The Genii Forum

I'm looking for interesting sets of Color Changing Knives. Email me at rmendez@atomcatcher.com Thanks!

Please tell us what kind(s) you already have. My very favorite knives are Sanders Color Changing Knives...I sold my last full set of 3 to Ken Klosterman for his museum...I'm keeping my other full set!

Steve Thomas

In my 'retired' bag of tricks, I have 3 (of four) knives from the old Scotty York set... I LOVED those knives (with the stag handles, you can feel the black side in your pocket) but cannot perform my routine without the 4th knife.

Note: The knives have begun to rust, but if you (or anyone) is interested, lemme know (I can send you a pic.) Email me at: connjure@hotmail.com

FYI: The three knives I have are: white/white, black/white and black/red

Doug,

As I remember from the Scotty York set(s) I had, there wasn't a "stag handle" knife, was there? I know he had white and red with the little "shield" on one side you you could determine from touch which side was up without looking. If you have a set that's truly stag handle, I'd be interested in perhaps buying 'em. Can you email a pic to me?

Steve Thomas

Steve, The Scotty York knives do include black stag sides. There were 8 different color combinations made. The first ones produced were a set of 4 knives, 1 solid white, 1 solid black, 1 black/white and 1 black/yellow. In later sets the black/yellow was replaced with a black/red, the reason being that some people were concerned with there not being enough contrast between the white and yellow colors (although Scotty still prefers the original yellow).

There was also another set of 3 knives made - the "colorfusing" set. This consists of a solid red knife, a red/white, and red/white knife with one side two thirds white and one third red, for a "visible" color change.

Anyone ever heard of the Stanfield CC Knives? These were great, and had a special ending that I've never seen done elsewhere. Came with the knives and an extensive set of directions with the surprise ending...

Best, PSC

PC: Yessiree... that little chain had something to do with it... I wish I could find mine.

I have a full Tamariz set I may sell.

Any other fans of Sanders Knives out there?

Steve Thomas

Big fan of Sanders. Tried all the rest and will slowly sell the others off. heck even have a framed photo of the man from an auction. the best feel for me at least. i think each person has a routine that each knife set will work best for them. I do like the others,mogar,tamariz,york, but sanders is the best IMHO.
Damon

Hey...you might have the same 8 by 10 promo shot of Jimmy Sanders that I have. Mine's signed. It's in a display frame with one of his "coat pencil" advertising gimmicks, and an original flyer for 'em. My friend who originally introduced me to Sanders knives was a personal friend of Jimmy's. Apparently while traveling around and selling his advertising specialties, if he knew you and knew you were a magician, or you sounded like you knew what you were talking about, he'd sell you some of the knives from the back of his car. Wish I could buy 'em for the price HE was selling 'em for.

Steve Thomas

Originally posted by Pete Biro:
PC: Yessiree... that little chain had something to do with it... I wish I could find mine.

I have a full Tamariz set I may sell.

Wow, Pete! I should have known it would be you who answered. You're right, the keychain was the special something. Have you ever done it? I worked this routine for a while, then shortened it, but retain the ending because it is so surprising - wonder if Stanfield is still around, or his hiers? It would be a great thing to re-release...

Best, PSC

Richard and other knife fans;
You might want to see a web page that I am working on. It is no where near completed. It gets worked on as I find time. I'm accepting image contributions :D

http://jamesriser.com/Magic/Knives/Knives.html

Enjoy.
Jim

Great site jim, Thanks. look forward to seeing the names attached. i'll dig through my collection and see what else I have. There is a Buck knife set I have, not great but good for a simpler routine.
Most knives in the hands of a master, is still great magic. Could Tamariz still fry you with alternate sets, not his own ? no doubt.

Jim,

the pics of the first knives on the right on your page are the Tamariz knives, they are the same type he uses, but he is not the manufacturer.
Some time ago they were made by Luis Trueba, and ilustrator of some spanish books, by Tamariz, Ascanio, and Carroll. Then someone else took over the manufacturing of this knives. He is a friend of mine.

The can bu purchased through Steven Magic Emporium, and in every magic shop in Spain. There are a bunch of color combinations made in these type of knives. If anyone is familiar with Antonio Romero Hold out, he does a routine with this knives in his demo video.

The paint on these knives are on the inside part, so they will not chip away. They are almost flat, no flashing of the other side will occur even at eye level when placed on the palm of the hand, but not to a point where you cannot do the paddle move with them. (As a matter of fact is pretty easy to do).

If anyone wants more info on these contact me.

Carlos;
Thanks. I've added your info to the page.
Jim

Jim: Will send you some pix of some knives for your page in a few minutes.

Pete;
Thanks - got 'em. I'll update the page late this evening. I've got more good images from Carlos to add along with your images.
Jim

Hi Jim, Eric Wolf's Ultra Knives are opposite the Scotty York Color-(con)-Fusing set.

PC: I believe Stanfield has gone to the tricks in the sky... as a friend has been going nuts trying to find a new source for the buttonhole pencil.

I fiddled with the little chain thingee on the knife.

To those of you that don't know it, he had a loop key chain on a knife. It didn't get in the way of the routine, and at the end a KEY would suddenly appear hanging on the chain.

Originally posted by Pete Biro:
PC: I believe Stanfield has gone to the tricks in the sky... as a friend has been going nuts trying to find a new source for the buttonhole pencil.

I fiddled with the little chain thingee on the knife.

To those of you that don't know it, he had a loop key chain on a knife. It didn't get in the way of the routine, and at the end a KEY would suddenly appear hanging on the chain.

Not exactly. In the routine you start with the knife on your keychain, take it off, do the color changes, then pick up the chain with the keys on it and toss the knife into the same hand that holds the closed keychain with keys on it, close and IMMEDIATELY open the hand, and when you open the hand the knife is magically back on the keychain - an excellent ending...

Best, PSC

Jim,

The knives you have on your site as Stanfield are not. The Stanfield set had a loop on the end to put a keychain through. This was, as noted above, an integral part of the routine. You have several other sets on your site that look like stanfield knives, but I will have to dig out my set to be sure - I'll let you know...

Best, PSC

PSC;
Thanks. That's the type of info I'm looking for. I would like to get things identified correctly. ;)
Jim

Once again, Chosse has proven his "memory glands" are working much better than mine... I wonder if I still have the instructions?

thats a nice knife page sir jim. i have three sets of knives that you dont have represented on your site. ill try to get pictures of them off to you soon.
blessings!!!
-=tahman

sir jim
i put those pictures on the web here
tabmans color changing knives... thanks again!! -=tabman

Tabman;
Thanks. I haved added your valuable/unique info and images to the web page. It is starting to "flesh out".
Jim

right now there is a set of enardoe cc knives, with 3 knives and intructions on ebay

We had a set of Stanfield's knives in one of the Martinka auctions.

You can find the listing here:
http://www.martinka.com/Auction/APViewItem.asp?ID=1470

Jim, feel free to grab the image for your page.

Ted

Ted;
I got it. Many thanks. I'm trying to get the knife reference as complete and accurate as possible. Your addition helps :D
Jim

Jim:

There is a fairly will known gentleman in the collectors arena - J.P. Jackson - out of San Diego. He used to make beautiful knives before his vision got the better of him.

You can contact him through Brad Burts Magic Shop - www.magicshop.com or 858-571-4749.

He may be able to help fill in some of the blanks on your site. Who knows one of the sets may even be his.

Hope this helps!

I never got J.P. to make a set for me, but I've seen pictures...they're awesome. Buck knives (and that's NOT the price, either) are what I think he used. VERY nice, and a great guy, too!

Steve Thomas

I knew J.P. was a cup collector and had at least several very nice sets :rolleyes:

A friend of mine is very good friends with J.P. I'll ask him to check to see if J.P. has any for pictures.

Thanks for the tip.
Jim

J.P. is a great guy with a ton of knowledge about magic apparatus / cups etc.

J.P. Jackson is one of the most knowledgeable, experienced and friendly magicians I have ever met. We met over the phone a few months back when I called to inquire about some of his custom Color Changing Knife sets and ended up talking about magic, J.C. Wagner and other magicians in the San Diego area for over an hour. Fortunately, I managed to catch him right before he left for the collector's convention that week and purchased one of the most beautiful knife sets that I have ever seen. The gorgeous set was destined for but never made it to the convention!

Hi Mendez. I believe you met J.P. Jackson through Frank Starsinic. I spoke with Frank about J.P.'s knives back in March or so, and he finally decided not to buy any because he was saving up his money for a set of Brett Sherwood Cups. He wound up recommending you to J.P.

To Mr. Riser:I have a nice set of photos of a set of J.P.'s small Case knives. I will forward them to you shortly. :)

Yes, Leanard. That is correct. I was referred to J.P. Jackson by Frank Starsinic who knew I had a very strong passion for knife sets. I met Frank when he first started producing Dice Stacking Chop Cups and was probably one of his biggest customers. In addition to knife routines, I'm still stacking dice, performing a chop dice routine and "It's the Rules!" by Bob Sheets.

I'm always looking for sets to add to my collection. E-Mail me at rmendez@atomcatcher.com Thanks.

Richard, do you have a set of Kanter's knives? I purchased a set through Ebay several years ago. It was sold by a person who was a knife dealer, not a magic dealer. I have never before or since seen a set for sale, and I have my account set to alert me to all color changing knives listings.

Kanter's, in their 1940 catalog, claim to have introduced the color changing knife in 1936.

The two regular knives in the set, have Schrade Cut Co. Walden NY on the base of the blade. On the gimmicked knife it has Mfd by Kanter Phila.

Sander's knives will come up on Ebay a few times a year, and a three knife set will sell for around $400. As I said, I have never, other than the one time, seen a set of Kanters knives listed. What would you think the value of a Kanter's set would be?

Brad - I've sent you a PM -
email is "jipjacks@adnc.com
or 858 569 0096 - J P

Brad: I do not own nor have I ever heard of Kanter's color changing knives but it sounds like they were manufactured and available about the same time as Sanders knives. Can you e-mail a picture to rmendez@atomcatcher.com ? As most people that know me are aware, I have an insatiable passion for knives and am always looking to add sets to my collection.

J.P.: It is so great to finally see you on-line my friend! I still cherish your Case knife sets in my collection and thought of you often over the years! I remember having really great phone conversations with you several years back about J.C. Wagner, Mike Rogers and Brad Burt!