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

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Another recently re-found knife. I went fishing this morning and in the bottom of my tackle bag was my old fishing knife. Ulster Craftsman #9549.

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It was good to see an old friend again, patina and all.
 
Codger_64 said:
Another recently re-found knife. I went fishing this morning and in the bottom of my tackle bag was my old fishing knife. Ulster Craftsman #9549.

aws00n.jpg


It was good to see an old friend again, patina and all.
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I gotta get me one of those. I've had the hankering ever since you posted a picture of one some time ago. Were the fish biting?
 
No but it was a beautiful morning to be wetting a line in the Snake River. Eagles, mooses, a muskrat, pheasants and ducks. Not a wasted morning at all.

If you look for the Craftsman branded knives they usually sell for less than their Ulster/Schrade branded counterparts. And you may just happen upon the five blade variant made with a saw blade, not found in the parent Schrade branding. They were made only for Sears.
 
Codger_64 said:
No but it was a beautiful morning to be wetting a line in the Snake River. Eagles, mooses, a muskrat, pheasants and ducks. Not a wasted morning at all.

If you look for the Craftsman branded knives they usually sell for less than their Ulster/Schrade branded counterparts. And you may just happen upon the five blade variant made with a saw blade, not found in the parent Schrade branding. They were made only for Sears.
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I have a picture of one. I hadn't thought about this one in a long time. I'll have to be more specific in my search and use the model number, 9555. Thanks for reminding me....(Just what I need, another knife on my list.) :rolleyes:

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Hi Guys, I don't often post but wanted to show off some of my latest. The black celluliod is a SW in near mint i traded a friend for. The Imperial from another friend, kind of reminds me of a '57 Chevy. and the last one i need help on. It is a Schrade/Walden Craftsman Birdseye with Craftsman and Custom Made etched on the blade. Any ideas in why it says "Custom"?
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rtmind said:
Hi Guys, I don't often post but wanted to show off some of my latest. The black celluliod is a SW in near mint i traded a friend for. The Imperial from another friend, kind of reminds me of a '57 Chevy. and the last one i need help on. It is a Schrade/Walden Craftsman Birdseye with Craftsman and Custom Made etched on the blade. Any ideas in why it says "Custom"?
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All nice ones! That birdseye is unique, and I do not recall ever seeing one like it before. I assume it is a 3 5/16" knife. Schrade Walden made one similar, an 835Y, but it had clip, sheepsfoot, and spey.

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Note that your Craftsman example has those bigger rivets closer to the end of the frame. Very interesting! :thumbup:

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One more, an Ulster 55, similar to yours though it has round bolsters and a turkish clip master. Those rivets are like yours.
 
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Ballenxj said:
Very nice Ken! :) Where on Earth did you find that?
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I found that one on eBay last week.
The seller had an other one, much the same as the Schrade 77OT - I did not want that one.
The one above is the same size as the Schrade 34OT - I'm still looking for the four inch one, like the Schrade 8OT.
 
in the order of things where does the "New York Knife Co." come in. was it a forerunner of Schrade?
 
delmas2nd said:
in the order of things where does the "New York Knife Co." come in. was it a forerunner of Schrade?
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NYKC, the original company, was founded in Walden New York before the Schrade Brothers started their cutlery. When they closed in the mid 1930's, Imperial bought their "Hammerbrand" trademark and began using it. When these knives were made by Schrade for SMKW, I believe that SMKW owned the "NYKC" mark.

The New York Knife Company — Industrial Archaeology in the Village of Walden, NY

by Joe Sopko, Principal Investigator

The historical documentation and archaeological testing identified four periods of production that correlate with changes in the New York Knife Company factory size, spatial organization, and methods of production. The first period of production, from 1856 to 1880, represents the initial establishment of the factory in the village of Walden in a single building and the hand production of knives by craftsmen. During this period, the workers literally owned the means of production, since the owners of the factory were also required to be workers. The second period, from 1880 to 1887, is characterized by the expansion of the knife factory from one to ten buildings, an increase in the number of employees from 54 to 230, and the reorganization of the knife manufacturing process.

During the first expansion, separate buildings were constructed for the storage of raw materials and finished products; forging, tempering, and hardening of the blades and end springs; grinding; and handle production and finishing. The first expansion represents the start of work segmentation replacing craftsmen with machinery and laborers. The period, from 1900 to 1905, is characterized by the expansion of the factory from 10 to 26 buildings, and increase in the labor force from 230 to 400 workers, and the further reorganization and modernization of the knife manufacturing process.

Further segmentation of the work process occurred as each step of the knife manufacturing process was carried out either in separate buildings or on different floors within the same building. This is related to the mass production of jackknives and table cutlery and the continuing replacement of craftsmen by machines and laborers. Finally, the forth period of production, from 1905 to 1931, is characterized by the total segmentation of the knife manufacturing process, the mass production of knives, and the economic decline of the New York Knife Company. Increased competition with a number of knife factories that continued to modernize their machinery and manufacturing process after World War I and the Great Depression resulted in the closing of the New York Knife Company.

The New York State Museum excavation at the New York Knife Company factory site in the village of Walden, Orange County, New York was conducted for a New York State Department of Transportation highway improvement project of the replacement on the bridge on NY 52 over the Wallkill River.

In 1852 a group of 16 workers who were upset over the cost-cutting policies of the management of the Waterville Knife Company, especially the new policy of having the cutlers provide their own files and tools, left to establish the New York Knife Company. The site that the workers chose for their new factory was located on the east side of the Hudson River in Mattewan, near Beacon, in Dutchess County, New York. This location had available waterpower, while the majority of sites in the Connecticut River Valley were already developed and occupied by the existing factories, including over 100 knife manufacturing companies.

The New York Knife Company was one of the first knife manufacturing companies established in New York State. In 1856 the village of Walden in Orange County enticed the New York Knife Company to move to the village on the west side of the Hudson River to utilize a recently closed cotton mill adjacent to the high falls on the Wallkill River. The New York Knife Company prospered under the management of Tom Bradley Sr. from 1856 to 1870 and Tom Bradley Jr. from 1870 to 1903.

In 1860, just four years after it established in the village of Walden, the factory consisted of a single building, with 25 male and 2 female employees. The company used $4,630 of raw materials to produce $24,750 worth of knives. By 1880 the factory consisted of 13 buildings, where 144 adult males, 16 adult females, and 70 children used $50,000 worth of raw materials to produce $152,000 worth of jackknives and table cutlery which based on the 1865 production figures was 108,000 knives. The factory size, number of employees, and the production of knives continued to increase from 1880 to 1905.

By 1905 the New York Knife Company factory consisted of 28 buildings ranging in size from 1 to 6 stories that were arranged into a lower and upper factory complex separated by an open courtyard, with the original factory building on the south side. The number of workers employed in the factory increased from 350 in 1894 to 400 in 1900. During this period the factory was producing over one and a half million knives a year, with a single-day production record of 4,000. The increase in production was necessary to maintain the company's profits while paying the cost for the expansions and modernization of the factory. Jackknives in the 1902 Sears and Roebuck Catalog sold from 23 to 94 cents apiece, and a set of 6 table knives and forks ranged in price from $.50 to $2.03.

In 1903 Tom Bradley Jr. sold the New York Knife Company to the Fuller brothers the owners of the Electric Cutlery Company. The factory continued to prosper under the new management. The New York Knife Company in 1911, in order to shore up its market share, began producing the only official Boy Scout knife, a monopoly the company held until 1922. By 1913 the number of people employed by the company dropped to 327 individuals, which is a decrease of 63 people from 1905. The workforce was composed of 275 adult males, 41 adult females, 8 children between the ages of 14 and 16, and 3 office employees.

After it lost the monopoly on the production of the Boy Scout knives, the New York Knife Company could no longer compete successfully with the more modern knife producing factories. A notation on the 1924 Sanborn Insurance Map states the factory was not in operation, and the only employees were two night watchmen, indicating the factory may have had to shut down for short periods of time and had to temporarily lay off its workers. The condition of the company continued to worsen, especially after the 1929 stock market crash. The New York Knife Company factory continued to operate for parts of two more years before it was finally forced to shut down its operation for good in 1931.
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http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/crsp/projects/ny_knife_co.html

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thawk said:
All nice ones! That birdseye is unique, and I do not recall ever seeing one like it before. I assume it is a 3 5/16" knife. Schrade Walden made one similar, an 835Y, but it had clip, sheepsfoot, and spey.

[Note that your Craftsman example has those bigger rivets closer to the end of the frame. Very interesting! :thumbup:

258v1u8.jpg

One more, an Ulster 55, similar to yours though it has round bolsters and a turkish clip master. Those rivets are like yours.
Click to expand...

Hal,
The Craftsman and the Ulster have genuine birdseye rivets that pass through the tangs, the Schrade is actually a skeleton knife with fake rivet heads attached to the covers only, ala Swinden construction.

Eric
 
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