Joe, Louis and George Schrade founded Schrade Cut. Co. in 1904. (There is a lot of confusion about these names too. In some places, we see J. Louis, George and William, and in other places we see Joe, Louis and George with another Brother, William helping out at another plant. Even after speaking to some of the remaining original Schrade family, no one is really able to verify) Albert and Henry Baer purchased it from them in 1946 and renamed it Schrade Walden Cutlery Corp. Albert was one of the most brilliant businessmen that ever hit the cutlery industry. He travelled all over the world making affiliations and all of the U.S. personally selling Schrade knives to Hardware chains and individual store owners. He was actually the first businessmen to realize the benefit of a traveling salesman, rather than staying in one place and selling from there. He was an amazing man. Even during the War, he managed to get himselft hired into the Office of the Quartermaster General in Washington DC, so that he could be the one responsible for setting the standards for military bid projects. Very impressive. From there, all of the military standards that he set were those specific to Schrade machinery and specialty. The guy was a genius. His Brother, Henry Baer, was the GM for the manufacturing plant, and he was as great with people as Albert was with business. Uncle Henry knew everyone in his factory on a first name basis. He had these big, rosey cheeks, and he was always walking up to the workers, calling them all by name, shaking their hands, patting them on the backs, telling them funny stories (he had lots of them), and just making the factory feel like one big happy family. There was only one signature line of Schrade knives named after someone, and that was the Uncle Henry line. Not to sell him short, because he also had a brilliant mind, when it came to different knife ideas. That is the reason that both Albert and Henry Baer were both inducted into the Cutlery Hall of Fame, which is a very real title. I think the "Hall" itself exists within "Blade" or "Knife World" magazine, but it does exist.