1943 Sears Roebuck Knives

[Codger_64]

Here are a few new scans from the Spring - Summer 1943 Sears Roebuck & Co. catalog.

 

[waynorth]

The prices kill me! Wouldn't it beeeee nice(The Beach Boys!).
The ad copy is cool too. I like reading them. Thanks for the catalogue.
Kinda funny how the artists take some license when drawing the knives. You couldn't possibly close them, the way the blades lap! Need some serious crinking there!!
(I'm sure it's done to show off the blades.)

 

[Codger_64]

I noticed that. It is a shame they don't show the tangstamps too.

 

[Trent Rock]

Nice ads!!!
I think I got me a Heavy Duty 9536!!!!
W0oT!!!!!
I still think it looks Camillus made.....
Wait....mine only has one pin on the handles
Never mind.....

 

[Codger_64]

So look inside. For a while, Camillus used a triangular crimp in the liner to attach the handles on each side of each end. My Dunlaps circa 1939 are made that way.

 

[DaveT63]

As always, Codger, great info! Thanks for all your fantastic research efforts!

Dave

 

[Codger_64]

One tidbit that these dated catalog ads gives us that we can help date Sears knives with is the logo style of the Craftsman etches. You will note that at this time the Craftsman "underline" logo is used and the Craftsman "crown" logo has not yet appeared.

And as I have mentioned before, this particular catalog shows us that Craftsman marked knives did appear earlier than previously thought, at least as early as the spring of 1943 rather than post-war. And that a variety of plastics were already in use right along side jigged bone. As the war went on, cattle shinbone needed for knife handles became harder to import from South America, and stocks that did exist prior to the war and stocks that made it through the German U-boat blockade was dedicated to handles for military knives. The use of "stratigic" metals also became more restricted with brass being replaced by steel for liners and pins in many patterns. Baer, as he mentioned in his memoirs, had an edge over a lot of his competition in that just before the war he had purchased the entire stock of metals from a competator, L.F.& C., who had recently closed their pocketknife manufacturing facility. Landers Frary and Clark retooled and turned to war production of powered gun mounts for ships, bomb site parts and mess kits.

It will take quite some time to sort out who made what knives though. But details like the triangular crimps in the liners help a lot. This particular detail was brought to light by none other than Mr. Tom Williams, former Camillus historian, over in the Levine forum a while back on a Dunlap thread. I personally had never looked inside my Dunlap knives before to see how the covers were held on in the absence of cover pins (DOH!).

While the companies like Schrade, Camillus and yes, even merchants like Sears whose products we collect are gone, research into their history continues.

Michael

 

[Trent Rock]

So look inside. For a while, Camillus used a triangular crimp in the liner to attach the handles on each side of each end. My Dunlaps circa 1939 are made that way.

You are correct sir!!!
I never bothered to look INSIDE I guess.....

 

[Codger_64]

The good news is that two "new" Sears catalogs just arrived, 1943-44 Fall - Winter and 1944 Spring - Summer, and I purchased another one, 1942-43 Fall - Winter. Bad news is that it will take me a few weeks to do my scans and other work on them. Ultimately, my goal is to be able to do a complete survey of Sears knives 1939 - 1950. Eventually maybe thru 1960/70. At about $20 per catalog, $60 per year, you can see where this would take a while to do.