Imperial Knife In Craftsman Truck Commercial

L

lisarnc

Joined
Sep 6, 2005
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I am in desperate need of information on the Imperial folder that Peanut Smith has in the Craftsman Truck Series commercial. My husband is obssessed with it & has been searching high & low for one like it. I found an e-mail address & wrote Peanut about it, but all he knows is that it is an Imperial. Has anyone seen the ad & do you have any information that can help me? Thanks so much!
 
Looks like a older, say 60's vintage, Imperial to me. Imperial did some runs of different pattern pocket knives in this era with two tone shell scales with a "cigar band" down the middle. I took a fancy to a style of camp knife with these scales a couple of years ago and started looking for them on ebay, thats when I noticed other patterns start to show up also. The ones in minty condition do seem to have some collector appeal, because I was outbid every time I went after one, sometimes by a surprising margin. The knife in the commercial also has what looks like a wharncliffe secondary blade open, which makes me doubt its a rehandled Case, although I do admit that I'm not the guy to ask about every pattern variation of peanuts that Case has ever made. I've just never seen a Case peanut with a wharncliffe secondary blade. Your husbands best bet is to study every Imperial on ebay several times a week until a similar model shows up, its what I had to do when I was looking for that elusive camp knife with similar scales. Happy hunting!
 
Lisa, you are one cool wife to go to all this trouble for your guy.

I agree with OT guy; I've had a few of those two tone imperials. Several times early in my collecting those little beauties were just all I could afford.

Best to keep an eye on ebay. Try search: "Imperial Knife" and then exlude the words "Jade, military, bayonet, china, japan". it worked for me, I found two of the old two-tones, but not the right midels..

Or... Nascar has a reputation of having the most accessable athletes. You might try writing to the mechanic.

Phil
 
FYI, there is another not-too-common Schrade Peanut knife he might like as well. It's a yellow handle "heritage series" 2-blade peanut. Search e-bay for "schrade peanut yellow" and it should come up. I bought one from ebay because the only other source is smoky mountain and they want $30 for it with a toy truck.
 
Is there any way to just get a still of the pic in the commercial I cannot get enough look at it I have watched the dang thing 20 times . Also I cannot discern the two tone but if I could get a long good look I believe I might be able to help. It appears to be have two blades on one side the small open blade is a sheepsfoot which is not usual ( but not unheard of in a two blade knife, However it is standard in a 3 bladed stockman If that is the case then it is not a peanut. It is hard to see the distinctive curve of a peanut in the lightning picture and a peanut is 2,7/8" this looks bigger in his hand. I have half a dozen antique full imperial displays around me as I write this I also have a couple of the double color versions in other patterns. This knife handles look like none of them. If I could see a still of it the shield, tang something I could probably give an idea. All I have is that it is an Imperial. It cannot be a really old Imperial since then it would be marked IKCO instead of imperial. The smooth sides seem more like a Frontier or Diamond edge (series imperial ) however the shape seems wrong but I cannot tell from the pic. LT
 
OK ( received email) I do not know how you got the still pic but it answered some of your questions Yes the pattern is a peanut. This is one of a series of small patterns in this handle material made by Imperial Knife ( circa late 60 tys and 70 tys ). The two tone handle has the imperial crest. I am attaching a picture of a knife of a different pattern but with ths same handles so that you can see it and recognize it. This one is a mini tooth pick with scaler fishing knife. I am also attaching some pics of other companies peanuts notice some are 2 blade some are one however none have the sheepsfoot blade. The one in the commercial is a two blade version. I am attaching these so that you can see the shape of the pattern. I also am including a pic of the tang marking so that you will recognise it ( note some will also have PROV RI on them ) . This one may be so marked and I may have covered it but just so you are aware.

The knife in question is a hollow handled shell knife which when new cost under a dollar if found at a garage sale they may still be that price. These in this handle pattern are fairly rare and sought after I had a 35 dollar bid on one several months ago ( it was the peanut ) and lost. If you need more info please advise. LT
 
does this help?

knife.jpg
 
I've never seen one with that blade style, but I dug out 3 that I have. Here they are...

Misc089.jpg


They are all 2 3/4" long

Glenn
 
You know...

After looking a Glenn's nice knives, and the still picture posted by Andrew...thank you both :thumbup: .....

It appears to me that someone with knifemaking, or at least very good machinist skills, COULD have turned that spearpoint blade into a sheepsfoot shape, at the owners request. It's a little hard to see the swedge area, but starting from the location of the nail pull, moving quickly downward, and eliminating the slight upsweep on the edge. Does the blade look slightly short to you?
EDIT...If that is the pen/short blade still folded (barely visible), the master blade looks short. I suppose it (a reprofile) could've been done to a clip point blade as well...maybe a bit more challenging, but as Codger likes to say..."doable".

Or, maybe a special version from the factory, just for a friend?

Or.....maybe not.

Just a thought.

Bill
 
Now that you mention it, Bill, that's kinda what it looks like. Like when a knife tip gets busted off, and then reprofiled.

Wonder if it's a prop knife, or belongs to the guy himself. Perhaps like you said, he modified it himself. I would assume that a knife that is shown openly in a commercial would have to be a)sheeple friendly and b)nice to look at.

Interesting mystery....

Glenn
 
From somone who knows nothing, I noticed the prop knife appears to have both blades pivot from the same end, which when compaired to Glenn's knives would seem to eliminate the spear point option and leave you with a reprofiled clip pint to a sheeps foot. Also the prop knife doesn't appear to have the "peanut" curve shape.

Paul
 
OK,
I'm always willing to be laughed out of a thread..."Nothing ventured"...and all that.

I know the scales don't make sense (not ivory celluloid...no advertising), but did Imperial make any "Florist's" knives in a style like this?

Just taking a shot here, even if it's poorly aimed. :D

Bill
 
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