Codger_64
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- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
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The Imperial Schrade factory in Ellenville was running late on a lot of orders and planned introductions when the letter greeted arriving employees at the end of July, 2004. Tomorrow is your last day. The bank had called it's overdue loans which forced the company into receivership. A substantial order was ready to ship to their largest account, Walmart. This, the bank was told, would put them back in the black and allow them to pay the loans. No. The bank had gone as far as it was willing to go in granting extensions and the die was cast. Bankruptcy was unavoidable at that point, and the Trustee appointed a panel of vendors owed varying sums to oversee the liquidation of the corporation and all of it's assets. What followed three months later was an onsite auction of machinery, parts and materials, the intellectual property and factory and office furnishings. Happy 100th birthday Schrade.
As the years have passed, nearly four now, the flotsum and jetsum of the company has been seen by many of us as the two companies who bought the "works in progress", finished knives and such, sold off small lots to dealers large and small. Most of us have acquired some knives, and possibly a few mementos of the company such as advertising flyers, unfinished knife blanks, broken knives and rejects. A few truly unique knives have surfaced such as prototypes, knives from the fabled "Wall Collection" from the Schrade offices, and knives owned and collected by former employees, many of them made in small quantities for special local events.
I've keep my eyes open for a few patterns listed in the 2004 catalog which seldom surface, the mid-year closing cutting short their first year of production. Obviously the 100th Anniversary knives fall into this catagory. But there were several others whose brief appearance on the market makes them worth seeking. Some, such as the 24OTX, a SFO for Walmart, are attractive to even traditional slipjoint fans. Some, like the X-Timer XT-7B, 7OTX and SQ XTAC series don't attract much of a following and can still be bought cheap, though they are showing up much less frequently than in the past. A few have never been seen except in the 2004 catalog. One of those is the SQ598T, a titanium lined knife with ATS-34 blades. Another is the fixed blade XT4.
I've seen that line drawing of the XT4 in the 2004 shortline catalog on my desk for nearly four years now. "NEW! XT4 9" fixed blade, with sheath", Suggested retail $59.95" It had four small spun handle rivets on the black synthetic handle scales (Zytel?), a lanyard loop extending from the lower butt of the knife, three "lightening holes" piercing the blade above the choil, a sabre ground blade with the grind line rising above the sharp drop point tip.
A couple of years ago a former employee told us that there were four or five prototypes made, but they haven't surfaced that I have noted. The same former employee sent me an artist's conception drawing of the knife and that is as close as we have come to seeing the real knife. Until now.
I recently identified a blank which a forum member acquired from the Camillus auction as one of these knives. He has four of them, and more have been seen since then. Now, while this does answer the question of whether or not there was real intent to produce them, a slew of other questions are raised. Were they, like many other late Schrade knives, fine blanked? Or were these blanks so early in the production process that a blanking die had not yet been purchased and they were cut by laser or waterjet? How many blanks were produced? I have seen eight, plus the "five" prototypes mentioned makes at least a few more than a dozen. What became of the five prototypes? This wasn't strictly an SFO pattern like the proposed 152OTX which was rejected by Wal-Mart and picked up by United/Arrowhead after the Schrade closing. That knife never appeared in the catalog, and so far no prototypes or blanks have been seen. Why were these blanks found in the Camillus auction, not the Schrade auction? Were they slated to be blanked, assembled and finished at Camillus before Schrade closed? Or were they a part of the knives added to the Camillus auction when they were returned there from Texas?
I'll add to this when I have more information on the blanks. I have five on the way to me now.
As the years have passed, nearly four now, the flotsum and jetsum of the company has been seen by many of us as the two companies who bought the "works in progress", finished knives and such, sold off small lots to dealers large and small. Most of us have acquired some knives, and possibly a few mementos of the company such as advertising flyers, unfinished knife blanks, broken knives and rejects. A few truly unique knives have surfaced such as prototypes, knives from the fabled "Wall Collection" from the Schrade offices, and knives owned and collected by former employees, many of them made in small quantities for special local events.
I've keep my eyes open for a few patterns listed in the 2004 catalog which seldom surface, the mid-year closing cutting short their first year of production. Obviously the 100th Anniversary knives fall into this catagory. But there were several others whose brief appearance on the market makes them worth seeking. Some, such as the 24OTX, a SFO for Walmart, are attractive to even traditional slipjoint fans. Some, like the X-Timer XT-7B, 7OTX and SQ XTAC series don't attract much of a following and can still be bought cheap, though they are showing up much less frequently than in the past. A few have never been seen except in the 2004 catalog. One of those is the SQ598T, a titanium lined knife with ATS-34 blades. Another is the fixed blade XT4.
I've seen that line drawing of the XT4 in the 2004 shortline catalog on my desk for nearly four years now. "NEW! XT4 9" fixed blade, with sheath", Suggested retail $59.95" It had four small spun handle rivets on the black synthetic handle scales (Zytel?), a lanyard loop extending from the lower butt of the knife, three "lightening holes" piercing the blade above the choil, a sabre ground blade with the grind line rising above the sharp drop point tip.
A couple of years ago a former employee told us that there were four or five prototypes made, but they haven't surfaced that I have noted. The same former employee sent me an artist's conception drawing of the knife and that is as close as we have come to seeing the real knife. Until now.
I recently identified a blank which a forum member acquired from the Camillus auction as one of these knives. He has four of them, and more have been seen since then. Now, while this does answer the question of whether or not there was real intent to produce them, a slew of other questions are raised. Were they, like many other late Schrade knives, fine blanked? Or were these blanks so early in the production process that a blanking die had not yet been purchased and they were cut by laser or waterjet? How many blanks were produced? I have seen eight, plus the "five" prototypes mentioned makes at least a few more than a dozen. What became of the five prototypes? This wasn't strictly an SFO pattern like the proposed 152OTX which was rejected by Wal-Mart and picked up by United/Arrowhead after the Schrade closing. That knife never appeared in the catalog, and so far no prototypes or blanks have been seen. Why were these blanks found in the Camillus auction, not the Schrade auction? Were they slated to be blanked, assembled and finished at Camillus before Schrade closed? Or were they a part of the knives added to the Camillus auction when they were returned there from Texas?
I'll add to this when I have more information on the blanks. I have five on the way to me now.
