Nice whittler for little $

[Gus Kalanzis]

Picked this one up today. Good and solid walk and talk with no lazy blades. Pretty nice all around Schrade Walden split backspring whittler (close to excellent, buy not quite there). The cool thing is that well done knives such as these can be fround for 20 to 30 bucks or even less. They can be fun to collect and learn about or they can make great carry knives or both .

 

[loosenock]

Nice job Gus. I like finding 'em like that myself. I think I have 5 Schrade folding hunters, nothing special. But everyone of them is something different....no two are alike. That is what makes this hobby so fun. Good pictures too.

Loosenock

 

[bob bowie]

Hi Gus,

Are the scale's real bone? I must agree, Older Schrade knives are really undervalued, their "Heritage" limited line put's a lot of the $$$ brands to shame.





.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

I'm with you on those type of knives, picked this one up at a small knife show in Lewisburg PA last Feb, small sheeps foot blade, high carbon steel that will turn colour FAST from cutting fruit and the like, none of that surgical steel in this one, I was actually glad to see it turn colour, made me like it all the more!
G2

 

[steve1701d]

Great knives! I love older slipjoints. Gus, I noticed that the middle spacer on yours is tapered along it's length. Is that so one of the blades don't have to be bent to fit them all together when closed?

 

[Bastid]

Hi Steve,
That is what is known as a split backspring. It is a more difficult to manufacture (or for that matter make). The master blade tang will be held under tension at the narrow end where the springs come together. At he wide end the two smaller blades find their home. As you stated, the arrangement does make a nice channel for the larger master blade to fit straight between the two smaller blades.

Here is a shot of the back of a Case Seahorse "whittler" and a split backspring Case Classic 55 pattern. Used to be that a split backspring defined a 3 blade whittler.

Bob I think the scales are plastic from the sound of thumping a fingernail on them, but I could not swear to it

Gus

 

[Bobwhite]

There used to be a Farmer's market near me I would scrounge through for this kind of thing. They leveled it and put up a strip mall. Where do you guys hunt for these?

 

[Gus Kalanzis]

I have found the best deals at garage sales. Down in my neck of the woods there are a lot of "antique dealers", flea markets and in the rural areas "swap meets". Pawn Shops can be Ok. None are sure things, ya gotta look at a lot 'o junk before finding the "gem."

 

[Coonskinner]

Great find, Gus. I actually collect Schrade-Waldens. My first knife given me by my father was a Schrade-Walden Trapper.

I carry a Scrade-Walden Stockman with jigged bone scales that I bought at a pawn shop for $10.00. It had been used some and was in need of a le cleaning, but I don't think it had ever been sharpened.

I'm always on the lookout for these kind of bargains.

 

[steve1701d]

Gus,

Thanks for the info on the split backspring. I'm gonna have to keep scouring the antique stores and flea markets until I find one.
I've had good luck finding older Camillus slipjoints in pretty good shape so far, but I haven't found many Schrade-Waldens. It's funny: there aren't any Camillus dealers around here, but plenty of Schrade dealers, yet all I find in the antique stores are Camillus. Weird.