James, Fred W

Fred James (1920-1986) Broomspring Lane in Sheffield. Fred hadn't trained as a cutler, but he had worked for Christopher Johnson, and then Wostenhom, who took the firm over, where he worked in the stores, where many of the old stamps, etching plates, and knife parts were stored. He set up in business in 1971, when Wostenhom were taken over by Joseph Rodgers. He is widely regarded as having produced a lot of 'fake' IXL knives, which had the old etches and stamps, and were mainly sold in the USA. He made many more knives under his own name though, they sold inexpensively in Sheffield, and for a lot more aboard.