I recently acquired another Waltco Saf-T-Sheath and I thought I'd make a comparison between early and later production examples.
- On top is a 1950s production knife, and below is a circa 1949 example. The top example has plastic scales with a W shape cut into them, while the bottom has full width celluloid scales. I think that handles are different materials too, I suspect that the later top example has stainless steel handles, while the earlier bottom example is aluminum.
- 1950s model on the left the the early 1949 on the right. Later knife has a large, obvious stamp with the make and model. Also, the channel for the stop pin is cut for the full width of the handle on the earlier knife.
- Again, the later knife (top) has a logo while the earlier one does not. The pivot pins ground flush on the earlier example, while the later one has larger, flat headed rivets that aren't ground down. The earlier knife has the latch on the safe handle (Manila style) while the later example has the latch on the bite handle (Batangas style). The later knife also has a notched shaped choil.
I actually got that early model back in March, 2020. At the time, I suspected it was an early 1960s Hackman, but I eventually figured out that it was an American made Waltco from before they put a logo on it. Since then I've wanted to get a 1950s example to pair it with. The blade pivots are a looser fit on the later knife and I can flip it freely, unlike the earlier knife which is considerably tighter. I don't know if that is deliberate or even typical, or a consequence of how this knife was used over the last 70 years. I've also noticed that the wire latch on the later knife appears to be upside down, possibly due it it being removed and reinstalled at some point. There is something else curious going on with the latch. When I looked up pictures of other 1950s Waltcos, some had the latch on the bite handle and some had it safe handle. Was this a deliberate change they made at a certain point in production or just a result of haphazard assembly?
