LB7 Bear Paw LB Survey

Codger_64 said:
Taylor cashed out in 2017. BTI is Battenfield Technology Inc., a subsidiary of Smith And Wesson. Yes, it is a cheap Chinese knife.
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Thank you Codger. The box is certainly a box for a cheap Chinese knife but I don't think it's what my knife came in. Those pics in my original post were lifted from the bay and they don't show the knife very well. Now that I actually have the knife (and the box) in hand, the tang stamp is clear:

Uncle Henry (script)
SCHRADE+
LB7 U.S.A.

There's no serial number but I've seen 2 theories for that: 1) when they got to ZZ99999, they stopped serializing and/or 2) the unserialized knives were sent out as warranty replacements. I'll keep the knife but if anybody else wants the box I'd sell it cheap. . . :)
 
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Codger_64 said:
One of the most often posted questions over the years has been regarding the LB7 stamps, pins, and serial numbers. I am fairly sure that many of you here now have one or more LB7s, and it would be of great help if you could list for me the serial numbers, pins, and tang stamps. My off-forum survey so far has proven inconclusive on dating the changes of the four main tangstamp variants, and how they relate to the pin changes, packaging, and serial numbers. Also, I have recorded a few (very few) LB8s with serials. If you would like to help, please list your knives this way:

1. D25654 - four pin
SCHRADE+
U.S.A. LB7

2. Q81829 - three pin
SCHRADE+
U.S.A. LB7

3. AY81596 - three pin, MAC etch.
Uncle Henry
SCHRADE+
LB7 U.S.A .

4. No Ser# three pin, tan box
Uncle Henry
SCHRADE+
LB7 U.S.A .

Thanks!

Michael
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I rescued and cleaned this one up from a pawn shop yesterday.
J83008- Four Pin
Schrade +
U.S.A. LB7
 

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KLMKNIFE said:
Schrade +
LB7
Staglon 3 pin
Serial # 7600


Uncle Henry
Schrade +
LB7 USA
Wood 3pin
Serial# AV16121
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Thank you for reviving this topic.
The LB7 is a fine knife from days gone by. I'm glad I bought the Schrades I did when I did. My LB7 was the only one I bought brand new.
 
666170 4 pin
SCHRADE +
U.S.A. LB7

Bought it 1979, blade was etched with MAC
Wore out the original sheath, 50+ parachute jumps!
 
auHqWuo.jpg


Hi everyone, I am new here. First I would like to give a big Thank You to all the participants in this thread, most especially Codger.
Above is my LB7 which you will notice is stamped SCHRADE, not SCHRADE+. I have read that this means the blade is carbon steel, but I've also read that Schrade were often a bit inconsistent with their tang stamps. The blade does appear to me to be stainless. I've just spent (far too much) time combing through all the information in this thread, and I have seen four other knives mentioned here with the SCHRADE stamp. One is post 570, just above here. The serial numbers range from 786640 to 866998 which indicate production in early 1980. If all the blades between these numbers are stamped the same, it means that at least 80,358 knives received this 'incorrect' stamp.
To summarize other data from the thread, it appears that the change from four pin to three pin construction took place somewhere between N27722 and N29256. (But there are two anomalous numbers on four pin knives: Q2980 and Q5028. These are probably SFOs. And another anomalous four pin one, W99732, which is a bit harder to explain).
The earliest that I have seen 'Uncle Henry' appear on the stamp is S84613. Does anyone know what year that was?
This is interesting because the LB7 was referred to as an Uncle Henry knife right from the start in Schrade catalogs. It is hard to see, but this picture from the January 1978 catalog, where the LB7 made its first appearance, certainly shows three lines to the tang stamp, the top one of which would have been Uncle Henry:

Ne6NfUY.jpg


In the 1980 catalog there are two pictures of the LB7, one with a three line stamp and the other with two. So it is strange that it took several years for the knives to be stamped Uncle Henry. Does anyone know what year the N numbers were from?

And the last thing, I think the highest number recorded on an LB7 was until recently BB56630. Post 557 from Ittsukan on the previous page has blown that out of the water with two knives, CA15369 and CA22641. Any advance on these?
 
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UnforchHabit said:
auHqWuo.jpg


Hi everyone, I am new here. First I would like to give a big Thank You to all the participants in this thread, most especially Codger.
Above is my LB7 which you will notice is stamped SCHRADE, not SCHRADE+. I have read that this means the blade is carbon steel, but I've also read that Schrade were often a bit inconsistent with their tang stamps. The blade does appear to me to be stainless. I've just spent (far too much) time combing through all the information in this thread, and I have seen four other knives mentioned here with the SCHRADE stamp. One is post 570, just above here. The serial numbers range from 786640 to 866998 which indicate production in early 1980. If all the blades between these numbers are stamped the same, it means that at least 80,358 knives received this 'incorrect' stamp.
To summarize other data from the thread, it appears that the change from four pin to three pin construction took place somewhere between N27722 and N29256. (But there are two anomalous numbers on four pin knives: Q2980 and Q5028. These are probably SFOs. And another anomalous four pin one, W99732, which is a bit harder to explain).
The earliest that I have seen 'Uncle Henry' appear on the stamp is S84613. Does anyone know what year that was?
This is interesting because the LB7 was referred to as an Uncle Henry knife right from the start in Schrade catalogs. It is hard to see, but this picture from the January 1978 catalog, where the LB7 made its first appearance, certainly shows three lines to the tang stamp, the top one of which would have been Uncle Henry:

Ne6NfUY.jpg


In the 1980 catalog there are two pictures of the LB7, one with a three line stamp and the other with two. So it is strange that it took several years for the knives to be stamped Uncle Henry. Does anyone know what year the N numbers were from?

And the last thing, I think the highest number recorded on an LB7 was until recently BB56630. Post 557 from Ittsukan on the previous page has blown that out of the water with two knives, CA15369 and CA22641. Any advance on these?
Click to expand...

Hello

U UnforchHabit​


I have 4 pin knife #788148 and is also stamped Schrade only without the + symbol. I also believe this knife blade to be stainless steel as the blade is in just too nice of shape for a 1979 knife. The boxes I have from these early knives all say "Uncle Henry" so yes, The knives were always represented as Uncle Henry Bear Paw knives but the tang stamp with Uncle Henry came later on.

I'm not so sure that pic has 3 lines, You can see the + and part of Schrade, But what you are thinking is the first line does not appear to say Uncle Henry.
 
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Beavis Ranch said:
Hello

U UnforchHabit​


I have 4 pin knife #788148 and is also stamped Schrade only without the + symbol. I also believe this knife blade to be stainless steel as the blade is in just too nice of shape for a 1979 knife. The boxes I have from these early knives all say "Uncle Henry" so yes, The knives were always represented as Uncle Henry Bear Paw knives but the tang stamp with Uncle Henry came later on.

I'm not so sure that pic has 3 lines, You can see the + and part of Schrade, But what you are thinking is the first line does not appear to say Uncle Henry.
Click to expand...
Yes, after some more looking I agree. Possibly it's just a smudge on the drawing. The LB7 pictures in the catalogs from 1978 to 1987 are either the same as the one I posted or show no tang marks at all or clearly show a two-line stamp. Then suddenly in 1988 there is an LB7 photograph on the cover with the Uncle Henry stamp. As to when it appeared on the knives, who knows? Schrade could easily have been reusing their drawings for one or more years in their catalogs after the stamp had been changed on the actual knives. After 1988 the drawings do change, although there is really not enough detail to properly identify the stamp. I do think that 'rabbit hole' is a fair description of this endeavor...
I looked you up and so came across the very sad news of Codger's death. What a terrible loss! He will be sadly missed.
 
UnforchHabit said:
Yes, after some more looking I agree. Possibly it's just a smudge on the drawing. The LB7 pictures in the catalogs from 1978 to 1987 are either the same as the one I posted or show no tang marks at all or clearly show a two-line stamp. Then suddenly in 1988 there is an LB7 photograph on the cover with the Uncle Henry stamp. As to when it appeared on the knives, who knows? Schrade could easily have been reusing their drawings for one or more years in their catalogs after the stamp had been changed on the actual knives. After 1988 the drawings do change, although there is really not enough detail to properly identify the stamp. I do think that 'rabbit hole' is a fair description of this endeavor...
I looked you up and so came across the very sad news of Codger's death. What a terrible loss! He will be sadly missed.
Click to expand...
I have been collecting knives my whole life, My main interests are Craftsman Lock Backs and Schrade LB7 knives. Codger has been a real source of information and it was very sad news about his passing. I hope the information he collected over the years did not get thrown away but passed to one of his friends/fellow knife collectors.
 
A5415 4 pin
SCHRADE +
USA LB7

Bought without sheath, any info/picture of the correct sheath look like?
 
I hadn't heard about Codger's passing. That's a shame. He was a real influence on this forum. Let's keep posting info and keep this thread going.

I just picked up another LB7, in very good condition, but with no sheath.

3 Pins
Uncle Henry
Schrade +
LB7 U.S.A.
AW49562

I'm guessing this is a late serial number, towards the end of the time when they still serialized the knives.
 
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