Cool find! Yeah, I am particularly fond of the old leather handled hunting knives of Schrade Walden. Here are some of my earlier posts on this pattern:
I can only trace it back as far as the late fifties/early sixties. And as late as early '73. After that, the '49ers series was introduced replacing several older knives with new renditions of the patterns. The 137 looks a lot like the 499L '49er, but with reprofiled handle, flat brass buttplate, and I think a brass guard.
Since the 137 Camper's Favorite was made for about fifteen years, I would not be surprised to see one with a brass guard, or with Wondawood handle. Or with a tungsten carbide blade. Or in stainless. Member Ron (Relodr36) mentioned having one with a steel guard.
The #137 "Camper's Favorite" had an overall length of 8 1/2", a carbon steel saber ground 4 1/2" blade with thumbrest and upswept trailing point, leather washer handle with spacers, aluminum guard, and aluminum birdshead pommel. It was cataloged in 1957 and in 1961 called “Camper’s Favorite”. In 1962, it was listed as 137L at $3.95. They were discontinued in 1973 ½ with the introduction of the “49er Series”.
The #137WE "Camper's Favorite" had an overall length of 8 1/2", a carbon steel saber ground 4 1/2" blade with thumbrest and upswept tip and the serrated "Wonda-Edge", leather washer handle with spacers, aluminum guard, and aluminum birdshead pommel. The Wonda-Edge was patented in 1958. According to the Schrade Walden production records, there were only 62 of these made and shipped during the period 1957-1962.
Some time back, I came across a small engineer’s notebook I had overlooked. The brown leather cover is imprinted with the name...
A. B. Hourin
Schrade Walden Cutlery
Walden, N.Y.
Most of the notes date from the mid 1950's and talk about formulas for etches, marking inks, and list descriptions, dies and processes for quite a few knives. Of interest here are the pages describing the Walden fixed blades, often an enigma of handle and blade combinations particularly the smaller “bird and trout” patterns, as we tend to call them these days.
Hourin’s Notes (circa 1957):
#137
13 Ga. Saber Grd. Blades
Aluminum Butt
Aluminum Guard
Aluminum Pins
Handles: 16 Leather Wash. P. Kn.
6 Thin Black Fibre W.
4 Thin White Fibre W.
Some of these knives might have been made for a special customer with different colored spacers, or with all spacer handles like the red and white and red and black knives made for Sears. I've not recalled seeing any in this pattern, but new stuff turns up quite often.
Congrats! :thumbup:
