Schrade Walden 163 Rope Knife with Wonda Edge????!

[orvet]

Have any of you guys ever seen a Schrade Walden 163 rope knife with a Wonda Edge? I have not found it in a Schrade Walden catalog.

Here is a picture from the 1963 catalog of a 147LWE (leather, Wonda Edge).

The 163 seems to have the same type of early serrations on it as the Wonda Edge. I am thinking the 163 with the Wonda Edge was probably made around the same time as the three fixed blades that were made with the Wonda Edge:
145LWE – 1958
147LWE – 1958 – 1963
148LWE – 1958 – 1963

Though it does not appear in the catalogs that I have seen, my guesstimation would be that the 163 Wonda Edge, was made sometime between 1958 – 1963 when there were other patterns that use that name

Hopefully Eric, LT or Tom will come by and actually some information on this knife.

Thanks in advance,
Dale

[kootenay joe]

Yes, i have one. Same as yours, mint with "The Cordage Group" on handle. I did not know that it is rather rare, but if Orvet is asking it must be 'cause he knows Schrade big time !
kj

[Case V42]

Dale,

I had one. Sold it to a fella that collects hawkbills and rope knives. As I remember, mine had an advertising blade etch.

Mark

[orvet]

Thanks for the input guys. I suspect that most of them were SFO's because I have not found a catalog listing for Wonda Edge 163.
Most of the listings that have the Wonda Edge are hunting knife patterns. I think the Wonda Edge was an early form of serrations that Schrade Walden was experimenting with and seen just exactly where they would work. From the short runs of the Schrade Walden Wonda Edge hunting knives I would have to conclude that Wonda Edge was not well received by hunters. I can certainly understand how difficult it would be to sharpen an edge like that in the 1950s and early 60s. I can also understand how those small serrations might tend to plug up with bits of tissue and tendons when field dressing a deer.
I actually cannot think of any serration I would like to see on a hunting knife because of the issue of plugging up, with one possible exception; the relatively new Veff serrations.

For more info on the Veff serrations and on Tom Veff: http://veffsharpening.com/page6.html

[Chase]

Dale,

I have looked through my materials and cannot find anything on the 163 Wonda Edge

Sorry,

Tom

[Shearer]

I only have one Wonda blade Knife. I thought I would post it as it has the Wonda etch on the Blade.

Grant

[Tsar Bomba]

I have two, both very similar to the one you pictured. One has "K-TING ROPE" stamped on the handles (faint but visible due to years of wear, like WW2-era TL-29s) and one I believe is just plain wood with no stamp. Both have the serrated "wonda edge". I have long assumed that the unstamped knife may have once had gold advertising "etching" or printing on the handle when it left New York. Sadly, both are also missing the bail.

I'll fish out the knives and get photos for the thread in the A.M.

[ea42]

Dale, I've got one right in front of me, same tang stamp as yours, plain wood handle and no bail (There is a hole for one though). The knife appears to be unused so I don't think there was ever any kind of advertising on it. If I come across any info I'll let you know.

Eric

[Tsar Bomba]

Here's one of mine, composites from old photos since this cold front has decided to give us grey skies all weekend. Not up to snuff with the pristine examples in this thread, admittedly, but it's mine. I'll endeavor to photograph the unstamped one in due time.

[jxr1197]

I have two of these wonda rope knives now - one from each of the companies mentioned above, although I now know they are the same company and I'm guessing were made around the same time. The first one is from Cating Rope Works (stylized for advertising as 'K-Ting Rope') and an odd note on that piece is they chose from among the horticulture knives to make a fine little rope knife out of a 175. It's a stout little thing and I'm sure it could eat through a bunch of rope with ease.

Cating Rope is from Maspeth, Queens which is what piqued my interest in the knife in the first place being that I too was once from Maspeth. They were there for 80 years before their heirless owner decided to sell out to a much larger competitor, Columbian Rope of Auburn NY, in 1960 or 61. Columbian Rope was in a growth spurt and was buying out most of its competitors and had started referring to its burgeoning monopoly as The Cordage Group - like on this dandy 163 that I bought from Dale last month.

Being that Columbian was an upstate NY company it makes sense they would make a SFO from Schrade for a bunch of custom (and customized) rope knives for its family of companies. At the time that Columbian absorbed Cating, Schrade was at the height of its wonda phase so I could see how a motivated salesman might have pushed a bunch of these 'new tech' wonda knives as a special order for a big regional company. Personally I think they're really nice pieces and I'm always looking out for more of these one off rope knives nowadays.

[jxr1197]

I was looking at the old catalogs and noticed something I missed before. The 163 wasn't available with a bail until 1970 and the 175 wasn't available with those plastic mahogany handles until 1970. With the Walden stamps we can date my knives above to a relatively small window. So I guess Schrade made some wonda edge knives in the 70's? I'm surprised there aren't more of these floating around out there. I would think it had to be a decent size SFO to make it worth serrating the blades.

[orvet]

There’s a very interesting fact about the 175 had always been 3 3/8” in length closed but in 1964 in change to become 3 3/4”. Why the change, I have no idea but I noticed it when I tried to put a blade from a newer frame into an older knife, it was too long. So I did some research and found it was listed as 3 3/8” in the 1963 Schrade Walden catalog but in the 1964 catalog it is listed as 3 3/4”.

Another one of those Schrade mysteries.

What is the length of your 175 with the Wonda Edge?

[jxr1197]

What is the length of your 175 with the Wonda Edge?