Who made S&W knives in the late 1970's?

Marlinaholic

Marlinaholic

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I have a S&W Maverick large stainless folding knife from the late 70's/early 80's. Came in a riveted blue S&W box just like their guns and has the same S&W logo stamp on the handle they put on their guns as well. Who really made these? Did S&W actually do it? To be honest, it looks like their work, especially with that stamp and all, but nobody I talk to seems to know. I can't find any import markings whatsoever, so I believe it was American made by someone. :confused: It seems to be high quality. I believe Blackie Collins designed the Maverick and some other models for them.
 
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Could be wrong, so feel free to correct me. S&W outsourced folders to Alcas or Bowen during that time frame. The fixed blades were made by S&W.
 
Gunmakers who sell the marketing rights to their brand name almost never actually manufacture the actual goods. They don't have the equipment, and can outsource more easily.

The problem is that the marketers don't always adhere to the concepts the brand is supposed to represent. An example would be if Nike had a $2 linerlock with each pair of shoes.

I doubt that any S&W knife was ever made by S&W, but I could be wrong. The Benard Levine's collector's forum would probably get a quick answer.
 
Here are the pictures. As you can see, the trademark stamp is the same style and size they use on their firearms, and I believe the knife is US made. Quality is very nice, although god only knows what the blade steel is. Its pretty big, blade about as long as my Endura. The nail nick is so big you can open the knife one handed with your thumb real easy.

S_Wknife1.jpg

S_Wknife3.jpg
 
S & W knives of that era (MAVERICK in 1980 , SWING BLADE... ) were produced in the S & W 's HOULTON MAINE facility.

The first knife line (1972) was produced in Springfield, Mass. Some pre prod were produced in Springfield too then produced in Houlton.

The steel used was "440 stainless " , the inlay is rosewood. The MAVERICK was available in drop or clip point.

ELDE
 
I retired from the Army Nov 81 and took four of the S&W folders with me. Two of mine are the Bowie style blade and the other two are as depicted in a previous entry in this thread. I had a couple of mine all over the world with me and they were, and are, great knives. During a tour in Sudan I cut rope, electrical cable, antenna feedlines, skinned animals for meat, cleaned fish, you name it. Very tough and fairly good holding an edge. I particularly liked the large finger slot on the blades which permit one hand opening, a not too common feature back then.
 
Wow, so these were actually made by S&W. One handed opening in that era was pretty novel. I won't mutilate this one, but it sure is tempting to drill and tap it for a pocket clip :D
 
One of the posters said, in effect, 'the manufacturers don't make knives.' That may be true. But when I worked in a major aircraft plant in So Cal years ago, we were required to carefully grade and bin all the flat stainless steel and aluminum scrap. Then, every few weeks, we would do a quick tooling change and spend a shift turning out pie plates, cooking pots, 'tin' cups and plates, cookie cutters, and eating utensils. Made tons of the stuff during a run. I heard the company made a mint and for sure a lot more than just selling the metal scrap out the door. As a gunsmith and machinist myself, I can state it doesn't take much effort to quickly go from one type of metal fabrication to another. I occasionally crank out automotive parts on my machnie tools for some of the custom car buffs around here, parts they can't find anywhere else and they range from mirror mountings to transmissions gears/shafts/bushings and everything in between. So why can't gun makers stamp/grind/polish knives? Once they've developed the tooling, it's duck soup.
 
In '81 while vacationing in California I bought a blue box S&W dagger about six inches with a rubbery handle and leather sheath. The knife was quite nice if I recall correctly although extremely dull.. A guy at work admired it so I sold it to him since at the time I knew nothing about sharpening. What a dope I was, I wish I had kept it.
 
I gave a S&W knife to my oldest son, think it was late 70s-early 80s. Anyway it had a fake scrimshaw of a western scene...cowboy on a horse I think. It was made by Gerber. Hope this helps.
 
Went to a gunshow in Albuquerque today. Lo and behold, one vendor had a S&W clip point among a number of other assorted knifes. He was asking $60 and I got it for $50. Probably too much but I'm sure happy with it. Nice shape with just a few pocket scratches and a good edge. It's just joined my other S&W folders in my gunsafe. So, this thread which has rekindled my interest in the S&W folders cost me a half C note. Oh well.... Thanks to the thread starter and I mean that.
 
It always amazed me that a "first-class" arms maker like S&W would license their name on substandard cutlery (i.e., junk.). Taylor Cutlery made the knives for Smith for a long time, I consider them as "gypsy-ware" to be honest.
 
The S&W folders may be 'gypsy ware' but I wish some of the big name companies would make a handle, back spring, etc., half as good. Like I posted earlier in this thread, I used the S&W folders hard during duty in Africa and they came through super. Any knife that will skin wildebeast covered with sandy Nile mud is a good knife. My S&Ws did and held their edge as good as any. What more can you ask?
 
The S&W's from the 70's are different critters than the stuff put out by Taylor Brands now. Those Mavericks are really nice.

I used a new S&W as an EDC for a couple of years, and it held up very well.

thx - cpr
 
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