Tiny Western Knife

J

Jtp1389

Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
6
I got this little red handled Western knife on eBay. Looks to be in really good condition and I've never seen such a small Western. What little information I can find calls it a Bird & Trout, but I don't know for sure. Anyone have any information they can share about this?

*Edit-I can't post pictures... So I'll try my best to describe it. Brown leather sheath, red handle with a lanyard home in the pommel. The blade is 3 1/4" long, handle is also 3 1/4".
One side of the blade says:
MADE IN U.S.A
PATENTED
The other side says:
WESTERN
BOULDER, COLO

Any information on this knife would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to figure out what year it's from and the name of this particular model
 
Last edited:
The stated size and lanyard hole can only mean one thing with a Western fixed blade - a pattern 28 "small fishing knife", aka a bird & trout knife.

Pics are needed to narrow down the year range. The spacers and ricasso stamps tell the tale there.

The only name associated with these is advertising literature is "Small Fishing Knife".

The No. 28 came out in 1949, available in leather, bone stag, pearl composition (celluloid) and orange/ivory/red phenolic plastic. For some reason, Western did not apply their standard naming practice on advertising model numbers, which should have been L28, 628, A28 and P28.

In 1950, the model number for the 28 became L28 for the leather handled version and 28AP for the plastic handled versions, which were only available in red and ivory. The 628 is not in the 1950 catalog sheet reprints, but does reappear in the 1958 catalog. It is unknown (by me) whether or not the 628 was part of the lineup from 1950 to 1958. The 1950 sheets only advertise the 677 as a bone stag handled offering. All other fixed blades are phenolic plastic, leather and composition plastic (celluloid). Bone is specifically mentioned in the handle construction blurb.

Personally, I tend to believe they ceased production on the bone handled knives for a while simply because they are so seldom available from this era.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
The stated size and lanyard hole can only mean one thing with a Western fixed blade - a pattern 28 "small fishing knife", aka a bird & trout knife.

Pics are needed to narrow down the year range. The spacers and ricasso stamps tell the tale there.

The only name associated with these is advertising literature is "Small Fishing Knife".

The No. 28 came out in 1949, available in leather, bone stag, pearl composition (celluloid) and orange/ivory/red phenolic plastic. For some reason, Western did not apply their standard naming practice on advertising model numbers, which should have been L28, 628, A28 and P28.

In 1950, the model number for the 28 became L28 for the leather handled version and 28AP for the plastic handled versions, which were only available in red and ivory. The 628 is not in the 1950 catalog sheet reprints, but does reappear in the 1958 catalog. It is unknown (by me) whether or not the 628 was part of the lineup from 1950 to 1958. The 1950 sheets only advertise the 677 as a bone stag handled offering. All other fixed blades are phenolic plastic, leather and composition plastic (celluloid). Bone is specifically mentioned in the handle construction blurb.

Personally, I tend to believe they ceased production on the bone handled knives for a while simply because they are so seldom available from this era.
Click to expand...
This matches my knife the best, I will figure out why it isn't allowing me to post a picture of it. Thank you for the info
 
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