Collector, or User?

Ballenxj

Ballenxj

Joined
Oct 30, 2010
Messages
2,109
Almost a week ago I picked up this Schrade 194OT that was pretty crusty looking. I paid the guy the princely sum of $5. for it. :)
I brought it home, oiled it, wiped it down while decrustifying it the best I could. Next I lightly reshaped the tip that had the evidence of being pried with, then put an edge on it.
It has been in my pocket ever since. (About two weeks now) I obviously plan on using it. If it was a good knife then, it should still be a good knife today. ;)
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I like finding the crusty ones that show potential. You did a good job... especially with the tip and edge. Looking good!
 
thawk said:
Those are cool, but I like finding the older ones that are still in the box! :D
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I'll bet you will pay a bit more for one still new in the box though. :p
The thing I liked specifically about the one I got is I know I will use it. If it were new in the box it would most likely spend the rest of its life in a drawer. ;)
 
Ballenxj said:
I'll bet you will pay a bit more for one still new in the box though. :p
The thing I liked specifically about the one I got is I know I will use it. If it were new in the box it would most likely spend the rest of its life in a drawer. ;)
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True that, but I recall the good old days finding dozens and dozens of USA made Old Timers and Uncle Henry knives in hardware store, sporting goods, and lumber yard displays just a few short years ago. It was the most exciting time I've had collecting knives and was what started me collecting USA Schrades . This was around the same time I joined the forum.
 
thawk said:
True that, but I recall the good old days finding dozens and dozens of USA made Old Timers and Uncle Henry knives in hardware store, sporting goods, and lumber yard displays just a few short years ago. It was the most exciting time I've had collecting knives and was what started me collecting USA Schrades . This was around the same time I joined the forum.
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Around 2006 eh? I can see that as Schrade had only closed their doors in 2004, so still old new stock laying around. I wish I had the foresight to do that. Then again, they would still most likely end up sitting in drawers. ;)
 
Ballenxj said:
Around 2006 eh? I can see that as Schrade had only closed their doors in 2004, so still old new stock laying around. I wish I had the foresight to do that. Then again, they would still most likely end up sitting in drawers. ;)
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I kept very few of them, mostly I bought and sold hundreds of Schrades on Ebay after that, once i had a treble hook in my upper lip, trying to obtain older Schrade Walden models. :)

I used to get chills walking into hardware stores, and I'd ask if I could rummage through the storage cabinet under the Schrade display. I never got turned down. I found a few in brown boxes, with a 124UH being the best one I ever found. There were also 4 new in the box 77OT Old Timers in there too. Many times the Taylor Schrades were being sold as well, and the store employees had no idea. Another time I bought 3 Uncle Henry Golden Spikes, the 152UH NIB with no price sticker, and it took the clerks a long time to look them up in their computer for a price. They quoted me the Taylor price of $23.95. I could not pay and get to my truck fast enough. I felt like a bandit.

I did this for about 3 or 4 years, and took day long trips sometimes hitting as many places as I could find. Most times they said someone else had come in and cleaned them out. Little by little I ran out of venues, and could not find any more, but it was a good run. I still look whenever I am passing through new territory.

I still hold out hope some day I might hit a mother lode. I am certain there are still more out there, packed away in a back room or in a drawer behind an old glass front counter.
 
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thawk said:
I kept very few of them, mostly I bought and sold hundreds of Schrades on Ebay after that, once i had a treble hook in my upper lip, trying to obtain older Schrade Walden models. :)

I used to get chills walking into hardware stores, and I'd ask if I could rummage through the storage cabinet under the Schrade display. I never got turned down. I found a few in brown boxes, with a 124UH being the best one I ever found. There were also 4 new in the box 77OT Old Timers in there too. Many times the Taylor Schrades were being sold as well, and the store employees had no idea. Another time I bought 3 Uncle Henry Golden Spikes, the 152UH NIB with no price sticker, and it took the clerks a long time to look them up in their computer for a price. They quoted me the Taylor price of $23.95. I could not pay and get to my truck fast enough. I felt like a bandit.
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You Sly Devil! And I mean that in the nicest way. ;)
Seriously, if it weren't you, somebody else would have gotten them, so it worked out well. :cool:
 
For sure, because in most cases someone already had. It made me wish I would have had a crystal ball back in the 70's, when there was the exact same scenario with all of the old bone handled knives. But for my time I managed to get ahead of the game for a while.
 
A number of years ago, my brother rented a house behind an old hardware store that was closed down in the mid 80's. The owners never sold off the inventory, they just shut the doors. My brother said they brought a lot of stuff in over the years, but never took anything out. Just used the place for their apparent hoarding tendencies. He tried a number of times to get them to let me in and see if there was a Schrade display with knives. Even with offering to pay over retail for anything I might have found, they never gave in. I still have dreams of finding LB4s, 707UHs, 124UHs, etc., all new in the box. Alas, it's not to be.
 
DaveT63 said:
A number of years ago, my brother rented a house behind an old hardware store that was closed down in the mid 80's. The owners never sold off the inventory, they just shut the doors. My brother said they brought a lot of stuff in over the years, but never took anything out. Just used the place for their apparent hoarding tendencies. He tried a number of times to get them to let me in and see if there was a Schrade display with knives. Even with offering to pay over retail for anything I might have found, they never gave in. I still have dreams of finding LB4s, 707UHs, 124UHs, etc., all new in the box. Alas, it's not to be.
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Those places still exist. Don't give up the dream Dave. I wish I had more time to scrounge around like that.
 
Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountain, never knew exactly what they had when they took the Schrade Factory Wall Collection....plus all their other inventory.....they had so many to deal with, they didn't really realize for example what the mint 3OT <perhaps half dozen made in 1959 according to Herman Williams> and mint 2OT <only 9000 odd made> from the Conference Room represented to a collector.. and they tended to price according to the individual stock inventory prices/values, even though I understand they paid substantially less for the lot..my 2OT and 3OT were priced on that inventory list at $200 and $250 respectively...<I have a copy of the original inventory values..they were both listed as simply "sawcut bone 2Bld Jack Knife"...<sawcut?...don't think so>...my Imperial Mexican Salesmans samples knives 22 marked examples ..shown on Larry Vickery's Schrade site.. <very rare as Imperial Mexico closed almost as quick as it opened, early 50's?>.they were kept intact and missed the wall collection as Herman states they were intended to be put up, however they were being stored in a box in Schrades' safe/strongroom with Alberts' wifes' extensive glassware collection. <he had originally obtained them from the Imperial Sample Room at Providence when they closed down> .... ..no-one really knew what they were, or how scarce they were with their 'Mexican stampings'.. apart from Herman and Dave Swinden..<I have that collection of Mexican samples together in that original box...Herman has told me his wall collection he put up covered 60ft and about 40" high and worth a whole lot more than he let Schrade have them at...but who was ever to imagine that Schrade would go under and all those Schrades' dispersed all over the world.....there were still many collector bargains to be had after the clearance sale..I was fortunate to obtain a few at reasonable prices...but they were not available for long as collectors worked out what they had.......Hoo Roo
 
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