Imperial Task Masters ?

textoothpk

textoothpk

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Some of you here know of my fascination with the Imperial 'Frontiers', those made in the USA, not in Ireland, the ones with the powderhorn shield and/or tang mark. They are cheap to collect, still many around in mint condition with original boxes, and I enjoy filling original deal counter displays with the things. I bought another old catalog of them the other day, and included in it is a one page separate with somethng I had not seen... the Imperial 'Task Master' lineup of 1976. Five basic knives, one of just about every task an all around sportsman might have to perform, from filetting fish to gutting a deer and field dressing a squirrel. The Fillet knife has a direct match up in the 'Frontier' lineup, as does the 'pro-skinner'. It would have been a nice counter display for a cluttered country store/bait shop, gun shop to display and sell to their customers. But I have never seen one. And with about 75 frontier knives, catalogs, displays, belt buckles, advertising material, ect, it's that is strange.

Any of you seen one of these knives? Or what I think are eye-catching boxes?

Thanks for any help.

Phil
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I mentioned the Imperial Frontier lineup, made in the USA, BR Levine says he saw these being made for Imperial at the Camillus factory. I think them to be the best Imperials made. Not bad expensive. Sold at K-Mart. Lots of them will have etchings/handle printing for companies, as they were used alot for advertising/giveaways to customers, ect. Orgill Bros., Ford, Boeing, the Boy Scouts, MAC and Snap-On tools, various farm/feed/seed companies. Sears carried them with the Sears brand name (not Craftsman). I'm showing one of those below, brand new with the box, along with a Land O Lakes feed advertising knife. Good quality user knives, fair priced then and cheap now, although the Schrade connection (however tenuous) made them spike in value for a short time in the recent past.
Phil
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Tex, those Frontiers are nice knives, I have a few of them myself. I picked up a NIB skinner model about a year ago, although it doesn't have the Pro Skinner etching on the blade. I've bid on a couple of the folding hunter models also, but always seem to get pinged at the last minute.

Those folders in the second post, the 4515 models, are one of my favorites also. Just so happens I'm carrying one today, just about the pefect pocket lockback. I remember when I was a kid, my dad's buisness got some of these as a promo from a vendor. He carried his for years and eventually wore it out. I bugged him to see if he could get me one and finally he did. I was one happy kid to have a knife just like dad's. At some point I lost it and didn't think to much more about it until I seen them on ebay and decided to replace my lost one.

Camillus still lists this model on their website as being produced. I don't think Schrade ever made any of these, they had the LB5 and 5OT/55UH series of pocket lockbacks that filled this size/performence slot in the lineup. There are those green handled Ireland made Imperials that came on the market, but I don't think that any of the wood handled ones were produced in Ellenville. Hard to say though, maybe someone can clear this up with some better info.

I got a question about some more Imperials I have, but I'm going to have to wait until I get home and get the model numbers.
 
I bought both the drop point and the fillet knife style at Kmart in the mid 70`s, but they had white handles on them.

John
 
I've had the Backpacker model (the smaller lockback in the pic) for quite some time. Think I got it at Kmart, but not sure. I haven't used it much lately, but I always liked it alot. I just took it out, as I haven't looked at it in awhile. It has a little blade play when open, but other than that it's in great shape. Pretty sure I still have the box hidden somewhere, as I tend to keep them. Nice knife.
 
Wildcat Skinner.
hopefully the Pro Hunters were a better series.
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TTYL
Larry
 
Thanks Larry! These do not look like the quality of the 'Frontiers'. I didn't even know if they had even actually been produced.

PTGuy... please, if you see me bidding on one of these that you want, just shoot me an email. My Ebay handle is 'camp9mm'. I have more than enough, I basically bid on them out of habit. I am mainly look anymore for advertising and promotional stuff, oddball logos, ect.

Yep, Stomper, the Imperial Frontier series did offer a fillet knife. Both a flex blade and a rigid blade, an idea Schrade held onto for a while. The handle colors for the Frontiers (USA made) were: 'Old Ivory', Sundowner Yellow, Gunpowder Black', and for the stainless steel 'Double Eagles', wood.

Below is a couple, a big dropped point hunter and a special commemorative 'Daniel Boone' traditional folding hunter with blade etch and fancy box. There were three in the series, I have the Davy Crockett, but am still seeking the 'Mountain Man' issue.

Lots of value in a collection where one can spend very little money for a lot of product. I've made a lot of non-knife guys happy by just giving them one of these.

phil
 

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I have an interesting Frontier that belonged to my Grandfather. It was given to him by my Grandmothers cousin who was a sales rep for Imperial for probably 25 or 30 years.
This knife has a SS frame with pretty wood inlays. It has 3 blades. The main blade is a drop point, and it has a sheepfoot & pen blades. The main blade has the tang stamped:
FRONTIER
U.S.A.
The reverse tang says:
P-III
IMPERIAL
STAINLESS

I think it was probably given to my Grandfather in the 60's or 70's as he died in the early 80's.
I would post a picture but I can't seem to get registered with a paid membership in this forum. It keeps kicking it back. I have emailed the admin. several times but haven't gotten an answer. :grumpy:
 
You can e-mail the pics to Larry or Phil and they can post them for you, or you can use a web hosting service like I do and post the links here. Hunt101, tinypics, and photobucket are three popular hosting sites.

Codger
 
Orvet,
I found that the registration process needs to use Internet Explorer. It would not work for me using netscape.
I have a pict of the P series. I'll post if I can dig it up. I think there are 6 in total
TTYL
Larry
Found it: Got the pict off of EBay a while ago. Im still missing the P-VI
Imperial Frointier came out with the American series which have a black plastic handle which were also numbered P-I - P-? for a short while. They re numbered the later ones. Sharpe also makes a SS handled knife with the wood inlay very similar to this Frontier series.

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Thanks Irv,
The 3 blade is like my Grandfathers knife. They are really nice looking & solid.
I don't think my Grandfather ever sharpened the knife or carried it. It looks almost brand new.

As to the registration; I used Internet Explorer and it still didn't work.
Is it difficult to get a response from the Forum Administrator when you email them?

Thanks,
Dale
 
lrv said:
Orvet,
I found that the registration process needs to use Internet Explorer. It would not work for me using netscape.
I have a pict of the P series. I'll post if I can dig it up. I think there are 6 in total
TTYL
Larry
Found it: Got the pict off of EBay a while ago. Im still missing the P-VI
Imperial Frointier came out with the American series which have a black plastic handle which were also numbered P-I - P-? for a short while. They re numbered the later ones. Sharpe also makes a SS handled knife with the wood inlay very similar to this Frontier series.

PS.jpg
Click to expand...

Irv, thats a nice pic of that series. Could you tell us a little more about them. I have the P-111 stockman and the P-11 medium lockback and really like these knives. That combo I have sees alot of duty as a edc pair. I was wondering what steel was used in the blades, guessing 440A, but not sure. These are nice solid knives that don't get much press, so I don't have a handle on the history. Thanks.

As a side note, the larger lockbacks came with a very nice tooled leather sheath, were these considered a premium item back when they were on the market? Makes for a nice looking package.
 
I am sorry to say that I do not have any history on these knives. Maybe Phil can fill us in :D
TTYL
Larry
 
I can add nothing to these. I concentrate on the Imperial Frontiers with the begining number 4, those made by Camillus.

But this is good! Any of you can have as much fun as I have had over the years with discovering yourself the history, the steel, the how-did-it-all-come-about questions. You never know what you might find as you concentrate on them. Were there lapel pins? Belt bukcles? Printed matter, advertising, old ads from magazines? Will you find someone who actually worked at the factory where they were made?

Enjoy unraveling the mysteries. Let us know what you find out. We are, here in this forum, the Keepers of the History of Imperial Schrade, ect.

Phil
 
I was rumaging around inthe kitchen drawers a few minutes ago and I came across a pair of knives I got years ago and after I got through with them I gave them to the wife for the kitchen chores. Turns out they are Imperial Frontier models 422 (which is like the 154 drop point) and 412 (which is the 152 Sharpfinger). These go back at least to the early 80's I think and maybe further than that. They are carbon steel and have the white Ivory looking scales. They have both been sharpened a lot and used a lot. but in both cases there's a lot of knife left. I'm going to email Larry a picture and if he thinks it's good enough to post maybe he will do so.

Paul
 
I have one of those drop points. Nice little knives. I showed it to Phil and he "Philled" me in on the models and numbers, and somehow I wound up with one of the slightly larger, really nice, wood handled Double Eagles. At the moment, those are my only two Imperials. But I like them both. The Double Eagle calls to me from the display, begging to be used!

Codger
 
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