All About Pocket Knives

Here are two recent additions that I thought were interesting to compare, both 4" stockman pattern.

The first is an Ulster bone which I bought on ebay, to add to my shoe box of keepers.
The second is a Western that I bought in a local shop, just because I couldn't leave it there for the price of $12.

I like the Ulster, it's a pretty knife, but has rubs on all three blades. The Western, though it has much thicker blades and springs, also has an extra spacer inside the liner on the side of the two smaller blades, which gives them more room without rubbing.

The Western would be the pick for a heavy duty user.

Fran

ya done good fran!

I like both.
The bone on that Ulster is excellent.
That Western is built like a tank.
and


They got any more of those $12 Westerns laying around?

Two nice big stock knives. The Ulster is GREAT; very purty! Rare in bone!!
The Western looks ready for any work that comes along. And for $12!!
Kinda looks like Camillus DNA?? Maybe .

Nice finds Sauconian. That Ulster bone is real puurrddyyyyy! I had a little bit of your luck last week, I was in an small mom & pop hardware store buying some water pipe and looking around and found an unused Western Boulder Colo. L39 fix blade laying in the back of a display case with lots of dust on it. I asked to look at it and when the guy handed it to me it had a $9.99 price tag on it. I said I'll take it! The guy couldn't find the sheath for it so he let me have it for $8.99, I didn't complain. I almost didn't see it for the China Old Timers covering up the front of the display case.

Please show us a pic HTS!!

If the box for the Western is the correct box for it, that Western is pre-Camillus.
It has the Coleman Western name on the box, circa 1984 - 1991.
Camillus bought it in 1991.
Camillus probably produced that pattern later though.

Fran, It the model number stamped on the rear tang?

Dale

Dale, Both the tang and box are marked W742.

The box is also marked Western Cutlery Inc Longmont CO.

Other boxes I've seen were marked Coleman - Western, so I was hoping this was '78 - '84

Fran

Fran, nice finds!! That's a hard box to date, the old Western boxes were brown with "Western" in a diamond centered on the box. Not sure how long they continued that design once they moved to Longmont though. The Coleman logo was almost the same as that Western logo on you box (the red handled knife logo), the only difference is that "Coleman" is substituted with "Western". The Coleman boxes had a Ram on a mountaintop print on the front, and I believe your box might have a drawn Ram's head in a circle if I remember the design correctly. Those two similarities would lead me to believe the knife might be from darned near the transition from Western to Coleman, just don't know which side of the transition it falls, pre or post. Western started dating their knives in 1977 with a letter, "A" signifying '77. The only problen is I've never seen it circled before like yours. If it is a birthday letter, it would put yours at around 1986 (it's a J, isn't it?). This is all really educated guessing though , as that particular box is somewhat of a mystery. Here's a Coleman logo for comparison:
Eric

so fran, the ulster,(crinkrd blades or offset?) stamped blades had blade rubs. the western uses a middle brass spacer to make more room for a centered blade. production costs?

Gee Eric...and here I thought you were just a Schrade guy. You know lots of stuff !

Can I hang out with you and call you Bernie ? ( Middletown Fair Grounds 7 & 8th if you're not working. )

There's a Ram's head in a circle on the front of the box, between the words "Western" and "Cutlery". The date code is a 'J' so I think you nailed it. Not as old as I had hoped. Maybe I can get my $12 back.

Johnnie, the two Ulster secondary blades are crinked, but without an extra liner on the scale side are just too tight on the single spring. The master blade has a rub because it's not well centered. It's still purdy bone thougth, so I think I'll keep 'er.

Fran

Fran..............I'll give you $12 for that Western.