Western Boulder

thawk

thawk

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Oct 28, 2006
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Does anyone have a list or chart of the various tang stamps/years that were used for Western States Cutlery and Western Cutlery? Especially interested in Western Boulder stamped folding knives. Not actually Camillus, but thought this would be the best place to post the request. Thanks
 
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TangStamps.jpg


From "The Knife makers Who Went West" by Harvey Platts.

If anyone has a question about Western Cutlery, Western States Cutlery, of Boulder Colorado, this is a very nice reference book. I bought one, chock full of good knife photos , illustrations, and history from the late 1800's to the 70's. Very good sampling of catalogs. I've never collected too many Westerns, kind of a scarce brand. Looks like the pre 60's is some good stuff.

Trent - looks like your stamps pretty much covered it.

KnifeNumberingKey.jpg


PocketKnifeNumbers.jpg
 
Not hard to find, but hard to find at a good price. I found one on Amazon for $50.00, after searching a long time on Ebay and the Internet, and they are usually at least $85.00 and up. You are right, it was a better book than I expected. I did not expect to much Platts and Case company history. I bought it more for the Colorado history than for the knives. I really don't collect Westerns much, but wow, did they ever sell some fancy cutlery for a long time. Interesting family histories too. Very nice illustrations on knife construction and terminology.
 
Here is an updated version from OPGCK XV
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Since everyone else is posting charts from books ;)
I'm 99.99% sure it falls under the "for criticism" clause in The Fair Use Act

for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research,

I'll post a nice Schrade tang stamp chart in the Schrade section later tonight........
 
I bought the big book, Trent has more stamps even yet, and I have two Westerns (652 and 651) with a stamp that is not quite like any of them

WESTERN
BOULDER
COLO. U.S.A

Go figure. Such is the life of a Tang Stamp Examiner. :mad:

Read the third paragraph from the page showing stamps from my earlier post, and it pretty much sums up stamping.

"All goods had to be stamped, but exactly which stamp was used was not considered important." :p
 
I have a two bladed, large folding Hunter (?) on the right side of the clip blade is "062" which according to one of the postings is the old "6206". On the left side of the blade is:
Western
Boulder Colo.
Made in U.S.A.
I do not see that marking shown in the above posts. Can anyone give me a time period that it might have been made in? Thanks.
 
John:
In the book, as shown on the first graphic in an earlier post in this thread, Platts states:

"During the 1960's, tang stamps on both sheath knives and pocket knives were gradually changed to "Western USA" - except for the number 381, which was marked Western, Boulder, Colorado, Made in USA well into the 1970's."

I would imagine your 62 falls into that category of "gradually changed in the 1960's". Platts further states on that page, "this information about tang stamps and blade etches should be taken as a general rule". This is about as close as I could come. Hopefully a Western collector with more knowledge may be able to provide more infomation.

Is your 62 bone stag or delrin? That might be a clue as well, although not one for pin pointing a date.
 
I have a Western BSA sheath knife, and couldnt really date it so far.
It reads:
WESTERN
BOULDER. COLO.
MADE IN U.S.A.​

Thomas Linton narrowed it down to 1955-56 to 1970 for me.


If anybody knows the Western Model # and/or the year please tell me.
before I posted in BRL's forum, I guessed It is a L48 and was made in the 60's.

k800westernlittlefinnaz8.jpg

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weststampch2.jpg
bsastampbi1.jpg

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More pictures in the old post linked above.

Thanks a lot.
Peter
 
Well I got really excited when I saw this but as I review everything I have a 2 bladed Jack knife, 3.25 inches, a yellow pearlish plastic that has a tang stamp on one side that says

WESTERN
BOULDER
COLO.USA

On the other side it reads 650. This was my granfathers knife he was a painter and it reads on the side of the knife DAVIS PAINT COMPANY. It is one of my favorites.
I don't see anything close to this above--- NUTS
 
XBXB - Actually, I think your knife is a typical knife from the 50's. My few Boulders are all stamped just like that.
 
Harvey Platts, decendant of the company founder, did us all a great service by writing the book when he did. However, like all important reference books, it does contain errors and omissions. Just one example is the date of the introduction of the trademarked name Westcut. Go to the USPTO website and look it up. The tangstamping reference is quite incomplete as well. But... it does reflect the information to the best of the author's knowledge at the time it was written.
 
thawk said:
Does anyone have a list or chart of the various tang stamps/years that were used for Western States Cutlery and Western Cutlery? Especially interested in Western Boulder stamped folding knives. Not actually Camillus, but thought this would be the best place to post the request. Thanks
Click to expand...

If you are intrested in the older Western Folders Shoot me a PM at triggerfingercox.net and we can talk more. :thumbup:
 
Check other posts for IRVs site and you will find copies of catalogs I have on Western Knives. I only collect the "W" series knives.
 
edbeau, I'm interested in Western knives and while searching thru threads your name came up alot. Do you know when the transition to stainless steel was? I saw a W49 "M" in an antique shop, which I take to mean it was made in 1989.

Is this knife stainless or carbon? I recall it was shiny but was looking thru a glass case.

Thankyou;
Vinny
 
Looking at my Westerns, I have one "M" stamp and it is a W39 Skinner. The box calls it a Coleman/Western so I believe it is not stainless. I think the stainless knives started with Camillus. The blade I have polished but I do show some small pitting on the tang. Here is a short history of Western knives. In 1911, Western States Cutlery and Manufacturing Company was founded in Boulder, CO. Western Cutlery moved from Boulder, CO. to Longmont, CO. in 1978. They became Coleman-Western in 1984. In 1991, Camillus bought Western Cutlery of Colorado, a competitor that was in business since 1896. Some of my knives, need a new picture, http://edbeau.multiply.com/photos/album/4/Western_Cutlery#photo=2
 
VBA, check IRV's site for my catalogs. I believe that Camillus labeled the wooden handled stainless ones WW instead of the original W.
 
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