Another "Whodunit"?

waynorth

waynorth

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
32,704
Today's mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pin down the manufacturer of this one! I bought it thinking Schrade, but now I'm not sure. So I'm appealing to you more experienced folks out there, to give me some clues, or an outright answer, as to the manufacturer. This message will NOT self destruct (hopefully)! Thanks all!
Craftstock.jpg

Craftstockclose.jpg
 
Charlie,
Sure looks like a Schrade to me but...
the bolsters and the pattern on the handles are a little different looking..
Any number on the back of the tang on the main blade?
 
I checked my Craftsman knives,all 8 are Schrades,and I don't have any that say Made in USA or have the underlined Craftsman etch.Arnold
 
Hard to tell. The logo is early, like 1950 or before. During the late fifties thru early seventies, Schrade supplied Ulsters and Schrade Waldens to Sears every year, with a Providence knife tossed in here or there. Then they discontinued the Ulsters and mixed in Camillus knives. As Wal-Mart became a bigger and bigger customer, they supplied mostly Camillus knives to Sears.

Circa 1930-50

Circa 1948-50

CIrca 1960
Codger
 
To me, it looks like a late 40's thru 50's Ulster made knife. The Roger's bone handles are distinctively Ulster, not Schrade. The tooling also looks like Ulster. The equivalent Schrade pattern would be an 881, but the tooling is differentl on that one - the master blade on an 881 eould have long pull.
 
That's about the time the Baers took Ulster over and consolidated it with Schrade Cutlery to form Schrade Walden, which was a division of Imperial Knife(do I have that right?).
Eric
 
1941: Ulster Knife is sold to a group headed by Albert and Henry Baer of New York City, the control of the Ulster Knife Company was transferred from the Divine family, and with assistance from Frank Kethcart and Edward Wallace, modernized the factory for mass production.

1942: Ulster Knife and Imperial Knife join to become Imperial Knife Associated Companies. The company commits itself to producing knives for the military throughout World War II. Albert Baer is joined in the business by his older brother, Henry Baer.

1943: Albert Baer organizes Kingston Cutlery Company (an old Ulster trademark), a joint venture with Imperial to make government contract knives.

1946: Albert M. Baer, under Kingston Cutlery Company, buys Schrade Cutlery Company and renames it the Schrade Walden Cutlery Corp. It becomes a division of Imperial Knife Associated Companies Group.

1958: The Schrade Walden Cutlery division moves from Walden, NY to Ellenville, NY. for consolidation with Ulster Knife Company after a 1957 fire in the Walden factory.
 
Alright , now I've got it. I remember reading someplace that they operated their own buses during the transition to transport workers from their homes in Walden and surroundings to the Ellenville plant.It's a pretty long ride, from experience I think it's about 8 to 10 miles , over a mountain to get there.I've got a picture around here somewhere, I'll post it when I dig it out of my desk.
Eric
 
Charlie,
Sorry, I've gone competely off topic again.
 
The sears SFO's are an odd lot, and, as if you didn't already know, hard to exactly pin down. Unless a pattern is entirely unique such as with some of the fixed blades, and even then.... well... here is an example:

9547 - SW 141BH (1959)
622 - SW 142 (1960)
627 - SW 141BH (1960)
21641 - SW 141BH (1967)
21621 - SW 141 (1967)
21621 - SW 141SR (1969)
21651 - SW 141BH (1971)
73601 - SW 141SR (1972)
73615 - SW 141BH (1972-77)

On the other hand,
9514 - SW 881 (1959)
9514 - SW 861 (1962)

9469 - Ulster 115 (1959)
9469 - SW 774 (1962)

The numbers are a real hodge-podge. The only good way to know for positive and for sure on a lot of them, is to hold both the base knife and the SFO in your hand and make a close examination.
 
Thanks for all the contributions so far, everyone!!! I'm working on the other end, trying to track it back through "jerdan" on Ebay, to see if we can learn something from the route the knife has traveled to get here.
I've compared it to a couple of 881's I have, and a lot of details are subtley different. I wish I owned a few Ulsters and Camilluses to compare.
When I get a few minutes in a row, I'll take another pic or two with the Schrade 881's.
Ain't we got fun?!?!?!:D
 
In my relentless bugging of everyone I know, it's come up that maybe Camillus is the maker. It turns out, Camillus had used similar Rogers bone some years ago. I found I had this Camillus stockman tucked away, and here is a comparison with the subject mystery knife!
Rogersbone.jpg

The bone jigging looks to be made on the same machine, under magnification. The underlying color is the same amber color. My artist/teacher wife tells me the same reddish tone overlays the amber on each, the Camillus is mostly polished off, although it may have been darker to start, it has the same "value" or something.
Elementary, Watson!
 
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