Two Schrade push button knives?

J

josseppi

Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
13
I have two Schrade push button knives that are identical except for the color of the handles. One is black and the other is bone colored. They are either hard black plastic or bone. One has Geo. Schrade Co. on it and some patent dates (turn of the century), the other has Presto and Schrade Co. on the blade. They have push buttons and a slide lock

I can't find any particulars on these knives at all. I know they are old and in decent shape. Can anyone help?
 
I recently got a Edgemaster pushbutton knife and was able to find out in the BL forum they were a division of Schrade. They were discontinued in 1958 with the federal ban on switchblades. So it is probably at least that old. There is a post on the Edgemasters from a few weeks ago.
 
wing40,

I am familiar with the older Schrade and Geo. Schrade automatics. Please post photos or PM me and I will try to be helpful.
 
I had the opportunity to go to a knife & Gun show yesterday and talked to a knife collector. He showed me a photo of the two knives I have in a Schrade book. I guess they are quite rare. The stag or stag colored one has grooves that are unexplainable on the bottom front and on both edges of the closing side. Almost looks like ruler markings but they don't match up. The knife guy said that it would take away from the value but that particular one would still be valuable. Photos are in the camera but I have to wait until my wife downloads them. She runs that part of the computer!
 
OK. Thanks.

I have several, also Schrade automatics also. After you post yours I'll try to help you with identification and will post mine (I will have to take photos, too).

Have a great day!
 
My knives look like the one on the very bottom left (for they're double locked.) I can't figure out how to download images from my folder?
 


I'll let another member explain the picture deal, but basicly, you load it onto an off site photo hosting like hunt101 or photobucket, or tinypic and just post a link here. Poof!

Michael
 
Yes that is the one except mine do not have Schrade Hunting knife on the blade. All names and dates are at the base of the blades.
 


You can copy and paste the entire code into the message window and the actual image will appear. It's more than just the address.

Really nice knife. Beautiful scales. Thanks for sharing.
 
Drill Sergeant,

That is it exactly. The black handled one has Schrade the other has Presto. Were these knives used by paratroopers?
 
josseppi:

Yes they were. They are catalogued as such by Cole in Book III Pages 144-145. The knives without the bail are more than likely commercial, however some of these were also reportedly issued to airborne troops.

There were two companies that used the Schrade name. Schrade Cutlery Company was started by three brothers at the turn of the century (the last one). Much of the development in switchblade knives came from these innovative guys. Schrade Cutlery made many knives that were used by US forces in WWII, including automatics or switchblades.

In 1925, George Schrade left the brothers to form his own company and specialized in switchblade knives. He often used the brand name “Presto” on one side of the ricasso and “Geo. Schrade” on the other. He was also a contractor for the US Government. He went out of business toward the end of WWII, so any M2 knives marked with” Geo. Schrade” are definitely WWII era. His automatic knives are very high quality and prized by collectors.
 
Thanks Drill Sergeant, now I would really like to know the reason behind the grooves or etchings on the one knife.
 
I sure enjoy reading here about Schrade and the push button knives. I have one that looks allmost identical to the one Hawke posted a picture of . The only markings on mine is the tang is stamped " Schrade Walden NY " .Im new here but I can share a picture only by email , tab911@aol.com
 
Intresting thing about these knives. Here in ohio (north east ohio) I have found a grand total of 5 of them with out looking. I bought 2 of them and later traded them off for multiple other lower priced colectors peices.Each one i paid under 30 bucks for. They sell on ebay a fair bit for between 175 and 275. 1 that i was looking at looked like it had just came out of its box and intrestingly the blades did not open fully when you pressed the button instead the spring kicked the blade up to about 1/3 open. My own question is was this by design or do to the relitive new condition of the knife. In other words the knife just had not been broken in yet?

One schrade button knife i have here is in peices and well it is quite neat how it was built. Instead of just a pin as you would expect on a knife so old for the blade pivot it has some form of bushing the the nickle silver pin goes through and the bushing is press in to the blade.

If i can get my scanner to work on this laptop ill scan my busted one just as a reference for how they are built. Also there is a guy on ebay who makes new handles for them incase any one has one that is missing the handles and they want to pick up replacements. Price i think was 30 bucks or some such.
 
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