STAG "Scout" made in Ireland

H

hatch

Joined
Jan 13, 2012
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32
Hi, guys. I'm new to this forum and was glad to find this thread. I'm 65 and got my first knife when I was about 8 and in Cub Scouts, a Camillus Cub Scout camp knife. As I branched out into other more traditional and more modern knives, I retired it as a memento, but it somehow got lost or stolen. Lately I have been carrying my few SAKs more as I'm always finding a use for them when I'm carrying a whittler, stockman, or canoe. I have a Vic Farmer I've had a while but have started carrying more in the woods or when doing yard work, but I asked for and got a Pioneer for Christmas, and I think it will be my new EDC for work and town use. I teach English part-time at a university and don't want to carry anything scary. All that said, carrying and using the SAKs has made me nostalgic for the old Scout/Camp patterns, and I've started scouting out the flea markets for a replacement for my old Camillus Cub Scout. I don't use that auction site (at least not yet) as I already have more than a lifetime supply of knives and can't afford to get carried away on my limited income. But I recently found an Ulster Boy Scout camp knife with in carbon steel with jigged Delrin handles. Anybody know anything about the history of Ulster? Seems I read somewhere that they made these knives from the 60s to the 80s, but that's all I could find. Then today at the same flea market I picked up, for $10 including tax, a Scout knife that is even more mysterious. The shield says SCOUT, so I opened the blade, and the tang stamp says STAG with "Ireland" underneath. The scales are black jigged plastic, and the blade and tools are carbon. All have very strong springs, almost too strong, and the spear blade was dull but not worn by sharpening and rough to open aside from the strong spring. The can-opener and screwdriver/cap lifter are mostly free of patina and so stiff that I wonder if they were ever used. It doesn't have an awl, and I almost didn't get it for that reason, but it looked slimmer than the Ulster, so I got it. Even the bail is narrower and more comfortable. Both tools have half stops, something the Ulster doesn't have. The blade has a patina but also is very black, as if it were used to cut something like shingles or tarpaper until it got dull and was never sharpened or used again. That may be reading too much history into it, but I got a similar impression from the Ulster. The blade has a good patina and a good edge, but the tools, except for the awl, are mostly free of patina, making me think that they were rarely if ever used. Just got through sharpening it. Took a while on a course and fine diamond paddle. Oiling the joints and working the tools to loosen them up, and that may take a while. Although I've started carrying the Vic Pioneer most of the time, this STAG may get some carry time since it is so slim, mush slimmer than the Ulster, due to not having an awl, I guess. It's even thinner than the Pioneer. The other "Scout" knife in my budding collection is from the Case Workman series and has the basic tools plus a small pair of plier like those on one of my SAKs, a Super Tinker, I think. Forgive me for not posting pictures (or any other faux pax), but I'm new to this forum, as I said, and am not sure how. I'll try later to post pics and include my little Camillus pen knife with BSA shield my old buddy and college roommate sent me when he heard I was interested in Scout knives lately. I'm glad I found this thread and hope some of you guys know something about the STAG "Scout" made in Ireland. Oh, forgot to mention that the can -opener on that one is the old "tin-cutter" type which I have heard was used before WWII and then replaced by the hook-type can-opener. Again, I'm glad to find you guys and apologize for not having pics. I'll try to post some if I can learn how. Most of my other knives are not that interesting, mostly Case and Boker, a few Shrades, not old or particularly collectible although a few have some interesting markings and are pretty enough. Hope you guys are off to a great start for 2015.
 
hatch; welcome the hills of Washington to a great forum and a great group. Knives are an interesting affliction.
 
Hey, hatch, welcome aboard. Lots of scout knife fanciers here, and a few threads on them if you want to search. Ulster, who were tangled up with Schrade, Walden, Imperial, and Hammer, made some great ones.
 
I put these in their own thread, because there was a specific question being asked in the post.

And By The Way, Welcome.
 
Thanks, knarfeng, for putting me in the right place. Wasn't even sure this was the right forum. I've been looking at the multi-tool forum for the past few months, and a lot of folks rave about the Vics, especially the Farmer and Pioneer. Now that I have both, along with a Tinker and a couple of Hikers and a couple of Leathermans, I'm set in that department and mostly interested in the Scouts. Still looking for a Camillus Cub Scout to replace my lost first knife.
 
Thanks, porch. I had guessed that Ulster was made by Camillus, they made so many knives with other brands on them. Schrade makes sense. And weren't Imperials made in Ireland? This STAG Scout says Ireland, so maybe it was made by Imperial. Forgot to mention that besides the SCOUT shield there is a circular spot where another shield used to be. Wonder if it was BSA. The tin-cutter can-opener is the strangest one I have seen. I'll have to figure out how to post pics. If anybody else knows anything about STAG of Ireland, I'd love to hear about it. I'm starting to feel a little bad about leaving my other traditionals behind, but since I've been carrying these Scouts and their Swiss descendants, I've actually been fixing a few things here and there instead of wishing I had the right tool.
 
Hi Hatch, and welcome to the forum. I live in England, and occasionally pick up Imperial Ireland/Jowika/STAG Scout knives in fleamarkets here, either 3 or 4 blade. Some also just say 'Ireland' or 'Republic of Ireland' on the tang. I've always found them to be of very low quality I'm afraid, sounds like you've got something better :thumbup:

The easiest way to post pics is to set up an image hosting account (eg Photobucket), you can then upload photos from your computer and paste in the the code given to you by the image host. It's quick, free, and straightforward.

Jack
 
Thanks for the info, Jack Black! I'll look into Photobucket. Might have to get one of the kids to help as I'm kind of a techno-klutz. And I took a wild guess that STAG might be a brand of Imperial of Ireland. Used to see some in the 60s and 70s that seemed kind of shoddy compared to Camillus and others. But the blade and tools on this one seem as good as my Ulster, and the very strong springs with half stops made me think this one is much better. Did any of yours have a BSA shield? The round shield on mine is missing and the anvil-shaped one says "SCOUT." Interesting that some had 3 and some had 4 blades. Wish this one had an awl, but I have awls on my Farmer and Pioneer. Back in Cub Scouts we called it a leather punch and mostly used it to add holes to our belts as we got bigger. Now I'm using it to add holes because I've lost a little weight, and that's a good thing. I also use them to make pilot holes for screws and to punch holes in cans of juice or evaporated milk, stuff like that. One thing I liked about my Cub Scout knife was the liner lock for the awl and screwdriver. But I wished it had a can-opener, something I still consider essential on a camping knife. Guess they figured that Cub Scouts didn't need to open cans and that we would cut ourselves worse on the cans than on the blades. Imma still look around for a Camillus Cub. The liner lock was a great feature. One of the worst cuts I had recently was from a sharp awl closing on my hand while starting screw holes.
 
It sounds as if you got a good one Hatch, hope you can post a pic :) You're far from alone in being a techno-klutz here my friend (I'm embarrassed to say that I've owned a DVD recorder about six years, and have yet to use it for anything but playback), but it's not too complicated :thumbup:

The STAG tang-stamp was used by Jowika from 1960, which was when their factory first opened in County Kerry, Ireland. Imperial Schrade bought the company in 1978.
 
Thanks again, Jack. I was thinking this one might have been pre-WWII, but I guess not. I just remembered that I have a Rough Rider Utility/Scout and read somewhere on this forum that it was a replica of a Case Scout made pre-WWII with a tin-cutter can opener, replaced with the claw type shortly after the war. The STAG can opener is that type but much bigger and curved up like an upswept skinner blade. I thought if it was pre-war that might explain its better quality compared to later Imperials, but there goes that theory. Guess not everybody changed to the claw type right after the war. I'll have to try it on a can, but I'm not optimistic. Opened one can with the Rough Rider, and it was not a pretty sight. :)
 
hatch said:
Thanks again, Jack. I was thinking this one might have been pre-WWII, but I guess not. I just remembered that I have a Rough Rider Utility/Scout and read somewhere on this forum that it was a replica of a Case Scout made pre-WWII with a tin-cutter can opener, replaced with the claw type shortly after the war. The STAG can opener is that type but much bigger and curved up like an upswept skinner blade. I thought if it was pre-war that might explain its better quality compared to later Imperials, but there goes that theory. Guess not everybody changed to the claw type right after the war. I'll have to try it on a can, but I'm not optimistic. Opened one can with the Rough Rider, and it was not a pretty sight. :)
Click to expand...

My pleasure Hatch. I think that, generally speaking, that time frame would be about right. By coincidence, I have an Irish-made ('Republic of Ireland') 3-blade Scout Knife with the claw-type can-opener sitting on my kitchen table. I'd guess it was from the sixties. Yes, I have had one of those Rough Rider's, and the same can opener was used on British Army/Navy clasp knives, pretty brutal! :eek: :D :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the welcome, guys. And midnight flyer, the scoutknives.net site is great! Under "Unofficial Knives," I found 3 camp knives (not Scout) with 3 blades (no awl) and a tin-cutter can-opener just like the one on this STAG but a little smaller, by 3 different companies. One has black Bakelite scales that look about like my knife. Although I would like to find a Camillus Cub Scout to replace my lost first knife, I'm mostly interested in the type of knife more than the BSA connection. I notice that the site uses the term "camp knife" which is how I have always thought of these patterns, including the SAKs as I consider the can-opener essential for most camping and for emergencies/survival, and the awl is might useful too. But when I first started googling "camp knife" I discovered that many folks now use that term to mean a big old knife, almost the size of a machete, to split wood, clear a campsite, and build shelters. Such knives look mighty cool, but I never have camped in places that would allow all that slashing and chopping on the greenery. I was glad to see that some still use "camp knife" to mean a multipurpose knife with tools useful for camping. Guess I have enough of those now, including several SAKs, but I still like the look and feel of the older ones. BTW, I really like those with an added Phillips screwdriver. Seems as though I run into more Phillips than straight screws anymore. Learned something useful on the Multitools forum: the little screwdriver on the Vic can-opener will fit medium to large Phillips screws. Tried it to tighten the Phillips on some trekking poles with external locks, and it worked fine. I guess the main advantage of the Vic Pioneer over the Scout type is that it has 3 extra functions for the same 4 blades. The screwdriver/cap lifter has a wire stripper, and the can opener has a straight screwdriver that will also work on Phillips screws in a pinch. That reminds me (here I go, rambling), about 30 years ago I read an article in Backpacker magazine comparing the "Scout" knife with a similar SAK. It said that the close tolerances of the SAK made it more likely to gunk up with food and other junk, but being stainless, you could just wash it and not have to worry about rust. And THAT reminds me of a backpacking and fishing trip with my old buddy decades ago on the Cumberland River in Kentucky, a few miles above Cumberland Falls. Jeff used his EYE Copperhead to clean some fish and washed it and left it on a rock to dry. He said, "I don't know how many old knives I've lost after washing them and leaving them out to dry. Wish I had some oil." I said, "You have cooking oil for the fish. Use that." I had just read that tip in a housekeeping column in the paper when someone asked how to keep carbon kitchen knives from rusting. Funny the things you learn if you manage to live long enough. :). Of course now I use mineral oil for my carbon kitchen knives.
 
Oh, yeah. I found my Ulster Scout on ScoutKives.net. Here is what it says:
ULSC4G, BSA #1996 This was the first of the second-generation BSA Ulster knives. 3 3/4 long knife, brown jigged handles, smooth bolsters, round device with BSA eagle, Four blades: Shackle end has short combination cap lifter/flat blade screwdriver and awl, end opposite the shackle has main blade with short nick and can opener.Permanently attached shackle. Manufactured 1962-1979.
 
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