Schrade 34 OT help.

Pygmalion

Pygmalion

Joined
Oct 7, 2007
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988
I just pulled out a pocket knife that my father had. On the blade it says "Schrade N.Y. USA. 34OT . Is there any way to date the knife based on those markings? Any help is greatly appreciated.
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No way to exact date it Pygmalion, but it is definitely after 1973, and probably before 1980. Schrade used the SCHRADE NY USA stamp following the SCHRADE WALDEN NY USA stamp in 1983. I do not know when they dropped the NY from this pattern. A logical guess would be closer to 1974, than to 1980. As a new knife, it would have sold in a two piece brown wood grain box with a blue insert.

It looks like it has quite a few good years of cutting life in it. Looks like he took good care of it.
 
thawk said:
definitely after 1973, and probably before 1980.
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That fits perfectly with what I remember. My Dad had Rheumetoid Arthritis, and could not knock on doors without hurting his hand, so he would use this knife to knock on my door at the apartment I lived at in 1975 that did not have a doorbell. The knife is priceless to me.
Thanks for the information.
Digging this knife out, and learning what I have in the few hours I have researched, has caused me to get bitten by the Schrade bug. Now I have 2 addictions - Busse and Schrade... I just bought two more Old Timers - a 8OT and a 84OT on that auction site. The 8OT is used but in great shape, and the 84OT is mint and unused. I can't wait to get them!
 
Pygmalion said:
... I just bought two more Old Timers - a 8OT and a 84OT on that auction site. The 8OT is used but in great shape, and the 84OT is mint and unused. I can't wait to get them!
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The 84OT will probably be another 34OT. The seller misread the number (no 84OT exists). Common since the stamps are so small. Hang around Pygmalion, fellow forum members can be very supportive of addictions. :D
 
Pygmalion said:
Oh well. I'm thinking one cannot have too many 34OT's! I also got a 77OTand a 108OT. Yeah, I'm bit bad...
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There are worse things to be addicted to.

At last count, I think my son and I have five 34ots between the two of us. :D
 
Here is a family photo and there are a few missing members.

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Won another one on Ebay this afternoon. :o It was a slightly different color though.
 
Nice grouping! I don't see one of the last ones, nor a 100th anniversary edition there. It the one on it's way one of those?

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Wow! Those are some beautiful knives in the two posts above this. There is definitely something about those little beauties that compels me to want more!
 
I don't know what the 100th Ann. 34OTs go for, but BEWARE ! The real Schrade closed in 2004. new "Schrade" branded knives are now only a name for knives made in some factory in China. to the unexperienced eye they can look like the Schrade U.S.A. manufactured knives as they are intentional mimics. read lots in this forum and over time you will learn to spot the differences.
roland
 
rprocter said:
I don't know what the 100th Ann. 34OTs go for, but BEWARE ! The real Schrade closed in 2004. new "Schrade" branded knives are now only a name for knives made in some factory in China. to the unexperienced eye they can look like the Schrade U.S.A. manufactured knives as they are intentional mimics. read lots in this forum and over time you will learn to spot the differences.
roland
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Thanks for the heads up! Right now, if I can't verify that "Schrade USA" is stamped (engraved?) on the tang of the master blade, I don't even consider buying it.
 
Yeah, there are more "One Line Schrade's" on Ebay than USA made ones, that's for sure. When I was in a buying frenzy back in 2007, I picked a couple 34OT with machine turned springs and milled liners.

34OT_Walden_NY-1.jpg


34OT_fancy_springs-1.jpg


These pics have been posted before.
 
Thawk, can you show a closeup photo of one of the last 34OTs with the dark line adjoining the bolsters and stainless blades?

I like those gimped (milled) knives!
 
Codger_64 said:
Thawk, can you show a closeup photo of one of the last 34OTs with the dark line adjoining the bolsters and stainless blades?

I like those gimped (milled) knives!
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tang-1.jpg


I think what you are referring to is the dirty oil that was down around the joints when I took the picture. I usually oil the knives when I get them, it usually brought out colored oil. Those pictures are about three years old, but I do still have those knives, and the original pictures, so I blew one up. They have since been wiped off. I thought they were carbon blades.
 
No, the last 34OT knives had their scales made differently. Instead of the molded scales being dyed and then cut to length in a sizing die, they were dyed at finished length, leaving a dark line of dye where the scale ends meet the bolsters. All anniversary knives were this way and many for several years prior to 2004.

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34OT_SW.jpg


34OT_SNY.jpg


Here's a little better close up seeing the whole scales. The older scales were prettier, and unpredictable too. Most the best sawcut delrin I have is in the two piece boxes, or some of the 58OT knives from the Ulster line. Quite frankly, I think the blades were finished better with great fit as well. I like the ones that have more of a red hue, as the off color, rather than tan.

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Here is a real early Schrade. Not an Old Timer, but an 855 with stainless on the shield.
 
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