Schrade Research quiz!!

Codger_64

Codger_64

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A while back, I posted a thread suggesting ways to research a knife, determine within a few years when it might have been produced, and sleuth out more details than are readily apparent, just by closely examining what you see on the knife itself (read the knife), and any associated papers, boxes, advertising, or sheaths. Today I am going to quiz you to see what you have learned, and hopefully teach a little bit more.

Since fixed blade knives are my own forte', I chose a recently posted example of a Sears SFO knife for this quiz. I gave a lot of info in that post, and in previous posts identifying this particular knife pattern. See what you can tell me about this knife based on your search of this forum, your own books and catalogs and collections, and maybe a google search for other details.

There is no real prize offered, except to hone and sharpen your ability to fill in the blanks on knives in your collection, at a pawn shop, yard sale, gun and knife show or..., yes, even Ebay. Here are the pictures of the knife and sheath to start with. They give a lot more info than is readily apparent!

14tu2ci.jpg

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Codger
 
The seller dunnit.:rolleyes: But yes, the 148WW is a kinfolk of the 148L, and the 148S, then the 498 '49er with both leather stack handle and Staglon handle. Same pattern, different handle materials. And yes, it is a left handed sheath.

Codger
 
No one else? Paul, I know you see something odd here, and can bring it to folks attention.

Codger
 
I think this particular knife was made between 1957 and 1960 and could have been used in the regular S/W line up, but was etched with Craftsman to fill a Sears order. The sheath, however is a complete departure from what is usually seen with the 148 primarily in style and construction, so that in and of itself is an oddity, plus I believe 99.9% of the knives were marketed with a R/H sheath. Depending on the time frame most of the sheaths were embossed with a floral pattern, a deer head, oak leaves or waffle pattern.

How'd I do codger??

Paul
 
14xjbkh.jpg

The etch is of interest because it indicates a date of 1960 or later per Craftsman logo chronology. The text on the sheath had an earlier and later use, so it doesn't help.

See the odd silver buttons at the sheath top? Why do you suppose those are there?

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14xjnyu.jpg

This is an Imperial set from the same time period. They were unique in that the knife sheath could be detached from the ax sheath for seperate belt carry. All of the Schrade combo sets that I have seen had the two sheaths sewn together.
 
14xkw1s.jpg

The X-47, based on the 147L knife is the first combo set Schrade introduced that I am aware of. That was in 1960. A combo based on the 148 knife didn't come along in production until 1970-71, replacing the X-47S combo, but it was also a Staglon handled X-48S. I believe this Craftsman combo X-393 knife, based on the SW 148L, predates those, and is likely 1960-1969. The detachable sheath configuration was borrowed from the Imperial line for this SFO, and not repeated on regular production combos. Somewhere there is a X-48 hand ax in a red sheath with two snaps and no knife!

Codger
 
Ok now, this is all well and good, but it leads us to the next question: Why is this knife a Craftsman and not a Ted Williams or a J> C. Higgins? Ted Williams signed on with Sears in 1961. We know that for years before this, the Higgins name was used on Sears sporting equipment, but fades from view when Ted "The Slpendid Splinter" Williams steps up to the spokesman plate.

John Higgins began working for Sears in 1898 as the manager of the headquarters' office bookkeepers and retired as company comptroller in 1930. "John Higgins" the employee became "J.C. Higgins" the brand name during a discussion in 1908 among Sears' executives of possible names for a new line of sporting goods. At this point, the story gets a bit murky, but Higgins' name was suggested and John Higgins consented to Sears use his name. Since he did not have a middle initial, Sears added the "C."

In 1908, the Western Sporting Goods Company in Chicago began putting J.C. Higgins on baseballs and baseball gloves sold in Sears catalogs. By 1910, the J.C. Higgins trademark was extended to cover footballs and basketballs. Later, the popularity of the Higgins brand—combined with the wider participation of American youth in sports—led Sears to place tennis equipment, soccer balls, volleyballs, boxing equipment and baseball uniforms in the J.C. Higgins line.

By the 1940s, J.C. Higgins represented all Sears fishing, boating and camping equipment. After the Second World War, Sears consolidated all sporting goods under the J.C. Higgins brand name and added it to a line of luggage.

The J.C. Higgins brand disappeared shortly after Sears introduced the Ted Williams brand of sporting and recreation goods in 1961.

From Sports Illustrated in 1967:
Sears puts the Williams name on its top line of equipment, after Williams himself approves it. He grants Sears about 60 days a year of his time, attending clinics, making films, doing promotional work. It takes another 45 days to fulfill his obligation as a Red Sox vice president, which consists mainly of trying, in the spring, to pound into the heads of young hitters the recipe for becoming the greatest hitter who ever lived. Another 60 days are spent at his boys' camp in Lakeville, Mass. From August to October he retires to a little cabin on the Miramichi River in New Brunswick and fishes for Atlantic salmon.


Now, I have several examples of Schrade knives from the early to mid sixties with the Ted Williams signature on them. And later ones with the Craftsman tangstamp. So was this knife made before Ted WIlliams endorsed hunting knives for them, or after he had ended his involvement with Sears? More fodder for research!

Codger
 
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