Chicago Cutlery Folding Hunters

[kootenay joe]

I have assumed that Schrade made the 1 and 2 blade Folding Hunters, but is this correct ? Or did Camillus make some or all of them ?
The 2 blade C.C. handle matches the Schrade 25OT and Schrade-Walden 225. The single blade CC Folding Hunter has a slightly smaller cut out to access the liner lock.
The C.C. 2 blade master is saber ground and you have to go back to Schrade-Walden days to find a saber ground clip on the 225. The C.C. Folding Hunters are from 1970's-1980's i think, so made a decade or more after Schrade-Walden became Schrade USA.
The secondary on the 2 blade CC and the blade on the single blade CC is a bit deeper spine to edge than the Schrade secondary. However does this mean not a Schrade blade ?
In these pictures it is the older S-W with 225 on back tang that has the saber grind.
Did Schrade make these Folding Hunters (1 & 2 blade) for Chicago Cutlery ? Or was Camillus involved in whole or in part ?
kj

[kootenay joe]

Here are 2 Chicago Cutlery single blade liner lock Folding Hunters. I need to take a picture of a Schrade 125OT for comparison. Will do when snow stops falling.
kj

[kootenay joe]

And 2 more to show probable Camillus involvement.
The "Traveller" is 6 1/4" closed so might be a Schrade MA6 ?
The lockback is 5" closed and is not a Schrade but could be a Camillus made knife.
kj

[New_Windsor_NY]

One of the links included in this post "might" help.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64380

[LRV]

KJ,

I'm thinking its not a Schrade.
The swedge on the blade is not the same as the 225 and other Schrade hunters.
A picture of the Camillus hunter from the 70's shows a much straighter swedge than the Schrades.
I could not find any CC info in my Schrade documents.

I did have this about CC
Chicago Cutlery
www.chicagocutlery.com

Chicago Cutlery began in 1930 as a knife conditioning service that catered to professional butchers and packing plants. When the demand for sharp knives increased, Chicago Cutlery evolved into a knife manufacturing business for the meat and poultry industry. In 1969, Chicago Cutlery entered the retail market with professional cutlery. Knives designed to meet the tough demands of professional knife users became available for home use. Today, the Chicago Cutlery brand is owned by World Kitchen, LLC which continues to market the same type of innovative products that made Chicago Cutlery one of the most trusted and well known names in knives.

Hopefully others have more info for you.
Larry

[tongueriver]

I don't know if this is any help, but here is an image of a Camillus under their own branding.

[kootenay joe]

None of these links say anything about which manufacturer made folding knives for Chicago Cutlery. It is more helpful if you read the posts or article you are providing a link to as often it is simply people speculating as this can further propagate mis-information.
I know the master blade grinds are different but Schrade was capable of grinding blades to the buyer's specifications for a large order.
I am hoping Eric chimes in as i think he might be the person with the Chicago Cutlery stamping die.
kj

[kootenay joe]

Calvin, thank you for posting the Camillus Folding Hunter. Blade is saber ground but swages on spine are not present. I think cutlers at either Schrade or Camillus could have ground the blades to be however the customer wanted.
What seems puzzling is that these Chicago Cutlery Folding Hunters are not that old, probably about 35-40 years and yet the information as to manufacturer is hard to find.
kj

[ken98k]

One of the links included in this post "might" help.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64380

viewtopic.php?t=16119#p128357

[kootenay joe]

Ken the same link has already been provided above but it contains NO information on who made the Chicago Cutlery folding knives. They were not made by Chicago Cutlery. They are contract knives, but contract with Schrade ? or Camillus ? or both ? or ??
kj

[ken98k]

Ken the same link has already been provided above but it contains NO information on who made the Chicago Cutlery folding knives. They were not made by Chicago Cutlery. They are contract knives, but contract with Schrade ? or Camillus ? or both ? or ??
kj

What makes you think they were contract knives?

[kootenay joe]

Ken the same link has already been provided above but it contains NO information on who made the Chicago Cutlery folding knives. They were not made by Chicago Cutlery. They are contract knives, but contract with Schrade ? or Camillus ? or both ? or ??
kj

What makes you think they were contract knives?

Chicago Cutlery sold mostly kitchen & butcher knives. The folding knives i have seen marked "Chicago Cutlery" have been folding hunter and stockman patterns. The cost of setting up the tooling to make these patterns would of exceeded what money came in from their sales. We do not see anywhere near the number of Chicago Cutlery folding knives that we see with Schrade, Case, etc., i.e. they were not made in the huge numbers needed to make back all the set up costs.
Only a minority of folding knives are marked with the manufacturer's name or logo. The majority have a merchant name or whatever name was requested with the order.
The Chicago Cutlery 2 blade Folding Hunter lines up exactly with the Schrade 2 blade Folding Hunter so quite likely it was made by Schrade. What i am trying to find out is "definitely" rather than "most likely", or else "definitely not".
kj

[JAMESC41001]

KJ, to me these look a lot like the Frontier series knives. I know they were made at imperial around 1978. Do you think the Chicago knives were also made there? Yes think I have a frontier brochure in my paperwork somewhere. I can dig it up if it might help.

[kootenay joe]

I'm not sure about the 1978 date. However once Imperial & Schrade were owned by Mr. Baer, contracts were 'farmed out' to each other, often for only part of the work.
I think there is a post somewhere showing stamping dies purchased at Schrade auction and "Chicago Cutlery" die was in there. That is how i remember it, but i am getting less reliable for factual information.
kj

[JAMESC41001]

Yes I had a chance to go through a large group of stamps from schrade and I think everyone was in there. Crazy.

[kootenay joe]

Yes I had a chance to go through a large group of stamps from schrade and I think everyone was in there. Crazy.

" everyone was in there"
Including Chicago Cutlery stamping dies ?
kj

[JAMESC41001]

Sorry KJ, do not remember chicago cutlery specifically. There were hundreds of stamps. Many companies I never heard of. I was able to keep a few. Mostly uncle henry as that is what I was after at the time. If you think about it imperial was eventually bought under the same roof as ulster and schrade in ellenville. So it would make sense to find all kind of stuff there when they closed. I have some old checks from the camillus factory that say schrade on them. Lots of buisness dealings were intermingled. Makes it tough to nail down some answers to these questions for sure.