Looking for a Craftsman without much info.

S

Sword and Shield

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Apr 3, 2004
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Many moons ago, my father had a little Craftsman lockback. About 3" closed, long clip blade, black Delrin handles and a brass American Eagle shield. He lost it about a year ago, so now I'm on the hunt. I know he got it in the mid-80s, but beyond that, nothing else.

Has anyone ever seen one? Any clues on where to search?
 
Sounds like a Camillus built model? Codger could shed some light here when he shows up.:D
 
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I was thinking Schrade since I've seen an LB1 that had a very similar feel, just smaller. Either way, I'd love to find the little sucker.

Here's a stockman with the same Eagle shield, maybe that helps. Ebay
 
The eagle motif and name began in use circa 1970. Imperial trademarked "American Eagle" in 1969 (#72329620), and it is seen used by Sears in that year. We see this with the "American Eagle Collection" knives made by Schrade and Imperial during the 1970's. Parker also used "Eagle Brand", with the eagle motif and sold knives briefly to Sears, some made in Japan.

Most (not all) of the lockbacks sold by Sears were made by Camillus for them from the early eighties forward. I really don't have a year or Sears pattern number for you on this knife, but watching eBay for a knife which fits your description is your best bet unless you want to buy a lot of catalogs from the rough era when it would have been sold, late seventies to mid eighties being my guess.

Michael
 
Am I reading you right that it could be either Camillus or Schrade, then? Makes for an interesting EBay hunt.

Hell, the old man might cry if I found that one.
 
Yes. Albert Baer bought Camillus circa 1963 from the families of the founders, the Kastors (German family name Koester). He had already owned substantial shares before 1940 when he and the Kastor brothers, Alfred and Robert, had a parting of ways. Albert used Camillus to provide an "endowment" for his children, Margie and Betsy, and his grandchildren. Those were the Kauffman and Schwartz families. The other familiar names at Camillus were added in when the granddaughters married. Jim Furgal was a husband of one of the granddaughters.

So anyway, AMB, as he was called by the folks at Camillus, made frequent visits and not only had some Schrade knives made at the Camillus factory (using it as an off-site shop for Ellenville), but eventually gave the factory almost all of the work for Sears (an account he had personally cultivated and held almost exclusively since the 1930's). I see a loose relationship between his cultivation of the ISC relationship with Sam Walton and his moving most Sears production to Camillus.

Good luck in finding your knife. I'll keep my eyes open for you.

Michael
 
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