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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
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