SEARS KNIFE WORLD

Another Sears Knife, made by Schrade, and this old Timer is in very nice condition.

In most cases, knives contracted to Sears were stamped as a Sears knife by the manufacturer, not as Schrade, Camillus, Ulster etc, but as Made In USA, FORGED STEEL, HIGH CARBON STEEL and so on, all brand names owned by Sears, this knife shown here also has the ACA etch or OLD CRAFTY again, brand names owned by sears, so you were buying a Sears knife and not a Schrade etc.
At times, the Schrade name was left on the knife, why that is I'm not sure, but the numbers of knives supplied was incredible.

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This wee guy here as you can see has the STA-SHARP etch as the main headliner etch along with the Sears pattern number 9518, along with the sub etch CHROME PLATED, again, all that you see etched on the knife are all Sears Brand names.

So with this gorgeous Knife that does show some sharpening- mainly on the Sheepsfoot blade, and being a STA SHARP it is from 1939 and 1940, blending into 1941, in late 1942- CRAFTSMAN became the main headline etch, and Sta Sharp ( Camillus made ) and Chrome Vanadium ( Ulster ) were the sup etches.

Camillus knives right on this period began to diminish in the ordering- where the Ulster knives screamed up in numbers, and there's a reason for this, at this same time Albert Baer left Camillus under a dark cloud and purchased shares in Ulster (before taking over fully later), and if you remember in the previous posts stated that Albert Baers had a very strong relationship with Col. Tom Dunlap - and we see a huge change in the presentation of the Catalogs as Sta-Sharp was pushed off the top shelf and lost it's crown to Ulster knives- all under the now king of the hill name for Sears knives CRAFTSMAN.

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Campbellclanman said:
This wee guy here as you can see has the STA-SHARP etch as the main headliner etch along with the Sears pattern number 9518, along with the sub etch CHROME PLATED, again, all that you see etched on the knife are all Sears Brand names.

So with this gorgeous Knife that does show some sharpening- mainly on the Sheepsfoot blade, and being a STA SHARP it is from 1939 and 1940, blending into 1941, in late 1942- CRAFTSMAN became the main headline etch, and Sta Sharp ( Camillus made ) and Chrome Vanadium ( Ulster ) were the sup etches.

Camillus knives right on this period began to diminish in the ordering- where the Ulster knives screamed up in numbers, and there's a reason for this, at this same time Albert Baer left Camillus under a dark cloud and purchased shares in Ulster (before taking over fully later), and if you remember in the previous posts stated that Albert Baers had a very strong relationship with Col. Tom Dunlap - and we see a huge change in the presentation of the Catalogs as Sta-Sharp was pushed off the top shelf and lost it's crown to Ulster knives- all under the now king of the hill name for Sears knives CRAFTSMAN.

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You've put in a lot of homework on Sears cutlery history, Duncan!!! Awesome!!!
 
Duncan, I always enjoy your Sears pictures and history, always something worth spending some time on. I like the little cutout for the pen on the Sta-Sharp,
which allows both it and the often uncomfortable sheepfoot to lay lower in the well, a very thoughtful ergonomic touch of class.

This one is marked Craftsman 9547 compared to your 9523, and has an Old Crafty shield instead of the Old Timer, but it's the same knife.
They're even from the same era as the length of the swedges are identical, and they got shorter as time went by. Early to mid 1960s for both.

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Thank you Charlie! :D Oh to be able to walk down the block, turn the corner and suddenly theres a Sears there with all the knives they had for sale in front of you!

In saying that, being a kiwi and having never stepped foot into a Sears, did Sears have a big Hunting / Sports departments with some sort of massive display of knives - or a very small one and you had to get the Catalog?
 
Thank you Jeff! Nice! the both of these knives are doing pretty well for over 60 years old aren't they!

Yep same knife alright, I might have a flick through the catalogs and see when each of the numbers of these two knives started and ended! 🙂👍
 
Campbellclanman said:
did Sears have a big Hunting / Sports departments with some sort of massive display of knives
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In my younger years (1960’s and 1970’s) when I was old enough to be aware of such things, I noted the size of the sporting goods and hunting departments were dependent on the square footage of the individual store. Stores in Raleigh and Norfolk had big outdoor sports departments, local stores like the ones in the smaller towns had less. The sports departments had tents, pools, badminton sets, etc., etc., with the better quality being Ted Williams brand. Firearms were the same, often Winchester rifles and shotguns with the Ted Williams name and Sears model number on them - Winchester built the higher quality (Ted Williams products). Knives were often in display cases (such as Walmart still uses) - for boxed knives you had to get an employee to open the display case, but knives were also offered in blister packs hanging on racks and you picked one off the peg and took it to the register. Sears was huge in having their brand on everything (think of Craftsman tools and Diehard batteries, both Sears & Roebuck brand names). Sears had a few competitors who operated the same way, J C Penney and Montgomery Wards in our area (not sure if both of those were as wide spread as Sears & Roebuck). I have Craftsman, Penncraft, and PowerKraft tools in my toolboxes to this day.
 
Thank you Bruce!
I remember even in New Zealand when I was a younger fella, we had one sports shop that had an impressive range of guns and knives, but I was not in the mind to take too much notice unfortunately!
 
Campbellclanman said:
This wee guy here as you can see has the STA-SHARP etch as the main headliner etch along with the Sears pattern number 9518, along with the sub etch CHROME PLATED, again, all that you see etched on the knife are all Sears Brand names.

So with this gorgeous Knife that does show some sharpening- mainly on the Sheepsfoot blade, and being a STA SHARP it is from 1939 and 1940, blending into 1941, in late 1942- CRAFTSMAN became the main headline etch, and Sta Sharp ( Camillus made ) and Chrome Vanadium ( Ulster ) were the sup etches.

Camillus knives right on this period began to diminish in the ordering- where the Ulster knives screamed up in numbers, and there's a reason for this, at this same time Albert Baer left Camillus under a dark cloud and purchased shares in Ulster (before taking over fully later), and if you remember in the previous posts stated that Albert Baers had a very strong relationship with Col. Tom Dunlap - and we see a huge change in the presentation of the Catalogs as Sta-Sharp was pushed off the top shelf and lost it's crown to Ulster knives- all under the now king of the hill name for Sears knives CRAFTSMAN.

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That is how jigged bone is supposed to look.

That Dunlap pruner is quite a knife too.
 
Campbellclanman said:
This Pruner is unused, there were very red active rust spots on this knife that I had to take care of which the super clean etch paid a small price for- but as careful as I was I managed to save most of the etch.

Not a valuable knife in monetary terms, but one that stakes its place in the ground within the Sears Knife history.
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Wonderful save of an historical knife, in great collectible condition, Duncan!!👍
 
meako said:
Great write ups Dunc....but the king of the jungle is your jigged bone on the StaSharp...just superb.
Cheers.
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Thank you Meako :) :thumbsup:
lambertiana said:
That is how jigged bone is supposed to look.

That Dunlap pruner is quite a knife too.
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Thank you lambertiana! Yeah - didn't both Camillus and Ulster do it good with their Bone.

waynorth said:
Wonderful save of an historical knife, in great collectible condition, Duncan!!👍
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Thank you Charlie, although the Dunlap is somewhat plainsville when we look at a lot of the outstanding Pruners in your " Prune Big or Go Home" thread
meako said:
View attachment 3142311?

This Schrade Walden is one of my first collects...it had a now too faint to see Ted Williams etch....does that make it rrlated to the Sears world ?
Cheers.
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Such a great knife Meako - "Oh yeah", Ted Williams was a big name for Sears. That knife is in real nice condition my friend. I have a knife tucked away that has the Ted Williams etch and box - it does have sharpening marks though- but hey!- all part of the knife's history I guess.
 
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