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What a great show of Westerns, Ray. I guess I have a few of the fixed blades but the folding locks are of interest to me.knife7knut wrote: ↑Wed Apr 02, 2025 7:25 am A large group pic and a couple smaller groups. The faux pearl folding hunter is the Westaco and the faux pearl fixed blade is stamped WESTERN AUTO SUPPLY: an early auto/hardware chain that as far as l know had no affiliation with Western knives other than making this knife for them.
Good post, Thomasg.Thomasg wrote: ↑Wed Apr 02, 2025 11:28 pm The lock backs were first offered by western in 1978 .In 1984 when Coleman bought the platts wester co the lock backs can be dated by the lettering added to the tang stamping .example letter A =1884. , B =1985 .As I have no catalog pages past 1978 I I do not know what year the smaller model lock backs became available ? Maybe some will come by with more information.IMG_6501.jpegIMG_6503.png
Date code use was STARTED in 1977 by Western. "A" =1977, "B" = 1978..... "N" = 1990. There MAY be a very rare few with an "O" date code for 1991.Thomasg wrote: ↑Wed Apr 02, 2025 11:28 pm The lock backs were first offered by western in 1978 .In 1984 when Coleman bought the platts western co the lock backs can be dated by the lettering added to the tang stamping .example letter A = 1984 ,B=1985 .As I have no catalog pages past 1978 I I do not know what year the smaller model lock backs became available ? Maybe some will come by with more information.IMG_6501.jpegIMG_6503.png
Thanks for the correction .I wasn’t aware western implemented the date code szzyzzogeton wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 4:55 pmDate code use was STARTED in 1977 by Western. "A" =1977, "B" = 1978..... "N" = 1990. There MAY be a very rare few with an "O" date code for 1991.Thomasg wrote: ↑Wed Apr 02, 2025 11:28 pm The lock backs were first offered by western in 1978 .In 1984 when Coleman bought the platts western co the lock backs can be dated by the lettering added to the tang stamping .example letter A = 1984 ,B=1985 .As I have no catalog pages past 1978 I I do not know what year the smaller model lock backs became available ? Maybe some will come by with more information.IMG_6501.jpegIMG_6503.png
Coleman continued the use of date codes when they purchased the company in 1984.
Camillus dropped the date coding when they purchased the intellectual property rights and moved production to New York.