All About Pocket Knives

Found this in Annapolis today. C.1958 WEST-CUT, Boulder, Colo., hunter. Pretty, green-gold-red-brown mottled handle, possibly Bakelite? 8-3/4" overall, 4-3/4" blade, Appears unused or resharpened, Came with a custom-made sheath that fits very well. Don't generally collect fixed blades but this one caught my eye. J.O'.

Lovely knife and sheath J.O.

Model BX43, in the 1931, 1936 and 1941 catalogs. Not the original sheath.

I've never seen a catalog for the 1928 to 1931 period, but it is highly possible that this one was in that era as well. 1928 is when Western started making their own line of fixed blade knives.

Western started offering Marbles Hunting knives in their 1925 catalog and this was NOT one of the 3 offerings.

And, yes, they were listed as having bakelite handles.

Thanks Gents. Nice info. Sheath bears the name Lawrence Jenkins, Heath ,Ohio. (Owner or maker ???) Custom and nicely made. Guess Bernard's, C.1958 info is wrong.(again)
Do you have the catalog? Like to see the pic. Thanks. J.O'.

1941 catalog page snip.

Thanks Pal, really nice to see that! I'm a lucky guy, it's in really near mint shape, just a bit of spotting from being in the sheath I guess. J.O'.

Ridgegrass wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 6:43 pm Thanks Gents. Nice info. Sheath bears the name Lawrence Jenkins, Heath ,Ohio. (Owner or maker ???) Custom and nicely made. Guess Bernard's, C.1958 info is wrong.(again)
Do you have the catalog? Like to see the pic. Thanks. J.O'.

Are you referring to the ricasso stamp being identified as 1958?

Well, it was recycled in 1958 - for the K-series knives - there were 5 knives and a hatchet. These were all L-series knives stamped with a K instead of an L in the model number. Mark side stamp was WEST-CUT over BOULDER COLO over MADE IN USA. The MADE IN USA differentiates the 1958 WEST-CUT stamp from the 1931-1941 stamp.

Pile side stamp was K1 or K2 or K3 or K5 or 645. Then there was the K510 combo which was a K5 and K10 hatchetor rather an L10 hatchet. None of the L10 or K10 hatchets had model numbers stamped on them. The only differentiation key is the spacer patterns.

The K1 was an L58
The K2 was an L48A
The K3 was an L48B
The K5 was an L66
The 645 was an update 1941 X45 (plastic instead of bone stag handles).

tongueriver wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:54 pm And, yes, they were listed as having bakelite handles.

I still have never figured out why Western used "BX" or "Bx" to indicate bakelite for a handle material. All other handle material designators were single letters or numbers. By convention, a solitary "B" in the model number would have sufficed.

In 1941, they also had a few models with an "X" attached, which I can only assume indicated some type of experimental model. The X249, X245, XL66, xW66, NX43 and X45. Of these, only the L66 was brought back after WW2 ended. The W66 didn't get reinvented until 1975.

The only stamp is on the mark side. WEST-CUT over Boulder, Colo. No USA. Nothing on the pile side. No letters, no pattern number.
My remark about 1958 was based on Levine's reference that the WEST-CUT mark was "C.1958". That's all he says. Thanks for the good info. J.O'.

Ridgegrass wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 3:15 am The only stamp is on the mark side. WEST-CUT over Boulder, Colo. No USA. Nothing on the pile side. No letters, no pattern number.
My remark about 1958 was based on Levine's reference that the WEST-CUT mark was "C.1958". That's all he says. Thanks for the good info. J.O'.

Understand.

One of the easy tells on a Western is the presence or absence of a reference to USA.

Western never put any USA reference on their knives until after WW2. They started putting MADE IN USA on the pile side sometime in 1946, after they had used up their left-over WW2 blanks. Around 1949 or 1950, "MADE IN USA" became part of the third line of the mark side stamp. i.e., "PAT'D MADE IN USA" and until 1955, nothing was on the pile side.

Your Levine's reference is typical for reference books. The author writes what is known at the time. Secrets are unearthed, documents are located, receipts come to light, etc. Now what was written as gospel has become mostly right, partially right, incorrect, wrong, etc. Nothing bad that the author did, just he/she did not have all the possible info at the time their truth was printed. Where I have a problem is when an author KNOWS what they wrote before is incorrect and then they perpetuate the false/incorrect info in subsequent editions or follow-on books. To me, that is criminal.

ZZ: Thanks for your obvious expertise. So it looks like pre-war. Great info. Don't get a lot of WESTERN stuff around here. I've had a large Boy Scout hunter, a MOTS clasp hunter, and a Barlow or two. My fear is it may start a fixed-blade habit that I've been avoiding for so many years . Regards, J.O'.

My impression regarding West Cut knives was of a lower price point line. I have one that I don't think fits that model. It obviously shows some wear and polishing.

TR: That's a higher level knife than mine, thicker blade, fancy handle, etc. Doesn't fit the "econo" category at all. Nice one. J.O'.

WESTACO was the "low end line". Made during the Great Depression. Cheaper price. Made by the same people on the same assembly lines. Same quality, "maybe" cheaper materials, but I doubt it. Mainly a marketing ploy to sell more knives to be able to keep their people employed and bringing in a cash stream.

They didn't last long because they are rarely seen.

TR - what is the blade length on that one? And is the handle material buckhorn/stag or bone stag? Based on the blade shape and appearance, it looks like one of the pattern 49 models, 4 inch or 5 inch blade options. There's an L49-5 with a triple spacer pattern, a 539-5 with single handle pieces of buckhorn between only 2 sets of spacers and a 2 spacer X249 with composition pearl handles and 2 spacer sets.

The kicker is that I can't any reference to a knife with that spacer/handle piece arrangement in any of my documentation. My gut tells me "1941" based on all the other 49 versions that year.

zzyzzogeton wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 8:49 pm WESTACO was the "low end line". Made during the Great Depression. Cheaper price. Made by the same people on the same assembly lines. Same quality, "maybe" cheaper materials, but I doubt it. Mainly a marketing ploy to sell more knives to be able to keep their people employed and bringing in a cash stream.

They didn't last long because they are rarely seen.

TR - what is the blade length on that one? And is the handle material buckhorn/stag or bone stag? Based on the blade shape and appearance, it looks like one of the pattern 49 models, 4 inch or 5 inch blade options. There's an L49-5 with a triple spacer pattern, a 539-5 with single handle pieces of buckhorn between only 2 sets of spacers and a 2 spacer X249 with composition pearl handles and 2 spacer sets.

The kicker is that I can't any reference to a knife with that spacer/handle piece arrangement in any of my documentation. My gut tells me "1941" based on all the other 49 versions that year.

I believe the handle pieces to be genuine stag. I was not deciding whether it was a 43 or a 49 pattern. The blade is a scant 4.75 inches from the guard. I am including pic's of the sheath that it came in. It fits well and I think it is probably the original????

I still think it is a 549, whether it is a -4 or a -5 would be the question. 4.75 is just mean. Western was a little lax on blade lengths.

Many of Western's -4 knives, e.g., G46-4, any ?49-4, and the ?44-4s, etc. Some of the -4s were 4.0 or 4.125 (4-1/8). Other -4s were 4-1/2". That is per advertising descriptions in the catalogs.

The -5 knives would be 4-7/8" or 5". So 4.75" is just not nice. It doesn't fit. I don't remember finding ANY knife with a 4-3/4 " blade right off the top of my head.

So it is most likely a 549-X, either a -4 or -5.

Thanks, ZZ!

J.O. and Cal, those are very cool knives.
Western made some very nice knives, as you know. I have a few of their sheath knives.

ZZ, what great information!