Schrade Walden 844

[kootenay joe]

This is a 3 3/8" bone Schrade Walden with "844" on back tang of master blade. The springs & liners have the 'jimping' that was discussed in a thread here somewhere. (done by a former Schrade employee in her own home).
In the pictures i can see that the "844" might have been stamped as individual numbers. Not as evident when looking at the knife itself. And the "Schrade/Walden" marking looks like "Schrade" might have been stamped over grind marks ? Again this can only be seen in the enlarged pictures. Looks 'norma'l in person.
Was there ever an 844 ? Or is this an older 834 that has been 'messed with' ?
thanks, kj

[orvet]

I think you're right KJ,
If you look down below and left of the 8 you will see when the metal has wrinkled a little bit. I have heard this indicates the tang was cold stamped. The 8 is also larger.

Looking at the Schrade stamp it appears the word Schrade is in a different font, slightly smaller than the word "Walden."

I will get back to you on the pattern number.

[orvet]

My research of the Schrade catalogs does not show any pattern 844.
That doesn't mean such a pattern could not have been produced, just that it was never listed in the Schrade catalogs.
Looking at my spreadsheet I see the following patterns that used an 84 prefix;
842 – a senator pattern holds Schrade Cut Co. number was M8424MT.
846 – a lobster pattern with 10K gold fill handles.
848 – a sleeveboard lobster pattern.
849 – also I lobster pattern.

All four of these patterns were last seen in the catalogs in the 1950s. None of survived to the 1960s.

I don't know if this helps at all but it would seem that most of those patterns beginning with 84 were discontinued prior to 1960.

[kootenay joe]

Thanks Dale. Big help. I think this is a Schrade Walden 834 that was altered for some reason. I think the blades are correct as are the handles, but the markings on master blade were altered.
Do you think the blade profiles, swages and nail nicks are correct for a S-W 834 ?
roland

[ea42]

Roland, the most glaring thing to me is the machined backsprings. I'm fairly certain that wasn't done to any Schrade knives until at least the 1980's, and that peachseed bone was discontinued in the very early 1960's. Kind of a red flag to me. If someone knows differently by all means set me straight as I'm not positive on the date.

Eric

[kootenay joe]

Thank you Eric. The handles do not look to have be replacements so someone other than Schrade did the milling on the spine to try and make this older but altered knife look 'special'.
Maybe: started out as a jigged bone Schrade-Walden 834 and someone removed master blade and re-stamped it or used a blade from some other knife and marked it how we see it now and then re-installed this altered or new master blade. And did the milling of the spine as well.
If this is what happened then it got used and re-sharpened after the alterations because it would be unlikely to install a used blade. There are plenty of 834's to get an unused blade from.
Any other explanation for how this knife came to be as it is now ? I can't think of one, but i know little about building knives.
kj

[tongueriver]

Roland, the most glaring thing to me is the machined backsprings. I'm fairly certain that wasn't done to any Schrade knives until at least the 1980's...
Eric

I have a number of 1950s originals with milled liners, but NOT the springs.

[ea42]

Exactly Cal, just doesn't match up. Roland I'm not sure what else was done to the knife but as you said the master clip seems to have been monkeyed with if nothing else. Still a very nice knife regardless. I don't think it was a recent endeavor either, there seems to be plenty of tarnish on the pins, and the bolsters show some usage.

Eric

[kootenay joe]

"I have a number of 1950s originals with milled liners, but NOT the springs"
There was a thread recently about how the Schrade (and S-W ?) knives got milled liners and sometimes springs and bolsters.
The work was done by a former Schrade employee in her own home. Pictures posted show how the machine ran over the bolsters and perhaps the springs as well. I cannot recall if this was in Schrade or Schrade-Walden times. If anyone finds the thread please post a link.
It is odd that someone would stamp it with a pattern number that did not exist. Could have been a Schrade-Walden employee having fun with a jigged bone 834 and he did the fancy work on the spine and thought it should have it's own pattern number.
I have two Schrade-Walden, P.S. jigged bone (like this one), 834's which eventually became the 34OT. This 844 is the same as the 834's except for the pattern numbers. They are great knives.
kj