It is funny how different areas of the USA preferred the brands they did.
Buck for instance, was rarely seen in my locale.
One has to keep in mind, folks were loyal to companies more local to them, and everyone supported one another in product choices.
Folks supported kinfolks that worked elsewhere by purchasing the products those kinfolks had a part in manufacture.
Heck a kid off to college might be working part time for a company and folks back home would purchase that product because that kid was working for them.
Remember also, folks bought local, or from Catalog, like Montgomery Ward or Sears Roebuck.
Folks tried before they bought, as they did not do credit cards. They saved up, went without, patched up what they had, or did a lay-a-way.
So a lady or gent would see knives at the local store, and handle them.
Somebody always had one, so it was common for a lady or gent, to actually use a knife, or gun, or whatever, to see if it "fit them".
Oh if someone got knife from Montgomery Ward, or Sears Roebuck catalog, folks wanted to try out that knife, that was not sold locally.
Re: Good knives.
A fella might have bone handled Case he used for work, as his work knife for instance.
Working the property as a farmer, rancher, maybe a plant worker and around paint, and the like.
A lady might have a Old Timer with the classic Delrin sawcut handles. She used it in the garden, messing with horses, opening feed sacks, and she too might get into caulk, putty, paint and who knows what else.
Now come Sunday for Church, the wife is not going to let her husband take that ugly old Case to church, and she is not going to take her user Old Timer.
He might be a Sunday School Teacher and the good knife might be used to cut them homemade brownies, one of the couples brought to church.
His wife, might work in the Nursery, or teach a kids Sunday School class so her nicer knife was used for that.
Sure the user's were cleaned up, still He scrapped mud off his boot with his, and his wife dropped hers onto the barn while cleaning it out.
Same thing for weddings, having company over, or going over to be company at someone else's house.
Job Interview.
Used to be, a lady or gent might be asked by someone thinking about hiring them, if they carried a knife.
Everyone carried a knife, as one was not dressed without a knife.
Boys and girls, ladies and gents all carried a knife.
A kid had better have the pivots oiled , the blades sharp, and be able to hand it over correctly , when asked by a parent, mentor, teacher, anyone asked to see if they had a knife, and what condition it was in .
Job interview, and it did not matter if a teenager, or older, if a lady or gent, one still had to have a knife, present it correctly, the blades sharp, and pivots oiled.
Person Interviewing would look at knife, and from that knife, get some ideas of what kind of person you were, and that played a part on whether you got hired or not.
If one was going to do "plant work" , one had a work knife.
If one was looking to get hired to "meet the public", such as retail , a Good Knife, that reflected well on you, and the company is what the Interviewer was looking for.
Often times, the person looking for a job, had both knives.
It showed one had been raised right, as they had a user, meaning they were not afraid of getting their hands dirty and doing work.
The good knife represented they knew when to dress up, they had "social manners" besides the "good manners" one used all the time anyway.
Even a poor person, with only one good pair of shoes, and one user knife, cleaned up , used manners and Interviewers knew this was their first real job.
That user might have really been used, but a Interviewer could tell by looking at that knife, the character of the person.
They had a sharp knife, pivots oiled, and by looking at the ladies or gents hands, could tell they had been using that knife and other tools.
Shrade was a good knife.
Most folks have opinions shaped by how they were raised.
i.e. Ford vs Chevy.
Kids still do what kids have always done with this debate, they based their "side" based on what Parents, or Relatives drove.
I knew one gal that hated Fords. Her momma got a new station wagon and it was a Ford with the wood looking body.
These faded over time and looked tacky.
Embarrassing enough to have to get a ride to HS as she broke her leg, but in a tacky , faded wood looking Ford Station wagon..."I thought I was going to die with all my friends seeing me in that thing!
Her Uncle's Chevy Truck, was "cool". Muddy, dents, some rust, with a straight six engine and three speed on the column.
He let her drive it. He did not yell like mom or dad when she was learning to drive.
So she became a Chevy Gal.
Knives are the same way ...
WE could not take Brand A out to play, but we could Brand B.
WE humans are an odd bunch for sure!
It's interesting, though - where I grew up it was sort of the opposite. Case and Boker Tree Brand and some others were seen as sort of flowery collector "purty" pieces, whereas OTs and Uncle Henrys (and Bucks too) were seen as serious working tools used to get the job done.* Definitely a regional preference or tradition. It's funny how these things change based on location. I never heard of a Kissing Crane, for instance, but I hear for a long time they were (are?) the knife of choice for Texan ranchers. And I never saw anyone carrying a yellow knife but I hear tell in places like Alabama a yellow trapper is practically general issue gear for guys. Camillus and Queen seems to have been bigger up in the northeast (where they were made, of course). And Gerbers were probably seen on more belts up in the Northwest than they were down in the Florida swamps.
good word there. but i agree with what ya'll have said. schrade seemed to me like a hard working mans knife. case and the others, more of gentlemans knife. not one youd take with you to a construction site and beat up on. except for the 110. you beat that up alot:thumbup:
