A few Westerns and a Westaco....

[knife7knut]

A large group pic and a couple smaller groups. The faux pearl folding hunter is the Westaco and the faux pearl fixed blade is stamped WESTERN AUTO SUPPLY: an early auto/hardware chain that as far as l know had no affiliation with Western knives other than making this knife for them.

[steve99f]

Really like those beefy lockbacks! Thanks for showing them.

[FRJ]

A large group pic and a couple smaller groups. The faux pearl folding hunter is the Westaco and the faux pearl fixed blade is stamped WESTERN AUTO SUPPLY: an early auto/hardware chain that as far as l know had no affiliation with Western knives other than making this knife for them.

What a great show of Westerns, Ray. I guess I have a few of the fixed blades but the folding locks are of interest to me.
I have a S-533-B clip blade and a S-531-A spear blade. I had no idea that Western made a smaller version of that knife.
Is there a model number you can share of the smaller knife?

[knife7knut]

Joe: here are pics of all the knives and stamps. The file work on 2 of the knives is something l added.

[FRJ]

Thank you, Ray. I appreciate the pictures.

The side view of the file work looks exacting. Nice job.

[Thomasg]

The lock backs were first offered by western in 1978 .In 1984 when Coleman bought the platts western co the lock backs can be dated by the lettering added to the tang stamping .example letter A = 1984 ,B=1985 .As I have no catalog pages past 1978 I I do not know what year the smaller model lock backs became available ? Maybe some will come by with more information.

[FRJ]

The lock backs were first offered by western in 1978 .In 1984 when Coleman bought the platts wester co the lock backs can be dated by the lettering added to the tang stamping .example letter A =1884. , B =1985 .As I have no catalog pages past 1978 I I do not know what year the smaller model lock backs became available ? Maybe some will come by with more information.IMG_6501.jpegIMG_6503.png

Good post, Thomasg.
Thank you.

[zzyzzogeton]

The lock backs were first offered by western in 1978 .In 1984 when Coleman bought the platts western co the lock backs can be dated by the lettering added to the tang stamping .example letter A = 1984 ,B=1985 .As I have no catalog pages past 1978 I I do not know what year the smaller model lock backs became available ? Maybe some will come by with more information.IMG_6501.jpegIMG_6503.png

Date code use was STARTED in 1977 by Western. "A" =1977, "B" = 1978..... "N" = 1990. There MAY be a very rare few with an "O" date code for 1991.

Coleman continued the use of date codes when they purchased the company in 1984.

Camillus dropped the date coding when they purchased the intellectual property rights and moved production to New York.

[Thomasg]

The lock backs were first offered by western in 1978 .In 1984 when Coleman bought the platts western co the lock backs can be dated by the lettering added to the tang stamping .example letter A = 1984 ,B=1985 .As I have no catalog pages past 1978 I I do not know what year the smaller model lock backs became available ? Maybe some will come by with more information.IMG_6501.jpegIMG_6503.png

Date code use was STARTED in 1977 by Western. "A" =1977, "B" = 1978..... "N" = 1990. There MAY be a very rare few with an "O" date code for 1991.

Coleman continued the use of date codes when they purchased the company in 1984.

Camillus dropped the date coding when they purchased the intellectual property rights and moved production to New York.

Thanks for the correction .I wasn’t aware western implemented the date code s