A Schrade-Walden #148 Rant

Codger_64

Codger_64

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This is one of my latest aquisitions, a Schrade Walden 148WW. Actual cost: 14.99. Value in my collection: Priceless. The blade is not mint, and there is no box or paperwork, not even a COA. But given it's scarcity, it will have an honored place on my wall display. I thought that since I have infected at least one of you with the bug for these dinosaurs (the guy who helped me get it), I'd do the pattern the honor of some research and a brief rant.

These were your grandfather's Old Timers before the name, and the delrin came into use. Using time honored hunting patterns, Schrade Walden produced them for generation after generation and they graced hunter's sides from one shore to the other, and border to border. These patterns were shared with Western States (later Western Boulder), and a half dozen other companies. Each added their own tweeks and "improvements", and Schrade was no exception. I think this particular pattern may even be the grandfather of the Golden Spike.

The #148 pattern "Hunter's Mate" I find first listed in 1953. It sold for $4.50 in 1955. It was 9 1/4" overall with a saber ground carbon steel 5" blade, aluminum alloy guard, Stratawood handle with black and white spacers on each end, and plain (now called birds head) pommel. It came with a genuine leather flat sewn and riveted sheath with embossed floral tooling design.

In 1957, the 148 was joined by the 148L (with leather washer handle) and the serrated 148 LWE. (with leather washer handle and “Wonda-Edge).

In 1961 the sheath emboss illustrations changed from the floral design to a buck deer. The handle material of the 148 was renamed WondaWood.

In 1962, the 148 was renumbered 148WW. The 148L and 148LWE remained, and the 148S made it’s debut. It had a “Genuine unbreakable Staglon” handle.

Also called “Huntsman” in 1963, it was offered in a #8148S Safari Set gift box with a 881 3 blade premium stock knife. Some sheaths appeared with five oak leaves as the emboss design.

In 1963, the 148WW returned to the earlier 148 number and received the name “Hunter’s Mate”. The buck deer sheath was shown in 1963, but only the oak leaf sheath was illustrated in 1964. Only the 148S and 148L were listed.

In 1965, the waffle tooled sheath made it’s debut. Three of the four variants were listed, the 148S, 148L, 148LWE.

In 1966, the waffle tooled sheath remained, and only the 148S and 148L were listed.

In 1967 the 148STC, "Eva-Last" tungsten carbide Staglon knife is shown, and the 148S and 148L. The 148 also came as a G3148-STC “Gaucho Set” with special riveted fold over sheath for $15.00 (the 148S plain edge was also offered in a G3148-S “Gaucho Set” for five dollars less).

In 1968 thru 1971, the same three models were shown and named (Deer Skinner, Deer Skinner, Huntsman).

In 1971, the 148S was offered in a set with matching handled ax, the X48S for $15.00.
In 1972-1973, the 148L Huntsman and the 148S Deer Skinner remained with the tungsten carbide blade being discontinued. About this time, Sears contracted for the 148S with their own Craftsman tangstamp, and the etched name “Pro Skinner”. This was likely not their first purchase of the pattern.

In 1973 ½, the 148's were replaced by the new designs of the 49er Series, the 498L and 498S. These two were the last of the series to be produced, ending production after 1979.

These knives also came with red and white handles (I call these "peppermints"), and black and red handles (licorice, what else!). Sheaths were sporadically changed, and some of the same emboss designs will be found on other brand knives.



Codger
 
Certainly these are EYE "CANDY" :)D) for FIXED blade users and collectors.

Well done, Michael.

Bill
 


This is a George Schrade Knife Company predecessor to the SW #141, and eventually the 41OT. This is the earliest impregnated wood handled knife of this genre I have a picture of. I do not know the date, but obviously before GSKC was sold to Boker.

Codger
 
Dat looka like a FISH knife to me?

Bil

EDITED:
Codger, you are tricky today...Nice knife, even if it did get impregnated somehow.
I guess I must've been dreaming. :)
 
There's a candy cane version similar to that on eBay now:

d5_1.JPG
 
That looks like a 141. The 140, 142, 145, 146 were all the same blade pattern with different handle arrangements early on. Then they just added suffix letters to the number 141.

Codger
 
Here is some more 148's.Each has a different tang stamp.The one on the lower right is a Craftsman.Toby
 
Codger; Curious.....How did you get that knife in the sheath upside down in that first picture?. and if you want the stitching repaired (by hand) send me the sheath.

Paul
 
Paul, that was the handiwork of the seller. He obviously tried it sideways as well. It is still on the back of the postal service's shetland pony on it's way here. I have several antique sheaths that need deep cleaning and light refurbishing as well. I'll send them all to you at once along with a blank. Check?:D

Here are the line drawings of most of the Walden sheaths I mentioned. There were one or two I couldn't find, and you can't see the tooling (stamped) designs in the tiny pic above.


Codger
 
Here is a Craftsman #9508 with the peppermint handle. As you can see, the 9508 is a 147 pattern.



Did you notice that two different base materials were used on the Staglon handles? They were trying different combinations af base and accent dye.
Codger
 
I made an offer on the candy stripe and it was accepted.Thanks Redshanks I wanted that one for the collection.Toby
 
Codger_64 said:
That looks like a 141. The 140, 142, 145, 146 were all the same blade pattern with different handle arrangements early on. Then they just added suffix letters to the number 141.

Codger
Click to expand...

I bought one a few weeks ago that is Schrade Walden/N.Y. U.S.A. but it has no model number on it.
Can anyone please tell me the model number? I don't have any resources that cover that time span........except the members of this forum. :D

[URL=http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d178/orvet/candystripe.jpg][/URL]

If I have posted this before, please understand, I forgot to take my Ginkgo Biloba today......I think.

Dale
 


It is a 147 pattern like the Craftsman 9508 if it looks like this. These colored specialties were not cataloged that I know of, so I don't know what the suffix would be. If it were modern, it might be 147RW (red and white), but it is not. I am wondering if these may have all been SFO's for Sears, Wards, and/or J. C. Penneys. You guys have all the examples to study! I can't get one into my collection edgeways!

Codger

PS- Very few of these older knives did have a model number on them. I have a 137WE that it is etched onto the tang opposite the stamp. And a 142 that is stamped on.
 
Thanks Codger!
Clear as mud, as my Dad says. I guess this is one of the examples of Schrade making knives and not foreseeing that some of us would spend a great deal of time and effort to try and figure out what they are called.

Thanks for the help!

Dale
 
In the early 1960's, Ford made a predecessor to what became the Mustang. It was called the Falcon. I used to collect and restore these. When FOrd designed them in 1958, they were so futuristic, they named the upscale version Futura. The Falcon became an unheard of best seller and set the industry on it's ear. Other makers scrambled to come up with their own small cars. And Ford made yearly changes, added options and trim levels, each having it's own model name.This platform eventually carried a redesigned body called the Mustang. They were in it for the money and didn't give a hoot that so many years down the road, they would become desirable and sought after collector pieces. But auto manufacturing being what it is, the names of the models, the codes for the options and colors, right down to the part numbers for components and fasteners survived. And today, Ford is still making money off of these cars as they receive royalties from the licensing of reproduction replacement parts. These parts had long coded numbers that with the right keys, could be read and translated right down to the last detail of the year, model, color, etc.

Schrade, and manufacturers in general, all have their own internal codes for components, and also for finished assemblies. Unfortunately, in the case of Schrade, those codes were not really publicised beyond the manufacturing level, though maybe a salesman has some keys that will come to light some day. You can find a key in the "Catalog E With Suppliments" reproduced by A. G. Russell in the early '70s, and a few key notes are found in catalogs from the '60s and '70s, but they are pretty vague, and keys changed with the times, materials and designs. In the last decade or so, even the employees had a hard time keeping up with nebulous coding on item numbers. For instance, SS historically stood for stainless steel, but in the early 1990's, it could stand for sharpening stone. Black which could be represented as B or BL eventually became represented by X, and BL could be used for blue, when they weren't using BU. The more variations they came up with, the more hectic the code became. Deciphering the production codes from this century would keep cryptogrophers busy for a while. For instance, SDUC15OTF can be decoded with just a bit of study and thought. But what is a CH7SCPMTMA?
We can guess it was a Cliphanger number 7 serrated in a clampack, but there was something special about it. MTMA? An SFO customer? Special handle material or color? With some research, you will find that it was a "combo" or what we call a "bonus" pack with a free "gimme" in it. Find one with that number circa 2001-2002 and you'll have the code.

Alas, the keys that were for many of the codes are either mouldering under a pile of garbage in NY State, or in the posession of some IP attorney, or in the now-famous expanded closet of Stewart Taylor. Given the chilly reception he and his products have been given by collectors, and his agressiveness at defending his Intellectual Property rights purchase (ask CSC which would have been Walden Knife Company), I don't look for the codes to emerge for years, if ever. There is always the possibility that some mensa former employee will jot them down in the future and relay them to us, or even publish them in a book, but don't hold your breath. Just sift and document what you can. Someday we may have enough to compile a partial searchable index.

Codger
 
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