Chasing Patterns - Schrade Woodsman

Sometimes knife playtime is productive. I enjoyed getting reacquainted with my old Woodsman pals. And... reminded of my missing user...

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I pulled this near mint unused Schrade Walden serial #18,071 out of it's box and...

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found a long missing Paul Long custom sheath to put it in, saving the factory sheath and the box it came in for a stray knife should one appear.

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So now I am ready to romp when spring comes and catfish are biting!
 
Michael, MOST interesting and a classic styling that nailed it!
Thank you for going to the trouble of posting ALL this information!!
 
Hi Duncan! I mentioned earlier that Mr. Wickersham had told me that the pattern strongly resembled and older Randall pattern, and it does. Though it certainly isn't a duplication. Here is a web-find picture of a Randall 4-5 beside a Woodsman in aproximately the same scale and orientation

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As Mr. Levine would be wont to say, they are exactly the same. Except the blade grind, the guard shape and the handle shape. As well, one is hidden stick tang and one is full exposed tang. One has a round profile stacked leather straight handle and one has a rectangular profile serpentine riveted Delrin slab handle. At best we can say the Woodsman "resembles" the earlier Randall. One is not likely to confuse one with the other.
 
I'd forgotten how much I used to want one of those. It seemed a simple, practical, versatile design in an excellent size.
If you added the thumb-hump in front of the guard, you'd be pretty close to the skinner type about whose origins we were recently speculating.
 
Codger, thanks for this great side by side with the Randall!!

I recall reading an interview in Backpacker in the 80s with the owner of Diamond Brand tents who quipped, "Our tents come from our extensive R&D program; as in rip-off and duplicate."

When I was young, I thought it was funny. As I get older and deeper in a career that involves design, I realize that good designs persist and morph and matures. The best designers are those willing to look back and extend.

The same only different.
 
pinnah said:
Codger, thanks for this great side by side with the Randall!!

I recall reading an interview in Backpacker in the 80s with the owner of Diamond Brand tents who quipped, "Our tents come from our extensive R&D program; as in rip-off and duplicate."

When I was young, I thought it was funny. As I get older and deeper in a career that involves design, I realize that good designs persist and morph and matures. The best designers are those willing to look back and extend.

The same only different.
Click to expand...

An excellent observation sir. I have a background in manufacturing design and process engineering, as well as patent illustration and prototype development. Every design is an improvement over a previous one and in patents, both design and utility, the applicant is required to reference previous patents applicable to his invention and explain just why his new design is different and an improvement. I suggest that if one did an extensive study, one could locate one or more examples of prior art for the Randall design elements in sheath knives. It is, as with the Woodsman, a unique combination of design elements, sometimes subtile and often "obvious to one practiced in the arts" (a patent legal phrase). :)
 
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