Craftsman Knives

[kootenay joe]

Good post Jason. I am aware and agree with what you say and i was following Codger as he discovered many of the Sears connections back around 2008 in BF.
Knife manufacturers often contracted out to each other for either the entire knife or some of the work. Camillus might of agreed to supply Sears with a Coin knife, knowing that Imperial was set up to make these and knowing they would get Imperial to supply these. (Imperial to Camillus to Sears)
But, if Camillus did make a Coin knife and therefore had the tooling needed, then they would have made it 'in house'.
The "Sta-Sharp" etch on the coin knife is in a 'style' i have not seen before. It is not the usual 'look'. Is this because the blade is small ? or because the etch was not done at Camillus ?
Who made what in 'knives' is often not straight forward.
kj

[New_Windsor_NY]

This afternoon, my trip to the post office produced these Craftsman knives. One is a CRAFTSMAN 9494, 3 blade, swelled center, "whittler" pocket knife (first 3 pictures). The other is a SCHRADE WALDEN 863 (not stamped or marked 863), 3 blade, swelled center, "whittler" pocket knife (last 4 pictures). It has CRAFTSMAN 9494 etched on the main blade. Both knives are 3 5/8" closed. No cleaning of either knife was necessary. I took some pictures, here are the knives.

[kootenay joe]

Skip, did you post 2 other Craftsman 9494 knives last week or so ?
Are you specializing in this pattern ? Very attractive knives especially with the saber grind clip blade.
kj

[New_Windsor_NY]

Skip, did you post 2 other Craftsman 9494 knives last week or so ?
Are you specializing in this pattern ? Very attractive knives especially with the saber grind clip blade.
kj

Roland, I posted these two knives a few days ago when I bought them and now, when I received them. I've posted quite a few Craftsman 9494 knives. Not necessarily in this thread, but they are ALL posted throughout this thread.
LINK: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=62956
I'm specializing in Camillus 72 knives and it's variations/clones. Currently I have 13, Craftsman 9494 pocket knives.
The picture below is of 7 of them.

[kootenay joe]

I think it is very neat to collect multiples of a favorite pattern. At one point i had close to 50 of the bone handles 2 blade EO jacks made during WW II.
Is the S-W 863 the exact size of the Camillus 72 pattern ?
kj

[New_Windsor_NY]

I think it is very neat to collect multiples of a favorite pattern. At one point i had close to 50 of the bone handles 2 blade EO jacks made during WW II.
Is the S-W 863 the exact size of the Camillus 72 pattern ?
kj

Yes, 3 5/8" closed.

[ea42]

Good post Jason. I am aware and agree with what you say and i was following Codger as he discovered many of the Sears connections back around 2008 in BF.
Knife manufacturers often contracted out to each other for either the entire knife or some of the work. Camillus might of agreed to supply Sears with a Coin knife, knowing that Imperial was set up to make these and knowing they would get Imperial to supply these. (Imperial to Camillus to Sears)
But, if Camillus did make a Coin knife and therefore had the tooling needed, then they would have made it 'in house'.
The "Sta-Sharp" etch on the coin knife is in a 'style' i have not seen before. It is not the usual 'look'. Is this because the blade is small ? or because the etch was not done at Camillus ?
Who made what in 'knives' is often not straight forward.
kj

Roland, ownership of Camillus didn't pass to Albert Baer until the early sixties. At the time the coin knife was made the company was still controlled by the Kastor brothers and had no connection to Imperial. If it wasn't made in house I would think the most likely scenario would be that they contracted it to their connections in Germany.

Eric

[jxr1197]

Roland, ownership of Camillus didn't pass to Albert Baer until the early sixties. At the time the coin knife was made the company was still controlled by the Kastor brothers and had no connection to Imperial. If it wasn't made in house I would think the most likely scenario would be that they contracted it to their connections in Germany.

Eric

Albert Baer didn't own all of Camillus until 1963 but by the time a seriously unbalanced Alfred Kastor forced Baer out of the company he had already bought all of Augustus Kastor's shares so he was essentially fired from a company that he owned 1/3 of! It must have drove Alfred crazy that Baer was making money from, AND competing with, Camillus at the same time.

The coin knife quest is taking on a life of its own. I keep changing direction on what I think it is. I have found other identical knives to this one online and it looks like they were Ambassadors - which is a Colonial brand. I sent Steve Paolantonino an email yesterday but haven't heard back yet. If he doesn't claim it as one of his own then I'll try the German angle. One of the Kastors German marks was Gold Coin. Could be just a coincidence. I'll post here again if I figure anything else out.

[ea42]

Very cool Jason, nice sleuthing! I never considered the Colonial angle.

Eric

[kootenay joe]

Eric & Jason, thanks for the historical info. I find it as interesting as the knives, but it is a complicated history and easy to get dates mixed up between Ulster, Schrade, Camillus & Imperial.
kj

[tnorton]

Bought a group of knives off ebay - this "OLD CRAFTY" 9545 was in the bunch - Delrin handles were bleached or discolored soaked in mineral oil overnight - helped some - still a fun little knife -- Clint

[doglegg]

Clint, fun is a nice description of that little knife. Congrats.

[TPK]

Bought a group of knives off ebay - this "OLD CRAFTY" 9545 was in the bunch - Delrin handles were bleached or discolored soaked in mineral oil overnight - helped some - still a fun little knife -- Clint

That's a pretty cool little knife Clint! I like it! Congrats on that interesting find!

[TPK]

Skip, did you post 2 other Craftsman 9494 knives last week or so ?
Are you specializing in this pattern ? Very attractive knives especially with the saber grind clip blade.
kj

Roland, I posted these two knives a few days ago when I bought them and now, when I received them. I've posted quite a few Craftsman 9494 knives. Not necessarily in this thread, but they are ALL posted throughout this thread.
LINK: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=62956
I'm specializing in Camillus 72 knives and it's variations/clones. Currently I have 13, Craftsman 9494 pocket knives.
The picture below is of 7 of them.

Man Skip, I love your 72's, Craftsman & other clones collection. Simply put, they are just really cool knives!
Wish I could collect those over here! Or Case knives, or Quenn, or Schrade or Camillus or...,
Only brand I can really find a Ton of is Victorinox. They are ok knives, but not exactly this cat's meow.
Or the "old school" metal gentleman's knives.

(I wonder if there is a strong enough glue that I could use to glue thin bone or stag handles onto the old metal knives to make them more appealing to me? And would that be a "crime" if I did glue handles onto metal knives? It probably would be. I need to give this thought more thought. Just thinking out loud. )
Any thoughts anyone?

[doglegg]

Tom when my Son lived in Freiburg and I would visit I was amazed at the lack of knives. I thought they would be everywhere but alas. So good luck in your hunting.

[tnorton]

Old Crafty says - Thanks Guys

[kootenay joe]

Tom, yes you can glue bone or stag handle pieces to metal. Go to the forum here that deals with knife repair and ask there to find out which glue and a few tips to make sure you get good results.
kj

[KAW]

Here's my contribution:

a nice little 3¼” jack №9541:


for Craftsman 50th anniversary... a large 4" stockman №95044:


Now to go back & catch up with the other 15 pages of this thread...

[doglegg]

Two knice pick ups Ken. I especially like the little jack.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Skip, did you post 2 other Craftsman 9494 knives last week or so ?
Are you specializing in this pattern ? Very attractive knives especially with the saber grind clip blade.
kj

Roland, I posted these two knives a few days ago when I bought them and now, when I received them. I've posted quite a few Craftsman 9494 knives. Not necessarily in this thread, but they are ALL posted throughout this thread.
LINK: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=62956
I'm specializing in Camillus 72 knives and it's variations/clones. Currently I have 13, Craftsman 9494 pocket knives.
The picture below is of 7 of them.

Man Skip, I love your 72's, Craftsman & other clones collection. Simply put, they are just really cool knives!

Thank you Tom. Sorry for the late reply.

[kootenay joe]

Those 1977 Craftsman knives are top notch. The '8OT' one is in particular well done, especially in fit & finish.
kj

[TPK]

Tom, yes you can glue bone or stag handle pieces to metal. Go to the forum here that deals with knife repair and ask there to find out which glue and a few tips to make sure you get good results.
kj

Thanks for the input kj!

[JAMESC41001]

Nice knives everyone. Great thread. Here are a few.

[JAMESC41001]

Few more

[edge213]

14E9D800-B94F-4035-9709-D626E380C2D1.jpeg07DC8460-6FB0-4B04-8C9D-7AA6B3FC4B4F.jpegC300304C-EC89-40EF-BFCC-9D1A00541926.jpeg6295A8B8-96BA-4F9D-8E6D-2244163CD87F.jpegNice knives everyone. Great thread. Here are a few.

First time I've seen Craftsman fixed blades.