WESTERN no model number?

[TripleF]

I've been fortunate to bump into a few Western's as of late....and yet another one with no model number.

Any help would be appreciated!

[orvet]

Sometimes there is a model number stamped on the guard. I have missed those before and wondered what the model was, then I looked closer and found it.

[TripleF]

Sometimes there is a model number stamped on the guard. I have missed those before and wondered what the model was, then I looked closer and found it.

Yeah me to, not on this one though....

[zzyzzogeton]

No model number on the knife at all means it is pre-1954ish.

The "PAT MADE IN USA" with a BRASS guard means the earliest this would have been made is late 1946 when brass stocks became widely available.

So call it between 1947 and 1954. BUT.... based on the spacer pattern, I'd put it at being more likely 1950 to 1954. The wide black-single brass-wide red-single brass-wide black spacer pattern came out in 1950.

The model for this sweet knife is L58. A bird and trout knife far the man who likes a slightly longer blade. More of an all round small hunting knife.

Advertised length was 5-1/4" blades, but a lot of them show up with 5-0/8" to 5-1/8" blades as well. Hand ground blades means "we're trying for these specs, but....".

Western started putting model numbers on their knives during the 1953 to 1955 time frame. They started around 1953 with some models and then added model numbers to other models as they had another production run on the model number-less models. By 1955, all in-production models had model numbers.

AS APPLIED TO FIXED BLADES--- (folders have their own rules).

the first model numbers were on the pile side ricasso 1954 to 1967
the model numbers shifted to the guard MOST MODELS in 1968
the model numbers shifted to the MARK side ricasso, with year code letters added in 1977, again for MOST MODELS.