Father's Day Knives

Codger_64

Codger_64

Moderator
Joined
Oct 8, 2004
Messages
62,324
I'm pretty sure some of you got a knife this weekend as a Father's day present. Show them off, will yas? :D

Father's day was quiet here at Codger's house. No visits, cards, letters, phone calls or emails from my two kids, three stepchildren or six grandkids. So I bought myself a father's day present on Ebay...

33ksu3r.jpg


A Sears Craftsman American Eagle Collection "Deerslayer", #21624. Other than the verdigris on the brass guard from being stored in the gaucho sheath for years, it is as near factory condition as I have seen. Of course, it is my favorite pattern fixed blade, Schrade Walden 165OT, fancied up a wee bit for Sears SFO.

2yy8emp.jpg
 
Love the 165's and that is a mighty fine example! Once you get her cleaned up she will knock your socks off just looking at it!
 
Happy Fathers Day Michael. Beautiful example,I start to firm up just looking at it.......Hoo Roo
 
Thanks guys. My next gift to arrive will be sometime next week from Henry Shires of Tarptent. I might actually get to spen the weekend of the 4th in the Buffalo River Wilderness this year.

t8m2z8.jpg


28st3dx.jpg


I have some ashes to spread there... releasing an old soul-mate, and rejuvinating my own spirit I hope.
 
I'm surprised that a lot of folks selling do not take the effort to remove the verdigris. I picked up a very early 165OT with sheath for a song, and I think it was because of the verdigris. Like you once said Michael, it can be your friend.

Larry303 said:
Happy Fathers Day Michael. Beautiful example,I start to firm up just looking at it.......Hoo Roo
Click to expand...

Larry, too much information bro. :D
 
Ok, a few hints then. Do you see the lid hinges on the box? How many years does it take to build verdigris that thick on clean brass? Thirty years? Forty?
 
Yeah, you already got my guess. But mine was based on the blade and guard. 1968. I don't know enough about packaging... yet.

And I didn't get a Father's Day knife. :(
 
1967-68 is as close as I can estimate from the photos so far. The hinged box with felted insert didn't last long. Slip-top boxes replaced them a few years into production on both the factory standard knives and on the SFO's (we still don't know if the Norm Thompson knives had special packaging or were bulk shipped). These Sears SFO's were ordered earlier than I had guessed and were among the first production of the 165OT pattern.

I continue to be surprised at the variety of patterns sold by Sears under the "American Eagle Collection" branding. I still need to find examples of a few of them, but most I see are like my previous example of this knife, some use, no box, papers or sheath. I still need the 171UH, 153UH and 225OT patterns of this series and probably others that have not yet come to my attention. The series appears to have been continued for ten years or so (haven't done a detailed study and original sources are missing).

This is the insert from my BB166 pattern #21627 knife from the series. Not nearly all of the patterns are shown as some were added later and some of these were dropped.
xm3o2g.jpg

30mtxld.jpg
 
Michael,
Who made all of these? I recognize the 165 and 225. Were they all Schrade? I have seen at least one that looks strikingly like a Buck. (no stones please)
:D
 
This is the #21627 "Bowie" whose paper is above. It was a Delrin handled, birdshead pommel version of the wood handled BB166 Buffalo Bill, one of the few Schrade knives to sport fullering. It also had a three layer guard as an added Sears feature. As far as I know, these never appeared in the Old Timer line, though that handle certainly suggests the parentage.

2r6mn0o.jpg


This is the Bowie's smaller brother, the #21621 "Sportsman". It was a direct SFO of the 41OT first introduced in 1971 (from the much earlier 141L) with added sheath and three layer guard.

5lck0l.jpg

svpdnb.jpg


As far as I know, Schrade Walden (and later Schrde Cutlery Corp) was the maker of the entire American Eagle Collection series. EL SID from California was the sheath maker.
 
Wonderful pictures Michael. I don't acquire fixed blades much, but I've always coveted a 41OT. I love the sheaths in this set.
 
Great find Michael! And some great info as well. There was a set of four up for grabs a few days ago, I was SORELY tempted :-(

Eric
 
Eric, I somehow missed seeing the set before they went off (those pictures above are from that auction). They went cheap, IMHO. I still need to find the folding hunter issue.

Research on this Sears series is ongoing. The eagle motif and name began in use circa 1970. Imperial trademarked "American Eagle" in 1969 (#72329620), and it is seen used by Sears in that year. We see this with the "American Eagle Collection" knives made by Schrade and Imperial during the 1970's. Parker also used "Eagle Brand", with the eagle motif and sold knives briefly to Sears, some made in Japan.

Perhaps Baer's ownership of the trademark has some bearing on the reason he had the Schrade mark stamped on the 1976 Parker knives that bore the Eagle motif. Parker sure snagged and ran with that motif (Eagle Brand) after it had been trademerked though.

For the longest time I had assumed that the Sears American Eagle Collection series began circa 1976, but now it appears that it was much earlier, as the trademark date shows (issued 1969).

Eric, can we see the American Eagle Collection die you showed before?
 
The Deerslayer arrived today and I can find nothing to be disappointed about. The verdigris wiped away with a soft cloth and the brass underneath was smooth and shiney as ever. The blade has no peppering or scratches, and has never seen a stone (thankfully, none was included in the gift boxed set). Only disappointment, as usual, is with my scanner.

5lyn9y.jpg
 
Well, I got aced out of a holiday vacation by extra work, but I did find the missing knife from the American Eagle Collection set.

xofcdi.jpg

28k4x2t.jpg


It was cheap, good condition with sheath, alas no box or papers.

But conversations with the seller who was retired from Sears (Sporting goods manager) brought just a little bit more light into this research. The reason I haven't found the knives in the Sears catalogs, as I had suspected, is that they were in-store sales only and in very limited quantities. The retired manager bought this knife, to the best of his memory, in 1975. That confirms what I had surmised about the timespan for the production, 1969-1975. Now I need to dig back through production records and see what else I can find.

I've also asked him another pile of questions about Sears knives, so maybe he can tell us more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top