Imperial Knives

[parman]

I'm new here so I'm looking around at everything and I notice there's no Imperial knife forum. Is that because there were owned by someone else? Schrade?

[OLDE CUTLER]

Welcome to AAPK. You are going to like it here. I too have wondered about an Imperial Knife forum. I think not many people collect Imperial because they were an "inexpensive" brand. Maybe if there are complaints to the management, then one will be started. I don't collect Imperial, but I sure do have a bunch of them.

[whitebuffalo58]

The Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues of knife collecting. What a shame!

Most of the Imperial related posts are within the "Schrade Legacy" forum under "Brand Specific".

Welcome to AAPK!

WB

[garddogg56]

Welcome Parkman .Solid bolstered Imperials are as fine a knife as any ever were,the steel in the blades are as good as any.I for one love Imperials for I grew up with a Kamp King as my first Scout knife,for my family shell handled knives were all we could afford and didn't know any difference

[OLDE CUTLER]

Welcome Parkman .Solid bolstered Imperials are as fine a knife as any ever were,the steel in the blades are as good as any.I for one love Imperials for I grew up with a Kamp King as my first Scout knife,for my family shell handled knives were all we could afford and didn't know any difference

I too started out with the Kamp King as my first "real" knife. I just had to customize one recently for EDC. Added brass bolsters and rehandled in Kirinite Patriot.

[jerryd6818]

[gypsy jim]

I have a few Imperials and like them. Just got one yesterday in the mail. I was also wondering why there wasn't an Imperial specific forum.

[FRJ]

Here's a couple early Imperials.

[garddogg56]

Welcome Parkman .Solid bolstered Imperials are as fine a knife as any ever were,the steel in the blades are as good as any.I for one love Imperials for I grew up with a Kamp King as my first Scout knife,for my family shell handled knives were all we could afford and didn't know any difference

I too started out with the Kamp King as my first "real" knife. I just had to customize one recently for EDC. Added brass bolsters and rehandled in Kirinite Patriot.

IMG_1691.JPG

That is beautifull Old Cutler Joe those are very fine examples

[btrwtr]

Good to have you here parman!

Would love to see some of your knives.

Here are a few solid bolster Imperials. The shell handled models are a great value in knives as well.

[woodwalker]

Welcome Parkman .Solid bolstered Imperials are as fine a knife as any ever were,the steel in the blades are as good as any.I for one love Imperials for I grew up with a Kamp King as my first Scout knife,for my family shell handled knives were all we could afford and didn't know any difference

Nice collection Guarddog!! Everyone has some nice ones. I actually like them very much. The carbon blades really sharpen up very nicely. Here are my two to add to the mix.

[FRJ]

Nice knives, Wayne and woodwalker.

Thanks Dogg.

[woodwalker]

Thanks Joe! yours are very nice as well!

[whitebuffalo58]

Nice ones guys, glad there are those still collecting a few.

Reckon I'll show a few.

I posted these recently in another thread, but they'll fit in here too.

A few more earlier Imperials.

And maybe a few shell handles just for fun.

WB

[garddogg56]

....and why don't we have an Imperial thread Great knives GREAT history

[orvet]

I'm new here so I'm looking around at everything and I notice there's no Imperial knife forum. Is that because there were owned by someone else? Schrade?

Welcome to AAPK.
You are correct Imperial and Schrade eventually became different branches of the same company, Imperial Schrade Corporation.
Here are a few date highlights from some of my personal notes that help explain how that process came about:

1943- During WWII Ulster and Imperial began a cooperative effort for the production of military contract knives.

1944- Planning ahead for the post war cutlery market, Albert & Henry Baer in partnership with Imperial and Foster Grant Company establish Cuchilleria Imperial of Mexico, their first international venture.

1945- Kingston Cutlery Co. was formed by the Baer, Fazzano & Mirando families. The Kingston name was an old brand name owned by Ulster. Kingston was closed after the war, but the name used until about 1958. This was advantageous at the time as Kingston received a ration of materials that were in short supply during the war, like brass. Bigger allotments, or more allotments meant they could produce more knives for the military.

1945- Vulcan Safety Razor Company was formed for the manufacture of stainless steel; safety razors. Vulcan was a subsidiary of Kingston Cutlery Company.

1946 Imperial International Corp. was formed for the purpose of exporting products manufactured by the Kingston Group.

1946- Imperial enters the housewares market with a line of steak knives and soon expands into a full line of kitchen cutlery and tools.

1947- Albert and Henry Baer bought Schrade Cut Co. & changed the name to Schrade Walden Cutlery Corp. It became a division of Imperial Knife as Mr. Baer had merged his Kingston Cutlery Co, Ulster Knife Co, & the newly purchased Schrade Cut Co with Imperial.

1947- Imperial Knife Associated Companies, (IKAC), was formed and all interests of the Baer, Fazzano & Mirando groups became subsidiaries of the new parent company.

After 1947 Imperial, Ulster and Schrade were all part of the same company, Imperial Knife Associated Companies (IKAC).
In 1983 Albert Baer purchased the remaining stock of Imperial from the Fazzano & Mirando families.
In 1985 Albert changed the name from Imperial Knife Associated Companies to Imperial Schrade Corporation.

The history of Imperial, Ulster and Schrade is so interwoven that it would be difficult to study any of the three companies independent of the others, unless you were to look at them prior to World War II, but then Imperial been in business less than 30 years at that point.

[OLDE CUTLER]

Two of my older Imperials.
Cattle knife

EZ open jack

[parman]

Really like that EZ open jack Olde Cutler , it's quite similar to the first knife my Grand Pa gave me. Unfortunately I lost that one when I was a kid. I think I'll keep a eye open for one like it.

[bdev]

Here's another EZ open Imperial. USA contract knife from WW2. Designated the General Utility Knife.

[knife7knut]

DARN! The cat's out of the bag now! I've been collecting these solid bolster Imperials for some time now because when people would see the Imperial name they would pass them by thinking they were just old cheap knives and I could buy them for next to nothing.
Seriously though the solid bolster Imperials(and IKCO)in my humble opinion were of comparable quality as most of the so-called,"name brand" manufacturers of that era. When they started making their shell handled knives was when people started thinking less of the name even though as a good quality working knife(which knives were)they were hard to beat price wise.
With that being said I hereby post up a few of my Imperials.Hope you enjoy them.

[knife7knut]

Page two

[garddogg56]

I definitely enjoyed them

[FRJ]

Me too.
The early Imperials were rock solid knives.

[Mumbleypeg]

Seriously though the solid bolster Imperials(and IKCO)in my humble opinion were of comparable quality as most of the so-called,"name brand" manufacturers of that era. When they started making their shell handled knives was when people started thinking less of the name even though as a good quality working knife(which knives were)they were hard to beat price wise.

True, and very well put! When I think of old Imperial brand knives, with solid bolsters and bone handles, I think quality. IMHO, the change to shell handles and subsequent perception of cheap inferior quality, combined with changing demographics led eventually to the company's demise.

Ken

[whitebuffalo58]

IMHO, the change to shell handles and subsequent perception of cheap inferior quality, combined with changing demographics led eventually to the company's demise.

Ken, I respectfully disagree. Oh there's little doubt that the shell handled knives had run their coarse, but there must be a reason it remained the IMPERIAL Knife Associated Companies and IMPERIAL Schrade for all those years. It'd be hard to convince me that the shell handled knives weren't instrumental in keeping many of the other associated companies afloat, at least during certain times.

When it comes to the demise of U.S. knife companies...well I won't go into that.

WB