Ulster 5-Blade Pocket Folder like 10th Mountain Division Folder

Nice knife.
Very similar to the 5 blade Ulster BSA.
:)
If I remember rightly the 5 blade BSA had the same tools, a spear point main, and a bail.

I think the tang stamp on yours is 1940's-late 1950's (maybe '59?)
It's different from my 4 blade 1960-1966 Ulster "Official" BSA knife, and 1960-1969 Ulster Number 10 Barlow, at any rate.

If memory serves, Schrade closed the Ulster brand between 1969 and 1971 during the R.J. Reynolds promotion, after Ulster lost the exclusive/monopolistic BSA contract, "replacing" the Ulster brand with the "Old Timer" brand. :(
Sometimes I wonder if that decision had anything to do with Schrade's eventual bankruptcy, and closing. I know my (maternal) great grandfather (1892-1974) didn't buy another Schrade product after they shut down the Ulster line.
I believe he switched to Colonial or Utica, after that. How many others didn't by Schrade again, in protest of their closing Ulster?
I remember he did yell at me, and (successfully?) curse me, for buying an Old Timer. :(
 
I'm no expert by any stretch, but it would fit into Abercrombie & Fitch's M.O. to purchase well designed outdoor knives with their name on it. It appears the only difference between your knife, and the 2nd version of the Ulster 10th Mountain Division knife is the replacement of the sheepsfoot blade with a bottle opener with slotted screwdriver head. This blade combination was probably deemed to have more appeal to campers, and hunters of the day. I have an Ithaca 37 from the mid 1940s that was marketed and sold through Abercrombie and Fitch, and the leather gun case is liberally labeled Abercrombie and Fitch. Its hard for a lot of Americans to remember that before becoming fashion icons places such as LL Bean, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Edie Bauer were indeed outdoor outfitters. Beautiful knife by the way.
 
Stan Rose said:
Its hard for a lot of Americans to remember that before becoming fashion icons places such as LL Bean, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Edie Bauer were indeed outdoor outfitters.
Click to expand...

We first visited the LL Bean store ca.1969 and understand exactly what you're saying. I've kept a few of their catalogs since then and it's interesting to see the company's offerings evolve-mostly in a negative direction.
 
I would be willing to bet this knife is from the 1946 to 1950 range. I don't think Ulster brand had many bone handled knife models after WWII. Albert Baer bought Ulster in 1941 and upgraded all of their old equipment in an effort to make knives faster and cheaper. By the 50's Ulster's quality was more along the lines of Imperial knives which was also under Baer's ownership. He also owned Schrade which he purchased in 1946. In the late 50's Schrade production was switched to Ulster's Ellenville NY plant and the some of the last "good" Ulster stamped knives were the first Old Timers in the early 60's. Ulster lost their luster by the 70's and were phased out with the exception of the BSA scout knives.

This one definitely looks to be made from the 10th Mountain Division parts with the flat screwdriver tool and cap lifter. I'm surprised that they wouldn't want to keep the bail on a scout/camp knife :confused: The bone is classic Ulster :thumbsup:

I'm a bit surprised by the polished looking main blade and the pristine etch, doesn't seem to fit for that era knife but IDK. Very cool knife :cool::thumbsup: It's interesting what afishhunter afishhunter said about the BSA scout knives. I never realized that the later model Ulster BSA scouts were so similar to the WWII Devil's Brigade mountain scouts. Maybe a tip of the hat to it's forefather? No bail either o_O
ULSC5A_a.jpg
 
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