SEARS KNIFE WORLD

[btb01]

Really interesting thread, Duncan. It seems like the old Sears catalogs are definitely a gold mine, although a rather deep and extensive one, requiring quite a lot of panning, digging, etc.

I’ve mentioned these knives elsewhere before, and the consensus seemed to be that they were most likely manufactured for Sears (possibly by Camillus), so I think they fit in ok in this thread.

The stockman I’ve had since I was a kid — let’s say early 90s — but I think it was a knife my grandpa’d had kicking around in a toolbox or desk drawer for a while before I ended up with it, so maybe it’s from the 1980s, possibly a bit earlier but I really don’t know. I do know that my grandpa bought just about everything from Sears, so even though the only marking is “MADE IN USA,” it’s very likely it was made for/sold by Sears.

The smaller knife came to me recently, from a box my mom had containing stuff that had been in my dad’s desk at work when he died.

This one’s also stamped “MADE IN USA” with no other markings. Different look to the jigged plastic handles, obviously, but the construction seems similar to the stockman.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Thanks for showing these Barrett matey Man- look at that Patina going on on those Springs
Real hard when it comes to those Stockmans isn't it, as Ulster, Schrade and Camillus had Knives made bearing that stamp, to have your Grand fathers knife is pretty darned cool.

 

[echoscout]

This Stockman has the HIGH Carbon STEEL U.S.A. tang stamp. Can't see any etch on the master blade.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Nice Knife my friend.
Not all of Sears knives came out with Etches, and because of that - at times it’s very hard to find that knife in a catalog. it may be in a catalog in a little corner possibly or it could be nice and clearly displayed in the middle of the page.

I have a few knives that are very tidy so in time they hasn’t lost an etch, and all it has is a tang stamp- I haven’t got those knives labelled as I simply cannot find them in a catalog page.

 

[echoscout]

Thank you Duncan. Sears had a lot of knives made over the years. It'll be hard to track all of them. Three bladed Cattle Knife with HIGH CARBON STEEL U.S.A. tang stamp and can still see part of the Craftsman Sta-Sharp etch on the right light.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Wow- David you have some very nice examples of Great Knives- Thank you for sharing these with us

 

[Campbellclanman]

ok... lets start the ball rolling again.

The reason why I wanted to start off this Thread with composite knives from Sears as they were huge in the early days such as the 1930's, and in 1940 the 2nd and 3rd tier choices of Dunlap and Kwik-Kut. In fact pre-1940 the celluloid and "imitation Stags" were right up there.

It seems in 1940 onwards what was considered the "Top Shelf" really had an increase in quality and this was clearly set out in the catalogs, Sears seemed to "switch it up a notch or two" such knives with Genuine Bone Stag or Genuine Stag were the "pick of the Litter" so to speak.

Yes there were choices of celluloids and plastics pre-1940, the fascinating thing is in the 1940 catalog pages there was nothing but real nice quality on display in the top and second rows of these great Knives in these catalogs. Handle Materials like Stag and Jigged Bone along with coined Nickle Silver Liners, Nickle Silver Bolsters etc the very best that Camillus were producing at that time ( imo ).

Into very late 1941 and then 1942 came full swing the Craftsman brand as the leader brand name Etch with Sta-Sharp and now Chrome Vanadium as the sub Etches below Craftsman. From now on Craftsman was marketed as THE quality Knife!

What we pointed out in the Sept 2022 Knife magazine article is that again from 1940 onwards when Sears really had gorgeous Bone Stag / Stag at your pickings with Sta-Sharp and then Craftsman at the Top shelf pickings, something started to sneak in the Top Shelf pickings in around 1947, you started to see man-made composites alongside the stunning quality Jigged Bone/Genuine Stag knives sharing the top shelf!

This was the slow but sure decent of stunning Bone/Stag examples sharing the spot light now with the man-made handle material knives that were growing in numbers.

So I will throw out to anyone interested some very early 40's Knives to give examples of what was Sears Creme De La Creme, then we will share the nice Composites again with mixes of different Sears Knives.

I purchased this Knife off one of our very good friends here, I love this thing, this Knife is featured in Sears 1940 Catalog, we also chatted this about this beauty on the podcast- this is the Beveled Blade knife that features Sta-Sharp as the main Etch ( so definitely pre 1942) and has the sub etch "Beveled Blade".

A beautiful Serpentine stockman with stunning Bone, believe it or not this Knife wasn't the Headliner, nor was it in the second row of display, rather on a vertical side Line smaller display showing 6 knives halfway down the page- this being the knife that you could buy for $0.69 cents.

Edited: I really need to go back to school - spelling :-(

 

[Campbellclanman]

Craftsman with the sub etch of Sta-sharp, Tang stamp High Carbon Steel, a Camillus beauty at it's best here.....

Another gorgeous Knife that I think is an Ulster, Gorgeous Bone- the Build Quality of both these Knives is superb.

 

[Campbellclanman]

A pretty hard to find 1942 Camillus Sta-Sharp Gun Stock Jack 9465, I love this Knife, I must thank our departed friend Roland for a lot of these Knives, this gorgeous Knife believe it or not was a gift from Roland after I purchased a good handful of Knives from him at one stage, thank you Roland I think so much of you especially when going through my Sears.

Sears are interesting, this very knife with the very same number 9465 is seen with the Sta-Sharp etch in the 1940 Catalog.
At the end of 1941 and the 1942 catalog this very same Knife with the same number 9465 is seen with the leading Craftsman Etch, with Sta-Sharp as the sub etch.

This example is the 1942 example as you see it has the Craftsman etch with Sta-Sharp as the sub etch.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Dripping with Quality is this example of why we say that these knives were the best that Camillus and Ulster produced did at this time - this sentiment is shared with Neal Punchard as he spoke about this on Neal's, Mike's and Jason's podcast, Neal suspects heavily that with these Knives
being a special Factory Order well it HAD to be the best and that we could lay a pretty Penny this was stipulated to the manufacturer.

These Knives being for Sears elite range will be a Sears Knife, not a Camillus or an Ulster but a Sears Knife is what the public is to believe.

1942 Camillus Built Sta -Sharp Scout - this Knife has everything in fine detailing with coined Liners, Threaded Nickle Silver Bolsters, Spiral Punch and drop dead gorgeous Bone! Oh boy!

 

[Campbellclanman]

Once I take some photos of some more man-made composites - I will start posting some more of those- there are some real nice and interesting Knives, then we will come back to the mouth watering Jigged Bone samples Sears offered. Thanks for viewing

 

[echoscout]

Some really fine knives Duncan. Enjoying your commentary.

 

[Sventhelumberjack]

Once I take some photos of some more man-made composites - I will start posting some more of those- there are some real nice and interesting Knives, then we will come back to the mouth watering Jigged Bone samples Sears offered. Thanks for viewing

Thank you for this fantastic thread! Gorgeous knives and great historical background information!

 

[Prester John]

Once I take some photos of some more man-made composites - I will start posting some more of those- there are some real nice and interesting Knives, then we will come back to the mouth watering Jigged Bone samples Sears offered. Thanks for viewing

Great stuff, Duncan. Loving it!

 

[Campbellclanman]

Hi everyone

apologies for the gap here....

I had to find some time to take some shots to continue the Composite Handle material run I am doing within this Thread, this was a point of interest of the Sears Magazine article driven so very well by Neal Punchard, who has written some amazing Magazine articles who's knowledge and Authorship is so well known.

What was just very one of the interesting points of investigation into Sears was when Composite Handles started sitting up the very top alongside the Stag and Bone Stag examples - yes there were Plastic handles and all the composites that were available - but these Knives were clearly shown and marketed as the slightly more "economical" options - so hopefully our Traditional friends here can look at these Knives- alongside the stunning bone examples and appreciate just how good some of these "plastic" knives actually were and are.

So coming up are a few composite examples, and we will keep the Thread going so hopefully if you have a Sears Knife- or perhaps you don't quite realise you have one and spot a knife just like yours, I am hoping that this Thread will help you or entertain you. I too am learning as I go down this path, so I hope you can join me, and please show us your Sears Knife - condition just means use - lets see it.

Here is a Stock knife- it's a beautiful Knife that I think is rather cool, this is a STA SHARP so has 100% Camillus DNA running through it's veins.
The number or should I say product codes we see often etched or Stamped on these Knives, this helps the treasure hunt to find out just exactly when these Knives were released in the Sears World- and what helps this search? yes it's those amazing Catalogs that become a Rabbit Warren for the addicted.

So, the number of this Serpentine Stock Knife is 7660, now Camillus was running strong pre 1942 - they sold TONS of knives to Sears who's demands from their Marketing machine screamed for 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier leveled Knives for all of the Sears Customers budget linitations.
I am very sure from my searches this Knife is from the 30's- but just when I haven't quite found exactly, the Stock Knife with a different Number such as 9521 or 9522 show later, but this 7660 is there somewhere, I will find it- but feel safe to say this is around a 1936 Knife....

 

[Campbellclanman]

Another Composite Handled Knife made by Camillus that sports the famous STA SHARP Etch, now folks... this Knife is a early 40's that you will see has the Main featured Etch of CRAFTSMAN - STA SHARP was now a sub Etch under the Craftsman.

When Craftsman came in in very late 1941 - well life was about to change as we have talked about previously in this Thread for Camillus- and now Ulster was pushing and the deal had already been done behind closed doors. 1942 was a game changer.

Stock Knife 9459 features Threaded Bolsters and what I think is very attractive Staglon / Buckhorn Handles, Federal Shield, Polished & cleaned interior Liners, features Camillus's top Tiered Hardware with that gorgeous Spiral Punch and the High Carbon Steel ( a Sears owned Trade Mark unique to Camillus ) Blades with lovely Swage work - so really whats to fault?

Please....... let me know your thoughts on these Knives that were featured as 2nd the second choice - it just shows you the stunning Quality of the top Tiered Knives of that time doesn't it!

Here is the 9459 serpentine Stock Knife with Punch that is slightly larger than the 7660 Stock Knife in the previous post.

 

[Campbellclanman]

One more for today, another Composite and I will break up the Composite run with a nice Bone Stag example now and then to keep interest for those who may not like the mention of Composites- but this is exactly what I am trYing to show is how nice- even 80 years ago the composite knives were.....

One of the many different Composites available was Bonite, yet was described as " Stag Bone Styled" in the winter edition 1948.
This Ulster made Knife has beautiful big beefy Blades, The Craftsman etch is the main etch with " FORGED STEEL" as the sub etch, no Tang stamp on this Knife.
This Cattle knife has led a blessed Knife with big beautifully full Blades. Most typical when you see these Bonite Handles they nearly all gapped away slightly from the Bolsters in time.

I really like the look of this awesome Knife- not sure how you feel about it- but I would love to know either way, so here it is............

Cattle Knife 9469

 

[SteveC]

Another Composite Handled Knife made by Camillus that sports the famous STA SHARP Etch, now folks... this Knife is a early 40's that you will see has the Main featured Etch of CRAFTSMAN - STA SHARP was now a sub Etch under the Craftsman.

When Craftsman came in in very late 1941 - well life was about to change as we have talked about previously in this Thread for Camillus- and now Ulster was pushing and the deal had already been done behind closed doors. 1942 was a game changer.

Stock Knife 9459 features Threaded Bolsters and what I think is very attractive Staglon / Buckhorn Handles, Federal Shield, Polished & cleaned interior Liners, features Camillus's top Tiered Hardware with that gorgeous Spiral Punch and the High Carbon Steel ( a Sears owned Trade Mark unique to Camillus ) Blades with lovely Swage work - so really whats to fault?

Please....... let me know your thoughts on these Knives that were featured as 2nd the second choice - it just shows you the stunning Quality of the top Tiered Knives of that time doesn't it!

Here is the 9459 serpentine Stock Knife with Punch that is slightly larger than the 7660 Stock Knife in the previous post.

Very interesting Duncan. I wasn't aware that they were making an imitation Stagalon that early.

 

[Rookie82]

I am enjoying the thread and info. Hope people keep contributing to it for years to come. With the long Sears history, I can see this being 100+ pages eventually.

 

[Augie]

This 5 blade is probably my best one, only made for Sears, Camillus did not have the pattern in their catalog.