All About Pocket Knives

Quite some time back I was gifted some Olsen ephemera from a kind member here, and as I finally got my scanner working I thought I'd share it all here for others to see as well. Quite a number of images so I hope no one minds starting a new thread for it. Please share any Olsen knives or material you want as well!

Additional images...

Good stuff, thanks for sharing!
I have only one Olen fixed blade. I believe it is shown on the 7th picture you posted. It appears to be the 504 Kodiak. This knife was given to me by an older gentleman that attended church with us. He told me he a bought the knife from a salesman that showed up at the Chipley Livestock Market (FL Panhandle) on sale day many years ago. That sale barn has been closed way over 20 years.
I wonder if the salesman was an independent dealer or an Olsen salesman roaming the country?
Treefarmer

I have 3, a folding hunter, a camper/scout, and a Camillus 72 clone.

I don't have any Olsens (yet), but I did enjoy the photos and the old catalogs. Thanks for sharing them!

My contribution to this topic, my only OLSEN (so far).

The camper/scout Olsen I pictured above is marked on the handle and tang stamped Olsen oK Brand, but was almost certainly made by Colonial. Note in the photos below that the Olsen is identical to the Colonial Forest Master. Note the "jigging" pressed into the shell handles and the layout of the spacers in the end view are identical. So are all 4 blades.

A few Olsens.

I also have the OLSEN KNIFE COMPANY,
HOWARD CITY, MICHIGAN, postcard.

That's some really cool and probably rare stuff. J.O'.

Thanks for starting this thread!
I have happened to acquire three Olsen knives at this time.
The first one (Olsen Colt - fixed blade) my dad had since I was very young. When I was about 15 or 16, I took the original wood on the handle off and replaced it with some bird's eye maple. I didn't have a good feel for any value that it might have had. We lived in Michigan and those Olsen's were just local, 'beater' knives at the time. I was mid-teens and 'fixing stuff up' was just something I had a propensity to do at the time. My dad just shook his head half the time...
Anyway. Here is a photo of that knife. Made in Howard City. This next one I am actually trying to find more information about. It is a Folding Hunter but was made in Solingen, Germany (was this between 1970 and 1980?). If anyone could possibly help me with information about this one, I would certainly appreciate it. Obviously, one scale has a chunk broken out near the spine of the knife, but the blades seem to be in good shape. The oval disc on the one scale is blank. The color of the scales seems to be a bit lighter than the others that are similar to it that I have seen. No idea if that is a good thing or bad thing. Finally, here is an Olsen 702 that was made in Howard City as well. I honestly am not a fan of the handle design, and am trying to clean up the knife a bit. It was given to me in a box of knives in case I felt I could do anything with them. Both the Colt and 702 have their original sheaths.

Hey, My Dad gave me this old Olsen folding knife and I am trying to find as much information about it as possible, what style of knife, what kind of handle this is, when it may have been created, what would it have been used for during that time, and is it possible to restore this. Any information would be helpful. Thank you!

Aaron N wrote: ↑Sat Jun 29, 2024 11:10 pm Hey, My Dad gave me this old Olsen folding knife and I am trying to find as much information about it as possible, what style of knife, what kind of handle this is, when it may have been created, what would it have been used for during that time, and is it possible to restore this. Any information would be helpful. Thank you!

Welcome to AAPK. The first thing I’d recommend is, if you have not already done so, read the thread you posted this in. Also see https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... en#p664236 where you will learn that Olsen’s folding (pocket) knives were made for them on contract by Schrade Cutlery. You can find more about the Olsen company and their knives by using keyword search, which is found under Quicklinks on the upper left of this thread.

It’s a standard two-blade jack knife, a popular pattern made by just about every maker of pocket knives world wide. So its uses would be just about anything a person carrying such a tool would need it for. The handle covers appear to be Delrin, a synthetic (plastic) material popular for pocket knives.

Info regarding cleaning and restoring knives can be found here https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... 37&t=54157, or by using the aforementioned search function.

Ken