Transition Tested/Bradford 6265 Folding Hunter

[btrwtr]

I love the big Case 65 pattern folding hunters and have been fortunate to pick this one up recently with the help of my AAPK friend Jdub.

This is an early fixed blade 6265 with the large deep skip jigging you sometimes see on very early large frame Case Tested (1920-1940) or earlier Case Bradford stamped knives. This knife is somewhat of a transition in that the flat clip blade is stamped Case Tested and the skinning blade has the Case Bradford PA. stamp. The pile side of the flat clip blade is stamped with "XX" over "6265" which is correct and as will sometimes be seen on very early Tested era Case knives. The vast majority of knives with Tested stamped blades will not have pattern numbers.

This knife could be considered a rarer version 65 pattern. 65 pattern knives with Bradford stamps are seldom seen. Unfortunately the knife had a rather nasty crack and large chip in the reverse handle that I was able to restore to a more presentable state. I included some before and after pictures to show the handle repair.

[Mumbleypeg]

Nice find Wayne, and nice work on the repair.

Interesting combination of stamps. FWIW the old 6001 tri-fold I have is stamped similarly, with Case Bradford on one side of its tang and Case's Tested XX on the other side. I've read that W.R. Case & Sons bought inventory and tooling from Case Brothers along with the rights to the Tested XX trademark, when Case Brothers went bankrupt. Interesting to contemplate whether your knife has a Case Brothers blade (the one stamped Tested XX) and a Case Bradford blade, or if Case Bradford was just marking them that way.

Ken

[zp4ja]

Just an awesome knife my friend. Thanks for sharing and as always, excellent repair work.

Love the flat blade Hunter. One of my favorite patterns. Great old example.

Regards, Jerry

[Jdub]

Wayne, super nice knife. Great work as usual.