Imperial question ok?

[FLINT77]

Is it ok to ask a question about an Imperial knife here? if not, please let me know where to redirect - it does tie in indirectly to schrade, so here it goes.

I was at my parents house and dug through my stuff and found my first pocket knife from when I was a boy - and then a couple more from when I was a teen.

Ok, so my first knife was an imperial model 854. Its a two blade folding knife. The blade stamp says Imperial over Providence RI and then USA is stamped vertically to the right of both of those. the blades are not stainless steel. and the handle is some strange material that seems to be deteriorating with age.

I'll post a picture tomorrow if this post is allowed to stay.

My question was - when was this knife made??? or range. I haven't been able to find much info online. The knife has a little diamond badge that says DE on it - which I was able to find out meant diamond edge and possibly came from a time period between 1960 and 1975 - and maybe the blade stamp would help narrow down the date?

My confusion is that I wasn't born until 1977, and wouldn't have gotten this knife probably until around 1985 - so I'm guessing it was old when I got it? My dad gave it to me - maybe he had it or found it somewhere?

So, the interesting thing - is that another knife I found that I remembered having - was an Imperial model AP 25. Its stamp said Ireland on it. I probably bought it from the hardware store I worked at in the very early 90s - which is when Imperial was associated with Schrade (there is the tie in) - oh yeah, the interesting thing (to me) is that I held these two Imperials up next to each other and realized that they are the exact same blade pattern (I don't think I ever realized that when I was a boy) - and the handles are a similar shape - but the older one is a different material - and the older blades are not stainless, but the Ireland blades are stainless.

THe other schrade tie in - is that my third childhood pocket knife - was a super cute little 807UH. That is still in pretty good shape also - and obviously of much higher quality than either of the imperials -

again, I can post pictures tomorrow

 

[tongueriver]

My resource says that your tang stamp dates from 1956 to 1988. It sounds to me like your knife with that stamp may be one with "shell" bolsters. These were hollow and crimped on in a clever way. The handles were also hollow and covered with a thin sheet of colorful celluloid. These were lower price-point knives with, as I understand it, excellent blade steel. I don't think anyone minds your questions about Imperial knives.

 

[edbeau]

Yes by all means post the pictures. I have quite a few Imperial Frontier series knives and I do post them here.

 

[thawk]

Ulsters, Imperials, Craftsman, all find their way in this forum. Older Keen Kutters and Hammer Brands too. Camillus has it's own forum but sometimes for comparison they are appropriate as well.

 

[lrv]

I have a section of Imperial flyers on my web site.
DE came in many variations over the years.
Checkout the few DE's there.
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/FLYERS/flyers.html

 

[FLINT77]

Thanks guys - and thanks Irv for the flyer link. I found my knife model in the fliers from the 70s and 80s, although my version looks more like the ones from the 70s - as the 80s versions had a woodgrain finish, and mine 'was' a uniform dark color (brown/black). So that does help narrow it down. it does seem to have pretty decent carbon steel blades

let's see if a photoshop link works:

This picture has my first imperial at the bottom and the later one on top



This pictures is attempting to show the tang stamp on the older one



This pictures shows my old uncle henry knife.

 

[edbeau]

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.