Great hardware store find, then the disappointment..

StuntDouble

StuntDouble

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My girlfriend and I stopped by a local hardware store, so I could have a look around. We were walking around, when I stumbled upon a familiar sight behind a set of empty shelves. I moved the shelves out a bit, and saw a Schrade display case. It was mostly empty, but it had several models still left in their respective slots. The ones that stood out to me were a 34 OT and an 8 OT, but there were several others. I wasn't too excited until I realized that they were all USA made Schrades, rather than the new Taylor cutlery imports. After I regained control of my breathing, I went off in search of the woman running the place.

When I told her I wanted to check out a couple of knives in the back, she told me that the case was locked, and they didn't know where the key was:(. Ugh! Of course, it's probably for the best since they don't take credit cards.

So, just curious, anyone have any ideas as to how I could get into the case without breaking it?:D
 
There are no more U.S. Old Timers. That makes it an emergency, break the darn glass!:thumbup:
 
I'd offer to buy the entire case, knives included as they obviously aren't using it anymore.

If there are any more 8OT's stashed inside, you'll be sure to let me know, right? :p
 
Make an offer on the whole case, Chris! I'd be hauling it home by now!!
 
Believe me, I seriously thought about making an offer for the whole thing, but since I'm getting contact lenses tomorrow, I didn't have the extra to spend. I might have to try in a couple weeks though, once I get some funds saved up.
 
They always look at me funny when I offer to try my keys on their case. Then they are shocked when I have one that will unlock their display case, usually the toolbox key for my truck. Of course, I carry about forty keys around, so there is a fair chance I can get about anything open if I take a notion to. ;)
 
You are in a hardware store, they have to have the tools to get it open, and if it gets broken who cares, they can't use a case with no key again!
 
That's stupid. The lock ws for when the case was on display, to keep the knives from prying young hands. :)
Why lock it when no one can find it, hidden away?

* ****** **** ****** *

yablanowitz said:
They always look at me funny when I offer to try my keys on their case. Then they are shocked when I have one that will unlock their display case, usually the toolbox key for my truck.
Click to expand...

We had a ring of thieves stealing from mailboxes. They would wait till the letter carrier delivered the mail, go into the apartment lobby, open each mailbox and take the mail they thought might have something valuable.

Where did they get the keys? There are a limited number of standardized mailbox locks & keys. They bought a large assortment of locks, put the keys on a ring, and went around stealing with them.

Since the boxes showed no sign of entry after they relocked them, the customers didn't even know they'd been robbed. They just wondered why some mail never got to them -- and blamed the post office for losing it.
 
I would've asked to speak with the store manager. They don't want to make any money? Call their corporate headquarters. If it is a mom and pop store, I would be surprised.
 
Get a loan from some friends and head back there immediately!
Iust imagine, they might send it all off to the re-cycling crusher instead!!!
 
Chris:

Make sure you provide an ending to this story. I'm dying to find out what is inside the case. Sometimes there are treasures in there! Old ones that don't have a slot in the felt front cut outs. I'll paypal you a loan if you will split the contents!!!:D
 
If you like the knives in the case, I'm in agreement with the others, make an offer on the whole thing. If the store doesn't sell many knives, they might take a lot less than expected.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Where did they get the keys? There are a limited number of standardized mailbox locks & keys. They bought a large assortment of locks, put the keys on a ring, and went around stealing with them.
Click to expand...

True. I work as a locksmith, and you'd be surprised how few combinations there are for something like a cabinet key.

You could have always picked it. ;)
 
I'm planning on going back up there this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some news for you all. I'm pretty confident it'll still be there. It didn't look like it had been touched for months.
 
Good luck, a similar thing happened to me. I decided to just offer to buy the whole thing but it was gone by the next weekend. :grumpy:
 
I think you should have gone one better, and low-balled an offer to them. "I'd be happy to take the whole case, just to give you the extra room, but there's no way I'm paying full price for discontinued knives." Then, you sell one of the knives to pay for all the rest.
 
So my girlfriend and I went back to the store on Saturday, I figured I'd check and see if they were able to get the case open. I walked into the back room, moved the shelf from in front of the case, and noticed that the door was open. I opened the door, and looked behind the display board to see what they had left. Unfortunately, I didn't have any cash at the moment, so I had to get some cash first. When I got back, I went through the case again, taking my time to look through everything they had. There weren't many knives left in the case, and there weren't many duplicates for the ones in the display slots. Most of the display knives were the only example of that particular model. I did notice that all the models were made in the USA.

After rooting around in the cabinet, I finally decided on an 8OT. I think it's called the middleman, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm sure someone else would know. I must admit that once I got it home and examined the knife closer, I was rather disappointed. The edges were rather blunt and uneven, not even close to sharp. I have my suspicion that these knives were some of the last out of the Schrade factory, but of course I can't know that for sure. After spending a couple hours with some sandpaper and sharpening stones, I was able to thin out the sheepfoot and clip point blades to razor sharpness.

So that's pretty much it. It looked like the case had been mostly picked clean, though there are a couple more knives in there that I'm thinking about picking up. I'll let you all know if I pick up anything else.
 
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