LB7 Bear Paw LB Survey

Ballenxj said:
Smart Alec. ;)
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Or rejected. Erm... not you, LB-7s before mine!

James, sorry I missed your comments last July about the lockbar notch change. I've not seen the ECO on that change but I do have a hint for you for approximating the date. During the dumping of detritus on eBay I bought a Harry Gant commem in the wooden box with printed tile top. The knife was unassembled from the factory with a pair of etched, gold filled blades... two different issues. And they had the different lockbar notches. So if you can find when the issues were made.... I'll see if I can dig them out and post pics. Most of my knives are still boxed from the move.

Another detail change which I swear we mentioned sometime back was the repositioning of the lockbar pivot. It wasn't moved a lot but if one looks closely it is noticeable. Changing the fulcrum point changed the pressure needed to unlock the blade and changed the pressure needed to engage the locking notch. Were these two changes done at the same time? The pivot of the lockbar provided in my Gant "kit" does not match the laser etched covers/liners included.
 
this is why this thread is the best and most comprehensive forum. you pick up things that you had not considered or heard if you keep reading. now i have to go look at my small collection of LB 7's to check on the notch and pin placement. a new excuse to handle the knives i love so much. my favorite pattern by far.
 
Took some recent shots to show how the poor old thing looks today. Finally retired after at least twenty some odd years of hard work.
I think it still looks grand after all those years of abuse, and I still keep an edge on it. ;)
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My initials have been on the blade for a very long time.
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And here's a shot of it's third original sheath. I don't think I can get them any more. :(
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PS, this seemed like a good way to bump this thread. :cool:
 
If I had a matching Dixie Collection set with a LB8/LB7 and a UH144 with matching serial numbers,case,paperwork and sheaths what would it be worth?
 
akula83 said:
Q31675
3 pin
Schrade+
USA LB7
Looks like 1978.
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Dale Vincent lists the Schrade LB7s were made from 1979 to 2004.
Schrade's first catalogue to list the "NEW Uncle Henery Bear Paw" was dated "January 1978" Retail price $29.50.
So it looks like your LB7 with 3 pins, that "Looks like 1978" - Was made well into the 1980's.

Schrade's 1979 catalogue lists the "NEW 7OT with Saw Cut Handles and Old Timer shield" also showing 4 pins. $29.50.
Schrade's 1980 catalogue lists the 7OT at $31.95 and by 1982 the price went to:
LB1 $20.95 LB3 $26.95 LB5 $32.95 LB7 $34.95 and the LB8 shows for the first time at $39.95.
 
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Dale did not have access to the factory production records. From my post on page 1 of this thread:

Serials up to 17693 were produced in 1977.

Serial numbers 17694 - 334585 were produced in 1978 when 316,892 LB7's were made.

Serial numbers 334586 - 785250 were produced in 1979 when 450,665 LB7's were made.

Highest all numeric would be six places, 999999. I have recorded serial number 914569. Thus the first million knives had no alphas. This point was reached some time in 1980. A total of 1,106,906 LB7's had been produced by the end of that year.
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koldgold said:
Dale Vincent lists the Schrade LB7s were made from 1979 to 2004.
Schrade's first catalogue to list the "NEW Uncle Henery Bear Paw" was dated "January 1978" Retail price $29.50.
So it looks like your LB7 with 3 pins, that "Looks like 1978" - Was made well into the 1980's.

Schrade's 1979 catalogue lists the "NEW 7OT with Saw Cut Handles and Old Timer shield" also showing 4 pins. $29.50.
Schrade's 1980 catalogue lists the 7OT at $31.95 and by 1982 the price went to:
LB1 $20.95 LB3 $26.95 LB5 $32.95 LB7 $34.95 and the LB8 shows for the first time at $39.95.
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Isn't it 78 when the lb7 was officially introduced? With the understanding that per Codger they where being produced starting in 1977.

http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/Catalogs/images/1978-CATS.pdf
 
koldgold said:
What a good question! If the first LB7s were made in 1977, and first sold in 1978. How do we date them?
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Wut? What if a knife was made in 1977 and you bought it today. How would you date it? As I posted above, by the serial number. Those are the numbers of knives not only made but actually shipped during that calendar year.
 
Codger_64 said:
Dale did not have access to the factory production records. From my post on page 1 of this thread:
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So from what I get here, my knife (#7100) was actually manufactured in 1977? Then sold to me in 1979 as new old stock.
Am I now getting the picture?
 
Ballenxj said:
So from what I get here, my knife (#7100) was actually manufactured in 1977? Then sold to me in 1979 as new old stock.
Am I now getting the picture?
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Yes. Except that 1977 is the year that it shipped from the manufacturer to be more precise. If it was shipped near the end of 1977, and sold retail at the beginning of 1979, it was just in shipment and inventory a tad over a year, so sold as current inventory stock, not really what we think of as "New Old Stock". That is not a long time to be in the pipeline considering the knife may have sold first to a distributor before making it to the retailer.
 
On time distribution and SKU inventory tracking in the late 70's were in their infancy compared to today. I worked at a bike shop as a teen in the late 70's and I remember the owner had parts backstocked from the 1960's and that we were still selling.

Ramping up production of an item to sell next year or even several years in advance was fairly common up until the late 80's when on time distribution really took off in the 1990's.

Toss in the fact that the majority of places that sold knives and sporting goods back in the 1970's and early 80's probably didn't have the best process of inventory rotation.

The serial number sequence polling that is occurring in this thread in conjunction with the cross referencing of yearly production reports is the best way I've seen so far to peg down a production date.
 
Codger_64 said:
Yes. Except that 1977 is the year that it shipped from the manufacturer to be more precise. If it was shipped near the end of 1977, and sold retail at the beginning of 1979, it was just in shipment and inventory a tad over a year, so sold as current inventory stock, not really what we think of as "New Old Stock". That is not a long time to be in the pipeline considering the knife may have sold first to a distributor before making it to the retailer.
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We now know the knives were manufactured in 1977, and were listed as "NEW" in Schrade's catalogue in January 1978.
To be "precise" did Schrade let the retailers sell their knives, before January 1978 - We know they sold them after January 1978.
 
koldgold said:
We now know the knives were manufactured in 1977, and were listed as "NEW" in Schrade's catalogue in January 1978.
To be "precise" did Schrade let the retailers sell their knives, before January 1978 - We know they sold them after January 1978.
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Why would they allow their salesmen to take orders for knives, produce them, ship them to the purchasers and then tell them they could not sell them until a new catalog was issued when very few of the knife buying consumers had access to the catalogs? That doesn't make sense. They obviously sold LB-7's before they appeared in the catalogs just as they did 165OT and other patterns. The confusion comes in, I think, in that until the year-end production (shipping) records were available and examined, only the catalog appearances were usable to date first issues of knives. Now we know better. There were quite a few mid-year introductions before catalog appearances and before media advertisements.
 
I don't remember if I posted the serial number here before but I don't think I've posted a picture.
I've had this ole boy for a long time. It accompanied me surveying rural areas.
I hammered stake tacks into wooden hubs with it and just used it like a young nut would.
It's solid as a rock still and I love it. S/N N39997



 
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