Sharpfingers rule!

C

Carl64

Joined
Apr 3, 2005
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I never got a Sharpfinger because I had no need for a skinning knife and I couldn't carry fixed blades. But I have been grabbing a few small fixed blades recently (my latest personal trend :)), and like many others I have been stocking up on real Schrades, so a Sharpfinger was the natural thing to get.

I started playing with it, and it's amazing how simple yet perfect it is. It feels good in the hand and the blade position and shape are great too. Even good for cutting food. I also like how thick the handle is. It looks like they sharpened them at the factory a little more carefully than the small slip joints.

I can definitely see how these handy things would be ideal for a hunter needing an effective but not expensive knife to carry and use the heck out of.
 
You siad it...I too just picked up an Old Timer sharpfinger for the first time (orange-handle) and I am amazed at how well this thing fits my hand...I just love it....The sheath is really nice too. John
 
The Sharpfinger pattern had it's 30th birthday last year and, to the bitter end, it was one of Schrade's best sellers. Tim Faust, Schrade product manager was surprised to find that he was getting requests from non-hunters to extend the grind, lengthen the blade, etc. etc. on the Sharpfinger from a lot of folks who used them daily to open boxes, and a thousand other daily chores. Even now, the price of a new in the box or package Sharpfinger is at or slightly above it's last retail, so there is still a continuing demand for them. As I have said before, Henry ("Uncle Henry") Baer designed a winner with the Sharpfinger that has become an American classic from hunting camps to stockrooms.

Codger

P.S.- It also makes a good headscratcher, but you just have to know when to stop!
 
Codger_64 said:
The Sharpfinger pattern had it's 30th birthday last year and, to the bitter end, it was one of Schrade's best sellers. Tim Faust, Schrade product manager was surprised to find that he was getting requests from non-hunters to extend the grind, lengthen the blade, etc. etc. on the Sharpfinger from a lot of folks who used them daily to open boxes, and a thousand other daily chores. Even now, the price of a new in the box or package Sharpfinger is at or slightly above it's last retail, so there is still a continuing demand for them. As I have said before, Henry ("Uncle Henry") Baer designed a winner with the Sharpfinger that has become an American classic from hunting camps to stockrooms.

Codger

P.S.- It also makes a good headscratcher, but you just have to know when to stop!
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As great as this knife is, I am wondering about your Middlefinger. Bear MGC, Camillus, and United are all making knockoffs of the Sharpfinger. Is the design legally open to all now? If so, it would be cool if some manufacturer would start making Middlefingers. Maybe you should try selling it to one of them?
 
I've got to admit that the Sharpfinger design is much more functional than I
thought. To me it is sort of a "mini-scimatar" that is good for cutting every
thing from monterrey jack cheese to thick rope. I'm glad that I got a Schrade
model.
 
If Henry Baer patented the 152OT pattern, it was a design patent, and since those expire after 14 years, (sometimes renewable for a maintenance fee, but the Sharpfinger design is well beyond that.) Anyone can make that pattern, but you could not call it a 152OT, Sharpfinger. or Old Timer. My Middlefinger is not a patentable design because it would be disallowed as "obvious to a person practiced in the arts" of knife making. And the filing would have to include the closest prior art being, you guessed it, the Sharpfinger design patent (if indeed it was patented). I have not had my research assistant search out the patent on it. Yet. He has indeed found the original patents on the 15OT and the Honesteel, so perhaps he will take the assignment of the Sharpfinger one day soon.

FIxer, the sharpfinger, and it's big brother the Deerslayer are "scimatar", or "Persian" shaped. I always felt like Henry had seen a Persian blade and used it as his inspiration for both knives.

Since I have been researching the Sharpfinger, I made it a priority to get one of each "generation" of them, and a few varients, while documenting as much about them as I can. Today, my near mint 152OT with the Type 1 sheath and thong arrived, and I'll have it as a baseline to compare with the later version, all the way up to my "last of days" stainless sharpfinger.

LT and I (and many others) share a passion for knives that goes well beyond plastic, bone, wood, brass and steel. LT said it best in a post several years ago when Schrade's Centennial celebration was still on the drafting table:

The nice thing about old pocket knives is that they
are like a wise old man. They have both been just about
everywhere. Still they never burden you with the current problems and just continue on there journey in time. They will let you learn a little of what they are and ask only to be treated right and left in peace. No demands, no arguments, and just being around them helps you forget your problems. Also if you treat them right they will never let you down. Good Hunting LT.
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The only Sharpfinger that I have ever seen (and the only Schrade fixed blade that I ever had) was one that my mother gave me for Christmas in 1975, I packed it when I moved to Mexico city in 1977 and never saw it again, it was a fine knife indeed.

I used it as a tool around the house and shop, once I cut the sheath while putting it away a bit carelessly and the tip perforated the leather and went out the front, fixed it by wrapping some duct tape around, I took it as a beater and it served me well, I wish I hadn't lost it.

Luis
 
Sonny Barger, maximum leader and head punk of Hell's Angels, now an author and webmaster? Strange strange times, these.
Phil
 
I saw a Sharpfinger (or Deerslayer, probably) featured in an episode of "Matlock" years ago.
 
Just p/u a Shrade fixed blade.Iwas looking at knives at the gun range & saw the Shrade,No sheath & some rust.Asked owner how much & he gave it to me.Took her home & cleaned her up & resharpened.Looks nice! Model is 1540T.
Think I'll keep her "NOW" to make a sheath or find one! LT or someone what have I got??A diff type of Sharpfinger??Any help will be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jim
 
Jim, that is a drop point hunter. I wrote about it in the Sharpfinger thread linked above.

Imperial Schrade also produced varients of the 152OT Sharpfinger. One was the 154OT "Drop Point Hunter", which utilized the same handle design and construction, but continued the curving handle shape through the blade so that, viewed from the side, the top of the knife was one smooth continuous arc. The choil was reduced slightly in this pattern, but was still in the design as a utility feature. This pattern was produced from 1976 through 1988, thirteen years, and gave rise to yet a third pattern, the 158OT "Guthook Skinner" in 1988. The 158 pattern differed from the 154 only with the addition of a sharpened hook on the upper spine near the tip with a sharpened rear facing slot. The hook was intended for opening the abdominal cavities of game animals without puncturing the viscera. Evidently this pattern was more sucessful than the 154 upon which it was based, because the 154OT was discontinued after the year the 158 was introduced, and the 158OT continued in production along with the Sharpfinger until 2004.
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Codger
 
I'm still looking for a 154OT blank or a clean user that I can rehandle with some really good scales.

Paul
 
I'm pretty sure I have a 154OT (drop point fixed blade; carbon steel blade; old timer markings). It was a gift from a friend when I was in high school back in the early 1980s. I never used it much because of the sentimental value, although I wish I'd snagged another to use a LOT!
 
They are still available. I have a user, and used it on a deer just last fall. Works fine, tastes great! Just keep a constant search going on ebay, and bid no more than what YOU think a user is worth to you. I like them. I have a few in my collection, and one user. Why would someone take an electric engraver to the blade and sign their name? Oh well, like I said, a user.
Codger
 
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