WWII era Imperial pocket knives

G

gben

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Nov 26, 2014
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The markings on these Imperial Cutlery pocket-knives dates their manufacture from 1936 to 1952. What is interesting is that one of them has lots of brass and nickel used in it's construction, and the other is all steel. Obviously the one that is all steel was probably made during WWII when metals like brass and nickel were used mostly for weapons production and the war effort, the other made not long before or after the war.

The all-steel knife belonged to the husband of a woman I knew, both now deceased who were in their prime of life during WWII. The one with brass and nickel until recently belonged to a 98 year-old man ten blocks from my house, who also was in the prime of life when these knives were manufactured.


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Those are awesome, normally imperial is known for their super affordable shell construction knives.
I absolutely love their knives because the steel is great, the blades are super thin and slicy, and they made so many and are often written off as cheap junk so they're affordable.
I think actually think I like the all steel one more because it's bolsters can have the same patina as the blades.
 
Hickory n steel said:
normally imperial is known for their super affordable shell construction knives.
and they made so many and are often written off as cheap junk so they're affordable..
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I have quite a few old Imperial knives and none of them look like junk or have "shell construction". Imperial, hammer-brand, and Diamond-Edge, are knives I have that are all made by Imperial and have the same good construction as Case or any other good knife. Maybe it is just after a certain year that Imperials were cheapened up? Imperial and Schrade were merged for a while and I always thought Schrade knives were the best quality in a USA made knife.
 
Most Imperials were standard good construction, but they did make some shell handled knives known as boy's knives. I have a small collection of them.

Rich
 
My grandfather after WW2 started making the colors for Sherwin Williams and retired in 79 or 80. And I remember he carried a Electricians imperial knife with a painting company logo on it when he worked for Sherwin Williams until he passed away in 2000. I cherish that knife and would love to know the exact year it was made. Will share a photo when I get home tonight.
 
If you do a web-search for "Imperial knife tang stamps" you will find a link to threads on this forum showing how to tell the age of Imperial knives. Also the Imperial knives with stamped parts are perfectly fine for getting the job done, it is only investors, snobs or hipsters that might have a problem with them. If I have any laying around here in my piles of stuff I certainly would look at them as important important parts of the history of knives, and if I had one that was a family heirloom I would cherish it.
 
gben said:
If you do a web-search for "Imperial knife tang stamps" you will find a link to threads on this forum showing how to tell the age of Imperial knives. Also the Imperial knives with stamped parts are perfectly fine for getting the job done, it is only investors, snobs or hipsters that might have a problem with them. If I have any laying around here in my piles of stuff I certainly would look at them as important important parts of the history of knives, and if I had one that was a family heirloom I would cherish it.
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I actually love the shell construction knives because they're so lightweight, and of course it usually means a great piece of carbon steel in my pocket for a good price.
I know that early on they had standard construction knives and even produced folders and bayonet's for the military, but by the 50's they really embraced their patented shell construction method. I'm pretty sure that by this time the majority of production was focused on shell construction knives, and it may have had something to do with their direct competition with colonial which was formed by ex employees.

Btw the schrade ownership went from I think around '88 when the tang stamp dating no longer applys until the end. I'm not sure if schrade moved production to Ireland right away but it would explain why they can't be dated after 1988.
 
I've gotten a dozen of the old 60's model Imperial and Colonial knives for about $4 each. Every one was worth cleaning up and pack a pair of good carbon steel blades. American made, easy to care for, great all around users for most stuff.
 
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