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

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Hey fellas,

Popped in from over the Buck thread cause I got 2 Schrade Craftsman fixed blades, both very sentimental to me. The big one with sheath was my dads hunting knife, I'm 46 and started hunting when I was 12 and even before that, I remember him using it. 2nd was my grandfather in-laws, a man who I became very very good friends with. I put and edge on em last night and realized I don't really know anything about them. Can anyone give me model #'s and approx age. I also dont have a sheath for the little stacked leather job, are they still attainable or do I have to seek a custom?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Fritz

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Your Sears Craftsman 15OT Deerslayer is an early one. Not the very first group, but at least during the mid-1960's. I note that it has the second style sheath, still with the internal fiber and aluminum sheath protector. The blades would cut those sheath laces when removed and inserted without it. Later sheaths used added metal eyelets to protect the laces, then finally a leather gusset and reugular stitching.

Here is one of the first that Sears bought in 1964:

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Yours may have originally had the Ted Williams signature (or not). Note that the 15OT did not gain it's name "Deerslayer" until later.

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Wow, great info fellas and I thank you very much! I have used the 15OT to hunt and harvest in the past, but I would very much like to carry the 498L and harvest with it. It was a user for Skip and one more deer won't do it any harm, then into the display case at least until my daughter or a grandchild would want to hunt with it or inherit it on my demise.

In looking at the catalogs, how can you differentiate between the 148 and the 498L? I have seen the 148s on the bay but they are missing the finger grooves, is that the only difference?

As you will see if you check out my posts on the Buck site, I am an accumulator not a seller, I would never get rid of either of these other than inheritence, and I don't want to break forum rules...that being said, I have seen the 148L on the bay around 30 bucks, is that about what they are worth or are they more collectable than that. That is the best way for me to phrase that and really the only way I would like it answered. I don't want any speculative dollar amounts or for anyone to get a chicklet infraction.

Thanks again for great info.

Fritz
 
Relatively speaking, the SFO (Special Factory Order) knives made for Sears by Ulster/Schrade/Imperial have less collector value than the same patterns stamped with their manufacturers' marks. There are a few exceptions, of course. Some special patterns were made exclusively for Sears and were never made under the manufacturer's marks. And a few of the rarer patterns with manufacturer's marks are known to be even more rare with the Sears marks, such as the early 2OT.

I'll defer to Calvin for the answers to the questions about the 148/498 (and the rest of that series). Perhaps he has examples of both that he can show side by side where the differences are apparent.
 
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Many thanks Cal, the sawn bone 8OT was appearantly on Ebay about 8 months ago, was mislisted, a poor photo, and the only knife the seller had.....I feel like my Schrade Odyssey is now over with obtaining this gem...it snaps like a crocodile and apart from two bone fragments missing on pile side near each bolster is an outstanding example of this very scarce knife with no pin cracks or other issues......we know 13,149 2OT's were made 1959-1964 <the last 516 were shipped in 1964...and we know only 780 Sears Craftsman 2OT's were made in 1959, and only half dozen saleman's samples of the 3OT were made, <two are in Australia> however I wonder how many sawn bone 8OT's were actually made....it appears Schrade -Walden called it Meerschaum bone when they actually used bovine bone on the 2OT,3OT and 8OT and then continued to call them Meerschaum handles when they introduced the delrin handles mid 1960's as a marketing edge.....the very earliest 8OT's all had 17 matchstrikes to the nail niche and the later mid 1960's on had 16 matchstrikes. The main difference to differentiate between the early and later 1960's 8OT's is by the length of the back swedge....the bone 8OT has swedge up and over to third last matchstrike..the very first delrin 8OT has it a tad less and then the 8OT from the Safari Set mid 1960's has it just past the first few matchstrikes...interesting comparisons I have photos of these differences as well. Hoo Roo.
 
Very nice Larry , beautiful collection and some interesting info as well , it's always nice to see pic's like this as they don't appear to often , thanks for sharing .... :-)
 
Wow, definitely the most distinct saw cut bone 8OT known to mankind! No mistaking that one.
 
Congrats on that beauty Larry, it's a FINE example. Gotta agree with Hal on those saw cuts, some of the deepest I've seen. I wonder if they were experimenting with different tooth gauges on those early handles, looks like that one was a mighty coarse blade. Too bad they couldn't keep making those knives in bone, it sure looks nice!

Eric
 
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Wow Larry! I don't think there would be a finer example of your bone 80T anywhere. I like the re set of the trio pic as well. Thumbs up!

Russell
 
just got this one in. a nice example of a 5OT. the curious thing is that there is no "+" after Schrade. now i know the 7OT was made in both carbon and stainless varieties but i thought all the 5OT's and 3OT's were all stainless. is this one of those examples where the just didn't stamp it correctly or is is carbon?
 

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Presence of a "+" means stainless. Absence of a "+" does not mean it is not stainless. Cut an onion and see?
 
I am up to 95 Frontiers. Many are the wood scaled ones that are the Double Eagle (stainless).
 
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