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- Jun 29, 1999
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Long, long ago, in the Dark Ages of the 1950s before there was even color television or remotes (we actually had to walk across the room to the TV to change to one of the three available channels!), or cell phones, my family would spend our summers at Sand Bay on Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula. My mother and my two sisters and I would spend most of the summer there, living in the tent trailer my dad designed and built. Dad would drive up from Appleton on weekends and for his summer vacation. Often flocks of cousins would arrive and stay at adjoining cottages. There wasn’t a phone, electricity or TV but no one missed them. There was the marvelous wide sandy beach, clear water, the mysterious creek where we searched for crayfish, and perch. Lots of perch. My dad would take us fishing (he spent lot of time unraveling the bird’s nests on our reels, as I recall). We would come back with buckets of perch and the occasional bass. There was a scaling bench at a nearby cottage, and I remember him cleaning and scaling the perch under the hissing Coleman lantern with his fishing knife, a yellow-handled folder.
My younger sister recently found that knife among my dad’s things, and knew it was meant for me. It’s an Model U-208 Ulster Fishing Knife (Google Ulster Fishing Knife for pix). A 1961 Ulster catalogue lists it for $4.75 (a fair bit of money back then): Stainless Fisherman’s Knife: Blades (2) Long Sabre-Ground Cutting Blade and combination Fish Scaler and Cap-lifter blade. Handles: Moize (Yellow) Plastic. My dad probably bought it years earlier for less. It’s still in the original leather case. I don’t remember him ever wearing it on his belt; it was usually in the tackle box. The 3 ¾” stainless steel clip blade is worn down a bit but still takes an excellent edge. The other blade is combination scaler, with a cap lifter (pop top cans had not yet been invented and most beverages were drunk from glass bottles) and a hook disgorger at the tip. The nickel silver bolsters were discolored but cleaned up nicely with silver polish. I cleaned out some of the gunk (probably perch residue) and it is still solid, no blade play or wobble.
It’s an heirloom. And I’m going to try it out next time I catch a fish.
Couldn’t find too much information on the Ulster Knife Company, which advertised itself as Manufacturer of Fine Pocket Cutlery Since 1876. It was apparently founded in in Ellenville, New York, in the 1870s. It was acquired in 1941 by Albert M. Baer who merged it with the Imperial Knife Company, which eventually became Schrade.
My younger sister recently found that knife among my dad’s things, and knew it was meant for me. It’s an Model U-208 Ulster Fishing Knife (Google Ulster Fishing Knife for pix). A 1961 Ulster catalogue lists it for $4.75 (a fair bit of money back then): Stainless Fisherman’s Knife: Blades (2) Long Sabre-Ground Cutting Blade and combination Fish Scaler and Cap-lifter blade. Handles: Moize (Yellow) Plastic. My dad probably bought it years earlier for less. It’s still in the original leather case. I don’t remember him ever wearing it on his belt; it was usually in the tackle box. The 3 ¾” stainless steel clip blade is worn down a bit but still takes an excellent edge. The other blade is combination scaler, with a cap lifter (pop top cans had not yet been invented and most beverages were drunk from glass bottles) and a hook disgorger at the tip. The nickel silver bolsters were discolored but cleaned up nicely with silver polish. I cleaned out some of the gunk (probably perch residue) and it is still solid, no blade play or wobble.
It’s an heirloom. And I’m going to try it out next time I catch a fish.
Couldn’t find too much information on the Ulster Knife Company, which advertised itself as Manufacturer of Fine Pocket Cutlery Since 1876. It was apparently founded in in Ellenville, New York, in the 1870s. It was acquired in 1941 by Albert M. Baer who merged it with the Imperial Knife Company, which eventually became Schrade.
