Sabre-ground Sta Sharp

[tongueriver]

I have not seen anything like this before. All blades are strongly sabre-ground. Looking for comments; I am assuming (so far) that it is Camillus for Sears, pre-1941. Nice bone but non-matching in color, full nickel silver throughout, no brass, 3 7/8 inches, top-drawer and mint.

 

[Codger_64]

Camillus, yes. Pre 1946 for sure, possibly prewar. They began using NS bolsters and linings pretty early on these Sears knives. And of the three lines at the time, Sta-Sharp was the premium line. I had not seen the "Beveled Blade" etch before and it is amazing that it has survived this long. I cannot read the stock number but if you will read it to me I will see what I can find on it.

 

[tongueriver]

Camillus, yes. Pre 1946 for sure, possibly prewar. They began using NS bolsters and linings pretty early on these Sears knives. And of the three lines at the time, Sta-Sharp was the premium line. I had not seen the "Beveled Blade" etch before and it is amazing that it has survived this long. I cannot read the stock number but if you will read it to me I will see what I can find on it.

The stock # in the etch is 9489. Thanks, Codger.

 

[Codger_64]

Got it. This is the closest I have found so far from the Fall/Winter 1941-42 catalog. It would have been prepared in late summer of 1941. Which was after Baer's purchase of Ulster, and after starting the Craftsman knife line at Sears. Note that the knife is co-branded Craftsman Sta-Sharp. At this time the Fulton and Dunlap marks had not been phased out. And most of these co-branded knives were the earlier Camillus Sta-Sharp knives while the Craftsman knives were Ulsters.

Your knife would likely then date to just prior to this one, circa 1938-1940.

 

[tongueriver]

I am very grateful for your research; thanks again, Michael. Meanwhile, speaking of research, I occasionally purge my tinypic image account, so anyone who has a reason to refer to any images which I post in any Bladeforums subforums, should save the image to their own system. On a related note, we see that in the 1950s the other Baer-owned company, Schrade Walden, released some stockman knives with Kon Kav hollow-ground sabre-grinds, which do not resemble this knife very closely in the grind. Two of them were the 855 and the 880, and there may have been a third one. The Schrade knives lasted longer in the catalogs, I believe.

 

[Codger_64]

Schrade was almost constantly changing their lineup as we have seen. Emphasizing the pattern which recorded best sales both as maker branded and SFOs such as the Sears knives. As Baer left Camillus he gradually took over the lion's share of the Sears cutlery account. Using patterns from both his Ulster and Schrade Walden lines. And after acquiring the remaining Camillus shares, at first used that facility to increase production of Schrade branded knives and Schrade SFOs, and then gradually surrendering most of the shrinking Sears market to Camillus while he concentrated on servicing the new "world's largest store", Wal-mart and other franchise stores.

I use tinypic as well and they purge my pictures, so save images yourselves if you want to see them far into the future.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Got it. This is the closest I have found so far from the Fall/Winter 1941-42 catalog. It would have been prepared in late summer of 1941. Which was after Baer's purchase of Ulster, and after starting the Craftsman knife line at Sears. Note that the knife is co-branded Craftsman Sta-Sharp. At this time the Fulton and Dunlap marks had not been phased out. And most of these co-branded knives were the earlier Camillus Sta-Sharp knives while the Craftsman knives were Ulsters.

Your knife would likely then date to just prior to this one, circa 1938-1940.

Just to clarify your statement, were Fulton and Dunlap SEARS marks? I have a few bakelite handled Dunlap kitchen knives by Western.

 

[Codger_64]

Right. Dunlap was a good working knife for their lower pricepoint offering. But we are discussing pocket cutlery here for the most part. Dunlap and Fulton were Sears marks. Dunlap (named after the Sears buyer at Baer's suggestion) was definitely a Sears mark. And continued on table and kitchen/butchering cutlery for some time after the adoption of the Craftsman mark on the premium knives.

 

[jerryd6818]

I have a Dunlap and knew that was a Sears brand but have never heard of the Fulton brand. Interesting. Maybe I'll run into one some day and remember this thread. Maybe. Thank you.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Western made Dunlap kitchen knives. Butchers, boners, paring, etc. The larger knives had a mother-of-pearl or MOP-like celluloid diamond inlaid the handle.