Unidentified Piece Of Junk!!!!!!!

[philco]

I have a knife I am very curious about. It is not a very high quality item, in fact, I started to post it on the Junk Knives thread, but what the heck.

On the handle it says, "G. Schrade's Stainless Steel Hunting and Fishing Knife"

Etched on the blade is, "Boker Tree Brand " with a tree symbol under the word "Boker".

Here are the best pictures I could manage.
This is, if it actually is a Boker,it's the worst made Boker I have ever seen. It has some sort of a mechanism which is apparently intended to lock it open? This knife is messed up and will not close completely unless you force it to. Even then it will not stay closed.

I know it is junk. But I'm still curious about it . Can anyone shed some light on this one?

[buck123]

I collect Bokers and have the same knife. I do think it is the real deal but however they were poorly made low cost tackle box item.

[philco]

Buck,
Is that a locking mechanism on the back of the knife? If so mine is broken.

I wonder, if it was made by Boker, what the "G. Schrades" is about.

[edgy46]

After the death of George Schrade his knife Co was sold to Boker U.S.A. and later closed when the switchblade law was passed. Hope this helps.

[philco]

After the death of George Schrade his knife Co was sold to Boker U.S.A. and later closed when the switchblade law was passed. Hope this helps.

Yes it does help. And it shows me that even a piece of "junk" can have and interesting bit of history tied to it. Thanks!

[peterforce]

i have a china made Marbles knife. identical to that pattern. ill take a picture. i still have to pic that other brand for ya philco. made in china but it looks like it would hold up better then the ones in the pics. still rater have yours

[orvet]

Hey Phil,
I will be happy to take that “piece of junk” off your hands. I will pay the shipping.

Geo Schrade was a real knife genius. He held something like 28 knife patents (if memory serves me, which it frequently does not), plus a number of patients for knife making machinery.

His wire jack was an effort to make the most simplest, functional, quality knife possible. It had 3 parts to it, blade, pin & wire handle. A sheet metal guard was added later to prevent the user from slicing their fingers when closing the knife.

The Geo. Schrade fish knife was another attempt by George to make a simple, yet functional, quality knife. New they probably sold for 10¢ or less. Pretty good considering that a “good” knife probably sold for 3 or 4 times that! Remember, knives were tools then & not collectors items.

Here is a modern version made on a very similar idea, the German made Mercator shown in the picture below.

I had hoped to post pics of my wire jacks & fish knife, but I can’t seem to find the pics at the moment.

Perhaps other members can post pics of the wire jack and other Geo. Schrade fish knives before I get back with some pics of mine.

Dale

[csmith9333]

Just got those "Unidentified Piece of Junk' on the e-bay last week. It is a perfect example of what was done back then. The Geo. Schrade fish knife is an excellent collector's item and if Larry doen't take it I will.

My "Geo. Schrade fish knife" was made in Conn. as stamp on the tang. I will post a picture if I can get the #$@%**! camera to work.

[csmith9333]

Here are a couple of pictures of the knife i noted above. G. Schrade Fish Knife1.jpg[/attachment]

G. Schrade Fish Knife2.jpg (9.17 KiB) Viewed 4797 times

[philco]

I would like to bring a bit of clarity to my post. I called this knife junk because the lanyard ring is crushed and because it will not close completely. You can push it closed and it springs back open. If the device on the underside of the handle is supposed to lock the blade open, then it's messed up too. I can't tell that device does anything on mine.

csmith9333
My knife does not have any tang stamp. I see yours does. Mine only has the Boker Tree Brand etching on the blade. The handle part appears to be the same.
Anyone know when these knives were made?

[glennbad]

I don't recall when they were made, but I do remember having discussions in the past regarding George Schrade and Boker. There's definitely a connection there.

Here's my contribution, a 2-blade version of the George Schrade with the same style of wrap-around handle, only this has some nice wood scales on as well.



Glenn

[Pen & Toothpick]

It's damaged sure, but how often do you get that much documentation on a single knife. Schrade and Boker are two of my favorites!

[Dan97526]

I have one of these too - actually in worse shape than your own! I tried to trade it off, but no takers. It's grown on me anyway, so I'll probably hang onto it.

One my trading thread, Mossdancer posted a pic of "George's evil cousin Willie." I got quite a kick out of that. Link:

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... =33&t=7410

[wyattu]

I just bought one of these in an antique shop for $30. Great shape and made in Bridgeport.

[philco]

Hi Wyattu, welcome to AAPK.

I'd sure like to see a picture or two of your knife.


Phil

PS The one I posted way back when now resides in Oregon with Orvet.

[Paladin]

Here are a couple of photos of my Geo Schrade Hunting and Fishing Knives. One is stamped Geo Schrade and one is etched Boker but still has G. Schrade's name on the handle.

[wyattu]

The one I just bought predates the Boker involvement.

[orvet]

wyattu Welcome to AAPK!

[knife7knut]

And to add to the confusion here is a picture of a Japanese knockoff made in the 1960's by Valor.
BTW Phil: I have one of the Schrades as well and the lock seems to be a weak point in the design.
what usually happens is someone tries to close the blade with the lock slid forward and it bends the lock so it doesn't function.Either that or it breaks.

[oregon]

1. Mangled Hunting 'n' Fishing Knife. Note the unique pivot pin. No tang stamp. Heavily ground blade.

2. Boker Hunting 'n' Fishing Knife. Made 1956-1958 (Boker buys George Schrade Co. - Liquidates machinery ending production).

3. Marbles, offshore, MR139, no lock, $4.54!

[Paladin]

1. Mangled Hunting 'n' Fishing Knife. Note the unique pivot pin. No tang stamp. Heavily ground blade.

2. Boker Hunting 'n' Fishing Knife. Made 1956-1958 (Boker buys George Schrade Co. - Liquidates machinery ending production).

3. Marbles, offshore, MR139, no lock, $4.54!

The Marbles knife is an interesting variation that I have not seen before. How did you determine the price on it?

Ray

[oregon]

http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/pr ... MR139.html

I bot some Slip-N-Snips and the Marbles Stainless folder, using a discount coupon, from SMKW. I can find no flaw with this NIB folder.

[Paladin]

I showed my rear on that question as I was under the impression that the knife was an old Marbles that you had and that you had somehow determined the original price.
I should have recognized the knife as a newer version.

Ray

[oregon]

I stumbled upon the Marble's folder and since I was already buying other stuff I put it into my cart because I was curious to view a, 60 years later version, modern tribute to the Higonokami style of metal folder.

There are several variations, in addition to the Hunting 'n' Fishing model, of this larger metal knife: The Sportsman #420, two blades, hook puller/caplifter and clip point (no serrations on spine) & no lock. The Camper #430, three blades, caplifter/can opener, fork and serrated back clip point, with lock, separates into two units via the lock (knife and fork) and came in a Pakkawood handle version. All Purpose Knife #450, one hawkbill blade with lock. Sampling Knife #415, clip point blade without serrations on the spine and has the backlock.

In addition, there are a bunch of smaller (3.25 inches closed) stainless steel all-metal folder by Geo Schrade: At least 4 versions with two blades and at least 4 versions with one blade each. All are etched, on one side of the handle, "Geo. Schrade's Handy Jack Stainless Steel." Also, Geo. Schrade mfg a Scout Set, boy & girl, in this folded metal format with a carrier that held a spoon, folding spearpoint knife and fork with cap lifter and can opener.

[oregon]

A few pics, Geo Schrade metal folders for your amusement:













Curiously, the handles on the larger knife with a tang stamp are non-magnetic while the other two handle are magnetic. I cannot explain why there is no tang stamp on the one knife. Anything I might say would be speculative.