All About Pocket Knives

kootenay joe wrote:deltaboy, i notice that you have a fondness for the 8OT. It was Schrade's second biggest seller of all time. First is the 34OT. Have you tried out a Schrade USA 34OT ?
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Mustanger i very much enjoy reading the Craftsman information you post as well as the pictures. I find the pre WW II bone handled Sta-Sharp knives to be the most interesting & highest quality of all the Craftsman knives.
"Craftsman knives" is a surprisingly large number & variety of knives and by also collecting old Sears catalogs the dates can be proven. The 2 major suppliers were Camillus and then Schrade, Camillus having made the majority.
If enough other collectors are interested a separate "Craftsman" forum would be helpful as the information would be 'centralized'.
"Craftsman" knives comprise a huge body of knowledge.
kj

Mustanger wrote:I also picked up this Craftsman 9560 Electricians Knife at the same time as the Ulster 98. It's a Schrade Walden 204 or Schrade, Ny 204 if made between '73 and '75. Complete with belt clip. It's also spotless. I've been looking to unite my Craftsman 9561 with it's older brother. The 9560 showed up in 1966 and was make by Ulster. According to historian Michael Little, aka, Codger, at some point the 9560 became a Schrade Walden 204. They are essentially the same knife and Schrade Walden and Ulster were making knives in the same factory. I assume that it stayed that way until the 204 was discontinued in 1975. After that Imperial made the electricians knife for Sears and True Value (that I know of) with a different number. I'm thinking that the 9561 electricians knife, with the saw blade, came out around the same time (1967) as the Craftsman 9555 camp knife which has the same saw blade. That's my best guess and I'm open to correction. I do not know how long the 9561 was produced. My collection is starting to look like a Craftsman collection.

tongueriver wrote:Hmmm....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schrade-Loveles ... SwAO9ZOZ4O

tongueriver wrote: Here are some notes by "Codger":Michael Little, 3 December 2014: “You rang? Oh! A Sears Craftsman #9555 "Schrade Walden Saw Knife", a camp utility knife with a fifth blade, a saw added, made for and shipped to Sears in 1967! I love these things! Rare? Mmmm... that word does tend to get overused. They are pretty uncommon finds today. I have two of them.
Keep your eyes open for a Sears Craftsman #9561, another Schrade Walden, but an electrician pattern. It has the same saw blade added and makes for a very thick knife with three springs in the spring pack instead of the normal two and the extra brass liner, total of four. In fact, when measured across the butt not including the shackle, it is 3/4" wide.
Schrade Walden production records listed the #9555 as the "SW SAW KNIFE" first in 1967. The master blade has the Craftsman "crown" logo (matching the coined shield) and the number 9555. Mine came with a light tan leather pouch style sheath with "crown" Craftsman logo embossed on the flap. They were only sold for a year or so and in limited quantities. IIRC, a thousand or less were shipped. Nice find!
ETA: I believe it is indeed built on the Ulster utility knife frame. But at this point Schrade Walden and Ulster were pretty much one and the same.
As I said, both Schrade Walden and Ulster were made on the same tools on the same lines by the same workers. At the time, late 1960's, Ulster patterns were being dropped piecemeal and being replaced by Schrade Walden stamps and patterns. And of course Baer had a near lock on the Sears accounts. He had acquired the remaining stocks of Camillus by then as well so was beginning to have Sears knives made there also. The Sears buyers' loyalty was, afterall, to Baer not to Imperial, Camillus or Schrade Walden.”

jerryd6818 wrote:Greg, I have the Kon-Kav marked as being made from 1946-1973 although I think the 1946 might be a little early. I had it in my mind that Schrade didn't start making the 863 until the very early 1950s but I could be a bit off base on that.

tongueriver wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote:Greg, I have the Kon-Kav marked as being made from 1946-1973 although I think the 1946 might be a little early. I had it in my mind that Schrade didn't start making the 863 until the very early 1950s but I could be a bit off base on that.

Correct. Greg's knife would have been made 1953 to a small window of 1959 to 1961. I would guess closer to 1953 than to 1961. And what a nice one!

jerryd6818 wrote:Greg, I have the Kon-Kav marked as being made from 1946-1973 although I think the 1946 might be a little early. I had it in my mind that Schrade didn't start making the 863 until the very early 1950s but I could be a bit off base on that.

tongueriver wrote:Looking back at your photos, Greg, I am not 100% convinced that the handles are bone. It is very hard to tell from a couple thousand miles away. Sometimes a knife with bone handles is so new that one cannot see enough of the distinctive bone features through the dye. That could be the case here. Otherwise it could be manmade material. You might need a jeweler's loupe or similar to crack the code, here. If it turns out to be Delrin your knife could date from 1960/61 up into 1973.

gsmith7158 wrote: I put to the 45x magnifier test first thing. It's definitely bone and more of a dark brown rather than black.