1984 Los Angeles Olympics 511 SC (LB1 Cub) Scrimshaw 0115 of 5000

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I've wanted one of these little Cub knives for a while and just got #0115 complete with box, paperwork and outer sleeve. The box and sleeve are plain white with the only markings being a tiny "#0115" in pencil on the outer sleeve. My knife is scrimmed in black ink but most I have seen are in blue ink so black was a total surprise when I got it. Maybe the first so-many were done in black. Seems I have to do some more data collection.

These knives were hand scrimmed by G. Blanchard and I was intrigued to see how delrin took a scrim. It's a cool collectable and I like the font on the "Los Angeles 1984". It was gummed up and sticky to open and close as received but I cleaned it out and has great walk and talk now. It looks great when displayed in its box too.

 

[Codger_64]

Cool! These aren't often seen. I have the Sharpfinger scrim for the '84 Olympic Shooting Team which seem to be more plentiful.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Cool! These aren't often seen. I have the Sharpfinger scrim for the '84 Olympic Shooting Team which seem to be more plentiful.

Thanks Codger! I'd like one of those Shooting Team ones too one-of-these-days. Did yours come in the nice wood display? Neat Sharpfinger...

The black ink mystery is even more complicated than I first thought. I scanned the scrim at 1200dpi and wha-do-ya-know? It's been re-inked in black. It appears the blue was there at least in spots originally and then the scrim was re-inked in black. For someone to re-ink this tiny scrim just to get twenty-five bucks for the knife seems absurd and the black was well placed. My guess is that this is how #0115 was originally sold but who knows? This knife is a little mystery. Maybe G Blanchard ran out of blue ink half way through this one or maybe if he screwed up the blue he would scrim over it again in black to hide his error?

Does anyone else have a black re-inked version of this knife?

 

[Codger_64]

Well, maybe Blanchard hand srimshawed 5,000 of those puppies and maybe not. Why do that when heat stamping was a known art? 5,000 at 100 a day would take 50 days of work. Does that make sense?

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Well, maybe Blanchard hand srimshawed 5,000 of those puppies and maybe not. Why do that when heat stamping was a known art? 5,000 at 100 a day would take 50 days of work. Does that make sense?

At first, I was incredulous as well but after comparing many examples over the past few years I am convinced these were not stamped. Each scrim is indeed a little different. I found some other examples online for comparison pics. I even found another black one I think. Why take 50 days to do these? I guess someone thought the scrim would add major value to these delrin knives but I suspect they were wrong on that. Why is this the only delrin Schrade (that I know of anyway) with real scrimshaw work? I think because it is indeed a losing proposition. Too much work for too little return. Moteng International likely made a bad call on these but their loss is our gain these days.

(mine is the first one of the four shown)

I've contacted Gary Blanchard (http://www.blanchardcustomknives.com/) as well to see if he was the one who did these. I will update if he replies...

 

[Codger_64]

I love a mystery, don't you? One possibility is that the promotion company felt the price Schrade asked for custom scrimmed knives (heat stamped) was too much, so they bought finished unscrimmed knives in quantity to shop out. I would bet that the artist used a pantograph, then had to do touch up of weak areas then hand ink the inscribed lines. Wow! A lot of labor! And remember that vendors had to donate a portion of sales to the Olympic Comittee. Joe Schmoe couldn't just make Olympic merchandise and market it.

 

[Larry303]

...well if they are not stamped Scrimshaws then the spot where the runners kneecap is, is directly in the identical spot on each one and in relation to the handle pin....the genuine hand scrimshaws in the I*XL Heralds of the Sea are distinctly different on each one just as you would expect freehand art to be....the Jury is not out for me...I have the actual Scrim stamp for the 1979 Buffalo <American Outdoors> and several versions of the finished Scrims..only differences are some lines do not show depending on the pressure applied and slight movement distortions...thats what I think are the differences on your examples Dave...I have been wrong before...ask my previous wives...Lol...Hoo Roo

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I do love a mystery Codger and this qualifies. Thanks for weighing in Larry! I completely understand what you are saying but when I look at the head area I see differences. Also the biggest differences I see are in the cross-hatching beneath the runners foot.

Maybe another possibility is that "Hand Scrimshawed" meant the runner was heat-stamped and then unique arcs and cross-hatching only were added and then inked. I'm just trying to figure out how the false-advertising would have been avoided if these were machine stamped.

Mine definitely has both blue and black ink and I'm pretty sure if it was heat stamped in blue and then re-stamped in black it wouldn't appear as it does. Somebody inked it, I'm thinking. Scrimmed individually and completely using only a needle? Maybe not. I hope Gary Blanchard turns out to be the right guy and replies to my inquiry.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I received a reply from Gary Blanchard and these were indeed individually hand scrimshawed by him. It seems like it was a losing proposition though as we suspected. Here's the conversation.

My message:

Hi, I collect vintage Schrade USA knives. In 1984 5000 delrin handled knives were made to commemorate the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. These were supposedly "Individually scrimshawed by G Blanchard" in blue ink.

Did you do the scrimshaw on these knives? If so, do you remember re-inking any of them in black ink? The reason I ask is because my example was done in blue and then re-inked in black and I'm trying to find out when and why this may have been done.

At the time these were made fake heat-stamped scrimshaw was often used on delrin handled knives and I would like to confirm these were each done individually. A friend suggested that to do 5000 knives it would take 50 days at a hundred a day and that these knives must be stamped and not hand scrimmed. I have seen enough variation in the scrims to think they were hand done but I need to confirm this.

Thanks for taking the time to read this (and hopefully reply),

David

Gary Blanchard's reply:

Hello David,
Yes I did all of the Scrimming on the Schrade Olympic LB1s. Although most were inked in dark Royal Blue, some indeed were inked in black. Since I try not to remember too much about that project, I can't say how many were done in black.
Best regards,
Gary Blanchard

Mystery solved. These knives do indeed have real scrimshaw work not heat stamping.

 

[Codger_64]

Interesting. It sounds, from his reply, as if it was not a "rewarding experience" for him, whether profit wise or because of other complications. I would still bet that he used a pantograph and jig to do the main artwork. Most of the variance I see in the layout is with the cross hatching. I wonder why so few come to light these days? I haven't been looking for them, but I see more of some other lesser produced quantity custom/SFO knives than these.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Interesting. It sounds, from his reply, as if it was not a "rewarding experience" for him, whether profit wise or because of other complications. I would still bet that he used a pantograph and jig to do the main artwork. Most of the variance I see in the layout is with the cross hatching. I wonder why so few come to light these days? I haven't been looking for them, but I see more of some other lesser produced quantity custom/SFO knives than these.

I'll see your pantograph and raise you some burnishing.

To do 5000 of these and get the figure exactly the same I'm thinking a carbon copy outline burnished onto knife. I've been researching scrimshaw techniques and an easy way to transfer a complete pattern (image) is to have (a mirror image) outline drawn in soft pencil on paper and then to slap the paper against the item and rub (burnish) the paper. The pencil lines will transfer to your work and then you can just scratch (scrim) right on top of them. You can also have the image on paper and then "dot" right through the paper with your pin to create the outline. I think carbon paper burnishing would be fastest way though.

A "contact sheet" covered in as many full-size figures as possible could be carbon-copied. These carbon copies would burnish onto items same as a pencil drawing. When carbon stopped transferring nicely you could just switch to next figure on the sheet.

That's my guess as to how they are all so close figure-wise. I agree the runner was most likely transferred to knife first and then scrimmed in. This is not at all unusual. Folks usually draw or burnish a pattern onto the item first and then scrim the pattern.

Here's a couple of my favorite "how to" scrimshaw links for those interested:

http://lumberjocks.com/decoustudio/blog/2473

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/680055-how-I-prepare-scrimshaw-Stefan-Albert?highlight=scrimshaw

http://www.scrimbygarbo.com/howidoit.htm

Why don't we see many of these? I always figure it's because they got used as opposed to fancier and smaller number SFO's which universally scream "safe queen".

 

[Codger_64]

For folks who aren't familiar with the base knife pattern, so they can picture the size of the artwork required, could you post a picture of the knife with a quarter or some familiar Canadian coin next to it?

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

For folks who aren't familiar with the base knife pattern, so they can picture the size of the artwork required, could you post a picture of the knife with a quarter or some familiar Canadian coin next to it?

Sure, I happily take requests. Here's the knife with it's big brother and a dime. It's easy to be mislead as to how small these details are when looking at good close-ups.

The scrim is very small! "USA" on shirt is smaller than lettering on a dime.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Well I went "all-in" with the carbon-paper and then hand-scrimmed but I was wrong Codger proves he's-the-man once again.

Gary Blanchard is a really good guy and has been very helpful. Bottom line? Pantograph did the scrimming of the main figure and a few free-hand lines were then added. "Individually Scrimshawed": yes, done completely by hand: no.

Here's the latest conversation:

My message:

"Thank you very much for your reply! There has been much speculation as to how you got each figure so alike. One gentleman is sure you used a pantograph and jig to transfer the image to each knife. My guess was carbon paper burnishing. (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...s-511-SC-%28LB1-Cub%29-Scrimshaw-0115-of-5000)

Your skills are awesome (as evidenced by your original work) though so maybe you did them freehand after-all?

I appreciate this wasn't the best project you ever landed but if you could think about it long enough to answer how you originally transferred the image to these knives it would be most appreciated.

Thank you!"

Mr. Blanchard's reply:

"Hello again David,
Unfortunately, the retail price point and production deadlines for that project, created a working environment not conducive to Scrimshawing each knife entirely by hand.
(If so, I'd probably still be working on them.)
However, to appease my own artistic needs, I'll admit to adding a few freehand lines along with my signature to these knives.
With that said, yes, a Hermes Pantograph was used for transferring the main outline to each knife.

Originally I had created a far more detailed drawing for the project. But as luck would have it,
the company making the Hermes Template, produced a template with only the main line work present.
It is not known by me who decided to exclude the detail work, but because of production deadlines, we were
forced to deal with a much more simplified version than I had desired.

These statements are meant to serve you, and others owning one of these knives with a bit of background info.

Distributors involved in the project;
Motang International (Mark Stein)
ProCut (Bob Miller)

If there's anything else I can help you with, please let me know,
Gary Blanchard"

 

[Codger_64]

I thought so. But wasn't sure. A pantograph is still hand work. One hand controls and moves the stylus over the original artwork (or template in this case) in a greatly enlarged size while the other adds pressure to the etching needle (or blade, or pen if an ink reduction) in a much reduced size. I worked as a patent illustrator and graphic artist for quite a few years and occasionally used a pantograph to produce reduced size drawings from larger drawings or photographs. Why delete linework from the template? What looks good and well defined and shaded at 100% looks like a dark blob when inked at 5% or 10%. I am sure that even Frank Giorgianni would tell us the same regarding the rendering of his original scrimshaw drawings into metal dies for hot-stamping Schrade production scrimshaw art.

Thanks for going to the trouble to run this down and thanks also to the artist who produced them. Pricepoint - check. Time per piece - check. Short lead time - check.

 

[lrv]

there was another scrim done for the 1984 summer games. No doubt this was not done by hand.
This was for the shooting team.
Pictures attached

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

there was another scrim done for the 1984 summer games. No doubt this was not done by hand.
This was for the shooting team.
Pictures attached

Thanks for posting the original box. I've never seen that before!