Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Schrade Cutlery Company was founded in 1904 by George Schrade, and his brothers Jacob and William Schrade. In 1946 Imperial Knife Associated Companies, (IKAC; an association of Ulster Knife Co and Imperial Knife Co) purchased controlling interest in Schrade Cut Co and changed the name to Schrade Walden Cutlery. In 1973 the name was changed to Schrade Cutlery. In 2004 Schrade closed due to bankruptcy.

This forum is dedicated to the knives that are the legacy of this company. This forum is not the place to discuss the replica knives currently being imported using the Schrade name.
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kootenay joe
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Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by kootenay joe »

The first up is a Schrade 225OT aka "Son of a Gun" but with walnut handles. Schrade did make a 225OT for Chicago Cutlery but all the other Schrade made knives for C.C. are marked "Chicago Cutlery" on the tang.
The Chicago Cutlery Schrade made knives all came with walnut handles; some plain like this one and others with a round burned in brand as a shield and others with a brass round shield.
Somehow this Chicago Cutlery knife received a Schrade branded blade, but still entirely correct.
The other knife is a "Schrade-Walden/N.Y. U.S.A./ 25OT". The master blade is etched 'Alaskan Old Timer Hunter".
Was "Alaskan Old Timer Hunter" the name S-W gave this pattern when the stopped making the 225(H) ? Or what is the significance of this etch ?
kj
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kootenay joe
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by kootenay joe »

Surely one of the 'Old Timers' here knows the significance of the "Alaskan" etch ? It is not common. I have only seen one other.
Please help this old bumfuzzled guy.
kj
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tongueriver
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by tongueriver »

I have one with that etch and have seen others. They did a couple other etches on those 1960s-1970s folding hunters. Nothing particularly significant, I don't think. Here is a boxed set that I believe is one of the earliest for that 25OT.
25 OT Walden box set.jpg
DSCN1007.jpg
DSCN1137.jpg
DSCN1138.jpg
kootenay joe
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by kootenay joe »

Thank you Cal. So there is more to this than i had thought, at least 2 different etches on the early S-W 25OT.
Do you know when S-W first made the Old Timer 25OT ? The 225H was made for a few years after the 25OT came out.
I sure would like to know the "Alaskan" connection. Maybe made for Mayer & Grosh ?
kj
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tongueriver
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by tongueriver »

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/co ... nce-guide/

Dale Vincent was kind enough to spend long hours compiling this information. Click on the hotlinks within for specific types of Schrades, such as Old Timers.
kootenay joe
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by kootenay joe »

Dale's list shows the 25OT as being introduced in 1964 but there is no info on the etches that were used.
kj
ea42
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by ea42 »

kootenay joe wrote: Sat Jan 02, 2021 7:03 pm Surely one of the 'Old Timers' here knows the significance of the "Alaskan" etch ? It is not common. I have only seen one other.
Please help this old bumfuzzled guy.
kj
Roland I believe those started appearing in 1973. It was around the same time that the 49er series was introduced.

They had a little obsession with Alaska at the time. The 1960's was Africa with the safari series of knives followed by a short stint with the gauchos. :D

Eric
ea42
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by ea42 »

Oops double post
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tongueriver
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by tongueriver »

Perhaps weakly germane to the conversation is this November 1966 advertisement in a magazine for Norm Thompson (I also have an example of the sheath knife, which is a different conversation). Notice the etch and the shield.
Norm Thompson ad.jpg
sheath should look like.jpg
Yukon001.jpg
Yukon002.jpg
kootenay joe
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by kootenay joe »

Calvin that is very neat ! I did not know of the Schrade-Walden "Yukon" Folding Hunter with 1 carbon steel and 1 stainless blade. And very neat to have the Norm Thompson ad that accurately dates it. I wonder why S-W did not also bring out this knife with the different blade steels except for Norm Thompson ?
Eric thank you for connecting "Alaska" to 1960's. 1964 was the first year for the 25OT.
kj
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by ea42 »

Roland,

The SW Alaskan knives were from the 1970's, not the 60's. 1973-74 were the dates for the Schrade Walden ones, which does make them somewhat scarce. Norm Thompson had their own thing going with Schrade and had a number of exclusives including what you see on Cal's addy page. The K-77 had a unique blade arrangement and the Shikari had an exclusive sheath and shield. Here's a Shikari:
Schrade Shikari 2.jpg
Schrade Shikari 3.jpg

Cal you've got some amazing knives there buddy, hard to find examples too!! ::tu:: ::tu::


Eric
kootenay joe
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by kootenay joe »

Quote: "1973-74 were the dates for the Schrade Walden ones, "
Schrade-Walden became Schrade in 1972-73. Were they still using Schrade-Walden marked blades after the change to become "Schrade" ?
kj
ea42
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by ea42 »

kootenay joe wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:38 pm Quote: "1973-74 were the dates for the Schrade Walden ones, "
Schrade-Walden became Schrade in 1972-73. Were they still using Schrade-Walden marked blades after the change to become "Schrade" ?
kj
Roland I believe the name change occurred in 1974. Schrade-Walden went from 1947 to 1973 but there was a bit of overlap in inventory into 1974 for the Schrade Walden knives.



Eric
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tongueriver
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by tongueriver »

ea42 wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:43 pm
kootenay joe wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:38 pm Quote: "1973-74 were the dates for the Schrade Walden ones, "
Schrade-Walden became Schrade in 1972-73. Were they still using Schrade-Walden marked blades after the change to become "Schrade" ?
kj
Roland I believe the name change occurred in 1974. Schrade-Walden went from 1947 to 1973 but there was a bit of overlap in inventory into 1974 for the Schrade Walden knives.



Eric
I have to wonder about this. The 1973 catalog showed the full line of 49r sheath knives, and I assume that at least some of them were manufactured in early 1973 WITHOUT A WALDEN TANG STAMP. We assume that the 1973 catalog was produced in the Fall of 1972? A tiny trickle of them were released that did have a WALDEN tang stamp. Another eminent Schrade researcher a few years back said that the name change and official paperwork occurred in the summer of 1973. Now I don't know what the real story is, but I think summer of 1973 is the most likely candidate, not 1974.
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by kootenay joe »

Interesting that there is still some uncertainty as to when Schrade-Walden officially became Schrade. It is actually quite reason history yet it is like the vast majority of information about knife manufacturers, not clear as to when major changes occurred. It is an occult 'world' (knife information).
However i have learned that my "Alaskan Hunter" Schrade-Walden 25OT is from the early 1970's. How long this "Alaskan" etch was used to market this knife i still hope to learn. Was it a single run of a few thousand knives ? or, multiple runs over 2 or more years ?
Since it is rarely seen it could be just one run.
Could be intrigue here too: maybe some other business was using the word "Alaskan" to market their product and Schrade (Walden) was asked to desist ? Or, it wasn't selling well so etch D/C'd in case it was part of reason ?? But, who wouldn't like an "Alaskan" knife ? Sounds strong, capable and independent.
kj
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tongueriver
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by tongueriver »

kootenay joe wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:20 pm But, who wouldn't like an "Alaskan" knife ? Sounds strong, capable and independent.
kj
So... another good etch in that vein would be BRITISH COLUMBIAN RACONTEUR.
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LRV
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by LRV »

Schrade Walden became schrade in sometime during 1973. There were 2 catalogs generated that year. One was Schrade Walden the other Schrade. There were a couple differences between them.
Doesn't answer the date question exactly but I believe I have it tucked away.
“A knife in a man’s hand is as precious as a diamond necklace on a woman’s neck” - Michael Mirando I.S.C.
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tongueriver
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by tongueriver »

LRV wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:07 am Schrade Walden became schrade in sometime during 1973. There were 2 catalogs generated that year. One was Schrade Walden the other Schrade. There were a couple differences between them.
Doesn't answer the date question exactly but I believe I have it tucked away.
Thank you, Larry; that was my understanding.
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LRV
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by LRV »

A little digging in the archive found this note
1973: Schrade Walden Cutlery Corp. was consolidated with Ulster Knife Co., Inc. on September 26th, 1958 and this corporate consolidation was amended on September 17th, 1973 changing the name to Schrade Cutlery Corp., still a division of Imperial Knife Associated Companies.

Im done for the night :D
“A knife in a man’s hand is as precious as a diamond necklace on a woman’s neck” - Michael Mirando I.S.C.
ea42
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Re: Two Schrade Folding Hunters

Post by ea42 »

Good to know guys, I wasn't aware of the mid-year change. I guess that explains why you don't see many of those SW Alaskan Old Timer Hunters. I've only seen them in the 1973 catalog, which probably means they were in production in late 1972. It's possible they had a mid year 1972 intro as was done with a number of knives to catch the hunting/Christmas season rush, but I don't have any of the Second Half salesman meeting notebooks from that era to verify.

Eric
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