Sears / Schrade Walden Bowie Hunter

F

foxfirerodandgun

Joined
Oct 19, 2023
Messages
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I have a Schrade Walden Bowie Hunter which came in a Sears Bowie Hunter marked sheath. I know that Sears & other companies will contract with brand-name businesses to produce their brand-name products with the name of the contracting company on them. I have searched and the only real difference that I can find is that the Schrade Walden brand of these knives have a thin white spacer next to the red spacers and the one that I has brown ones. Can anyone enlighten me on the approximate range these knives were made for Sears, and while marked Schrade Walden is it their knife or a Sears knife? I have pictures of this knife on my computer, however, when I click on Insert Image it only gives me a choice of doing so from a url. Thanks.
 
You can't post pics directly from your hard drive.
Create a free account at a pic hosting site such as Imgur.
Upload pics to the host site.
Select the BBCode url of the pic you want to post.
Copy the BBCode url and paste it here.
The BBCode is wrapped by IMG tags. You need them to make the pics appear in-line in the body of the post.
For example, this url
Code: 
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Qc32XDBl.jpg[/img]
Will produce this picture
Qc32XDBl.jpg
 
Arathol said:
You can't post pics directly from your hard drive.
Create a free account at a pic hosting site such as Imgur.
Upload pics to the host site.
Select the BBCode url of the pic you want to post.
Copy the BBCode url and paste it here.
The BBCode is wrapped by IMG tags. You need them to make the pics appear in-line in the body of the post.
For example, this url
Code: 
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Qc32XDBl.jpg[/img]
Will produce this picture
Qc32XDBl.jpg
Click to expand...
That won't help him until he uploads it to a host somewhere.

F foxfirerodandgun​

You can upload it to imgr.com and then link to it as Arathol suggested.

As to your question, I don't know, but if I were you, I would ask a moderator to move this to the Traditionals subforum, where you'll be more likely to have the people watching who will know the answer.
 
So here's what I've got, for what it's worth-

Old Schrade catalogs are available online, and the earliest I see that model (138-L) being sold is 1958.

Old Sears catalogs are available online, with a search function. So I started with Sears 1958 catalogs and worked my way up. The earliest I found these knives in a Sears catalog is 1961, described only as " Bowie Hunter", no other identification, no brand names.

And the last Sears catalog I see that model of knife in is 1969, listed as a Craftsman brand "Bowie Hunter" knife. Those have Craftsman stamped on the blade. And based on the catalogs it looks like they only sold the Craftsman stamped ones for two years, 1968-1969.

So if yours isn't one of the Craftsman versions, then that would lead me to believe that it was made between 1961 and 1967.

And according to Schrade's history they stopped using "Walden" on their knives in 1974.
 
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These are all variations of the Schrade H-15, possibly inspired by the earlier Imperial M3. Never was military issued, but a civilian hunting knife.

I have one each of Craftsman and Schrade-Walden (Schrade moved to Ellenville from Walden long before either was made), neither came to me with a sheath. After removing the rear guard ear, I made waterproof scabbards for them out of PVC conduit.

I think you’ll find it competent and useful for outdoor recreation.

Parker
 
That definitely looks like a 138-L.

The H-15's have a single sided guard. The 138-L has a double guard. Both were sold at the same time and appear in the same catalogs.

There is another knife Schrade sold at the same time as the H-15 and the 138-L that closely resembles the 138-L, it's the 144-L. What distinguishes the 144-L from the 138-L are the grooves around the leather handle of the 144-L. The 138-L (your knife) clearly has no grooves.


I do believe there is a photo limit per post, or at least there used to be. I remember years ago creating a post with lots of pictures and I wasn't able to post it because I received a message saying too many pics, so I removed a few pics. I think the limit was something like 20 pics, but I can't remember.
 
Many thanks!! I tried to post four images but could only post three in one post Maybe I was doing something wrong. ?? Here is one that I found stuck in a tree at a secluded camping spot on a near by lake. It is similar in some respects to the 138 L butt the blade is not as wide where it drops down to the point.





 
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I’ve never seen one with a brass guard and pommel, only steel. Never seen black plastic either. Wonder if that was made for Craftsman by somebody else, perhaps Camillus?

Parker
 
foxfirerodandgun said:
Many thanks!! I tried to post four images but could only post three in one post Maybe I was doing something wrong. ?? Here is one that I found stuck in a tree at a secluded camping spot on a near by lake. It is similar in some respects to the 138 L butt the blade is not as wide where it drops down to the point.





Click to expand...

That looks like a Schrade/Craftsman "Golden Spike" bowie. They had the name "Golden Spike Bowie" etched across the top of the blade near the spine.


Example

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foxfirerodandgun said:
Many thanks. Yep, it sure looks like the one I have. Any idea as to years of production? Thanks again.
Click to expand...

You're welcome.

I checked several Sears catalogs from the late 50's to the early 70's, but I wasn't able to find anything to make me confident about when they were produced.
 
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