Total number of Old Timer 34OTs made?

Sweet group. You are among the very few that have such groups and uncommon singles. My header board is black on the back, virgin screened on the front. Came from the liquidation.
 
OK, back to the original question, how many 34OT were made. They were produced by Schrade Walden/Schrade/Imperial Schrade for 40 years. A cursory look shows the following, excluding special customers some of which sold large quantities with and without special markings and other features (Sears, Belknap, Cole, etc.):

1964: 19,383
1965: 35,751
1966: 52,574
1967: 59,363
1968: 78,781
1969: 62,647
1970: 65,338
1971: 116,810
1972: 151,818

Thus a minimum of 576,925 were made with the Schrade Walden tang stamp, excluding those sold to special customers during the pattern's first nine years of production. By the early 1980's, production would reach a quarter million each year on average. In 1987 it was 485,759, nearly a half million, just shy of the number produced in the pattern's entire first nine years.

I would say that there is a very good chance that total production of the 34OT surpassed that of the Camillus Mil-k818. If someone wants to pay for an exhaustive search of production records, I will do it. But it will be time consuming and expensive.

Accounting methods and formats changed, customers changed, customer product numbers changed. And too, Schrade had a number of special and limited editions not included in the 34OT productions and it takes time to track those down. When clampacked knives were introduced, those were listed seperately. When the SGS-1 gift set was introduced, those were listed seperately. Some years knives included in dealer display case sales were counted seperately. Ad specialty knives were sometimes counted seperately. So as you might guess, it would be quite an undertaking. But if you have the money, I have the time. :)
 
Codger_64 said:
OK, back to the original question, how many 34OT were made. They were produced by Schrade Walden/Schrade/Imperial Schrade for 40 years. A cursory look shows the following, excluding special customers some of which sold large quantities with and without special markings and other features (Sears, Belknap, Cole, etc.):

...
Thus a minimum of 576,925 were made with the Schrade Walden tang stamp, excluding those sold to special customers during the pattern's first nine years of production. By the early 1980's, production would reach a quarter million each year on average. In 1987 it was 485,759, nearly a half million, just shy of the number produced in the pattern's entire first nine years.

I would say that there is a very good chance that total production of the 34OT surpassed that of the Camillus Mil-k818. If someone wants to pay for an exhaustive search of production records, I will do it. But it will be time consuming and expensive....

... But if you have the money, I have the time. :)
Click to expand...

I think a ball park assessment is always good (sufficient for me without paying), would you guesstimate from 1973 to 2004, the average sold per year may be somewhere in the neighborhood of another 175,000 to 225,000 34OT per year... is that a reasonable guess? Or would you guess the number of these per year was less that the 150,000 they sold in 1972? Or more? I would think the number got higher for 10 years or so, and then tapered off moving towards the end.
 
Walmart was a big buyer as were most hardware stores and gun/hunting stores. I would suspect that the numbers produced per year only increased, not decreased. If we search out and add in all catagories of the pattern each year, I would not be surprised to see it total a half mil a year most years. Of course we all realize that the small pocketknife industry took a significant hit post-2001. Cursory records of year end total (same exclusions above) for the pattern in 2002 was just a bit more than a quarter million. But still, at that, a quarter million a year adds up over time. If that were average, then the total would be ten million. With exclusions added which could/might boost production of the pattern another 30-30% over time. And we note a few particular years alone with sales of a half million, more or less. So a rough estimation is 12-17,000,000.

Pay and I will play though. :D
 
A question about the popularity of the 34OT: why did it sell so much better than the 8OT, the full sized version? I've always wondered about this.
 
Conjecture? OK. The modern buyer/user considered the size/weight to be juuuuuust right. The 8OT to be too bulky and heavy in the pocket (Is that a banana in your pocket or are you glad to see me?).

Had we been looking at the time period between, say, 1938 and 1964, the buyer mind may have been different and the 8OT come out on top in production demand. Or 1900 and 1937, fob and vest pocket knives were fashionable so good sellers. I see the same phenomenon regarding fixed blade knives. All time best seller? Sharpfinger. Small, inconspicuous. Very portable. Earlier, larger sheath knives were popular and you couldn't sell many puny sheath knives. Still earlier, small sheath knives had a heyday. Fashions change.
 
The size, and more so the weight; made the 34OT a big seller in Australia.
The 8OT and 194OT are still very popular in the outback.
In Australia, it is against the law to carry a knife.
However, in the outback, knives are classed as “tools of trade” ; and carried on the belt.
 
Thanks everyone for this topic.
I had a 340T in the 60's and it dissapeared. Picked up one from a local hardware store, [ Rockys] roughly 10 years ago and the spey spring snapped upon opening it after a few weeks.
I was shocked. A little tiny piece fell out somewhere and I put the knife away. I rejuveninated my knife hobbby recently and picked up two, like new 340T's.
One is in an original dark brown Schrade box. These are my favorite Schrades. They are as noted above " just right" . I also have two 50T's, a 1080, 1020, LB7 etc.

I am very happy to have a totally funtioning 340T again after almost 50 years.
I wonder why the 2004 era one snapped upon only opening it?
I still have it but can't bring myself to carry it even though the clip and sheep are fine.
Is there any thing I can do with it?
Thanks, Harold
 
Hi Harold! Welcome to the forum! As to your broken 34OT, there are tinkerers and embelisher forum here where you might find someone to repair your knife. Dale VIncent is just one such who might do it. But I have to tell you that with such high production numbers, it is really just cheaper to do what you have done, seek out and buy another example.

I don't have a good explanation as to why your late production knife's spring broke other than likely a poor tempering job. It does happen and no makers of high volume productian knives were ao are totally immune to defects.

It was my experience, when the company was in business, that they would repair or replace a defective knife even if it was not within the usual warranty period. I had a 165OT hunting knife that I had carried and used for many years. In about 1995 or so, the heated-in shield fell out. And the sheath was about shot. I returned it to the factory and received my knife back with the shield replaced and a new sheath, no charge. Even though I had asked to buy a replacement sheath and pay for the reshielding.
 
Thanks for the reply Codger. You are a wealth of information here.
I guess you are probably right, it would cost more than it would be worth to fix up the 340T.
Am thoroughly enyoying the new one/s.!

I cleaned them both up even though they didn't look like they needed it and mineral oiled them.
I put the boxed one in the collection and am carrying the other.

I'm sure if Schrade was around these parts today they would take care of the busted one as they did so for you.
For some reason it didn't occur to me to contact them at the time.

Since I have actively returned to the hobby my focus has been on traditionals with Schrades forefront.
Coming from western Mass I feel like an old neighbor to some of the old cutlery locales.
Thanks again, Harold
 
Hi Harols, from Australia.
This old 834, had a very bad crack in one of the scales, this is the result after repairs. Ken.

image.php

image.php
 
As you can see above, Harold, Dale is a very talented cutler/tinkerer/embelisher. However he does this as more of a hobby than vocation, so may have a waiting list at any point in time. If you have or can find a similar knife to your damaged one for parts, he can definately fix it. And having an embelished, improved version of a favorite pattern is hardly ever a bad thing.
 
I'll look for a parts 340. The only thing wrong with my broken one is the spey blade bends back when cutting, as 1/8" or less is missing from the back spring.
The rest of the knife is fine with a like new clip and sheepsfoot blade. The scales and rest are good too.

I didn't know if it was possible to replace or fix it!
Thank you KoldGold and Codger.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top