SCHRADE WALDEN N.Y. USA (c. 1946-1973)

[hughd]

Which years did Schrade use the black jigged "composite" covers. I just picked up an 834 and would like to narrow the date range.

[orvet]

Which years did Schrade use the black jigged "composite" covers. I just picked up an 834 and would like to narrow the date range.

I would LOVE to be able to help you but as much as I have studied Schrade Walden and Imperial Schrade, read their catalogs, made spread sheets on them, etc. the less sure I am that I really know anything at all!

Part of the problem is lack of records, part is that Schrade made "running changes" that is to say they phased new material in when they ran out of the old handle material they just started using the new material. I think the catalogs were often a year or 2 behind the changes so they are only marginally helpful.

An exact date is very rare when you are dealing with Schrade, a range of dates usually based on a number of different factors is usually achievable by looking at different factors of the construction of the knife.
For example, if it is made with through pin construction then it was probably made before 1960. Also it was around 1960 that they changed from earlier composition plastics to DuPont Delrin.
The fact that it is Schrade Walden of course means that it was made before the name change in 1973.

I know this doesn't help you a great deal but perhaps if you post a few pictures of it we might be able to narrow down the range a little bit.

[hughd]

Orvet, thank you for your reply. It is made with through pin construction, so that helps. Also, am I correct in thinking they started stamping the tang with model number in early to mid 1950's? Therefore: (c.1950-1960)
R/S Hugh

[orvet]

Orvet, thank you for your reply. It is made with through pin construction, so that helps. Also, am I correct in thinking they started stamping the tang with model number in early to mid 1950's? Therefore: (c.1950-1960)
R/S Hugh

That may be true, or it may not be true.
I don't have enough examples that I can date definitively to pre-1950 to have noticed a pattern.
I have seen examples without model numbers, but cannot date them accurately enough to discover a pattern.

Do you have a source for that information or have you observed a pattern relating to the start of tang stamp numbers?

The one thing I have observed about Schrade is that they were not very consistent about many things!

[tongueriver]

It has been hearsay that the arrival of the pattern number and the arrival of "U.S.A." on the tangs dates to 1950 to 1954, but that is just that, hearsay. However, it begins to take on some credibility in a very vague way when we look at examples and compare them with the catalog introductions in the 1950s. I have some of these examples but for the life of me I would be hard-pressed to find and analyze them. I did do so when I bought the knives so the above dates sort of stick with me as a good possibility. It would not be the same from pattern to pattern, as almost all changes were running changes, as has been said, e.g. the wear and replacement of stamps. I suspect that there was a pattern number and "U.S.A." on every single knife stamped by 1955.

[hughd]

"Do you have a source for that information or have you observed a pattern relating to the start of tang stamp numbers?"
No, just a vague recollection.