Schrade and Boker working togeter??

[howieareyu]

Hi to all -- I was browsing an internet sales site and found this description of an item (below) I was not aware of the Boker involvement with Schrade but with all the other eccentricities (gotta love 'em) related to Schrade .....
Is this a bit of sales hooey or the real deal? Thanks!!

A excellent plus to near mint Schrade Hunting & Fishing Knife. Made 1956-58 that is when Boker owned Schrade hence the name Boker Tree Brand etched on the blade. Ive had a few of these and I like this one the best. The blade is just over 3 1/2" long and is polished stainless, and has the fish scaler on the back. The stainless steel handle is 4 1/2" long without the lanyard ring, and has G. Schrade Stainless Steel Hunting & Fishing Knife with the moose and marlin scenes stamped in it. The lock on the back of the knife still works, and the snap and half stop is good on the blade. The back spring on this knife I believe is made out of Brass, makeing this a good knife around saltwater in its day. This is a thin knife only 3/16" thick, and is comfortable in the pocket but I don't think this one is going there. This is a rare knife made more so with the Bokers name, and the knife was made in Bridgeport Ct. USA.

 

[Codger_64]

G, Schrade was a seperate company from Schrade Cut. Co. The Schrade brothers had a falling out and George, who was the inventive genious of the family, took the remainders of a company he had worked for in lieu of monies owed when they went bankrupt, and opened his own company in Bridgeport, producing his own designs and improvements on his designs. His brothers, retaining the Schrade company interests, sued him for patent infringement on knives they were still making on his old patents. George went before the patent infringement judge representing himself, and made monkeys of his brothers, winning the case and leaving them with the bills. His son sold the company to Boker USA in the fifties, just before switchblades were outlawed. Boker continued to make the series of five fixed blade knives George and his son had made for years, but their main interest was the switchblade production. When they were banned, Boker closed the factory. You will see these knives stamped Stagbrand and Schradebrand. I am not certain which was first, I think Stagbrand, but Boker used the other marking, plus sometimes added their Tree Brand etch. Whew!

 

[howieareyu]

WOW!! Codger that is amazing! Thank You very much for the schoolin' - Your posts have been very instructive. How you keep it all straight is to be commended.
Love them Schrades!

 

[Codger_64]

Actually, I don't keep it all straight, as you can see from my post. But on the subject of Boker/Schrade, Schrade Walden did make some pocketknives for Boker. I haven't done the research to find out what patterns in what years, but they are there in the production records.

Also, at least as late as the Heritage Series of Schrade knives, Schrade did buy much of their processed (dyed and jigged) bone handle scales from Boker in Germany. Perhaps this continued to the end, but I have not come across communications, purchase orders and shipping receipts to prove that yet.

So one can see a continuing relationship between the two companies even after Boker closed the Geo. Schrade plant in Bridgeport.

It is an interesting and challenging pursuit to try to collect the set of five Geo. Schrade sheath knives. More so if you try to find examples of each pattern with both tang stamps. And doubley so if you also go after the styrene plastic "Stag handled" variants George produced for a while. That is a minimum of fifteen knives to assemble the complete set (so far, I have not seen that last variant produced by Boker).

 

[Mitch W.]

G, Schrade was a seperate company from Schrade Cut. Co. The Schrade brothers had a falling out and George, who was the inventive genious of the family, took the remainders of a company he had worked for in lieu of monies owed when they went bankrupt, and opened his own company in Bridgeport, producing his own designs and improvements on his designs. His brothers, retaining the Schrade company interests, sued him for patent infringement on knives they were still making on his old patents. George went before the patent infringement judge representing himself, and made monkeys of his brothers, winning the case and leaving them with the bills. His son sold the company to Boker USA in the fifties, just before switchblades were outlawed. Boker continued to make the series of five fixed blade knives George and his son had made for years, but their main interest was the switchblade production. When they were banned, Boker closed the factory. You will see these knives stamped Stagbrand and Schradebrand. I am not certain which was first, I think Stagbrand, but Boker used the other marking, plus sometimes added their Tree Brand etch. Whew!

Is this why "Schrade-Walden" disappeared from the blade?

 

[Codger_64]

Is this why "Schrade-Walden" disappeared from the blade?

Schrade Cut co./Schrade Walden were never the same company as Geo Schrade or Boker. The Baers bought Schrade Cut. Co from the heirs of the Schrade family in 1946 and ran it in tandem with their Ulster Knife Co. which they bought from the Devine family heirs in 1940, and associated with Imperial Knife Company which they co-owned and bought from the original owners in the early 1980's. In early 1973, the Baer brothers who owned Schrade Walden changed the name to Schrade, dropping the Walden. Schrade Walden had moved from Walden N.Y. to Ellenville N.Y. back in the late 1950's, and I guess they felt the "Walden" part had outlived it's usefulness. They also already owned shares of Camillus CUtlery in Camillus N.Y. and bought the remaining shares in 1963.

 

[tongueriver]

Thanks, Michael for providing an ultra-succinct highly informative history for anyone interested in Schrade. I've read longer more complex histories, but this does the job very well. I'm keeping it on my desktop for immediate reference.

 

[thawk]

Schrade Cut co./Schrade Walden were never the same company as Geo Schrade or Boker. The Baers bought Schrade Cut. Co from the heirs of the Schrade family in 1946 and ran it in tandem with their Ulster Knife Co. which they bought from the Devine family heirs in 1940, and associated with Imperial Knife Company which they co-owned and bought from the original owners in the early 1980's. In early 1973, the Baer brothers who owned Schrade Walden changed the name to Schrade, dropping the Walden. Schrade Walden had moved from Walden N.Y. to Ellenville N.Y. back in the late 1950's, and I guess they felt the "Walden" part had outlived it's usefulness. They also already owned shares of Camillus CUtlery in Camillus N.Y. and bought the remaining shares in 1963.

If this post is not a sticky, then nothing is. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: