Back in the 1870s and ’80s, before big factories took the reins, bone-handled gear was a hands-on affair—crafted piece by piece in little shops or by solo tinkerers. Folks made what they needed, and if they had a sharp eye and steady fingers, they made it handsome too. One classic style that came out of that era was what we now call the “Hash Mark” grip—straight-line cuts with short, neat notches in between. Made tough. Made simple. All function, no frills.
Then in 1891, the Rogers Manufacturing Company set up shop in Rockfall, Connecticut. They got busy turning out just about anything bone—knife handles, gun grips, combs, toothbrushes, baby binkies, even pipe bits. They hit the ground running, and by the time World War I came along, Rogers had grown into the biggest name in the bone business coast to coast.
At first, their material came from U.S. cattle. But as the orders stacked up, they began importing bone—first from Argentina, then Brazil, and eventually Australia. That Aussie bone? That was the good stuff—dense and tough as an old hickory knot, perfect for gear built to last.
Rogers stuck to the old-school look on their gun grips—long, clean lines with tight little cross-cuts. That’s the same “Hash Mark” pattern folks still recognize today. They weren’t flashy, but they meant business.
Nowadays, you won’t find grips like that coming off an assembly line. But if you’re after that same no-nonsense, hand-made feel, River Junction Trade Company is still doing it the right way—crafting “Hash Mark” bone stocks the way they were meant to be made.
