154OT Drop Point Hunter Research
The Schrade 154OT Drop Point Hunter is a uncommon classic Schrade pattern Old Timer fixed blade. The 154OT was the fifth fixed blade Old Timer when it was first introduced in 1976 (15OT-'64, 165OT-'67, 41OT-'71, 152OT-'73) and was produced for only thirteen years before being discontinued. It was first manufactured after the Schrade-Walden name had been changed to Schrade Cutlery (in mid 1973). In the 1976 Schrade Cutlery catalog it listed for $14.95. It listed for $22.95 in the 1988 catalog (but could be found for less from the mass marketers).
The Drop Point Hunter has downward curve shaped brown sawcut Delrin handles of "Genuine Saw Cut Delrin", advertised and guaranteed as unbreakable. They are directly inherited from the predecessor, 15OT Sharpfinger, introduced a few years earlier in 1973. In cross section, they are generally rectangular with radiused edges, and the width tapers from a narrow 1/2" at the choil to almost 7/8" wide at the butt. This shape aids the user in maintaining blade orientation, while not being uncomfortable to hold as would the same shape without the rounded corners. The curvature, arched along the spine of the tang is very "ergonomic", though that was not a term in vogue in the mid 1970's. It fits the user's palm well. The handle halves are held to the full exposed tang blade by two flush nickle silver flat head compression rivets, and a 3/4" nickle silver Old Timer shield is set flush on the right handle ( rectangular with radiused ends and single stroke letters "OLD TIMER"). On occasion over the relatively short span of production, black, green, and cream Delrin handles have been used on special and private issues. The handle has an unlined thong, or "lanyard" hole near the rear. on the 152OT, earlier production knives were provided with a leather thong for the user to install. Sometime during production, the wrist thong fell out of vogue with users and it was deleted from the 152OT package, but the unlined thong hole remained. I do not know if early 154OT knives were provided with the leather thong, but the thong hole remained a feature.
A prominent choil on the ricasso in front of the handle, copied from the 152OT as well, acts as a lower guard and protects the fingers from the sharpened blade. while it is not as enlarged as the extended choil of the 15OT ancestor, it is smoothly radiused on the handle side to form a rest for the user's index finger in normal use grip, or the thumb with the knife rotated 90 degrees for skinning strokes. The 3 1/2" full tang dropped blade is flat ground 1095 carbon steel in it's original design. A stiff blade, the blade stock is approximately 5/32" thick. Often described as a drop point skinner, the blade has a curved skinner belly with an dropped tip, and just a hint of a false edge on the full arched upper spine. Overall length was listed as 7 1/4" and weight 4.1 oz.
I have found one basic sheath design so far. Used beginning with the introduction, where the keeper strap originated inside the left side of the sheath and wrapped over the choil to the male portion of the snap mounted on the center of the sheath face. The blade tended to cut the strap inside the sheath when inserted or withdrawn by the user. Sheath finish color varied over during production from light tan, light russet, dark russet, to true brown. Occasionally an undyed replacement sheath shows up on the market. A few special and private issue sheaths are dyed black, usually with white stitching. All sheaths had a formed front panel stitched with brown or black thread to a flat back panel, with two small rivets finishing the stitching at the throat. The back panel extended upward above the front piece and folded backward to form the integral belt hanger loop. Because of the small size of the sheath, none were made with the stone pocket found on other larger Schrade fixed blade patterns. There were tooled border lines on the integral belt hanger on the earlier sheaths. Some of the later ones deleted this simple decorative detail.
Like many Old Timers, only small, relatively minor engineering changes have been detected on the 154OT over the span of production., but most are negligible, and not evident without using accurate measuring devices. One such noted change is a variance in the blade stock thickness. There is not a consistent pattern of thick or thin stock that I have been able to pin down, but rather a general inconsistency over the life of the pattern production. This same quirk has been noted on the related patterns 152OT and 158OT.
No distinctly different tang stamps have been noted so far on standard production knives, other than those a byproduct of worn stamping dies, or in the case of limited editions, special private issues I have not seen any relics of the 154 pattern appearing from the Schrade sample room as I have with many patterns.
The entire standard production was marked with the left-hand tang stamp "SCHRADE" over "U.S.A. 154OT" perpendicular to the blade and read from the handle. This tang stamp remained unchanged throughout the years of production. While the 152OT, 165OT, and several other Old Timer patterns did not utilize the "OT" suffix on their tang stamps, the 154OT followed the precedent of the 15OT and included the "OT" identifier on the tang stamp. The earlier Walden 15OT's and 165OT's were serialialized on the left tang perpendicular to the blade, but I have never seen a production Drop Point Hunter serialized, excepting a few limited editions.
The success of the 152OT inspired Schrade to issue a stainless Uncle Henry Signature version of that knife, and of the Drop Point Hunter knife in 1994, the 154UH "Badger", sporting a Staglon handle (Delrin molded and accent colored to imitate stag antler) with the Uncle Henry signature shield as found on the Signature Series pocketknives, and two flat rivets, all in nickle silver. This was a handle design first used on the 165UH during the short two year first production run in 1969-'70 and repeated on a second later production in 1994-'97. The 154UH was supplied with the standard sheath. It's tang stamp is "SCHRADE+" over "U.S.A. 154UH" on the 440A stainless blade. The 154UH Badger was last produced in 1997. The name "Badger" had earlier been used on the 164UH fillet knife ('82-'88).
Most limited editions and a lot of private issue Schrade Cutlery knives had a right side tang stamp of "SCHRADE" over "USA" I am not aware of any that used the 440A stainless blade. These editions sometimes sported special etches, shields, or green, black, or cream sawcut Delrin handles.
Beginning in about 1979, Schrade produced the 154 pattern knives with cream Delrin handles and die imprinted with inked scrimshaw art, done first by Frank Georgiani, their in-house artist. For several years, one or more designs were released. Most years that they were made, the 154 scrimshaws were available in a set of seven or more different pattern knives, though many were sold individually. Listing the various different scrims I have seen of this pattern is not difficult, since they are few, at least compared to the more popular Sharpfinger. These limited edition knives were usually given unique tang stamps with either a prefix or suffix of "SC". Those I have noted are: 501SC. A number of blank black Delrin "501SC's" appeared on the market with blank shields. I believe that Schrade held a good many blanks in reserve, and when the pattern was deleted from production, the leftover blanks were handled and sold or given away as advertising. The plain black Delrin is attractive in it's own way, and was used on several other patterns for special editions. A few black Delrin 154 tang stamped Drop Point Hunters have also appeared with the "OLD TIMER" shield, indicating they were not intended for the Scrimshaw edition.
The 154OT was used in private editions for Copenhagen and Skoal brand tobacco products promotions. Skoal used green Delrin with a brass oval coined "Schrade" shield and a tang stamp of "Schrade" over "Skoal U.S.A." Copenhagen used black Delrin and a tang stamp of "Schrade" over "Cope U.S.A." Some had a "Limited Edition" blade etch.
The 154 pattern was used by Peterson Publishing in the late 70's or very early 80's, along with the 152 pattern, for promotion of subscriptions. Shields on the black sawcut Delrin handles were stamped with the two magazine names, "Guns & Ammo", and "Hunting". Both patterns have been seen with each stamping. They used the production 1095HC blade blanks and "SCHRADE" over U.S.A. tang stamps.
Imperial Schrade also produced a variant of the 154OT Drop Point Hunter in 1988. It was the 158OT "Guthook Skinner", which utilized the same handle design and construction, but differed from the 154 only with the addition of a hook on the upper spine near the tip with a sharpened rear facing slot. The hook was intended for opening the abdominal cavities of game animals without puncturing the viscera. Evidently this pattern was more successful than the 154 upon which it was based, because the 154OT was discontinued after the year the 158 was introduced, and the 158OT continued in production along with the Sharpfinger until 2004.
Several knives were made with near identical blade shapes and similar handle shapes under the Imperial Frontier tang stamp. The butt of the handles on the Imperials were usually more rounded than the squareish Old Timers. The separate Imperial line was discontinued shortly thereafter.
So far, no American companies have, since July of 2004, tooled up and begun producing their own versions of the Drop Point Hunter, though the Sharpfinger has been copied and "improved upon" by several manufacturers. Importers have not yet picked this pattern for copying either, but likewise are producing copies of several other patterns under the Schrade name.
