TWELVE YEARS OF PLYWOOD

[jxr1197]

The engineered wood phase at Schrade ran from 1953-1965, a period that was chock full of experimental materials. The plastics were brought in to phase out bone but I have never understood why hardwood started to get replaced by plywood. Maybe there was a shortage or price spike? Maybe it was to create something that stood up to heat or moisture better (I have no idea if it did)? Going by the catalogs 1953 is the year they introduced Stratawood and Propwood. There is no catalog data available for 1955 and 1956. In the 1957 catalog Strata and Prop are both gone, never to be seen again. They were replaced by Wondawood which appeared every year until 1965. As I was putting this together I searched for clues to help figure out which material is what but there's so little to grasp and these guys were nothing if not vague with catalog entries.

First up is a chart put together strictly from catalog data. It shows all of the patterns with one of the three materials and for each year how it was listed. Some patterns were only Prop or Strata or Wonda and some were listed with more than one type of wood depending on the year it was made. Out of 17 patterns, 12 were only listed with one material and 5 were mixed. I highly doubt the catalogs are telling us the whole story.

In this pic we see a couple examples of Stratawood only (according to the catalogs) patterns. The 140 and 148.

In the next pic are a few examples of Propwood only (according to the catalogs) patterns. The 250, 820, pair of 822s and 823.

Here is a group of knives that were listed with multiple woods. The 145, 147 and 805 could be Strata or Wonda. The 823 and 832 could be Prop or Wonda. Those last two patterns show 2 examples of each in the pic. Each pair has a medium color knife and a dark knife. Maybe this is an example where we see the same knife from different years with different handles. Or maybe not..

The last pic here is a couple of my favorite Ulster patterns, a 50 and a 40. I have no way of knowing which material they are but I’ve always thought of them as Propwood. I’m not aware of any Ulster catalogs listing knives covered in Prop/Strata/Wonda.

[Meridian_Mike]

Good work Jason! Very interesting info!!

[TPK]

Great information & pictures! Thanks for posting & sharing Jason!

[ea42]

Jason awesome compendium! They used those products because they were completely stable (didn't shrink) and were impervious to water, oil, etc (to a point of course). It was also cheaper and easier to come by than the traditional hardwoods. They were also easy to drill and machine and came in flat sheets making it far easier to cut into machinable pieces. I think the names had a lot to do with the manufacturers. They went through several manufacturers over time. Each one had a catchy name for their products. I think at one point Imperial actually got involved with making their own during the seventies or eighties.

Eric

[jxr1197]

Jason awesome compendium! They used those products because they were completely stable (didn't shrink) and were impervious to water, oil, etc (to a point of course). It was also cheaper and easier to come by than the traditional hardwoods. They were also easy to drill and machine and came in flat sheets making it far easier to cut into machinable pieces. I think the names had a lot to do with the manufacturers. They went through several manufacturers over time. Each one had a catchy name for their products. I think at one point Imperial actually got involved with making their own during the seventies or eighties.

Eric

Now we have the 'why' of it all - thanks for giving us the missing puzzle piece!

[Doc B]

Very interesting post, Jason!

[tongueriver]

Very interesting discussion and great research, Jason. I have always liked Schrade's plywood. BUCK and CASE, not so much. I assume that the plywood used for knife handles has additional stabilization beyond what I just used in my back shed. Thanks again, Jason and Eric!

[jxr1197]

Thanks for the comments here guys. I learned a few things when I was putting the info together which is always a plus in my book. I'll add this picture here too. These are Imperial Wondawood Letter Openers but funny enough, they made these out of plastic.

[FRJ]

Impressive research, Jason. I enjoyed reading that.
Here is a knife I have that may be Propwood. What ever that is.
As a carpenter who has handled my share of plywood,
I must say it is difficult to see it attached to something a endearing as a knife.

[bladecollectorr]

Great info! Thanks for posting it. Saves brain cells.

[1967redrider]

Great info! Thanks for posting it. Saves brain cells.

I Second that.

[tnorton]

Thanks Jason - Good Work on The post

[ea42]

Very interesting discussion and great research, Jason. I have always liked Schrade's plywood. BUCK and CASE, not so much. I assume that the plywood used for knife handles has additional stabilization beyond what I just used in my back shed. Thanks again, Jason and Eric!

Cal, yes much more stailization. It's basically micarta that's made with very thin wood veneer, bound with resin under high pressure.

Eric

[FatCity67]

Great thread. I use to collect piano tuners couple decades ago and came across this research on the veneer handles they called artwood.

Originally called Impreg and Compreg.

Here's a link for those that like to "geek out" on this type of info.

https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/2v23vz41r

[jxr1197]

From this thread I have learned more than I shared about these materials! Thanks for sharing all the info Eric and others. FatCity I'm going to get through that Modified Woods article. I started it and realized how 'dense' the text is so I'll go back to it when I have a lot of free time.

[Dinadan]

Very informative thread, Jason. Thanks for sharing your research and photos!

Eric - good point about the similarity to micarta.

[bladecollectorr]

...I think the names had a lot to do with the manufacturers. They went through several manufacturers over time. Each one had a catchy name for their products. I think at one point Imperial actually got involved with making their own during the seventies or eighties.

Eric

In the '70s-'80s the term "WondaWood" was still being used to describe the handles on LB7 knives. In the 1990s the term "Fibron" was used to describe very similar looking handles on a number of SFO knives. I always assumed it was the same stuff, perhaps made by a different manufacturer (as you mentioned). Just to confirm:

Were WondaWood and Fibron the same?

[ea42]

BC Wondawood (actually started out as Durawood) was made by Imperial. Fibron was made by Fibron Products Inc.

I made a bit of an error in the above statement, Imperial was already involved with making their version back in the fifties, not the seventies. It got its start on kitchen cutlery. I think I had the LB's on the brain lol.

Eric

[bladecollectorr]

BC Wondawood (actually started out as Durawood) was made by Imperial. Fibron was made by Fibron Products Inc.

I made a bit of an error in the above statement, Imperial was already involved with making their version back in the fifties, not the seventies. It got its start on kitchen cutlery. I think I had the LB's on the brain lol.

Eric

Thanks Eric. They both appear to be a similar type of wood veneer and resin, micarta-like "plywood".

[ea42]

BC the products were made using almost identical processes so they really are very close to, if not exactly the same. Imperial Schrade decommissioned their plant when they did the consolidation to Ellenville and switched completely to the fibron products around that time. Fibron also did the machining on lots of the handles in house so it was pretty much a one stop shop. I think Imperial did the production only at the wondawood plant and then machining in Providence.

Eric

[bladecollectorr]

BC the products were made using almost identical processes so they really are very close to, if not exactly the same. Imperial Schrade decommissioned their plant when they did the consolidation to Ellenville and switched completely to the fibron products around that time. Fibron also did the machining on lots of the handles in house so it was pretty much a one stop shop. I think Imperial did the production only at the wondawood plant and then machining in Providence.

Eric

Fantastic details Eric. Thanks again.

[Papa Bones]

Great thread guys, very informative. Another reason AAPK is a great site.