White 14OT. What the heck?

I must give Dave the credit for digging up past information.
I went back looking at posts (before I joined Blade Forums), only because Dave always thinks too much. So I tried a little thinking too…
I like forums when they start like this one and work towards an end.
Nicve find Hal and thanks for the thread… Ken
 
The knife arrived yesterday. Just a couple of notes:

The box is the old style, wood grain cardboard with small brass hinges.

There was some question about the sheath in the 2005 discussion. The sheath is unmarked brown leather and a perfect fit to the molded box insert.

PROTOTYPE is a simple engraving, not gold-colored as it appears in some of the photos.

The handle material is a very smooth and very glossy synthetic. When held at angles in the light, a faint jagged banding is visible. Linen Micarta is my best guess.

The handle scales, right and left, aren't perfectly symmetric as you would expect on a mass-produced factory knife. More similar to some mid-grade custom knives I own.

A knife manufacturing Question: Comparing the pins, this white OT's are much smaller than on the standard 14OT. Would the drilled blade hole normally be the size of the intended pins? My point, if one could see beneath the scales and could determine that the drilled holes are small, that would indicate the knife was purposefully made with small pins, and that the non-standard pins aren't simply the result of an aftermarket assembly?
Of course I'm not knocking off the scales just to find out. :D
 
I received a reply from Phil (aka "txtoothpk"). He recalls buying the knife on eBay directly from someone who was affiliated with Schrade. That was in the period after Schrade closed but before the big bankrupcy auction. The odds of it therefore being a recent overseas assembly are nil. Nor do I believe it was a home-modified or lunchbox knife, but rather an actual Schrade prototype just as Richard Langston asserted.
 
With all due respect to Schrade, Phil, Richard, and yourself Bob, I agree. And not all surprised the white handle did not take off... perhaps the intent was to scrimshaw or something of that nature.
 
My guess is the intent was to test a new material, perhaps to see how easily it could be machined, shaped, and attached.

IMO, it looks a little silly on a large hunting knife. It would be major classy on a small pocketknife though, if you can imagine something like a 108OT with shiny white handles.
 
Bob W said:
My guess is the intent was to test a new material, perhaps to see how easily it could be machined, shaped, and attached.

IMO, it looks a little silly on a large hunting knife. It would be major classy on a small pocketknife though, if you can imagine something like a 108OT with shiny white handles.
Click to expand...

I can imagine something like that Bob!

 
I'm as happy as a pig in mud. :)

It's getting harder and harder to find interesting knives for addition to the Old Timer collection. I've resorted to very minor variations in common models, advertising and safety award knives, and replacing serialized knives with lower serial number examples. Times are getting tough. ;)

I can imagine something like that Bob!
Click to expand...
Classy!
 
Bob have you seen my "Old Timer - Wooden Box". I have one and trying to talk the owner to sell one to Larry303.
 
koldgold said:
Bob have you seen my "Old Timer - Wooden Box".
Click to expand...

I don't think so. Send a PM?

There was an unused 2OT recently, can't recall where, asking price $600. And another sold recently on eBay for $450. Ouch!

I did pick up a National Park Service 75th Anniversary 5OT for fifty bucks, an Old Timer New Holland tractor set for $80, and an Old Timer thermos for $30. That's where my budget's at. ;)
 
These boxes were orded by a big Schrade Distributor in Australia, I have been told there may be one or two in the U.S.A.
I have one, and I know of two more. I like some of the knives you find some times. The 14OT was a good find... Ken
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I came across some good hi-def pics of a Schrade white linen micarta trapper today. I thought I would add them so Bob could compare the handle materials. Grain is super-obvious but that's because of the tapering through many layers. The 14OT is more square and doesn't really have any feathering, for lack of a better word, so layers would be less obvious.



 
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