Old Crafty manufacturer

[KDH]

I bought an Old Crafty knife and I'm curious about what company manufactured it.
On the blade in has..
Craftsman USA 9546
The sides of the knife are simulated bone.
It has a side panel that is a long oval with no markings. The panel looks like the ones used on older Case knives.
Only photos I've found for Old Crafty knife are identical to Old Timer .
Can someone shed some light on when and who manufactured this version of Old Crafty ?

[jerryd6818]

Welcome to AAPK.

Camillus, Schrade and Ulster (a Schrade company) made knives for Sears. Just going by the shield alone, yours is more likely Schrade.

The handles are different and from what I can see in the pictures, resemble the handles mounted on electrician's knives.

[KnifeSlinger#81]

That is a schrade. I believe all the old crafty knives I've seen were schrade. Your knife is the same as the later version of the schrade 832.

[KDH]

Thanks , the 832 is a match.
Would anyone know what years this version was made for Sears ?

[orvet]

Welcome to AAPK!

Does your knife say "Old Crafty" on it?
Looking at your pictures I don't see were that knife says "Old Crafty" on it anywhere.

Without seeing the blades opened and without knowing the closed length of the knife to the nearest 16th inch we don't know exactly which model of Schrade that knife is patterned after, but I am quite confident that Paul is correct that your knife is patterned after the Schrade open Stock series model 832.
It could be that Sears ordered a model 834 with modified handles, the type of handles they used on the 832 after they stopped using wood on the handles. The difference would be the 832 would have a pen blade for the third blade and the 834 would have a spey blade for the third blade.

I have a number of “Old Crafty” knives made for Sears and they all look like the Old Timer series of Schrades and they are all marked "Old Crafty." All have the saw cut Delrin handles the same color as the Old Timer knives and they have the same shield as the Old Timer knives except the shield says Old Crafty. The tang stamps for the Old Crafty that is the same size as the 34OT says: CRAFTSMAN/U.S.A. 9546. They do not say Old Crafty on the tang stamp, at least none of the examples I have seen say that.

Your knife has the same tang stamp as my Craftsman #9546 but it does not have the Old Crafty shield or handles.
I believe yours is a variant of the Craftsman #9546, but not an Old Crafty.

Schrade made a lot of knives for Sears and it is possible to find variations of many models that they made. Over time the availability of materials would change, especially for handles, so it’s possible to find several variations of the same model number of knives, both Schrade and Craftsman.
And sometimes they would change handle material just for a different look. Schrade is famous for that very thing, making several knives that are essentially the same with different handle materials. I believe Case does that even now.

The #832 Paul mentioned in his post was originally made with PropWood handles, (whatever PropWood is), but in later years it was switched to a Delrin handle very much like the handle on your knife.

Here is a picture of my Craftsman Old Crafty #9564.

I would be very interested to see the blades of your knife to know if the third blade was a spey blade as it is on my Old Crafty 9564 or if it is a pen blade as originally appeared on the Open Stock #832.

[orvet]

As for when your knife was made; in general terms after 1961 and prior to 2004.
Your knife seems to be a Swinden knife with no obvious through pin, at least from your pictures, so it was made after 1961. It also has Delrin handles, which Schrade started using around 1960 if memory serves. Obviously was made prior to their close in 2004.

I don’t know of anyone who has information as to the manufacturing dates of certain Craftsman knife models. Between the bankruptcy of Schrade in 2004 and the ongoing financial difficulties Sears has been experiencing the last few years I doubt anyone has devoted much time to keeping records of such data. The only ones who would really care about that would be collectors. I don’t know of any collector who would have that information, but that does not mean that person is not out there. Someone may have collected and accumulated such data and they might even be in member of AAPK. Hopefully they will read this topic and weigh in on it.

One comment I would like to make about the knife in the OP, it is the first Craftsman knife I have seen with those handles. I have seen many Old Crafty #9564 with the Old Crafty handles and shield, but that is the first one I have seen with the without the saw cut Delrin handles, (like the Old Timer knives), and with the unmarked oval shield.
I think your version of the #9564 is much less common than the Old Crafty #9564.

[KDH]

Thanks for the input
The knife is 2- 5/16" closed.
Photos coming

[KDH]

[orvet]

Could there possibly be a typo there?
Is it possible that the length is 3-5/16"?

I don't think Schrade made a 2-5/16" knife.

[KDH]

Yes my error.
3-5/16"