All About Pocket Knives

dweb1897 wrote:I have to agree with Tom about the interest in Schrade knives dying off. The prices they fetch on the open market has decreased immensely. Schrade knives have always appealed to the folks that carried them as youngsters, unfortunately the tactical knives are what the younger generation is interested in...not traditional folders. I see more Waldens and Cut. Co.'s on the Bay than ever before, which I assume are indications of knife collections being sold by heirs. I've heard that one of the main reasons Canal Street shut it's doors was because of the lack available craftsmen to replace retired workers. I have certainly noticed the decrease in notifications from AAPK that something new has been posted on the Schrade forum.

The baby boomers have always been the primary market for what we call 'vintage' knives, or even traditional knives of more recent manufacture. The same is true for vintage and classic automobiles. That market is beginning to fade as well. The handwriting (or timber scribe marks?) is on the wall. Read it and weep, because if you are holding an expensive collection you will see it lose value precipitously at some point; only the timing is uncertain. One gentleman on this forum expressed the opinion that his collection of vintage knives will eventually go to finance the education of his grandchildren. I wish him luck. I continue to buy vintage knives being fully aware of my folly; I am not overly concerned about it because I do it for the love. And I am relatively ancient myself; this is my niche and I care not for those 'tactical' (what?!!!) knives. I will never have any money anyway so I don't really give a rap. My children are grown and on their own; otherwise I would not have gotten into this so seriously-- probably have a dozen or so knives/tools and that would have been the end of it. Good luck to all you kindred souls; we may need it.

Well I think it's a 836...

Hak1911,
I like that one! What is the handle material? I could get into whittlers if I could ever find one at a junk store. I saw how much one like that was bringing online.
Treefarmer

treefarmer wrote:Hak1911,
I like that one! What is the handle material? I could get into whittlers if I could ever find one at a junk store. I saw how much one like that was bringing online.
Treefarmer

That's a darn good question. In the lists it's called celluloid but I know that it's not the same as the celluloid that outgases. It can be buffed up to a good shine if done lightly...regular celluloid would melt. Found that out when I was turning $40 knives into $2 knives. By the way, wouldn't that 836 frame pattern qualify as a Wharnecliff?

Hak, what are the secondary blades, clip & pen ? or 2 pen blades ?
I believe the handles are referred to as "slick black". They are a plastic but likely not celluloid as i have never seen one break down.
kj

dweb1897 wrote: That's a darn good question. In the lists it's called celluloid but I know that it's not the same as the celluloid that outgases. wouldn't that 836 frame pattern qualify as a Wharnecliff?

I always thought that it is one formulation of celluloid, but these early composition materials may forever remain a little mysterious. The black ones are very stable, at least from Schrade. And they are very attractive, in my opinion. And yes, I think that is a Wharnecliffe frame. That wharncliffe history is also a little vague, but I think the frame designation as such preceded the blade designation as such.

How about a 885UH?

CheckSix wrote:How about a 885UH?

Nice one Dave,
The 885UH is one of my favoured Schrade four inch knives.
Schrade also made an 886UH, that sold for less money.
The 886UH was made by Camillus, and tang stamped 'S.C.C. 886UH.
Lower left is an 886UH
Top right is an early 885UH

Those are great Ken!

I'm curious and I can't quite tell from the top photo, but since the 886 is made by Camillus, are the bolsters pinned? or were they allowed to use the Swindon system since they were making them for Schrade?

CheckSix wrote:Those are great Ken!

I'm curious and I can't quite tell from the top photo, but since the 886 is made by Camillus, are the bolsters pinned? or were they allowed to use the Swindon system since they were making them for Schrade?

They were pinned..Camillus was owed by Albert Baer same as Schrade...they often did work for Schrade when the work load was more than Schrade could do.

kootenay joe wrote:Hak, what are the secondary blades, clip & pen ? or 2 pen blades ?
I believe the handles are referred to as "slick black". They are a plastic but likely not celluloid as i have never seen one break down.
kj

Here is another pic of a 836

CheckSix wrote:Those are great Ken!

I'm curious and I can't quite tell from the top photo, but since the 886 is made by Camillus, are the bolsters pinned? or were they allowed to use the Swindon system since they were making them for Schrade?

Dave, I should have said: to A.A.P.N. from Australia.
Imperial Schrade had its' sister company Camillus, make the 886UH for a special order, for a big department store chain.
The order was for a less expensive knife, like the 885UH. The 886UH was not offered with the "Loss Replacement Guarantee"
As Schrade owned the Trade Mark "S.C.C.", that old tang stamp was used for the 886UH.
Camillus did not use the Swinden Key System on their knives, so this would have helped to keep the price down.
The Schrade 885UH was quite an expensive knife, selling for more then the top selling Schrade 8OT.

This photo shows the center pin in the scales of the 886UH and the pin in the Bolsters.
The 885UH has 3 pins in the scales and used the Swinden Key to hid the pins under the Bolsters

CheckSix wrote: I'm curious and I can't quite tell from the top photo, but since the 886 is made by Camillus, are the bolsters pinned? or were they allowed to use the Swindon system since they were making them for Schrade?

If I'm not mistaken, the Camillus factory did not have the equipment needed to make knives using the Swinden system.

jerryd6818 wrote:

CheckSix wrote: If I'm not mistaken, the Camillus factory did not have the equipment needed to make knives using the Swinden system.

Hi jerry,
What I understand about the Swinden System is;
Mr Swinden worked for Imperial Schrade at their Schrade Factory, when he invented the system.
The Camillus Factory was not owned by Mr Bear and his brother, but another family member [maybe a sister I think?]
Camillus did not have the tooling for the Swinden system, nor did Buck Knives.
In 1966 Schrade made the Buck 301s and some other smaller slip joint knives, until the early 1970s
All the Buck knives, made by Schrade, were made using the Swinden system.

However, Buck found the Swinden system was hard to repair, very time consuming, and there for, quite expensive.
About 1970, Buck stopped using Schrade, and started to have their slip join knives made by Camillus.
This move to Camillus, would mean Buck could repair the Camillus knives sent back for warranty, in their factory.

This is all the knives made by Schrade 1966-1970 and all the Camillus knives from the early 1970's, until the early 1980's.
The only Buck knife, is the one on the left... Ken

New knife. Ulster 55 with a Turkish clip instead of a drop point blade that I normally see on 55s. Pretty cool little thin blade on a 3.25" knife.

Ken, a nice set of Bucks there And thanks for all that info...cleared up some questions I had.
Mustanger, That is a darn nice Ulster 55 there. The one I have has a clip...let me know if you want to trade

Picked up this old bare head jack with beautiful bone.

Found this fair decent 863 that I hope Herman Williams will consent to giving his famous "stag treatment" to.

A lightly used 8OT.

kootenay joe wrote:Hak, what are the secondary blades, clip & pen ? or 2 pen blades ?
I believe the handles are referred to as "slick black". They are a plastic but likely not celluloid as i have never seen one break down.
kj

They were both tipped/blunted almost looked intentional ...?

So I "fixed" them .....
I use MOSt all my knives in a pellmell EDC rotation so
I can't abide by a useless blade tip. ....

My latest

Great old electrician!

This Little Ol' Thang

Oh, that's a little beaut, there, Hak. Let me guess, 3 1/4"?

Yep

I was fortunate I wanted it more than the other bidders

It took such a edge.... that Schrade Cut Co. Blade steel is impressive!!