Western knife identification and aging

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Dhoium3009

Joined
May 4, 2022
Messages
6
I’m new to the forums, hope I’m in the right spot. Haven’t used a forums in years!

Anyways, I have this Western knife. From what I can tell through unconfirmed sources, it may be dated to ‘47-‘55. Post-‘47 because of the brass finger guard, and pre-‘55 because I read on the internet (so it must be true) that all post-’55 knives had a model on them.

I’m also not sure what model it is. It appears to be an L66, but you can tell the bevel on the side of the blade goes higher up the blade than any L66 I can find. It’s also shorter than an L66, but maybe it got used so much, sharpened so many times, someone decided to modify that bevel and push it back? I’m not sure.

The tang stamp says:
WESTERN
BOULDER. COLO.
PATD MADE IN USA
Click to expand...
Which, I've also read, refers to post war Western. I heard '47-'53, but I have no way to confirm that.

What do you guys think?

VQoIts1.jpg

FJ4RSYZ.jpg

yqj06dx.jpg

rTSwtma.jpg

YtBhZoo.jpg
 
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I think you are right on it. I'd say an L66, but with about 1/4" plus of blade loss.
 
zzyzzogeton zzyzzogeton Your Western expertise is needed. 😊

From the two hilt pins I'm guessing it's a twin tang. I forget what years Western used that (patented) design on the L and possibly F series/handle knives.
 
Based on the tang stamp, I'd say 1934/35 -1950. I've read that the tang stamps didn't mention a Patent after 1950.
I can't speculate on the model it may have originally been. The blade appears to have been heavily used/modified.
The blade length is missing about 1/2" to make it an L66 which I also have read wasn't stamped as a model number until the move to Boulder in the late 50's.

On the other hand, I could be totally wrong LOL ... I've seen one example with the same tang stamp as yours and "L66" stamped on the other side (pile side) of the tang (which yours does not have), not the finger guard stamp as found on most L66 knives.
I mention this because the one (and only) example I saw stamped like this, doesn't fit the date explanations I mentioned in the first paragraph.

Hopefully our Western expert will chime in and clear things up a bit :)

EDIT: Here is a link to an L66 with tang stamp like yours but also has "L66" stamped on the pile side of the tang instead of the finger guard. Which is not often seen I don't think ... Dating Western L66
 
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BrotherJim said:
Based on the tang stamp, I'd say 1934/35 -1950. I've read that the tang stamps didn't mention a Patent after 1950.
I can't speculate on the model it may have originally been. The blade appears to have been heavily used/modified.
The blade length is missing about 1/2" to make it an L66 which I also have read wasn't stamped as a model number until the move to Boulder in the late 50's.

On the other hand, I could be totally wrong LOL ... I've seen one example with the same tang stamp as yours and "L66" stamped on the other side (pile side) of the tang (which yours does not have), not the finger guard stamp as found on most L66 knives.
I mention this because the one (and only) example I saw stamped like this, doesn't fit the date explanations I mentioned in the first paragraph.

Hopefully our Western expert will chime in and clear things up a bit :)

EDIT: Here is a link to an L66 with tang stamp like yours but also has "L66" stamped on the pile side of the tang instead of the finger guard. Which is not often seen I don't think ... Dating Western L66
Click to expand...
That’s actually the post I got some of my information from - especially the information about mine being post-war. It’s very possible I misinterpreted something though.

Time for me to walk in to work, so I’ll try to check back throughout the day.
 
One more showed up today. Photo lighting isn’t great, but whatever. You can clearly see the first knife was at one point an L66 blade. I guess technically it still is, but that’s some heavy use. I like it!

Anyways, here’s another L66 to age since I’m at it.

Not on PC right now so I can’t format the way I want. Tang stamp is:

WESTERN
Click to expand...
BOULDER CO
Click to expand...
USA
Click to expand...

And L66 is on the guard.

My best guess is ‘67-‘76 based on a previous post from Z saying the guard stamp most likely fell in that range. From what I can tell, that would corroborate that guess, but I don’t really have a solid year range on that either.

https://imgur.com/kwAe6xE
https://imgur.com/NsRWtl9
https://imgur.com/U4fO8mD
https://imgur.com/uPyilX2
https://imgur.com/9f6RDFm
 
Dhoium3009 said:
I’m new to the forums, hope I’m in the right spot. Haven’t used a forums in years!

Anyways, I have this Western knife. From what I can tell through unconfirmed sources, it may be dated to ‘47-‘55. Post-‘47 because of the brass finger guard, and pre-‘55 because I read on the internet (so it must be true) that all post-’55 knives had a model on them.

I’m also not sure what model it is. It appears to be an L66, but you can tell the bevel on the side of the blade goes higher up the blade than any L66 I can find. It’s also shorter than an L66, but maybe it got used so much, sharpened so many times, someone decided to modify that bevel and push it back? I’m not sure.

The tang stamp says:

Which, I've also read, refers to post war Western. I heard '47-'53, but I have no way to confirm that.

What do you guys think?

VQoIts1.jpg

FJ4RSYZ.jpg

yqj06dx.jpg

rTSwtma.jpg

YtBhZoo.jpg
Click to expand...

Sorry for the slow reply. Had some rural internet difficulties yesterday.

The knife is definitely post-WW2/pre-1955. Post-WW2 because it has a USA as part of the stamp on the mark side ricasso. Pre-1955 as it is missing a model number. The spacer pattern makes it NOT pre-1950.

It is a 1950-1954 L52. The L52 had a 4" blade with a flat grind with a blade profile similar to but not identical to the L66.
 
Dhoium3009 said:
One more showed up today. Photo lighting isn’t great, but whatever. You can clearly see the first knife was at one point an L66 blade. I guess technically it still is, but that’s some heavy use. I like it!

Anyways, here’s another L66 to age since I’m at it.

Not on PC right now so I can’t format the way I want. Tang stamp is:





And L66 is on the guard.

My best guess is ‘67-‘76 based on a previous post from Z saying the guard stamp most likely fell in that range. From what I can tell, that would corroborate that guess, but I don’t really have a solid year range on that either.

https://imgur.com/kwAe6xE
https://imgur.com/NsRWtl9
https://imgur.com/U4fO8mD
https://imgur.com/uPyilX2
https://imgur.com/9f6RDFm
Click to expand...

It is a 1967 to 1972 L66 - "Boulder Colo" was dropped starting in 1973. Guard stamping started in 1967.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
Sorry for the slow reply. Had some rural internet difficulties yesterday.

The knife is definitely post-WW2/pre-1955. Post-WW2 because it has a USA as part of the stamp on the mark side ricasso. Pre-1955 as it is missing a model number. The spacer pattern makes it NOT pre-1950.

It is a 1950-1954 L52. The L52 had a 4" blade with a flat grind with a blade profile similar to but not identical to the L66.
Click to expand...
That was not what I was expecting to hear! I’ve never even heard of an L52. Can’t find a photo of one online either, but it’s kind of cool. Are those uncommon knives?

Thank you so much for responding to both of my questions! It’s very much appreciated.
 
Dhoium3009 said:
That was not what I was expecting to hear! I’ve never even heard of an L52. Can’t find a photo of one online either, but it’s kind of cool. Are those uncommon knives?

Thank you so much for responding to both of my questions! It’s very much appreciated.
Click to expand...

The L52 came out in 1950 and disappears down the road, probably around 1955 when the next wave of changes occured. I have never run across an L52 with a model number on it, so there was probably only a single run made in 1950, say 500 to 1000 knives at the most.
 
Is there a place I can find like a Western ad for it or something? The only one I know of is the 1980 ad.
 
Dhoium3009 said:
Is there a place I can find like a Western ad for it or something? The only one I know of is the 1980 ad.
Click to expand...

Again sorry for being slow replying, but I don't do much here in General. The primary sources for information is rarely seen old catalogs and the book "The Knife Makers Who Went West", 1978, by (allegedly) Harlon Platts, grandson of the founder and President of Western at the time. The book shows up off and on on fleabay, ranging from $75 to $200, depending on who's selling and who's buying at the time.

On a web site "collectors of camillus", Ed Beauregard has posted up the catalogs he has or has had scanned copies sent to him.

Until the 1990s, knife company catalogs were primarily just sent to distributors and sellers, not the general public. When a new catalog came in, merchants and distributor wouold chunk the oldone in the trash. That's why they are so hard to find. I know that my father threw away hundreds of old catalogs over his 40 years of running a store that now would be like manna from heaven for collectors of all the old crap we sold. Also, older, pre-WW2 catalogs went into the "paper drives" conducted during WW2 to be mulched up and reused for other purposes.
 
black mamba said:
I think your 1947-1955 assessment is very close. The 1935-1950 knives had the actual patent number on them (1967479), then up until 1955 they had PAT'D MADE IN USA for the stamp. So I would say 1950-'55.
Click to expand...
I have a knife in front of me one of their Bowie type knives says Western Boulder Colorado patent number 1967-479 in great condition so this was made between 1935 and 1950? How do I find out exactly what I was made
 
The patent number (1967479) seems to refer to the split tang construction.
Filed by Harlow Platts in 1931, granted 1934, expired 1951.
Need pictures...
 
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