What's your latest Schrade? END DATE 8/12

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The above posts are a good example of Mr. Levine's oft quoted advice for all knives: "Read the knife, Ignore what the markings happen to say."
how do you "read a knife" ? experience and observing the individual details CLOSELY. not so much by just looking at the knife as a whole, which is what we all tend to do when still novice.
the experience is gained by handling/owning as many of the original Schrade & Schrade-Walden knives as possible.
many of the post 2004 "Schrade" knives, and packaging as well, are very close mimics to the originals, purposely designed to fool the buyer into believing it is an original Schrade.
once you gain some experience and a trained eye, you will almost never be fooled.
roland
 
Well said Roland! :thumbup:

When I first started collecting Schrade I thought I would never be able to "read the knife," as Bernard says.

Five to six years later I have hundreds of Schrade knives. Actually, it is probably a thousand + if you count the parts knives which are Schrades.
By seeing and handling these knives daily, working on and repairing knives for customers has given me the ability to instinctively "read the knife" if it is a Schrade. I can even look at a bad pic on ebay and spot a Chinese "Schrade" most times, just because it doesn't look right. The strange thing is that I do it without even thinking. That doesn't mean I can't be fooled sometimes, but it is much harder for someone to do that to me now.

An interesting sidebar:
When banks train tellers to spot counterfeit money, I am told that they don't show them examples of counterfeit bills. They just have them handle real money day in and day out. Eventually the look and feel of real money becomes so familiar to them that they can pick out a counterfeit bill out of a stack of bills when counting them, just by the feel.

It is kind of like that with Schrades for me; the real ones are so familiar to me, that the "fake" ones standout like a sore thumb.

Dale
 
Roland and Dale, you said it well. I'm also in agreement that Taylor is not the one trying to fool anyone, but there are some Ebay sellers that are. Here are some examples. Not necessarily dishonest. But generally the fact they are distributed by Taylor Cutlery is not disclosed. They stick out like a sore thumb, fool new collectors, and lastly, are probably decent knives.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Schrade-Walden-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5639b3cfb2

http://cgi.ebay.com/Schrade-Walden-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9e934e86

http://cgi.ebay.com/SCHRADE-WALDEN-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4ced9b4150

http://cgi.ebay.com/Schrade-Walden-...QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPliers?hash=item2eaa50af8d

http://cgi.ebay.com/SCHRADE-WALDEN-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a6f8ba77
 
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Well,I guess I walked into that with my eyes open lol. ill keep what I have but will stay away from any further NEW WALDEN knives for my collection as they are not offering me the authenic deal Im looking for .Anyway, whats next...
 
17remfan said:
Well,I guess I walked into that with my eyes open lol. ill keep what I have but will stay away from any further NEW WALDEN knives for my collection as they are not offering me the authentic deal I'm looking for .Anyway, whats next...
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It would be frustrating and confusing for a new Schrade collector. There are still a lot of genuine pre-1973 Schrade Waldens too. I probably have bought over 100 Schrades in the last three years. Almost all on Ebay. Through this forum, and Larry's fantastic website, I educated myself slowly, and luckily, never got fooled. I was lucky enough to come into Schrade collecting before Ebay was flooded with all of these post 2004 Schrades though, and saw the new remakes come in rather slowly. It is a lot more confusing now. :grumpy:
 
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Hal, i checked your first 2 links. what is interesting is that the seller has not lied. everything he says in description is true. it does make discerning the originals a challenge for all of us.
roland
 
rprocter said:
Hal, i checked your first 2 links. what is interesting is that the seller has not lied. everything he says in description is true. it does make discerning the originals a challenge for all of us.
roland
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Absolutely. They can cover it so it is a legit auction. But the person who buys the knife is generally thinking it is a pre 73, I would think.
 
Here are a few things to look for in those links:

Link#1- The Everlastingly Sharp etch shows up FAR more often on the Taylor Schrades than on the real Waldens.
- Seeing a bar code on a supposedly pre-1974 tube is a dead giveway.

Link #2- The model number shouldn't have SWA in front of the numbers. Most of the taylor knives have these really long model numbers.
- There's that etch again.
- If there's a tube, ALWAYS ask the seller of the "Under License fron Taylor LLC" phrase is on there anywhere.

Link #3- There was no model #1194
- That particular green bone was never part of the line-up, either on the old ones or the newer commem. cigar box ones (those also had threaded bolsters).

Link #4- Same as above re- handles
- It comes with a box, so ask seller same question as in link #2

Link #5- Nice combination of all of the above. Same etch, wrong bone handles, model # is way too long (I'm sure if there's a box it'll include the letters SW****). He mentions stainless blades, another give-away. If it had stainless blades, it'd likely have the Razor Blade Stainless etch if it was an old Schrade-Walden, NOT the Everlastingly Sharp etch.

The Bear knives are the easiest to spot as they don't have any handle pins, they glue 'em on.

Just keep watching and look at a LOT of knives. If you have doubts, or if the pics are too blurry to make anything out (often done on purpose), don't buy it! There'll always be more.

Eric
 
Great info ea.... I have a lot to learn about Schrades, but I'm getting the hang of telling which are the ones to avoid. When I was collecting Case knives, I wouldn't have a problem bidding high. Now with the Schrades, I come here to do as much research as I can, before bidding. Unless it has a cheap buy it now price, and I'm fairly certain it is what I think it is.

I know I will eventually get bitten , but thats part of the learning curve.

I really appreciate being able to tap into the knowledge base here
 
Schrade Walden was the company name after Albert Baer bought the company from the Schrade family in 1946. The name was kept when the company moved to Ellenville in 1958. It was changed several times over the years, first in 1973 when the name "Walden" was dropped. Eventually it became Imperial Schrade, but the tangstamps usually, after 1973. were simply SCHRADE.

Here are a few examples. Remember that they are just a few and others exist that vary from these.

28koeva.jpg


Many, many knives were made between 1946 and 1973 that don't have the company stamp on them at all. Some have merchant's marks like "Craftsman", "Powr-Craft" etc.
 
17remfan said:
So a true Walden made Schrade knife will have Walden N.Y. on the blade correct ??
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A few of the very early Schrade Walden knives might have only Schrade / Walden / N. Y. These often had all blades stamped, not only the master blade. For the most part of the 1946 to 1973, they added U.S.A to the stamp, and only stamped the master.

Schrade also has some Schrade NY USA stamps right after 1973, when they dropped the Walden from stamps. Not all patterns used this stamping.

NY_Stamp.jpg

Early Schrade Walden N.Y. (1946 to ?)

861-1.jpg

Early Schrade N.Y> (Post Walden 1973 to ?)
 
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Once again, thanks for the help.I am sorry for leading this thread into a topic toward knife identification.
 
this is not leading us astray, but good info for all of us, experienced and novice. sharing like this is the purpose of our association.
roland
 
Here we go again Roland!! Can you believe it? LB5B is a Taylor Brand Schrade, less than $30 all over the internet. Another give away is the pressed, recycled leather sheath.

Russell
 
Com'on guys, didn't you read the description ?
"This knife for auction is a Schrade USA, Ellenville, NY manufactured LB5 Lockblade featuring the Genuine Carved Buffalo Horn scales. "
and look, it has the paperwork too !
"We will provide a copy of the Schrade Knife Factory Certificate Of Authenticity to the winning bidder as shown in the photos."
well i'll be ! China, eh ?
perhaps that's why i didn't bid.
roland
 
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