Is this marlin spike a Schrade?

I would say that it's not a Schrade, the bolsters and pins are different. This is a Schrade 735:

shrade4.jpg
 
That is one of the Sears (Roebuck and company) special issue knives. Schrade made a few of them, Kershaw and Case made at least one each, but this one, along with the 'Alwilda the female pirate' (on my constant watch list) are not known who made them. I cannot find this listed as one of the Schrade limited editions.

It does bear a strong resemblence to the 735, but my guess is Camillus, who has a very good reputation of keeping their mouth shut about who they make knives for.

phil
 
The same style of knife can be very similar from one manufacturer to the next. The top knife in the top pic is an older 4 pin Schrade LB7, the bottom knife in the same pic was described as a Craftsman made for Sears by Schrade. The Sears knife has slightly different pins and the front bolster is a different shape. This Sears knife was not made by Schrade, it was made by Camillus.


 
Thanks for the information, gentlemen. I've been looking at all the marlinspikes I could find, on ebay and in my collection. The only pattern that has parallel sides (i.e. the scales are rectangular) like the Morgan is the 735. But the Morgan does look like a different pattern. Would they (Camillus or Schrade) have resurected a not-recently-used pattern for the Morgan?

Also, I remember a fairly recent thread (but of course I can't find it) where there was a discussion about slightly different shapes for the 735 depending on when it was made. If anyone knows how to locate that thread, I sure would appreciate it.

Dave

Update: Evidently Alwilda was made in Japan, see here. And Alwilda looks just like Morgan, so maybe they're both Kershaw? Oops, I guess this post was off topic. :/
 
dlk, thanks for bringing your question to us. Showing us the 'Alwilda' that is made in Japan helps answer your own question, please don't ever worry about being off-topic around here, sometimes that is how an answer is found. With Schrade gone, and any records lost, we arrive at answers in many different ways, going off-topic sometimes works.

It does seem, if the Alwilda was made in Japan, that of course the Morgan was as well, hence neither knife is a Schrade. An Important little factoid for us to file away here.

Here's another 735 thread, with the last word by our resident author and expert, LT.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=349176&highlight=735

Phil

Edited to add: The Alwilda is marked as made of 'surgical steel' and of course we all know that Jim Parker had his Japan made knives so marked, instead of just saying what there really were... stainless steel. So, I am going to look through my Parker references to see if he ever claimed manufacture of this knife. There were some 'craftsmans' made by Parker for a short time.
 
The locking mechanism in both the Morgan and the Alwilda is different from the one in the Schrade.

Not all Schrade marlin spikes lock, the locking ones that I've seen are lockbacks with a lever that lifts up the backspring to unlock, this mechanism is common in American rigging knives and is found in those made to US government specifications.

The locking lever in the Morgan and Alwilda looks to me like what I'm used to see in British rigging knives, when the lever is rotated toward the blade a section of the lever inside the knife blocks the spike's spring preventing it from moving back and thus locking the spike.

So it seems to me that maybe the Japanese knives copy the general lines of the Schrade but with a British style lock.

I have seen another Japanese rigging knife, by Kershaw, following the style of the British Army Knife, with modern looking black plastic or FRN handles, it was obviously made as a user and it was a good one too.

Luis
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top