All About Pocket Knives

While going through some of my fixed blade knives today I came across an interesting phenomenon:Found three different knives with three different tang stamps that had one thing in common:they all have the same patent number.
Not being versed in looking up patent numbers,I believe that the patent is for the method of attaching the leather washer handle and/or the pommel on the knives as that is all they seem to have in common.
I'm assuming that Western was the maker of these knives.One is stamped,"Ranger" and another stamped,"Western Auto Supply". Anyone know anything about this? I also am posting a picture of another Western knife that looks to have the identical blade but stamped,"Western USA" Maybe a later model?

Western Auto was a auto parts store here in the south that sold everything. Guns, toys etc. Lots of hunting and fishing stuff.

The patent is for the bifurcated tang secured always with two pins at the pommel; I have a lovely .pdf file for the patent but it will not host here on AAPK. so I can send it to a 'real' email address as an attachment, but not through this system; only certain file types work in the AAPK system. Oh, yes... all Western of Colorado, every one.

One thing that strikes me as odd is the knife saying "Western Auto". Most of their outdoor stuff is "Revelation". The tacklebox carrying my gun cleaning supplies is such; and I even saw a .22 they made (I think Stevens or Savage actually made it). We had one in the next town over (actually several, before Advance Auto Parts absorbed them around here in the 1980s and 1990s after Western Auto went bankrupt), and thus I come across their stuff every now and then.

Western really seemed to rival Camillus and Schrade in their private labels. I'm thinking about getting one I saw for JC Higgins (Sears) to go with a JC Higgins Model 20 12GA shotgun. But, I'm not too crazy about the $40 price tag, and the fact the knife has no sheath.

As stated, the patent number is for the bifurcated tang/handle system.

Western made knives for a lot of private labels, Coast Cutlery, Western Auto, Sears (J.C. Higgins), Montgomery-Wards (Western Field), Ranger (unknown company), Hawthorne (unknown company) and more.

I read once that the Camillus 1006,1007,1008.1009 series were made by Western for Camillus, but I can't find that article again to quote specifics. If you compare them side by side, the 100X series looks an awful lot like the Western 28, 48A, 48B and 66 patterns, just single pin rather than double pin. And the Western K series K1, K2, K3,K5 single pin blades from the late 1950s look like the 1007, 1008, 1009.

The last one knife in the OP - WESTERN over USA - will have the model number stamped into the guard, ala 1968 to 1976, but since it does not have BOULDER COLO in the stamp, it indicates the knife was made during the 1973 to 1976 time frame - reference to Boulder Colo was dropped after 1972, and date stamps started in 1977.

I have nothing on paper to constitute proof, but I have always assumed that Western must have bought the property out in Longmont Colo in 1972 with an eye to building their new offices/manufacturing facility out there, which prompted them to change the stamps. They opened the new plant in 1978.

Edit to add - I am talking about the Camillus 1006/1007 B&Ts not the Camillus 1006/1007 fish fillet knives.

doglegg wrote:Western Auto was a auto parts store here in the south that sold everything. Guns, toys etc. Lots of hunting and fishing stuff.

Hey doglegg, Western auto was plentiful up here in yankeeland too, it was not a southern regional chain. Yup, they were always a good source of ammo at reasonable prices, but I never actually bought many auto parts from them.

Gunsil wrote:

doglegg wrote:Western Auto was a auto parts store here in the south that sold everything. Guns, toys etc. Lots of hunting and fishing stuff.

Hey doglegg, Western auto was plentiful up here in yankeeland too, it was not a southern regional chain. Yup, they were always a good source of ammo at reasonable prices, but I never actually bought many auto parts from them.

Thank you for the info. And yes their ammo was reasonable. $.50 would by me a box of .22 shorts and about 30 minutes worth of shooting with my dad. We would go to the Trinity river out side of town. Good times.

doglegg wrote:Western Auto was a auto parts store here in the south that sold everything. Guns, toys etc. Lots of hunting and fishing stuff.

Grew up in Massachusetts just north of Boston and bought my first,"new" two wheeler(not cobbled from used parts)at the Western Auto store in Lynn Mass. in 1954.Paid $34 for it(you have no idea how long I saved for that!)and it had a red and black paint job and a horn encased inside a faux gas tank that operated by pushing a button on the side.

knife7knut wrote: Grew up in Massachusetts just north of Boston and bought my first,"new" two wheeler(not cobbled from used parts)at the Western Auto store in Lynn Mass. in 1954.Paid $34 for it(you have no idea how long I saved for that!)and it had a red and black paint job and a horn encased inside a faux gas tank that operated by pushing a button on the side.

Cool! I bet you wish you still had that bike! BTW, I think "Hawthorne" brand quoted above was a J.C.Penney brand. ?

I just found out tonight that "Hawthorne" was a 1960s and early 1970s Montgomery/Wards line of sporting goods.

Some items were simply marked "HAWTHORNE", as Western's knives were marked, but some items were marked "Hawthorne/Wards".