"Old Knives"

waynorth said:
My Craftsman must be an Ulster - made knife!! The similarities with yours are a strong indicator!! Very slight serpentine shape, similar Bone handles!!!?View attachment 2337339View attachment 2337336View attachment 2337337
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Could very well be! Wow, Charlie, yours is a looker! I think yours has the earlier etch? Mine is a bit crudely finished around the bolsters ...

Length wise it's about the same closed as a Schrade Walden JR cattle knife, if that's any help?

dMOJxVf.jpg
 
I ISKRA and waynorth waynorth

Yep, bang on, Iskra your Knife the 9528 first popped up in the later part of 1941 - with the first wave of Ulsters, there was a Chrome Vanadium etch with the first ones, there were many sub brands used under Craftsman depending on what Manufacturer made the knives and who had the use of what Sub Brand. Hand Forged was used by Ulster. Your etch is still the earlier with the underlining of the name Craftsman.

Charlie, your Knife Sir I see in 1943, the 9528 with only the Craftsman Etch can be seen in 1943, it would be great to see both knives with all the blades out to see if there are any differences, Made in the USA Tang stamp was used by a few manufacturers.
 
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Campbellclanman said:
I ISKRA and waynorth waynorth

Yep, bang on, Iskra your Knife the 9528 first popped up in the later part of 1941 - with the first wave of Ulsters, there was a Chrome Vanadium etch with the first ones, there were many sub brands used under Craftsman depending on what Manufacturer made the knives and who had the use of what Sub Brand. Hand Forged was used by Ulster. Your etch is still the earlier with the underlining of the name Craftsman.

Charlie, your Knife Sir I see in 1943, the 9528 with only the Craftsman Etch can be seen in 1943, it would be great to see both knives with all the blades out to see if there are any differences, Made in the USA Tang stamp was used by a few manufacturers.
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Thanks a lot, Duncan! This is very insightful!

It is night here in Slovenia already, I will try to take some photos with all the blades out tomorrow in natural sunlight.
 
U UncommonEDC if you go into our “Sticky Threads” - Catalogs.

I saw this here on page 5 ( very bottom of page ) kindly posted up by sceva sceva , you will see the 2703 2nd from top - left hand side on one of the pages, in fact I have copied it and pasted it here for you.......
This Barlow in the Catalog page does not have the Winchester Bolster stamping, its a start for your search, catalogs will hold the answers to your questions, you just need to find them....

Ki8S3Qq.jpg
 
Campbellclanman said:
U UncommonEDC if you go into our “Sticky Threads” - Catalogs.

I saw this here on page 5 ( very bottom of page ) kindly posted up by sceva sceva , you will see the 2703 2nd from top - left hand side on one of the pages, in fact I have copied it and pasted it here for you.......
This Barlow in the Catalog page does not have the Winchester Bolster stamping, its a start for your search, catalogs will hold the answers to your questions, you just need to find them....

Ki8S3Qq.jpg
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Thank you so much, that is a great start!
 
Campbellclanman said:
Yep, bang on, Iskra your Knife the 9528 first popped up in the later part of 1941 - with the first wave of Ulsters, there was a Chrome Vanadium etch with the first ones, there were many sub brands used under Craftsman depending on what Manufacturer made the knives and who had the use of what Sub Brand. Hand Forged was used by Ulster. Your etch is still the earlier with the underlining of the name Craftsman.

Charlie, your Knife Sir I see in 1943, the 9528 with only the Craftsman Etch can be seen in 1943, it would be great to see both knives with all the blades out to see if there are any differences, Made in the USA Tang stamp was used by a few manufacturers.
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Here are my blades, Duncan!!!
I ISKRA ??Poss Ulster 4.jpgPoss Ulster 5.jpg
 
Cool Charlie, Ok, if i were a betting man I would place a lot of money on your Knife being an Ulster Sir.
Forgive me Charlie as I am not trying to explain to you Sir- but trying to let you know how my Brain works and how I picked up the differences..........

I went through a very painful way of finding out about the Craftsman Chrome Vanadium-etched Knives. Every time I saw these Knives people were calling them Camillus and it wasn't ringing true, so, I started buying quite a few Sears knives and looking through hundreds of online images and found that Chrome Vanadium Knives were Ulster's because of the differences I was seeing in the Blade shapes when comparing them to Camillus Tang Stamped or Sta-Sharp etched Knives.

I think I was on this path for many months, and one day I simply read a post from our extremely knowledgeable Codger_64 Codger_64 in one of his threads confirming from Sears Paper work that this was so, I wasnt sure how I felt- whether I was a fool for spending all that time - but....I was quite rapt that I had found that out by doing comparisons and a lot of study rather than being told, ask a smart man what he would do and you may get a different answer 🤣 -

Here are the comparisons that show what I was seeing to decipher Ulster / Camillus made blades, as mentioned, when the Knives get smaller in frame, the blades are smaller and not so wide and picking up these differences can be a task at times near impossible.

These photographs are of the large Stockman / Cattle Knife size, Top knife in photo is Ulster - comparing the Sheepsfoot to the bottom Knife's Sheepsfoot which is Camillus.

Comparison of Ulster and Camillus Sheepsfoot:
Note Ulster's Sheepsfoot has that more " looming" curvature from spine to Tip compared to Camillus has an almost 90 degree ( exaggerated for the sake of description) sharper drop from the Spine to the Tip.
vHElX33.jpg


Comparison of Ulster Spey and Camillus Spey:
The top Knife again being ulster - showing the Spey Blade Shape, compared to the Camillus's Spey - the Knife at Bottom of photo.
s6i0YeI.jpg


So when I see that Spey like in your Knife Charlie, It kinda confirms things to me. In saying that though - there have been examples in the smaller Knives where one would swear they are all the same blades bar different Nail nicks etc, but the above comparison has lead me to a lot of the times being able to spot the Ulster before it's open- because of the larger Sheepsfoot “peaking" up when closed.
 
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Campbellclanman said:
Cool Charlie, Ok, if i were a betting man I would place a lot of money on your Knife being an Ulster Sir.
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You have done a very thorough study, Duncan!! Your attention to detail is making you the reigning authority!! I can't think of anyone I'd trust more to answer questions about Craftsman knives!! Sears certainly made a lot of them; or should I say contracted a lot of them!!!
 
Charlie, I'd be lost if there were no Catalogs! so it's not information I have stored all up in my Head, but a lot of reference material - there's some I remember- but Oh boy.
Thank you so much for the kind comments kind Sir, now speaking of Authority on a subject- Codger_64 Codger_64 would have to be the man with Sears!
 
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