Olsen OK knives

Itsmebsh · Aug 9, 2018

Itsmebsh said:
Thanks @Duckdog - Stuart, I'm not done. And I will still share both pics and info. I am just waiting to see what kind of questions I get, and to see how many people are really interested in this little company and the great knives they made. Also had made for them.

joeradza

Itsmebsh · Aug 9, 2018

Itsmebsh said:
joeradza

joeradza / @Duckdog I couldn't resist, this is the only knife that Olsen made for Bass Pro Shop and Johnny Morris. It is call the sportsman knife. These knives were made in the mid 70's when Bass Pro was just getting started . As you can see it even has Johnny's signature stamped in the blade. And just a little edition to talking about the knives Olsen built for others. All of those knives came originally with a black sheath.

folder geek · Aug 9, 2018

Heres one I just inherited from my grandfather whom passed many years ago. In pretty good shape for the most part.
I believe it's a throwing knife but dont know anymore than that. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers

Itsmebsh · Aug 9, 2018

folder geek said:
Heres one I just inherited from my grandfather whom passed many years ago. In pretty good shape for the most part.
I believe it's a throwing knife but dont know anymore than that. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers

folder geek hello, your correct. This is the 409 Throwing Knife , it has a micarta handle.. Made of Swedish high carbon steel. They referred to it as " The Rugged One " . Because of the Olsen OK stamp, it was made between 1971 and 1982.

folder geek · Aug 9, 2018

Itsmebsh said:
folder geek hello, your correct. This is the 409 Throwing Knife , it has a micarta handle.. Made of Swedish high carbon steel. They referred to it as " The Rugged One " . Because of the Olsen OK stamp, it was made between 1971 and 1982.

Thank you for the info. I know it might be hard to tell from the pics but does the sheath look original? I dont see any markings or stamps on it.

Itsmebsh · Aug 9, 2018

folder geek said:
Thank you for the info. I know it might be hard to tell from the pics but does the sheath look original? I dont see any markings or stamps on it.

folder geek it looks too be original, I have a couple fixed blade sheaths that don't have a stamp either . / Brian /

screened porch · Aug 9, 2018

I had a couple of those Olsen throwers. They broke at the forward rivet.
Here's a pic of the banner-Olsen chef (post fire) and the old one that I don't even know if it's the same Olsen.

folder geek · Aug 9, 2018

Itsmebsh said:
folder geek it looks too be original, I have a couple fixed blade sheaths that don't have a stamp either . / Brian /

Again, big thank you for the info :thumbsup:

Needs a gentle cleaning but otherwise it stays like it is. I do want to throw it once or twice because that's what it's made to do.
Cheers

Itsmebsh · Aug 9, 2018

scrteened porch said:
I had a couple of those Olsen throwers. They broke at the forward rivet.
Here's a pic of the banner-Olsen chef (post fire) and the old one that I don't even know if it's the same Olsen.

screened porch ,yes they are both made by Olsen. The newer one with the banner was made after 1970 -1971. This is the banner marking that I referred to when Olsen sold the company in 1982. The new owners used this marking on their fixed blade knives. The other , any time from 1950 on. If they had parts laying around, they could have assembled them at any time.

screened porch · Aug 9, 2018

Itsmebsh said:
screened porch ,yes they are both made by Olsen. The newer one with the banner was made after 1970 -1971. This is the banner marking that I referred to when Olsen sold the company in 1982. The new owners used this marking on their fixed blade knives. The other , any time from 1950 on. If they had parts laying around, they could have assembled them at any time.

The black one is super thin, like 1/16" tapering to nothing.
The new one I should use in the kitchen out of consideration for the designers, but I really think it wants to be a belt knife.

Itsmebsh · Aug 9, 2018

scrteened porch said:
The black one is super thin, like 1/16" tapering to nothing.
The new one I should use in the kitchen out of consideration for the designers, but I really think it wants to be a belt knife.

screened porch ,knives were made with multiple uses in mind. So do whatever feels right to you.

screened porch · Aug 10, 2018

I Itsmebsh , thanks for putting a date on my belt-chef.
And I found that pocket knife (and another).
I would have said these knives were identical, and except for the shields they're pretty close.

redsparrow · Aug 10, 2018

I Itsmebsh - Thanks for sharing this information with us. It's been very interesting.

Here's a scout (utility) I've believe was made for Olsen by Colonial thus the Lee Jr. shield.

(having trouble retrieving additional photos)

Itsmebsh · Aug 10, 2018

scrteened porch said:
I Itsmebsh , thanks for putting a date on my belt-chef.
And I found that pocket knife (and another).
I would have said these knives were identical, and except for the shields they're pretty close.

screened porch ,if you look at the catalog pages I posted earlier the silver shield is a #107 Whittler knife. The gold shield looks to be the same knife. It just doesn't show the knife on the gold shield page, so they probably just didn't catalog it. Which would not be out of the question. Schrade probably had leftover knives from when they were making the silver shields for Olsen and just put a gold shield in them. They are both Olsen OK.

Itsmebsh · Aug 10, 2018

redsparrow said:
I Itsmebsh - Thanks for sharing this information with us. It's been very interesting.

Here's a scout (utility) I've believe was made for Olsen by Colonial thus the Lee Jr. shield.

(having trouble retrieving additional photos)

redsparrow , I have seen these knives around. But I can not confirm that it is or is not an Olsen . It has never been in any catalogs or other paperwork that I have, or have ever seen. Everything that I have seen made for Olsen had only their stamping on the blade. Just like I have seen folders with just OK on the blade and some people call them Olsen OK knives . BUT in reality they were made by Ontario Knife Company. So the answer is neither yes nor no , but I would lean towards no. That's the only reason I don't have one in my collection . But I will defer my official decision until myself or someone else shows me in black and white that it is. But it is still a nice knife , I hope that I didn't get to long winded with my answer. But I always try to be thorough and give examples if I can. If someone shows it is, I hope that I didn't miss the boat by not buying one.

redsparrow · Aug 10, 2018

Thank you for your response to my post. Not long winded at all. Thorough and accurate which is good.
The info about the scout being made for Olsen by Colonial was located in a blog about Colonial Knives. Maybe it's author could share how it was detemined.

Colonial Forest Master Blog
https://colonialknives.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/23-forest-master-advertising-contract-knives/

Itsmebsh · Aug 11, 2018

redsparrow said:
Thank you for your response to my post. Not long winded at all. Thorough and accurate which is good.
The info about the scout being made for Olsen by Colonial was located in a blog about Colonial Knives. Maybe it's author could share how it was detemined.

Colonial Forest Master Blog
https://colonialknives.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/23-forest-master-advertising-contract-knives/

Thanks I have requested info on documentation. We will see were it leads. Thank you. Like I say I'm a black and white print guy.

redsparrow · Aug 11, 2018

It will be interesting to hear about what is discovered.
Regards, -James

Itsmebsh · Aug 12, 2018

Itsmebsh said:
my 510's

joeradza @Duckdog here you go Alan and Stuart. I almost forgot to show this beauty of a 510. I found this one when I bought out a big portion of Harvey Kouw's collection. He was a long time friend and salesmen for Olsen for many years . Lee had this one made for Harvey along with a 505 Grizzly fixed blade. They were playing around with put fish scale on the blades and even put a piece of pearl in the handle for him. But I have never seen another and like I say, never say never. Lol

joeradza · Aug 12, 2018

Itsmebsh said:
joeradza @Duckdog here you go Alan and Stuart. I almost forgot to show this beauty of a 510. I found this one when I bought out a big portion of Harvey Kouw's collection. He was a long time friend and salesmen for Olsen for many years . Lee had this one made for Harvey along with a 505 Grizzly fixed blade. They were playing around with put fish scale on the blades and even put a piece of pearl in the handle for him. But I have never seen another and like I say, never say never. Lol

I think that one exists as an historical example, but just a little overdone. Sort of like my car designs as a kid.