area of the heel area.But not ALL reproductionsfollow this rule, as I have afew where the rivet doesnot bisect or touch the line.

There were numerous vari-ations of the reproductionknives, and slight varia-tions within these can eas-ily be found.

Another clue, whenapplied to all the otherclues, is the placement ofthe rivet just above theball of the shoe. It appearsthat the Remington rivetcomes close to the bottomof the knife and almostbisects the line on the soleof the shoe. On most repro-ductions the rivets areplaced higher in this loca-tion.

But the real clincher inidentifying real fromreproduction lies in thebottle opener feature of theheel of the knife. The orig-inal has a pointed sharppiece of steel that is

exposed beyond the nickelsilver handle. This steelprojection was for getting agrip on a bottle cap inorder to force it free from abottle. No reproductionshave this steel projection,but all original style legknives do have this fea-ture. If you run your fingerin this area, you can feelthe sharpness of this point.

An eBay sale of one ofthe reproductions went forover $150. The rivet bisect-ed the line; there was nobarrel band and no protru-sion of steel spike at theinside heel. I really feltbad, but then it was not myplace to jump up and downand yell “Be Careful.” Forall I know there could havebeen several reasons whythis went so high, and it

was not mine to judge.However it is mine to letpeople know what I havefound out about theseknives.

In most knives picturedon eBay, it is really hard tosee this pointed projection.On the ones I purchased Iused all the clues to verifyit to be true. If the steelprojection was visible, Iknew it was an original forsure. I now have threeoriginal Remington Nehiknives. It was an expen-sive investment, but some-how it was pleasantlyrewarding. It always isrewarding when you dis-cover an answer to a mys-tery. So bottoms up, and aNehi toast to theRemington Nehi premiumleg knife. ❐

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a

An authenticity key to the cover photo – thumbs-up &thumbs-down. (The tray is a repro Coca-Cola, too!)

Offering premiums in exchange for bottle caps was a common practice during theera these knives were made. Look closely here and you’ll find the leg knife!

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