Schrade knife identification question

D

deerhunter6

Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Messages
1
I recently bought a Schrade knife at the flea market. It looks like a 152OT, but the writing on the blade only says Schrade USA, and the label on the handle says Guns & Ammo. Can anybody give me any info on this knife? When was it made? Is it a 152 or was it made as a promotional item? Thanks for any info you can give me.
 
I have one, and I cannot tell you a whole lot more. Mine seems to have gunblued blade, though it could just be an overall near perfect patina (never seen that). Whether the previous owner did that or it was OEM, I couldn't say. Schrade made knives with private labels for sporting goods stores, special events, clubs (NRA, NHEA, DU, NWTF, QU, RMEF, etc.) hardware chains, and in the case of this knife, magazines as subscription offers. The latest one I saw done was a "Wild Und Hund" German huting magazine edition Pro Hunter. I think Phil has one of those. My G & A 152 is carbon steel, has nickle silver rivets and "Guns & Ammo" shield, black sawcut delrin handle and simple SCHRADE over U.S.A. tangstamp. Chip in here guys...anyone know the year?

Codger
 
Welcome to our forum, DeerHunter! You've come to the right place. I have one of those knives as well, and I've kinda wondered myself.

I have sent the following letter to Guns and Ammo magazine.


"Dear sir,
As a regular reader, I see lots of questions about when a certain gun was made. As well as being a shooter, I am also a knife collector, active on an on-line forum. Dates on knives are just as important to me. A question has come up on the special issue Old Timer Sharpfinger knife by Schrade, bearing the 'Guns and Ammo' engraved shield. Turns out three of us own one (mine is in an old Display case). No doubt this knife was used as some kinda advertising promotion.

Is there anyone there at your magazine who might remember when this knife was offered? As well as the circumstances in which is was sold/given away? I really would appreciate the information.

Sincerely yours,
Phil Scarborough

"The Schrade Forum" at bladeforums.com."

I immediately received back an automated response which reads:

"We cannot give personal replies. However selected questions and letters
may
be published in appropriate departments. Letters directed to specific
writers are forwarded. All letters and questions are reviewed and must
include your full name and address."

I am hoping that my mention that dates of knives are as important to us as the dates of firearms are to them, will prompt someone there to give us a break and answer our question.


Phil

ps... in any event Deerhunter, the knife had a thirty year life span, the Old Timer version in production from 1974 to 2004. I note you are not a regular visiter here, so if you would like to email me your address (click on my screen name) I will forward any information I get to you, as well as posting it here.
 
True to their word, Guns and Ammo do not answer questions by email. I'll keep my eye out for old issues of the magazine in hopes of seeing when this knife was offered.

As a sidebar, in my Levines Vol 4, at the 'Scrhade limited editions' pages, I am taping in a piece of paper to list the ones that came out after the book was published.

Phil
 
Gentlemen,
These knives were a promotion held by both Guns and Ammo magazine and
Petersen's Hunting magazine back in the late 70's or very early 80's as I recall.
I actually received two of them (one for each subscription) when I extended my subscriptions to both magazines back then for an extra year. They were given out free to entice new subscribers or get existing ones like me to extend for another year. It was a great offer and if my memory serves me right it was only done for one year, otherwise I would have continued renewing and stocking up on them. The knives were totally free because the subscription price was the same as always. The ads back then I seem to recall also featured 154ot's even though most of my friends and I received 152ot's with the exception of one who received a 154ot. I remember calling the subscription office back then asking if I could exchange one of them for a 154ot and they basically told me "tough sh-t, you got your knife".

My brother still has one of mine and the other one I converted to a drop point with a blued blade as my very first ever attempt as an amateur knifemaker. I ended up selling that one.
Another trip down memory lane.

Alex Penton
 
Alex, thanks very much for the information! With no Schrade Co. and no factory representative, and gaps and holes in the listings of special/ limited edition records, this is how we learn. Thanks for contributing to our knowledge base.

Phil
 
Thank you Alex! I have one of the GUNS & AMMO 152 sharpfingers, and a HUNTING 154 drop point hunter. The G&A knife was easy to figure as a magazine subscription bonus, but the one with the "hunting" shield left a bit to conjecture. From what you are saying, either knife could be received with either shield as the publisher's fulfillment service saffron robed ones deemed suitable? Private issue knives don't seem to demand much of a premium, if any at all, but I find them as interesting as limited edition knives. The timeframe you gave jives with the production years of the 154OT, intro in 1976 and dropped after 1988, a thirteen year run for the pattern.

Codger
 
Gentlemen,
If you got one of each then you were really lucky. I was really upset for getting two of the same and really, really wanted the 154ot. That is why I ended up modifying the 152ot to a 154 configuration. Turned out pretty good but the blade was a little bit shorter than the 154 obviously. I gotta try and talk my brother into trading that one back to me somehow. I would love to know how much their subscription numbers increased the year of that promotion.

Alex
 
After a lot of searching, I finally found an ad for the subscription knife offer from Guns & Ammo. This one came from a 1977 issue. Schrade had by that time been a fairly frequent advertiser, buying six of seven ads a year. First, the knife:


And the ad:

A text closeup describing the offer:

And the clip-n-send coupon:


The Sharpfinger had been introduced in 1975, so this was one of the first uses of the knife as a SFO. I did a bit more research and located the records of approximately how many were made, and for how long. There was an initial order for 20,000 in 1976, and a few more than 14,000 were shipped that year. Another 6,000 followed in 1977. It would be quite possible to find an ad in the 1976 issues of G&A magazine.

Michael
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top