The (New and Improved) old school Schrade thread

Upstream said:
..... How they could make stamps so small is a wonder to me.
Click to expand...

Photoetching. I used to do it. A soft steel stamp blank is coated with a litho coating, covered with a film image of the stamp, placed under vacuume, and exposed to intense arc lamps. The coating exposed to the light bakes and hardens, the area to be removed is covered by the film and remains soft. A photodeveloper solution washes away the soft coating, and cures the hard coating. Acid is scrubbed over the surface to eat away the soft steel evenly where not protected by the coating. Then the acid is neutralized and the coating removed, the steel shank shaped, the steel tempered and hardened beyond the rockwell of the target steel to be impressed. Bang! A tiny tangstamp. Probably do it with CNC machines or lasers this century though. Then there is the leprechaun theory.

Codger
 
Amazing!! From monkeys fist to photoetching, the things one can learn on the Schrade Knives Collectors Forum.
Thanks Rick
 
It does not look messed with so it would probably be a transitional made with what they had once again it is a Schrade so nothing is impossible and you may find anything. . Nice rare find. Probably 1948 or so.
 
Codger_64 said:
Probably do it with CNC machines or lasers this century though.
Codger
Click to expand...

Yep, here's a laser etch:

knife_new_01.jpg
 
Nice knife, Upstream...

Neat to get those with the mixed tang stamps.

I'll vote SCC and say a Senator 9709GoldShac (I think that is gold, the pic is tinted some)

Thanks for sharing...

Glenn
 
This thread has it all! A first time visitor and new member: Fireman; A great tale from his prison days from LT and some fantastic knives. Glenn, this is the second time you've done a thread like ths and we appreciate it!!!

So here is another first: A Frost Cutlery knife. It's the one with the real jigged bone handles in the pic. 'Surgical Steel, but the knife is not marked made in Japan. 'Copperhead' etch on the main blade. It is a quality knife, nice and tight, brass liners, nickelsilver bolsters, Stainless blade as mentioned and stainless backspring.

Second knife shown is an old Schrade Cut electrian's knife, very similar to the one LT shows us in post number 25. But although the main blade locks in place (as the screwdriver IS the main blade on this tradesman's knife), it has no brass 'push here' locking or safety device.

What it has is what makes the inclusion of the Frost copperhead appropos to this post: A unique locking mechanism where the main blade locks in place, released by the pushing down on the secondary blade. Another old idea that was new again when Jim Frost designed the copperhead.

I showed the Schrade here in the forum not long ago; the owner of the local knife shop had set it aside for me. He'd buffed it.. I am having a hard time breaking him of that habit. I took it to work one day, just to let the knife strut it's stuff one more time. I stripped some cable, used the locking screwdriver blade to tighten down the termination. The knife is as useful today as it was some... what? 70 years ago? I dunno. My apprentices were facinated by it (they are easily impressed, being only 18. A note, they are also twins. Confuses me)

Thanks again, Glenn for starting this, thanks guys for showing off.

Phil
363065.jpg
 
Anyone said Frost copperhead?, well this one is actually marked Copperhead II, with no locking blades.

I always thought of the copperhead bolster as pocket friendly, covering those tangs, but in this one the razor blade was kind of sharp and tough for the pocket, I did round it up a little bit, the bone scales were originally smooth but I just couldn't leave them alone, it once got a bad chip around the center pin which I fixed with clear epoxy.

The surgical steel is on the soft side so it doesn't hold an edge very much but fit and finish is fine and the razor blade, hollow ground and reprofiled to a very acute angle (as razors should be), does get scary sharp.

Not much compared to what you guys have, but hey it's not easy to find the good stuff in Mexico.

Luis



Edited: my first attempt at using a thumbnail from http://tinypic.com/
 
I always thought those Frost knives were pretty well made. (of course, I only own one myself) Nice copperlock and electrician's knife! Boy, you can't kill those things. Probably has a killer half stop on it, huh?

BTW, Phil, did you win that's gents knife over the weekend? I saw your name and moved on...same with you Redshanks, hope you had good luck...

my offering for today is a SCC jack knife, close to the #1251 chain model, except mine is 3 3/8" instead of 3 1/4", and obviously is sans chain. It is probably more likely a #1151.

scc027.jpg


Next is I guess a carpenter's whittler pattern. SW #804 , and 3 7/8" closed. A beast of knife in girth IMHO. It's just missing a shield. (I might have an extra somewhere) and sharp as a razor, too. ;)

scc028.jpg


Glenn
 
That whittler pattern is very nice. I've seen it in the Heritage series and it usually goes for big bucks due to it's relative scarcity and desirability.

I don't have any Schrades that are as old as the wonderful knives pictured in this topic, but I did pick up a "Razor Blade Stainless," the first that I've seen. It's an 855RB and has an etch of an old double-edge razor blade on the main blade:

855RBSmall.jpg
 
Here is another RB Schrade Walden 778. I'm not sure what the ITE symbol is for. Nice little stainless pocket knife.
778.jpg

TTYL
Larry
 
Redshanks your knife is from some time after 1973 but frankly right around that time plus possibly a few years,the shield etch and jigged delrin were used on many of these patterns however before this time frame they carried the Schrade Walden tang. These were sold in the little plastic tube and really are still a great user knife. Time constraints have not allowed my posting pics of packing ect sorry. This knife is worth ( or was a few months ago ) 20- to 30 dollars, with a Schrade Walden tang ( same knife perhapes only days difference ) 30 +, in genuine jigged bone 40 to 150 weird but true. The good part is that they were all great user knives but yours is the only one it makes sense to use. It is a strange market last year LB-1 knives were bringing in an
inflated market 150 now they are 25+ other patterns have gone out of site and brought nothing last year. It is an uninformed buying public that causes this and while that helps a few individuals,it hurts many. However the growing interest helps everyone,but most of all it is most positive for the historical aspects of preservation. This really is ( for good or bad ) atypical of the paths and directions of most artifacts of this type. LT
 
Larry, The logo on your knife is for ITE electrical items. Note the stylized lighting bolt around the initials... every good electrical firm or company tries to work that in, including the outfit I work for.
Phil

ps.. Nice one Redshanks!
 
Nice stockman, Redshanks! While the 855 is fairly common, not too many are as pristine as that one, and alot of them don't have the etch on there. Still a great knife. Thanks.

Nice 778RB, Irv (er...I mean Larry). Thanks for sharing and contributing to this thread.

Something has been bugging me. I keep seeing new schrades, like the cigar box series type knives on ebay, advertised as Scrade Walden 1948-1973. Now it is true that they carry the old school SW tang stamp, but they are clearly not Schrade Walden knives from 1948-1973. These dealers sell enough of these to know that this is misleading. The uneducated buyer will jump on these, thinking they are mint examples of 30+ year old knives.

That was just bugging me.

Glenn
 
LT, my scan of the 855RB doesn't show it very well, but it's new and unused and it came in the little plastic tube. The paperwork that came with it says that it's "hand honed" which can be seen by the bevels on the blades. This knife is very sharp. Based upon your valuation, I paid more than it's worth (geez, how many times have I done that?) but I liked the size and style.

Glenn, I bought 2 of the Cigar Box knives at what I thought were good prices, but I see others listed for twice their original price. These are absolutely gorgeous knives, some of the best that Schrade made in my opinion. I have made more than my share of mistakes when it comes to buying knives, mostly due to my own ignorance. That's what brought me to this forum in the first place, I want to be informed about Schrade knives so that regardless of what a seller says about a particular knife, I can sort fact from fiction and buy according to it's real value to me.
 
Don't get me wrong. Those new "old" tang stamp knives are very high quality, I just get frustrated with ebay sellers that knowingly misrepresent their items...

Glenn
 
Phil,
Thanks I knew I could find someone here whom would know.. Sickly looking lightning bolt. Looks more like a waving flag to me.

Redshanks.. We all make these buying fopars but whom cares? if you want the knife get the knife.Enjoy the knife..

Glenn , My pleasure. Part of collecting is sharing. The kids aren't around enough and dont hold the same interest so whom can I share with but you-all. The wife can only shake her head so many times...

As for sellers selling stuff they know aint what they say it is.. Buyers be ware. Come here, ask away. Ask a friend/member of the forum off line if you have any doubt. Ask the seller. But if you want the knife... see #2

My daily .02.
TTYL
Larry
P.S. I have 3 of the Cirgar Box knives and find them great reproductions.
 
Alright, here are my next 2 submissions...

Here is a nice SCC sleeveboard, 3 3/8" closed with a nicely worn bone handle. There is some blade loss, but a nice comfy broken in pocketknife.

The snap on these SCC always astound me, even as old and well used as they are.

recessedfixture002.jpg



And here is you standard Chrysler mechanic 4year service knife. It looks to be a 876 pattern, stainless, and 2 7/8" closed. There is some loss/bad sharpening torture on the pen blade, but otherwise a very nice piece.

schrade003.jpg


Glenn
 
Here are another dozen of Schrade cuts. actually 11 the one with the little japanese mark is a Schrade Walden I seperated it from the Schrade Waldens because of its rarity and then forgot. It actually is one of a few of these that Albert Baer had done specially when he was asked ( by sears Roebuck ) to go to Japan to negotiate a deal on ( then then new ) transistor radio. Baer was quite well thought of by Sears and they felt he would be the best man for the job. He had a lot of connections. He had these knives made up special to give as gifts the marking I was told was the mark ( I forget what they call it ) for the individual who owned the radio company. I separated this piece because I felt this history was rather unusual. A couple others I thought I should mention are the calandar knife which is considered on of the rarest of all Schrades. These were made in solid 14 K and filled. The 14 K were sold by tiffanys and are so marked. The third knife I want to mention is the mint salesmans jigged bone handled knife notice the number etched on the blade. I just grabbed these and will grab another dozen when time allows. As you can see I did not even take the cathair off the display board. I do not know which are Busters and which are Buddies hairs. I mention that for all you folks who may think I act like I know everything believe me I am old enough to know just how much there is to learn. Hope you enjoy the pics LT PS I am not keeping track of these so if I make a mistake and mix them up and put the same one on again feel free to give me heck. PPS Oddly these calendar knives which bring ridiculous prices. Were also made in a silver ( colored ) metal by latama and perhapes other companies if you can find one they go for about 5 or 10 dollars Sargent valued the Schrade Cut version ( 20 ) years ago at 1000. I have seen two on ebay the gold tiffany version did bring the book value ( I forget exactly ). The other went for several hundred ( but under 1000 ). This is a nice knife to keep in mind since it is the kind of think you might see at a flea market.
 
Oh yeah.. cool knives and neat info about Albert Baer. Way to go LT!
I was gonna post some of my own knives, I think I'll just enjoy looking again at everything you guys are showing off.
Phil
 
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