All About Pocket Knives

In the 1950s the Baers marketed a number of low price-point hunting knives modeled after WWII military knives. This grew into many subversions and SFOs for hardware stores and for Sears, and went well into the 1960s and even into the 1970s, when the Old Timer and Uncle Henry knives began to take over that market. However, in 1956, Schrade Walden got a contract from the Navy for a much more robust version of these knives. It exists in much smaller numbers and is a much more desirable and excellent knife than the ones usually seen. The blade is thicker and is usually Parkerized, the guard is much sturdier. The tang is peened over the pommel in the distinctly military fashion. What is not different is the pathetic cheap sheath. I have been looking for one of these knives for quite some time and finally scored. It seems that AAPK is not able to host normally sized images so this will have to do and hopefully it may be useful to researchers.

Nice find Cal, very nice! OH

Old Hunter wrote:Nice find Cal, very nice! OH

Thank you! I watched for a long time for that one. Here is one in the mail (I hope) but I never knew there was one until I spotted it. Patent Pending for their Wonda Edge serrated blade (with that etch). Early 1950s. Brass and red washer handle. New but with scratches. I guess this will be a safe queen. My Buck fixed blades pretty much do all the work.

Cal, great finds! I've always liked that deep cut swedge on the military version, just fits better on that knife. Did you know they shaped the leather handles on a repurposed machine that was used to turn baseball bats? Apparently it was a dangerous, noisy beast, but it got the job done!

Eric

Some more recent arrivals...

tongueriver wrote:

Old Hunter wrote:Nice find Cal, very nice! OH

Thank you! I watched for a long time for that one. Here is one in the mail (I hope) but I never knew there was one until I spotted it. Patent Pending for their Wonda Edge serrated blade (with that etch). Early 1950s. Brass and red washer handle. New but with scratches. I guess this will be a safe queen. My Buck fixed blades pretty much do all the work.

1371.jpg

Tongueriver: I've never seen that Wonda Edge before. Fascinating. Congratulations on your find.

one more...

Checksix, you have been picking up a lot of good Old Timers lately! Tongueriver, those are a couple of great old fixed blades, great find on the pilot knife! I wouldn't use that wonda edge one either. Would likely be a bit of a pain to sharpen? I have an 8OT with wonda edge on the sheepsfoot blade.
Dan

danno50 wrote: I have an 8OT with wonda edge on the sheepsfoot blade Dan

That would be the 89 OT.

When i first got my Jim Bowie Commemorative knife i was disappointed that the Bowie Knife shield was tarnished. That is until a fellow collector informed me that this was 'factory applied' tarnish to make the Bowie knife look old and used. Fortunately i learned this just before i was about to attempt polishing it to make it shine.
kj

tongueriver wrote:

danno50 wrote: I have an 8OT with wonda edge on the sheepsfoot blade Dan

That would be the 89 OT.

That it is, hadn't looked at the tang stamp before you pointed that out.
Thanks
Dan

I'll Play

My wife collects also and keeps here eye open at flea markets, she dug thru a bucket of junk knives this past weekend and found this little Schrade Cut Co Congress, cost her a whole 2 bucks.

I'd call that a SCORE!

What a fantastic find! Aside from the tipped blade it looks like it was hardly used. That's an awesome deal

Eric

Unused Schrade Cut 4 blade small congress.

Roger,

You need to send that 4 blade Congress over to my house....I need to have it in hand so I can research it properly....LoL
It will be right at home in my Schrade Room

Beauty!

Tom

peanut740 wrote:Unused Schrade Cut 4 blade small congress.

Thanks for showing it!

Shazam

Here is an ebay Schrade-Walden bone 880, sold as near mint, but i have doubts about this. The master blade depth (spine to edge) looks a bit shallow. Could this knife have been buffed and then give a new etch ?
kj

I think that it is authentic, Roland.

Thank you Calvin.
To me the kick on the master blade seems too far from the blade edge as if the edge had been sharpened back by a few millimeters.
However i am relieved to learn that you see this to be as it should.
kj

Here are a couple of 880s (the first one is in bone); Looks to me like yours has a little blade loss, as you suspected (or may not!), but I don't think that the etch has been messed with. See what you think, Roland.

Thanks Calvin. My bone 880 resembles your bone 880 with the saber grind line being closer to the edge than on your Delrin example. However the distance from grind line to edge looks slightly more shallow on my knife as if edge has been re-ground resulting in a small amount of blade loss.
kj

Still a very good knife. As far as that goes, I am at least an inch shorter than I used to be.