Western Knives??

Kyui Su Kim · Feb 10, 2003

I stopped by a local flea/antique shop in the mall I work at and I ended up picking up a small fixed blade knife. It has a 4 inch upswept skinning blade with a brass guard that only extends out on the edged side. The other side has ridges on the blade for your thumb. It appears to be full tang with carved leather on the handle ending in a metal buttcap. The blade is engaved with
Western
Boulder, Colo
USA
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this company and if it is really worth anything. I was wanting to try to fix it up but if it is junk it becomes my new beater. The lady originaly wanted $80 but I got it fr $20 if that helps.

ferguson · Feb 10, 2003

I love the old Western knives. The carbon steel easily takes a wicked edge. Depending on condition they usually go from $20-50 on Ebay. I think the Western brand was bought by Camillus and they still produce a couple of the leather handled fixed blades that sell from $29-35. The current website is

Camillus

Enjoy,

Steve

RHINOKNIVES · Feb 10, 2003

i belive you have a model 39. it was one of my favorites in my teens, it grew feet and disapeared. i has be a big influene on my hunter designs. it a keeper and worth doing a little fix up. great design and steel.

MW740 · Feb 10, 2003

I have an old Western knife that was my fathers whem he was a kid. It has a 5" upswept bowie blade with a full tang leather covered handle ,a brass guard only on the edge side of the handle, and an alluminum pommel. When I got it, there was some staining on the blade that I cleaned off with some 0000 steel wool, and I put a wicked edge on it with my sharpmaker. The leather handle seems to have lost alot of its sheen over the years. It's not dryed out yet, but I would like to refinish the leather. Does anyone know how to do this?

Chris Keller · Feb 10, 2003

Western was a fine company that operated for many decades. I think Harvey Platts founded the company about 1910. In the 1980's they were bought out by Coleman. The Coleman management ran the company into bankruptcy by 1991.

Western logos and rights are owned by Camillus now.

Old Westerns, of which I have 4 in my collection, are not expensive but they are nice, effective knives with a sense of history.

They are unique as a lot of them have a double tang. The leather washers are really cut like the letter H and are fitted around it.

MW740 · Feb 10, 2003

The double tang with H shaped leather washers makes sense. I always wondered how the handle was constructed on my Western bowie. Thank You.

Kyui Su Kim · Feb 10, 2003

Hey thanks for the info on it. The one I have is pretty bad condition in the fact that the leather has more than dried up and a slab is missing. The blade had stains but I got mot of them out. Does anyone know of anywhere I could turn to about fixing the handle?

K5BBQ · Feb 10, 2003

I have used a sandable wood putty or filler before to make repairs to old leather handles. Fill the area that needs repaired and when dry sand down with sand paper use a little stain and steel wool it. Does fairly well. Good Luck Garland