OK Schatt and Morgan people, know the history of this knife?

[knifegirl888]

BL4 states Wilbert was made for Sears Roebuck by Napanoch & Empire. Here are a couple of Wilbert's that we have.

[Owd Wullie]

Sold for a whoppin 46 cents huh?

I paid close to 50 times that for mine a year or two back and thought I stole it.






That ad was right about 'em lookin crude. LOL

Hell of knife and sure enough a handful. Snap is not a descriptive enough word for the blade action. Slam would be more appropriate. I beleive it would take a finger or a large piece of one if you got it in the way when that blade goes home. No nail nick makes 'em real interesting to open too.

[peterforce]

hey everybody!

i happen to own a CHRIS WOLF knife...JESS CROUCH i do not.... the sears info is new to me...

but here is one i wanted to show that recently went either under the radar or folks didnt realize what they were looking at...or just didnt want it...or listened to the seller...

this knife is not a repro. at all.... it was a good guess on the sellers behalf ..i guess ..he goes on to say it was REPRODUCED by a man named CHRIS WOLF ...well here take a look for yourself.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... true&rt=nc

obviously what really happened was someone got tired or breaking their nails and added
and easy-open.

these WOLF knives are not that actually hard to find......it seems that searching chris wolf doesnt help to much.... i found mine i think under OLD JACK KNIFE was the search i used....but OLD JACK KNIFE....brings up 1000s...got lucky..very! ... my point is...that these knives are mixed in with batches,folks think becuase they arent all purdy folks wont like em...plus most just dont know what they are....

anyway hope i helped at all.... THE SEARS INFORMATION IS FANTASTIC.

[Unk]

I have been looking for a Chris Wolf knife for a few years to go along with my Jess Crouch knives. Finally picked one up.....(new one in the middle)

[Unk]

I discovered this afternoon that Ancestry.com has all the Sears catalogs scanned and available from 1888 to about 1993. I found the Chris Wolf knife listed in their catalogs pretty much every year from 1905 to 1916......then nothing after that.

I didn't find anything in their catalog for the Jess Crouch knife. I wonder if the Jess Crouch knife was made for a different store? maybe Monkey Wards or some other big mail order store in that time frame?

[Miller Bro's]

First one of these I ever seen with a nail nick.

[PA Knives]

Gotta admit that is a first for me too!!!!!!! I question if it is original to the production. Looks kinda odd?

[Miller Bro's]

Looks kinda odd?

David,

These knives are odd to begin with!

I would bet a $1.00 it is original to the knife

[tjmurphy]

Interesting that they put the nail nick all the way to the end of the knife for best leverage. A testimony to the strength of the spring on these old knives

[Unk]

I picked up a second Chris Wolf a while back. Finally took some pics of it today. It's the 3rd one down, with the stains on the blade.

[knifegirl888]

Unk,

These knives are pretty rare to find & for you to have 4!! That's one impressive group!

[wlf]

I discovered this afternoon that Ancestry.com has all the Sears catalogs scanned and available from 1888 to about 1993. I found the Chris Wolf knife listed in their catalogs pretty much every year from 1905 to 1916......then nothing after that.

Thanks Unk,that is great information for all with Wilbert or other Sears knives.I will have to get a trial membership and look through them for farmers jacks or rooster combs.

I agree with Kathy ,amazing collection of a rare knife.

[orvet]

Unk,
Do you remember the Chris Wolf knife I auctioned off that was part of Johnnie Fain's collection?
I auctioned it off in December 2009, as you can see it sold for $80
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... lf#p123058

It was the nicest looking Chris Wolf I have seen, the only one I have actually held in my hand.
The spring was so incredibly stiff I had almost needed pliers to open it.


I thought I would add the pictures here so they would be in the same thread as the other Chris Wolf knives for the sake of those doing research in years to come.

[wlf]

Fascinating thread.

[JohnR]

Good thread on an interesting knife. I managed to acquire one a few years back. Mine has a fair amount of blade loss, has been well used. Picture shows it next to a vintage S&M pruner.

[djknife13]

I love old heavy "working" knives so these two are just what really gets me excited when I find them. I also like that I have a full collection of them, which unfortunately is only two. They are both in really nice condition and I don't buy the old Sears Roebuck ad that says they are the ugliest knife in their book, and neither did the guy I bought the Wolf from based on what I paid for it.____Dave

[Unk]

Thanks guys.

Dale, I do remember the knife from Johnny Fain. I was kicking myself for missing it in the auction. It appears in better shape than either of my Chris Wolf knives. The new one seems to have a nail peened over as the main blade pin. Still works ok, though. It shows that someone thought enough of this knife to repair it when it wore out, and probably just kept on using it.

[Miller Bro's]

Might as well post my pair on this thread too.

Unk, I am catching up to you!

[wlf]

Looks like excellent examples Dimitri.

Dave it seems fame does bring fortune in the knife world.

[Miller Bro's]

Thanks Lyle

[Unk]

Dave - isn't it great to have both! Nice looking knives

....and Dimitri - yes, you are gaining on me! That's a nice looking pair as well.

[djknife13]

Dave - isn't it great to have both! Nice looking knives

....and Dimitri - yes, you are gaining on me! That's a nice looking pair as well.

Yeah, Unk. I saw the Wolf in a roll on the table at a knife show and told the dealer "hey I recognize that, it's a Jessy Crouch." He said, No that's the other one. I didn't know there was another one. The Wolf wasn't in very good condition and it sent me on a year long search until I found a nice one, on that same dealers table. I had gone to the show the second year with a deal already set to buy a 6 blade Wilbert congress from another guy for $400. I had that one in my pocket along with a Keen Kutter for $40. I had $600 to spend at the show including food for the weekend. The second dealer wanted $160 for the Wolf. In 10 minutes, after driving 8 hours, I would have been broke. I had wisely, given the first dealer half cash and half check for the congress and then let the Wolf sit until the next morning and offered the second $100. We settled on $120. It's alot of work sometimes getting a full collection of a specific pattern, even when there is only two.____Dave

[Miller Bro's]

Thanks Unk

It's alot of work sometimes getting a full collection of a specific pattern, even when there is only two.____Dave

It sure is Dave I had some help, I would like to thank Tom (tj murphy) and David (PA Knives)

[danno50]

I posted awhile back about missing out on a Chris Wolf knife on ebay, due to some of ebay's inane policies. Tjmurphy PMed my about another one on ebay, I was not allowed to bid on that one either, couldn't even email the seller. TJ offered to bid for me and then through further communication offered to sell me his matched set: a Chris Wolf and a Jess Crouch. The knives arrived today, thanks very much, Tom.
Dan

[1967redrider]

Does anyone have a good reference book description of these two knives or S&M history? I looked in Levine's, Sargent's, Price and Zalesky's and Voyles' books but didn't see anything referencing Jess Crouch or Chris Wolf. In fact there is no mention of the history of Schatt & Morgan, unless I missed it?

Thanks!