All About Pocket Knives

I usually don't buy newer knives, but this one was reasonably priced and nice. Master blade marked
Frontier on mark side. The pile side is marked 4431/Imperial/USA. 4" closed Delrin scales, pretty much
a 8OT. I wanted to know its age. My guess is 70's-80's. Will make a good user.

Harold

Nice knife, I think schrade had there hands in on that one. I have a couple yellow ones they seem to be well made knives.

Harold that looks like more of a keeper than a user........but then again what do I know?

Nice knife!

imperials made in 70s & 80s had real decent carbon steel. HiPower

Thanks Guys. My lines that I typed in don't go across the page. They drop down to a new line. They look
ok when I preview my post. Then when I submit they drop down. What am I doing wrong? See my above
post.

Harold

Frontier knives always were good quality and very reasonably priced. Looks like you you got a good USA made knife there!

That's a very nice looking knife and appears to be in excellent condition.

I have read in various sources that the Imperial Frontier pocket knives in the 70's and 80's were actually made by Camillus. IIRC they were introduced in about 1975 or 76.

Later maybe late 80's or 90's they were made in the Imperial factory in Ireland - lower quality at a lower price point.

I can believe that. Note the matchstrike pulls on the main, not a Camillus exclusive but something that showed up on a lot of the knives they made. Even from a picture, the quality shows in this knife. Quality akin to Camillus.

Looks like a schrade 881 frame to me

If Camillus was making them, did they use the swinden system on them also? I ask this because I modded a frontier stockman (not this model, but similar) and it had the swinden key construction.

I think I've seen Dale say that Swinden system needed special machinery and was exclusive to Schrade. Don't quote me but that's what sticks in my mind. I've zoomed in on both the mark side and the pile side and don't see any evidence of pins in the bolsters. That doesn't necessarily mean anything when working from a picture though.

glennbad wrote:If Camillus was making them, did they use the swinden system on them also? I ask this because I modded a frontier stockman (not this model, but similar) and it had the swinden key construction.

Glenn; interesting to know that. Certainly indisputable then that at least some were made in the Schrade plant. Maybe they all were. Its actually Bernard Levine who has written the he saw Camillus producing the Frontier series knives when he visited the Camillus factory. Not sure of the time frame though.

[quote="jerryd6818"]I think I've seen Dale say that Swinden system needed special machinery and was exclusive to Schrade. Don't quote me but that's what sticks in my mind. I've zoomed in on both the mark side and the pile side and don't see any evidence of pins in the bolsters. That doesn't necessarily mean anything when working from a picture though.[/quote

I looked the knife over with good light and a 10 power loop and i also don't see evidence of pins in the bolsters.

Harold

Jerry is correct, the Swinden machinery was unique to Schrade.
This series of knives was made by Imperial, Camillus (I have several S-cards from the Camillus factory), & also by Schrade.

They were made in the 1970s & 1980s. Albert Baer bought controlling interest in Imperial in 1983. The Frontier patterns were direct completion with the Old Timer line & so they discontinued the Frontier line about 85 to 87.

Not on my computer now, but I can look it up tomorrow.

orvet wrote:Jerry is correct, the Swinden machinery was unique to Schrade.
This series of knives was made by Imperial, Camillus (I have several S-cards from the Camillus factory), & also by Schrade.

They were made in the 1970s & 1980s. Albert Basra bought controlling interest in Imperial in 1983. The Frontier patterns were direct completion with the Old Timer line & so they discontinued the Frontier line about 85 to 87.

Not on my computer now, but I can look it up tomorrow.

They later resurrected the Frontier brand name for use on knives that were made in the Imperial Ireland factory. These knives may have been an exclusive to Wal Mart.

I picked up a #4432 today, it was in good used condition just needed some oil on the joints and a good cleaning.

I could have sold it as is or used it as an EDC, but,my curiosity got the best of me so I decided to take it apart to see if it had the Swinden system.

I removed the center pin and sure enough the handles came right off. You can see the skeleton in the pictures below the blades will snap open and closed as long as there is a pin holding the back springs.

Also while removing the center pin the shield fell clean out!

I can`t stand a shield that is not pinned

It looks like it was just hot pressed into the handle as there is no evidence of any type of glue on the shield or in the recessed handle material

Dimitri;

Thanks for sacrificing your knife so that we knife nuts can assuage our curiosity .


That seems to prove that at least some Frontiers were made in plants owned by Imperial/Schrade.

On the shield, most companies did "hot melt" the shields into the delrin handles using an electrical device.

Thanks Steve!

I learned one thing, these did not take much skill to put together at all

They are all machine made out of stamped parts and machine riveted together, as long as the jigs and machines are all set up you could take anyone off the streets with no knife making skill and in a few hours have them assembling these into knives

Most were made by Imperial/Schrade far as I know--there's been alot of Camillus talk about Frontier's lately--I'm just not on board with it I think people are looking at the blade grind thinkin Camillus----

All back together.

Miller Bro`s wrote:I picked up a #4432 today, it was in good used condition just needed some oil on the joints and a good cleaning.

I could have sold it as is or used it as an EDC, but,my curiosity got the best of me so I decided to take it apart to see if it had the Swinden system.

I removed the center pin and sure enough the handles came right off. You can see the skeleton in the pictures below the blades will snap open and closed as long as there is a pin holding the back springs.

Also while removing the center pin the shield fell clean out!

I can`t stand a shield that is not pinned

It looks like it was just hot pressed into the handle as there is no evidence of any type of glue on the shield or in the recessed handle material

Miller Bro's
I pulled a knife apart because no one believe it was made by Schrade in the factory.
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... =2&t=40468
Grant

that Frontier looks good

Very interesting Grant, sometimes you have to take them apart to know for sure