How do you date these knives?

[Zharley88]

My grandpaw was showing me some of his knives today and he has two very nice old timers. How do you know the year of these knives?

[orvet]

Welcome aboard Z!

It is near impossible to date a Schrade by the tang stamp.
If the stamp says SCHRADE WALDEN it was made between 1946 and about June of 1973.
About June of 1973 they dropped the WALDEN and just stamped them SCHRADE.

You are a bit luckier than most in that you have the clampack the knife came in.
It is possible to get a bit closer to the date with the packaging.
These pics below are the best guesstimates as to the approximate dates of when different types of packaging were used.

That 8OT you show the picture of was made between 1973 and 2004, when Schrade closed their doors, if you just look at the tang stamp, but looking at the blue striped packaging, I would say that knife was packaged about 2001-2002. It may have been made before then, but the chances are good that it was packaged shortly after the knife was made.

For more info in specific Schrade, Old Timer & Uncle Henry patterns check out the research posted in the Research Section for Schrade: http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/con ... nce-guide/

You will learn very soon as you research and collect Schrade that: "With Schrade nothing is carved in stone and only a few things are even etched in Jell-O!"
I have spent years studying Schrade tang stamps and that and that is the most definitive statement I can make on the subject. It seems the more I study them the less I know!

[Shearer]

Here some pictures of 8OT knives.
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... +timer+8OT

The only one not on Orvet ( Dale )post was the Schrade NY USA tang stamp 1973 and I think to 1979 or 80.There is no record of when it finished .
It's like Dale said: "With Schrade nothing is carved in stone and only a few things are even etched in Jell-O!"

Grant

[Zharley88]

Thanks for the help guys!