All About Pocket Knives

This was a resale shop find for $7.50 Case Tested

You stole it!

Picked this one up yesterday. It's nothing special but a good old camillus. Has the short line stamp, so I think 1946-50 and is stamped pattern #70 on the reverse side. I really like it.

Chris,
Great lookin' bunch of cattle knives!
Get 2 more and you'll be covered for a full week of EDCs!
Treefarmer

Picked up this Wards in pretty nice condition, really has nice bone and still has a faint Master Quality blade etch.

JohnR,
That's a nice one!
Treefarmer

John, that Wards is very nice.

I have a couple Wards. They are well built knives. I don't know who made them.

That knife is a beauty John ... as you said the bone is really nice (perhaps Rogers bone... not sure), the blades look good too!! As to who made knives for Wards as Joe alluded to as a question - assuming this was Montgomery Wards which was a dept store dating back into the latter 1800s my understanding is that they used multiple cutleries to make their knives over the years... maybe someone will come along with more detailed info as to which cutleries that Wards used over the years... perhaps one can only guess on this knife based on the bone and jigging (perhaps even the swedge and shape of blades) but in terms of the bone covers even that may not be clear given multiple cutleries may have used similar sources.... the pins look hammered so that probably gives it abit more age... here's my wild guess as to maker and don't bet anything on it - Schrade...

Very nice Wards , looks like a 1930s Winchester made knife to me , shield and bone are a very good tell

Thanks for all your input guys, I always appreciate it, you all are a wealth of knowledge. I left out that it does have a pattern number 451 on the back of the main blade tang.

ScoutKnives, I also thought Winchester but the blade etch is throwing me off, found one reference that stated the etch was an early one,say Winchester era and the other stated it was later, around 1950's. I have one other old Winchester in my collection and the bone is similar.

Lee. with the all steel construction I was thinking Schrade or Camillus.

Pic is of my other Winchester.

Outstanding cattle knife John. Wards carried some high quality knives.

Looks similar to this 1930s Winchester scout knife .

Well, John, I believe I've got a Winchester dog leg like that too.

The quickest tell on the maker is the shield. If you put a Keen Kutter from the Winchester era at E.C. Simmons next to a Wards (often etched "Master Quality") next to a Walden next to a Winchester knife the shields (if they're the badge shields) will appear almost identical.

OP knife is a Winchester.

JMO

I agree, it looks like a Winchester made knife. I've been told that Winchester did make some knives on contract for Montgomery Ward. I do know that Utica made contract knives for them also, I believe from 1935 - 1950. Camillus also made a lot of knives for them and I believe there were even some English and German made knives. George Wostenholm comes to mind on the English knives. I really like that bone. The bone and shield just look Winchester to me.
Ricky

Knice score John! Gorgeous pics too!!

I've only seen Winchester and Utica made knives for Wards, although it certainly wouldn't be surprising to learn of others that made them for Wards given their long history (especially in the cheaper knives). The difference between the Winchester (Walden) made knives and the Utica knives should be readily apparent with the respective knives in hand. The difference in quality should be obvious , after all, there was a real reason for the difference in price in the two brands and that would manifest itself in a difference in fit and finish.

JMO

On page three of this topic there is another Ward's cattle knife.

Here's a Wards 4 blade cattle knife and I'm pretty sure Winchester made it, but I could be wrong. It looks like their shield to me. ___Dave

Here's a picture of the Wards with 3 Winchesters to compare. The other 3 are a Winchester 3 blade Cattle, a Winchester harness jack and a Winchester dog leg jack. ___Dave

Here's an old Cattle knife that I am wearing the hide off of just dragging her through this forum. Easy Boss ...

Very nice Joe. ____Dave