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By Mike Haskew , Blade magazine, field editorWhen Steve Paolantonio joined Colonial® he came back from a three‐year hiatus. Seems times were changing in the knife industry, and apositive response to fresh ideas would lay the foundation to futuresuccess.His family’s roots in knife manufacturing go back almost a century. Hisgrandfather, Antonio Paolantonio started the A. Paolantonio Cutlery in1919 after a stint in the U.S. Army during WWI, where he learned theblacksmith trade with the cavalry. Antonio recognized the blend oftradition and foresight that would ensure the future success of a newenterprise.Founded by Steve’s grandfather and his two brothers in 1926, ColonialKnife® had been operated by three generations of the Paolantoniofamily. By the late 1990’s, Steve was the company president.“The time...

The Paolantonio brothers came to the United States from Italy prior to 1912. They already had experience at making knives when they came to this country from one of the most famous knife producing cities in the world, Frosolone, Itlay. The brothers, Frederick, Dominick and Anthony worked for the Empire Knife Company of Winsted, CT for a few years. The Brothers all left Empire and separately formed four separate knife companies between 1914 and 1926. Finally, in 1926 the brothers united to form Colonial Knife Company, located at 9 Calendar St. Providence, Rhode Island. The business thrived and they moved to 287 Oak St. and have been manufacturing knives there until 1999 when Colonial moved once more to 61 Dewey...

By Chuck Karwan, Editor, Tactical Knives Magazine    

By Denis Prisbrey, field tester for Tactical Knives magazine These Colonial Knife Corp. fast one–handers are appropriately named. One of the lessons my grandfather learned early, and passed on down to me, was the necessityfor a man to have a knife on board during daily life. The knife Grandpa took with himeverywhere, every day, whether in bib overalls or church suit, wasn’t fancy. No super steel, noexotic handle materials, no tactical leg harness, no trendy brand name and certainly no 12–inchblade. It was a very simple and basic three–blade stockman folder with jigged bone slabs, and ifhe paid more the $1.00 for it at the hardware store 14 miles from his home, I’d be astounded.Even in this modern era with...

Collectors Corner   Colonial‘s Seaworthy Knives by LeRoy Thompson, Tactical Knives magazine   The classic U.S. Navy Sailor’s Knife, along with the Civilian Rigger’s knife get reborn and ready to set sail! Most of us who are interested in the history of knives are probably somewhat familiar with thetraditional Sailor’s Folding Knife, which generally has a sheepsfoot blade and a folding marlinspike. I seem to remember seeing a photograph of a civil war sailor’s knife that incorporatedthe marlin spike. I have also seen photographs of fixed blade sailor’s sheath knives with a marlinspike that folded into the handle. The U.S. Navy contract for the style of Sailor’s Marlin SpikeFolding Knife most familiar to me dates from 1910. Early examples seem to have been...