The Big Chief is a classic American traditional pocket folding knife. Its sturdy build and unique design helps it to stand out from other knives throughout its long history. This article will discuss the Big Chief’s history, compare various iterations, and look to possible future renditions.
Titusville Era
The Big Chief design and mechanism was first created by Queen Cutlery in Titusville Pennsylvania. Queen Cutlery was a long time giant in the pocket knife industry, holding a respected place in the market (under various names) for over a hundred years. Queen produced a myriad of knife patterns, pretty much every type of pocket and hunting knife you can think of, under several in house brands and also manufactured for outside brands. The name “Big Chief” was one of those trademarks (more on this later) that Queen owned and used.
So what is the Big Chief as created by Queen? The Big Chief is an integral handle slipjoint with a cast aluminum handle and a stainless steel blade. Both the integral handle and the stainless blade were innovative for their time. In fact, a patent was filed for the integral handle slipjoint design by inventor E. C. Erickson in 1955. When Queen began to use stainless steel it was still controversial and relatively new to the industry, so they decided to call it “Queen Steel”. Queen put these two new advancements in cutlery together to create the Big Chief; a large integral handled jack knife.
The integral handle allowed the knife to be extremely durable, with much less chance of loosening or breaking than most folding knives of the time. Most folding knives at that time used natural materials like wood or bone for the handle covers, and they were prone to cracking if dropped or used roughly. Not so with the solid aluminum handles of the Big Chief. The stainless steel blade meant that the Big Chief could be used without the user having to worry about cleaning the blade, whereas the simple carbon steels used on most knives of the time would rust quickly when left wet or dirty. The Big Chief was made as early as the late 1950’s, but I haven’t been able to track down the exact first year of production. Queen made several versions including one with a hawkbill blade, a serrated blade, a filet clip point, versions with an easy open notch, versions with a bail, and even a smaller version dubbed simply the “Chief”.
The Big Chief was particularly popular with those who worked around water, such as divers and fisherman, with its stainless steel blade and simple construction. Queen advertised it as a great addition “to your tool, tackle or glove box!”. The original Queen made Big Chief knives were loved by users for decades and continue to be appreciated by collectors to this day. It was even used by one person to FEND OFF A SHARK!
Unfortunately Queen went out of business at the beginning of 2018 and put the future of the Big Chief under doubt. Would this American classic die out with its creator?
A Confusing Start to a New Era
As part of its liquidation, all of Queen’s assets were sold off at auction. This included all the brands and trademarks owned by the company. Smoky Mountain Knife Works purchased the Queen and Queen City trademarks, and began to have knives made under those brands. Whereas Queen knives had always been made in the USA, Smoky Mountain Knife Works had Queen and Queen City branded knives manufactured both domestically and overseas. Eventually they released a “Big Chief” model. This new version of the Big Chief was made in China, which many traditional knife enthusiasts do not prefer (to put it lightly). SMKW’s Big Chief retained the stainless blade and general pattern shape. However, it did not use the patented integral handle construction; it had a more conventional construction with a normal backspring, two separate handle slabs, and even an adjustable pivot. All that said, Smoky Mountain Knife Works’ Big Chief did keep the sturdy, reliable, budget friendly spirit of the original intact. It’s a great user knife for the low price of $15.
However, there seems to have been some sort of mix up surrounding the ownership of the “Big Chief” trademark. As it turns out, Cooper Cutlery purchased some of the trademarks previously owned by Queen (as well as much of the machinery)… including the Big Chief. Cooper Cutlery, headed by Gilbert Cooper and his sons in Ohio, is a new outfit endeavoring to continue the great American tradition of pocket cutlery manufacturing. So, after a few runs of knives made under other brands they own, they released their own version of the Big Chief. Cooper Cutlery’s Big Chief had the previously mentioned hawkbill blade that was sometimes referred to as the diver’s version by Queen. Not only is Cooper Cutlery using the same machinery that Queen used, it also kept the traditional integral handle construction. Cooper Cutlery’s Big Chief also kept the budget friendly price, at around $40. Although twice as expensive as the Smoky Mountain Knife Works version, $40 is still about the rock bottom you can find an American made traditional slipjoint for in today’s market. Cooper Cutlery did not build these to be safe queens or collector pieces but rather to be thrown in a tool or tackle box like the Queen originals, and the build quality matches that intention.
An Open Future
I hope the future holds more American made Big Chief knives. I’d love to see Cooper Cutlery expand their Big Chief line to include some of the versions Queen made. In particular, I think the normal clip point version and especially the smaller “Chief” version would be especially popular with today’s traditional knife users and collectors. Cooper Cutlery is in a process of learning the knife making trade and what the knife market wants, and I think the Big Chief line is a great space in which to build their experience. So here’s to a bright future for the Big Chief!
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