Imperial-Schrade Heirarchy?

[afishhunter]

I "know" Imperial was the 1st tier, most budget friendly line, followed by Old Timer, at second tier.
Was Uncle Henry 3rd tier, with the Schrade branded knives 4th/top tier, or were the Uncle Henry 4th tier, with the Schrade branded taking the 3rd tier position?
Where did Camillus fit in?

Were the post NYKC acquisition Hammer Brand knives produced by Imperial-Schrade equal to, a step above, or a step below the Imperial?

After obtaining NYKC at the bankruptcy auction during the Great Depression, did Imperial-Schrade ever manufacture any New York Knife Company branded knives, or was the name never used by Imperial-Schrade? If they did make some NYKC branded knives, were they between Uncle Henry and Schrade, or between Old Timer and whichever line was a tier above them?

Were there any post war Schrade branded pocket knives? I know there were Schrade branded sheath knives.

 

[jxr1197]

There’s a lot to unpack here. The connection between Imperial and Schrade dates to 1946. It was Imperial that bought the Hammer Brand name by itself in the 1930s. As far as I can tell there is no difference in quality whether the knife is stamped Imperial, Jack Master, or Hammer Brand. The exception to this is much later on when Imperial Ireland knives came into the picture. Those are lower quality than the others. As far as I’m aware neither Imperial nor Schrade ever produced any of the old NYK patterns. As far as tiers I’ve always thought of Imperial as the economical brand with Schrade the premium brand and Ulster in the middle. This would carry from the mid 40s thru the 60s when the Ulster name started to peter out. Uncle Henry was considered a premium brand within the Schrade family but I don’t know that the company, or even collectors, have ever tiered other knives like Old Timers and open stock patterns. Camillus was more of a second cousin that wasn’t involved in the day to day incestuous relationship between Schrade / Ulster / Imperial. I think Camillus quality compares to Schrade but I don’t collect them so take that with a grain of salt. As for post war Schrades, I'm not sure what you're asking. Schrade made knives until 2004.