Another day, another box... Sheath Knives

Codger_64

Codger_64

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I dug out another box, a mixed lot of old sheath knives. Some are mere relics, a few still quite nice, most interesting... to me anyway. I know most of them but a few mysteries still remain.

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I hadn't seen these knives since the fall of 2008. And I didn't clean any of them for the pictures. And as usual, no glamor shots. What you see is what was in the box as and when I opened it.

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Recognize anything? Can you pick out the earliest ones? See any interesting brandings?
 
Great to see more of your knives Codger, some interesting ones there. I like the Marbles models, but what about the 3 shadows over on the left of the top pic? Would love to see some more pics and learn about all these knives :thumbsup:
 
Codger love the Sargent sportset great stuff! And do you know who DUG was?!?! Thanks for sharing these boxes they are great to see! Best Jim
 
Jack Black said:
Great to see more of your knives Codger, some interesting ones there. I like the Marbles models, but what about the 3 shadows over on the left of the top pic? Would love to see some more pics and learn about all these knives :thumbsup:
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These are Kent NYC knives made for F.W. Woolworths late in the depression. Guardless, bolsterless, plain flat ground with simple pinned rosewood handles, they were intended to sell for very little and are suprisingly well constructed with full tangs. You can tell by looking which of the three has the least wear, the original blade shape. They are 7 1/2" long overall with a 3 7/8" 1095 blade. Tang stamp is Sportsman's Knife Kent N.Y. City. Indeed it is the Sportsman pattern, a less expensive version of the Outers pattern by Western, Marbles, Remington and everybody else. With these, Camillus was going head-to-head against their chief competetor for the Woolworth's business, Imperial. At that time Imperial's competing Sportsman pattern sheath knife retailed for $1.00. Well beyond what Woolworth's top price point goal was for circa 1934-36.

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Another interesting box. The stag handled Knives are good lookers.
What are the three wood handled knives on the bottom left of the first photo ??
I have been meaning to ask the significance of the rock formation other than a nifty photo backdrop.
 
Codger_64 said:
These are Kent NYC knives made for F.W. Woolworths late in the depression. Guardless, bolsterless, plain flat ground with simple pinned rosewood handles, they were intended to sell for very little and are suprisingly well constructed with full tangs. You can tell by looking which of the three has the least wear, the original blade shape. They are 7 1/2" long overall with a 3 7/8" 1095 blade. Tang stamp is Sportsman's Knife Kent N.Y. City. Indeed it is the Sportsman pattern, a less expensive version of the Outers pattern by Western, Marbles, Remington and everybody else. With these, Camillus was going head-to-head against their chief competetor for the Woolworth's business, Imperial. At that time Imperial's competing Sportsman pattern sheath knife retailed for $1.00. Well beyond what Woolworth's top price point goal was for circa 1934-36.

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That answers one question. Thanks.
 
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Codger_64 said:
These are Kent NYC knives made for F.W. Woolworths late in the depression. Guardless, bolsterless, plain flat ground with simple pinned rosewood handles, they were intended to sell for very little and are suprisingly well constructed with full tangs. You can tell by looking which of the three has the least wear, the original blade shape. They are 7 1/2" long overall with a 3 7/8" 1095 blade. Tang stamp is Sportsman's Knife Kent N.Y. City. Indeed it is the Sportsman pattern, a less expensive version of the Outers pattern by Western, Marbles, Remington and everybody else. With these, Camillus was going head-to-head against their chief competetor for the Woolworth's business, Imperial. At that time Imperial's competing Sportsman pattern sheath knife retailed for $1.00. Well beyond what Woolworth's top price point goal was for circa 1934-36.

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Thank you sir, absolutely fascinating :)
 
The third from the left in the back row looks just like one a relative had when I was a kid. Gosh, I haven't thought of that knife in years. It was the "manliest" knife I had ever seen. Wonder what happened to that thing?


Michael
 
jmac30 said:
Codger love the Sargent sportset great stuff! And do you know who DUG was?!?! Thanks for sharing these boxes they are great to see! Best Jim
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mr_badexample said:
I dig Dug.
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"DUG" is quite a mystery. Maybe one of you can solve it. The handle cover is molded hard plastic. The lettering seems to be smoothly painted (pad or screen printed?) on and is flush with the surface, not just laying on top. But... the blade is the exact same, not counting wear, as the c.1938 Sportsman Kromeplate and both are tang stamped Kent N.Y. City. Portions of the chrome and even fancy factory etch remain on "DUG".

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Now I can't get a good enlargement on the mint specimine of the above mentioned knife but I do have an archived picture from the auction where I bought it years ago.

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Now my best information on the pattern came from Tom Williams, CAMCO, former Camillus Historian.

CAMCO said:
Camillus introduced the small hunting knife (#5665 pattern) in 1939. At the beginning of WWII, Camillus was not tooled up to make military knives so the #5665 knife was ordered. I believe some of these knives were issued to the U.S. Marine Corps. These knives would have had the Camillus stampings. The more functional millitary knives like the Mark II, M3 and M4 were first offered in 1943 and later. We had a prototype at Camillus that was an early Mark II knife that had the M3 guard and butt...

Tom Williams
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So the pattern, with Camillus tang, was shipped to the military quite early in the war while everyone was scrambling for new tooling for military specific knives. Still the question of "DUG" remains.
 
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Ha - it seems others eyes shot straight to the sportsmans knives as well- they look to be a great knife! As per the two Schrades at left look great- but let's not forget the others- a great box full indeed! Forgive me Michael Im at work so haven't had time to read in detail others questions - is that a Western fixed blade 3rd from left on rock?
 
Wow - I have just spied that Kent! What a beautiful knife! I remember seeing this in another thread done time ago Michael.
THATS what knife collecting is about- coming across a treasure like that- just stunning!
 
Woodrow F Call said:
Cool stuff. The doubled folder/fixed sheaths are interesting.
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"Combo sets" were popular in the 1950's. The one marked "Sargent" with the pliar was made for that company to sell with their patented sportsman/fishing pliar. The other two are standard Imperial sets with Kamp King knives in the outer pockets. The fixed blade was usually a basic hunting knife like the HH-7. Later other patterns were used.

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RRaconteur said:
The third from the left in the back row looks just like one a relative had when I was a kid. Gosh, I haven't thought of that knife in years. It was the "manliest" knife I had ever seen. Wonder what happened to that thing?

Michael
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That is a Schrade-Walden 147L, the "L" designates a leather handle.
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I recognize a few, such as the Remington RH4 Outers knife, the Schrade 148 and a couple 147s, including the red and white sfo, and the woodcraft pattern, which could be Marbles, Western, or others, but the one I am perennially curious about is the one on far left with long oval blank shield, staglon handle with hidden tang and thumb knurled spine. Has anyone figured out the provenance on that one?
 
Schrade Walden 141LWE, a stainless "Wondaedge" serrated knife, bird and trout pattern. This is an example I mentioned in a thread where it was asked if serrated blades were traditional.
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To the question about the rock? It is the geomorphic rock formations prevalent on my local canoe stream, the Tennessee Buffalo River. When Jake and I go canoeing in my large canoe, I place stones like this in the canoe for ballast. And bring them home. This one is on a countertop on my back porch so that I don't scorch the formica when I burn my Emberlit twig stove there.
 
Ray Settanta said:
Thanks for posting this. Some good stuff there. Do I see some Kinfolks knives in that bunch?
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You do, but none branded Kinfolks. I strongly suspect that the Schrade Cut Co. #365 is a Kinfolks. And possible also the Imperial Outers pattern. The Kingston? Jury is out on that one. With a steel pommel and guard, it may well be a Imperial or Schrade Cut Co. war pattern rebranded. It's only marking is a balde etch, "Kingston, N.Y. U.S.A. I have never seen another.
 
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