waynorth
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2005
- Messages
- 33,211
I thought it might help some of our newer members, especially those inclined to buy old knives on auction sites, to share a discussion about a knife one of my friends on here asked me about.
He asked me to look at this Easy Open Jack, and tell him if I could, if it was original. Here are pictures;
I have a reproduction Schrade Cut Co. catalog that covers 1926 to 1936, and another that covers 1940. A limited sample, for sure.
All EO Teardrop Jacks in the catalog, not just the stainless ones, have two blades, the secondary being a pen blade. I've never seen a single bladed EO Teardrop Schrade of this size, 3 5/8". There is no stainless knife with Ebony handles listed in either catalog! Ebony was cheaper material, and they were trying to get people interested in stainless. It failed back then (1920s) and Schrade dropped stainless for a while I believe.
At first glance, it appears all the parts are Schrade, and I still believe that is true. But it is a very hard knife to judge, using pictures!!
So I asked my friend to send it to me.
It's the subtle details that gave it away. Most of those details are slight; a few thousandths of an inch!!
The backspring rides high when the knife is closed and at halfstop. When a cutler in a factory hafted a knife, the backspring was always sanded flush. You can barely see the backspring in the third picture down.
The backspring rides low when the knife is open. The blade sits higher than the spring when it is open, and is slightly thinner than the spring.
The Main blade pivot rivet has flaws in the "head"; missing chips.
As a beginner, I might have missed ALL these subtle signs. Now that I've gawked at thousands of Schrades, I can tell with a fair amount of certainty that this knife is put together from parts.
One of the best questions you can ask yourself, when you are looking at a vintage knife is, "Would a good cutlery let this knife out the door?"!
The pen blade and accompanying spring were removed, as was the main blade, and a Stainless blade was swapped into the knife.
The knife is quite usable, but does not represent a legit sample of Schrade's production.
I am sorry I can't provide you with larger pictures, and only hope my descriptions succeed in communicating the details.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlie
He asked me to look at this Easy Open Jack, and tell him if I could, if it was original. Here are pictures;
I have a reproduction Schrade Cut Co. catalog that covers 1926 to 1936, and another that covers 1940. A limited sample, for sure.
All EO Teardrop Jacks in the catalog, not just the stainless ones, have two blades, the secondary being a pen blade. I've never seen a single bladed EO Teardrop Schrade of this size, 3 5/8". There is no stainless knife with Ebony handles listed in either catalog! Ebony was cheaper material, and they were trying to get people interested in stainless. It failed back then (1920s) and Schrade dropped stainless for a while I believe.
At first glance, it appears all the parts are Schrade, and I still believe that is true. But it is a very hard knife to judge, using pictures!!
So I asked my friend to send it to me.
It's the subtle details that gave it away. Most of those details are slight; a few thousandths of an inch!!
The backspring rides high when the knife is closed and at halfstop. When a cutler in a factory hafted a knife, the backspring was always sanded flush. You can barely see the backspring in the third picture down.
The backspring rides low when the knife is open. The blade sits higher than the spring when it is open, and is slightly thinner than the spring.
The Main blade pivot rivet has flaws in the "head"; missing chips.
As a beginner, I might have missed ALL these subtle signs. Now that I've gawked at thousands of Schrades, I can tell with a fair amount of certainty that this knife is put together from parts.
One of the best questions you can ask yourself, when you are looking at a vintage knife is, "Would a good cutlery let this knife out the door?"!
The pen blade and accompanying spring were removed, as was the main blade, and a Stainless blade was swapped into the knife.
The knife is quite usable, but does not represent a legit sample of Schrade's production.
I am sorry I can't provide you with larger pictures, and only hope my descriptions succeed in communicating the details.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlie
Last edited:
) It also "peeks" because it doesn't quite fit.
, I can't see a whole lot of damage. We are talking about this pin, right? Maybe the scanner's losing the detail: