Some Herman Williams Goodness

DWWEBBER

DWWEBBER

Joined
Aug 23, 2012
Messages
340
I've been collecting Herman Williams Schrade knives for several years. Seeing as you all seem to appreciate his work, I thought I'd just start a new thread. I'll post pics of some of the knives I have and would sure enjoy seeing the ones other collectors have.
For any of you who aren't familiar with Herman's work, he was Schrades in-house customizer for 24 years...that's Schrade pre 2004 bankruptcy. At 78 he is mostly retired but still keeps his hand in. He usually has a few knives on EBay and works on knives for a few friends.

I picked up this Schrade 275 Clasp on Ebay and got it cheap because of the broken blade. Even though Schrade never sold this knife with a blank blade, they were all made as commemoratives or presentation knives, I knew Herman had one. The 275 Clasp is such a big knife that it seemed perfect
for showing off Herman's file work. I asked him to give it all the bells and whistles, and he sure didn't disappoint.









 
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Oh boy, that is something! Wow!
 
That is phenomenal Doug. A beast. Almost like a toothpick...for werewolves or something with big teeth.
The closest I have is a 51OT -its a classic but your clasp knife is on another level.
 
meako said:
That is phenomenal Doug. A beast. Almost like a toothpick...for werewolves or something with big teeth.
The closest I have is a 51OT -its a classic but your clasp knife is on another level.
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Thanks for the good words, the credit all goes to Herman.
The 51OT is a great knife and no small one at that. For some reason I don't have one of those in my collection. After seeing Herman's Schrades, Sambar Stag and bone was where my collection turned. Now that Sambar is so expensive and hard to come by, Herman is doing some work in Ram's Horn is and even some Buffalo Horn.
 
The Schrade Walden 147 and 148 knives with the Bird's Head Pommel are IMO classic designs. When Herman started to re-handle these two, he couldn't drive the pin out of the pommel. Aluminum and steel seem to bond through corrosion. He had to fit the handles on each knife between the pommel and guard.

Schrade Walden 147









Schrade Walden 148

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DWWEBBER said:
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Remarkable refurbishing!! :eek::thumbup:

Can you describe what Mr. Williams did to the stag? Obviously the same stag slabs, based on the texture or "topography", but the color seems much darker/redder.

Thanks for sharing these stunning knives! :thumbup::thumbup:

- GT
 
Thanks for the compliments. It seems that quite a few people enjoy them as much as I do so I'll keep posting pictures. I've been collecting his knives ever since I became aware of them. They are all Schrades of course, but if you happen to have a favorite pattern let me know..I might have it. Herman helped me assemble what I belive is the largest white bone collection of Schrades in existence so I have quite a few models.
 
I love his work, I currently own an 881 he put some smooth red bone on, I have a few others that I let go.

I have a 61ot I would love for him to put some magic on.
 
JustinR said:
I love his work, I currently own an 881 he put some smooth red bone on, I have a few others that I let go.

I have a 61ot I would love for him to put some magic on.
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The Turkish clip that Schrade put on the 61OT is one of my favorites. This is one that he did for me in White bone...sometimes less is more.







And the 881 in White Bone


 
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Folks, he has an amazing and immense collection of Williams customs.
 
5K Qs said:
Remarkable refurbishing!! :eek::thumbup:

Can you describe what Mr. Williams did to the stag? Obviously the same stag slabs, based on the texture or "topography", but the color seems much darker/redder.

Thanks for sharing these stunning knives! :thumbup::thumbup:

- GT
Click to expand...

Herman has told me a lot of stories about Schrade and the goings on there, and has certainly educated me about knives. Three things that he doesn't discuss, at least in detail, are how he does his jigging, dying and filework. Now I know he hand files, and he has the original jigging machine that was made in Schrades machine shop which he will only use on Schrade knives, but as to his methods for dying bone, stag or ram's horn, I have absolutely no clue.
 
When Schrade went bankrupt in 2004 they were in the process of making a 100 year Anniversary set of Blue bone knives with rope jigging. Herman got ahold of 12 sets of these handles for for the 227UH folding Hunter. He sanded them down and re-jigged them with Schrades traditional peach seed jigging.

227UH


127UH

 
Heck, Jamie likes the blue one. And Jamie doesn't even like blue.....:confused:

Quite simply, classic knives. Classic.
 
Back when I was first started collecting Herman's knives, if I came across something Schrade related that I wasn't sure was genuine I'd Email him with my questions. There was a Bowie for sale that had his name on it but it didn't include the year and I wasn't going to spend the kind of money they were asking for it without confirmation. Herman replied that he used to take his Schrade collection to all the knife shows to draw interest for Schrade. He would customize a knife and present it to whoever had the best Schrade collection at the show. The Bowie in question was one of those knives that he had presented at a show in the 80's. He went on to say that he could customize a Bowie for me for less than the asking price of the one for sale. Herman had re-handled 3 or 4 knives for me and I had bought a couple off Ebay but I had yet to get that had been done just for me. Ever since I was a kid watching Daniel Boone on the Wonderful World of Disney, I had wanted a Bowie, so as you can imagine, I jumped on the offer. Ever since that day I've been hooked on Herman's knives, his stories and his friendship.
The first set of pictures is my Bowie. A few months later, the Bowie that I had seen on Ebay was re-listed. I made an offer to the seller that was accepted. That is the Bowie that is in the second set of pictures.

MY FIRST BOWIE










BEST COLLECTION BOWIE
This knife sets above my other Schrade displays, and while I know I don't own the best Schrade Collection, looking at it sure brings a smile. I can only imagine the pride the original owner must have felt when he was awarded this knife.



 
DWWEBBER said:
Herman has told me a lot of stories about Schrade and the goings on there, and has certainly educated me about knives. Three things that he doesn't discuss, at least in detail, are how he does his jigging, dying and filework. Now I know he hand files, and he has the original jigging machine that was made in Schrades machine shop which he will only use on Schrade knives, but as to his methods for dying bone, stag or ram's horn, I have absolutely no clue.
Click to expand...

Thanks for answering my question, DWWEBBER.

- GT
 
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