Weekend finds

[Rusty1]

Master Mechanic 89MM, brother to the Old Timer 89OT. New old stock from the 1980's $15.00 last one left.

Uncle Henry 897UH, different color handles on both sides, standard Uncle Henry handle and badge one side and dark brown knarly handles on the other.
I also have 285UH and an 885UH with the same brown handles.

98OT Stockman $25.00 for the pair at a local gun show.

Rusty1

 

[Codger_64]

Nice! Is it wrong for me to lust after your 897UH? It is a before-and-after shot of the glazing process. The back being unglazed, of course. My example is unglazed on both sides as are it's three other UH mates. Never seen one "half-glazed"!!

Hard to believe there are still some Master Mechanic knives out there. That has been a while. The last one I found, a MM897, was lightly used and at a pawn shop. The MM152 Sharpfingers were on eBay briefly after the closing and auction, but I haven't seen one in a while, except when I look in the drawer. Like your knife, only the tang and shield branding is different from the production knife. And as we have discussed before, some were issued with only the custom shielding and stock tang stamp.

 

[timsclips]

My find for the weekend, 897UHS. The medallion states 100 years 1904-2004, the best my eyes I can see. I wonder how long after this left the factory that it was closed?

 

[Rusty1]

No problem lusting Michael I do it all the time around this forum. As I mentioned I have an 885UH and a 285UH with the same scales, I'm not familiar with the glazing process, the knives look just so unusual. One other thing I have noticed is that the bolsters seem rather harder than the standard NS or maybe that's just me.

I found a few other MM knives in the same store last year, brothers to the 34OT and 8OT, the store was in a new location from their old facility and these were part of what you may call a genuine wharehose find.

Rusty1

 

[Codger_64]

 

[Hinterland]

Looks like I'm not the only one who had a banner weekend. Nice finds.

I left a big old Master Mechanic Lockback in the backroom of the hardware store I visited this weekend, maybe I should go back and claim it? It was the size of the Cave Bear (there were two or three of those too).

 

[Rusty1]

Two or Three Nice find.

Rusty1

 

[Codger_64]

Since I see that a couple of members here are suffering for lack of the search function (membership is money well spent!), here is a quote from my previous research on the Master Mechanic issues for Cotter/True Value:

In 1989, Imperial Schrade presented a line of special factory order knives to Cotter Company, the owners of True Value Hardware chain. Their original plan of twelve items was accepted. Anticipating a large order from Cotter, some of the components for some patterns (MM18, MM152, MM8) were sent to Camillus for assembly.
1989-90
MM18 (18OT)
MM3 (3OT)
MM33 (33OT)
MM34 (34OT)
MM8 (8OT)
MM89 (89OT)
MM108 (108OT)
MM152 (152OT)
MM897 (897UH)
MML5 (LB5)
MML7 (LB7)
MMS7 (SP7)
And an additional promotional item, the MMS7, SP7 Lightweight lockback.

During 1991, blade etching began, instead of the special tangstamp and shield being used. The MMS7, MML7 and MM152 were discontinued, and the orange handled MMT1, MMT3, and MMT4 were substituted.

MM18 (18OT)
MM3 (3OT)
MM33 (33OT)
MM34 (34OT)
MM8 (8OT)
MM89 (89OT)
MM108 (108OT)
MM152 (152OT)
MM897 (897UH)
MML5 (LB5)
MMS7 (SP7)
MM27 (127UH?)

In 1992, the 8OT pattern was used for a Cotter Company Commemorative. By 1994, the eight Tradesman knives were used, in addition to twenty-one other regular Schrade items.
1994
MMT1
MMT2
MMT3
MMT4
MMT5
MMT7
MMT8
MMT9

As you can see, the regular production Schrade name brand knives were sold to Cotter before and after the private labeling, and likely during as well. So seeing one in a MM box is not odd at all. Note that productions/deliveries did not begin and end on January first, so we might best say "the MM152 was produced only circa 1989-1991". Less that a three year run, no doubt, makes this particular one a uncommon SFO for the Sharpfinger pattern collector.

Now, I certainly did not mean to ignore that nice 897UHANN (I think that is right, maybe not). Member Del from Canada tried to send me one some years ago and it disappeared in the mail. It took a lot of searching and too much money for me to finally find another one. They are one of the "dual-shield" 100th anniversary editions, and we can be pretty well assured they were only shipped for a year, likely less. And likely also in far smaller numbers than the 34OTANN.

 

[ea42]

Nice finds Russell! You're really finding some sweet deals lately!

Eric

 

[Rusty1]

Thanks Eric! I'm looking out for some of the Schrade-Walden open stock knives, looks like so is everybody else.

Michael, thanks for posting the info on the glazing and adding the list of the MM knives, going to keep my eyes peeled for more of those to add to the collection also.

Rusty1

 

[thawk]

Rusty - I go out on Schrade hunts and find the Uncle Henry and Old Timers. I've never came across an Open Stock. I have found a handful of Brown Boxes.

If I came across a stash of plastic tube Schrade Walden's in a hardware store, I'd probably hyperventilate before I could get waited on (or get out the plastic).