Production When Schrade USA Was Open

I would guess that Schrade had much higher annual production numbers than Case, especially when you consider Schrade's Old Timer, Uncle Henry, and Imperial product lines.
 
We are talking about a huge span of years. I have no idea, but an interesting question.
 
Schrade was #1 for many years. What was Case's unit output?
 
I think that the numbers get confusing when the older companies made knives for each other.
 
Schrade was number one in cutlery sales for many years. Remember that "Schrade" also included Imperial and Camillus among others. AFAIK, Case and Buck never came close.
 
Codger_64 said:
Schrade was number one in cutlery sales for many years. Remember that "Schrade" also included Imperial and Camillus among others. AFAIK, Case and Buck never came close.
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I knew that Schrade and Imperial were once the same company, (Schrade Imperial) but I didn't know they ran both those lines concurrently in the later years.
Also, if I recall correctly, Schrade and Camillus were two distinct and separate knife companies. I know they did farm out specialty knives to each other on occasion though. ;)
-Bruce
 
Ballenxj said:
I knew that Schrade and Imperial were once the same company, (Schrade Imperial) but I didn't know they ran both those lines concurrently in the later years.
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Imperial knives were made up until Schrade went bankrupt. The Ireland plant had closed only months earlier and Schrade had begun to import Imperial knives from China.
 
and Uncle Albert's family owned Camillus...all hunky dory in the same family alright.....no competition there....Hoo Roo
 
In fact, Albert had owned major shares of Camillus since before he left there circa 1939/40. He bought out the rest of the Kastor familiy's shares in 1963. Betsy and Margery (Albert's daughters) were given those shares and, according to those who worked there, Albert pretty well called the shots until his death in the 1990's. A lot of Schrade (and Imperial) knives were made there in Camillus (it was used as a third, then second production facility for Ulster/Schrade/Imperial). When Baer left Camillus, he took with him the biggest accouts he had acquired as head salesman there, including Sears, Kresge. Camillus made few knives for Sears again until Baer took over the company.
 
I see, So combined, I guess they would have had the production knife market sewn up.
Thanks for the additional info guys. ;)
-Bruce
 
Not just pocket and hunting knives. Table cutlery, kitchen cutlery and gadgets too. And electric knives. Yes, first he bought Ulster after leaving Camillus (A. Kastor & Sons), then formed an alliance with Imperial, bought Schrade from that family, formed Kingston, then renamed Schrade Schrade Walden, then bought the rest of Camillus, then bought the rest of Imperial. Oh, and also some companies like Wostenholm and Jowika Ireland. They briefly did safety razor blades too, and had a flirtation with a Mexican production facility. It could be rightly said that the Baers controlled the largest cutlery empire at one time.
 
Thought you guys might like to see some numbers circa 1979 (1980 projections):

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Eric
 
Eric - WOW!! Excellent info to look over!! :thumbup:

There again is the plan for the 5OT for 1980, but not introduced until 1987.
And mention of a Boot Knife?

47 weeks of production - What might have been the purposes of the shutdowns?
Guessing Vacation/Holidays, scheduled maintenance, retooling?

Great Stuff!! -- Howie
 
Bob W said:
I've only seen a picture of a prototype. Had it gone into production it would have been the only Old Timer ever with a weapon-emphasis design. Perhaps why it never did?
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Perhaps Eric can get us a picture of it. The only one I have seen belongs to Richard Langston.
 
I had purchased an Old Timer knife on eBay shortly after the factory closed. The seller showed me a picture of a wall-size Old Timer display that they would be posting For Sale soon. One of the knives on the display was an Old Timer double-edged boot knife. I kept anxiously watching for it to pop up on eBay, but as far as I know it never did. I'll hunt around and see if I can find the photo file somewhere.
 
Thanks for posting those projections Eric. Having never been in a large cutlery plant it kind of boggles my mind just how many knives Schrade could make in a day or a week. Huge numbers!
 
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