The Rarest Of The Rare

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Jan 21, 2001
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Schrade made several styles and types of what are called fishing knives. some of these are fairly common some are fairly rare. One of the models which collectors value highly is a Schrade Walden 292 a trapper pattern with a fish shield. two bladed with scaler and regular blade. Another highly sought after model is the fishermans pride this was a single bladed saw or scaler back blade large easy open barlow pattern with a brass liner lock. ( Just as a note ask most avid Schrade collectors what a hunters pride model was and most will immediately say a large automatic folding hunter model with a floating guard. Then ask what a fishermans pride model was and I doubt they would know. ) OK pretty rare but, not rare enough. Schrade also made toothpick models of fishknives. Under the Schrade cut tang it was the model 2984 (various versions with minor differences ). There was also the 420 which was a flat metal handled version similiar to the G Schrade hunting fishing version.

Under the Schrade Walden tang Schrade made the 850 a yellow plastic handled toothpick style with a new style scaler a magnetic disgorger and marked as a ruler. often the blade was etched fishermans special. Under this tang they also made a staglon handled version often with a shield either showing a fish, stating Old Lunker, or Schrade Walden.

Now as I have said in the past one of the interesting things about schrade is that you never know what tang marking or strange kind of knife you may turn up. I also said that today we were hunting something extremely rare, so rare that most collectors claim they were never made. So here is the story as told to me. Henry Baer ( UNCLE HENRY ) was an avid fisherman. One day in Florida he was fishing with a friend of his ( who you may have heard of Ted William ). Ted who was known as a fairly decent baseball player was at that time the spokesman for a line of sporting goods sold by sears. They started talking about folding gaff pocket knives. These knives were made at that time by several knife companies usually they were a boxy looking knife that rode high in the back for a better grip. Now Henry Baer loved knives and he loved fishing so needless to say he did not need an excuse to come back home and bring the idea to his cutlers.

The version he made was in the yellow plastic of the model 850 it had the elongated blade of the staglon old lunker series and not the blunter 850 styles blade. It had the older more conventional scaler blade and right in the middle of these was a folding stainless gaff. the knife had 3 back springs. 850 models were made both with and without a hook sharpener in the handle.

So what ( you may well ask ) happened to them? to begin with they were dangerous to work on the gaff would often get caught in the buffer and would go flying into space ( or someones chest ) They required a lot of time and work 3 backsprings, handles shaved thinner to fit the wider 3 blade width instead of the 2. Also they did not sell well they looked awkward ( a toothpick with a bulging gaff ). Also gaff knives are illegal ( to use on gamefish ) in most states however in Canada and on salt water they are OK. All in all very few made it to market ( if any ) a few went home with employees there are always a few prototypes. However most of these were unmarked only a handful had the Schrade Walden tang. In fifty years I had seen two of these ( both unmarked ) and heard of another ( marked). I have no idea of how many actually were made. About 1000 similar style knives were made and sold unmarked by imperial however it only takes one look to know which is which. I actually know the man who made the first one of these although we had never talked about it before it recently came up when I showed him the one I had just acquired. He told me how he had made the original gaff from an old large spring. I have attached a picture. LT
 
Fantastic, LT! Just fantastic. You don't mind if I download your pics, do you, for my own use? Thanks a lot for sharing this with us. I just cannot beleive some of the knives and knowledge you come up with.
Thanks, and sincerely,
Phi
 
Lt,
Now I know what Phil and I will be looking for for a while.
Do you know it Ted ever got to use one of the Schrade gaffers. I know he was always good for a comment or two. Met the man myself when I was a youngster.
Thanks again.
Larry
 
LT,

Very timely, awesome info.

How'd you know I just picked up one of the old lunkers...?

I got the staglon with the fish shield, it's missing the bail, but otherwise a pretty solid piece. Someone had an accident on the blade with a dremel grinder wheel, though. :(

I had never seen one like that so I just had to have it. :D

It's nice to see someone stir in this forum.

I'm waiting for my gold membership to kick in, then I will start trying to post some pictures of my treasures. Maybe...
 
I am glad the few of you who frequent this page seemed to enjoy this post. The Lunkers were perhapes the most popular version of fishing knife sold by Schrade. The standard scaler and staglon handles along with a good price allowed alot of them to be sold. Many of the ones with Schrade Walden marked on the shield only had stainless steel ( no Schrade tang marking ) on the blade. These are the ones that can still be found and are fairly reasonable. Under 50 dollars many times as low as the 20 dollar range. This also as I mentioned is ( I believe) the only model aside from the gaffer with the sleeker false double edge blade. The gaffer is a model that I had sought for many years. As I had mentioned even its existence was often debated among a few of the avid collectors. Usually these are found in the collection of someone who is into collecting fishing items. At least that is what I found regarding the 4 ( including mine ) that I have heard of. One of these was once on ebay it was an unmarked version and it was a few years ago. Good Hunting LT
 
Thanks LT. As a once-in-awhile catcherman (and most-of-the-time fisherman), I like seeing purpose-built knives for fishermen. I guess the only ones I see available now are the Case brand. I've considered getting one for fishing but have always had concerns about the corrosion resistance of these models.
 
I love dropping in and seeing threads like this, thanks for the pics lt632ret ;)
 
Thanks LT, those are really cool!
I wish Shrade used threaded bolsters on more models, they look classy.
 
Just a little bump because I want one of those Trapper/Fisherman Schrades!

Kap

Great thread..........thanks for all the info
 
I found an Ulster fishing type knife today with a gaff hook and my computer, once I had entered the above, found me this page. Unreal amout big time information. Found a few more threads, too.
 
OldKnife, look for LT's very long thread on AAPK. In fact everyone should who hasn't.
 
Here are some pix.

fishing001.jpg
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fishing002.jpg
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Nice fishies Calvin! Especially the old Fisherman's Pride, which reminds me-- Russell, if you read this I completely forgot, I'll send it out ASAP!

Here's a gaff knife made by Ulster for Sears under the J.C. Higgins name. Actually has three implements; the clip blade, the scaler, and the gaff:

2cqzexd.jpg
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Eric
 
My cousin had a similar fish knife and may still have it. Was yellow with the scaler but didn't have a gaff. He showed it to me when he came to visit me in Seattle back in '82. You could carry a knife that size on an airplane in those days hell, even smoke! His may have been an Imperial. I'll ask him next time.
 
This thread is short a few pictures, so I dug my relevant knives out and scanned them.
FishyJacks1.jpg

As you can see, the top Ulster has the Gaff.
FishyJacks2.jpg

The third one is a Special order for Abercrombie & Fitch. It has the old style can piercer on it, for the Intrepid Sportsman!:D
Also a magnetic disgorger.:barf:
FishyJacks3.jpg

And finally the fourth one has the"Fisherman's Pride" etch.
 
Nice collection !!! I love those fish knives. My humble collection pales in comparison, but if I get time I'll dig em out and scan em in.
 
Interesting. I have a couple of very rare Schrade Cuts I would like to discuss with this LT. Is he still around?
 
Interesting. I have a couple of very rare Schrade Cuts I would like to discuss with this LT. Is he still around?

LT doesn't post here any more, however there a lot of knowledgeable people here. If you post clear pictures, and ask your questions, you will learn more than you ever thought possible, or the places to go to find the answers!!:thumbup:
 
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