Craftsman Knives

[tongueriver]

trapper in wavy bone.

[tongueriver]

2OT.

[tongueriver]

Bone 881.

[tongueriver]

1967 electrician with an attitude.

not mine.jpg (20.75 KiB) Viewed 3768 times

[kootenay joe]

Calvin, you have all the good Craftsman knives ! I used to, but have sold almost all of them. I miss my bone Sta-Sharp knives.
kj

[KnifeSlinger#81]

trapper in wavy bone.293 bone craftsman001.jpg293 bone craftsman002.jpg

What a nice christmas gift that would make, matter of fact all of them would.

Nice knives Cal.

[jxr1197]

1967 electrician with an attitude.

I didn't know the Holub screwdriver ever wound up on another knife. That's very cool! I see two changes; the wire strippers are reversed and Sears didn't pony up for the Tungsten.

Here's a 9558 that pales in comparison to recent additions in this thread.

[1967redrider]

I love those church key knives, will have to keep a look out for one.

I've got this 1927-1977 Commemorative Craftsman knife, looks like Schrade to me. White saw-cut Delrin, 1095 blades, nickel silver bolsters and brass liners. Full unlimited warranty. Claims to be crafted to "Old Time" specifications.

[tongueriver]

Eric Albers 10-9-2012: “Dave Swinden confirmed that to me a while back as well (real elephant hide sheaths). One of the Baers had gotten a shipment of them and expected big sales, but they just didn't catch on.”

Eric Albers 10-10-2012: “I spoke with Dave today and it seems that both Albert and Henry took a trip to Africa about the time that there was a rather large overpopulation of elephants eating everything in sight, around 1970 or 71 ( maybe Norm Thompson accompanied them! ). There was a cull of about 20,000 or so animals with a resulting mountain of hides. The Baers purchased a number of them and had them tanned and possibly even cut, Dave recalls that they wanted to help the folks out over there economically so had some of the work done over there. Don't know how much they got but I do know that they used it on the 165's and the 171's.” My edit: They only used them on Craftsman knives.

[tongueriver]

This Craftsman 165 has a hidden tang construction. They are very rare. With elephant hide sheath no less.

[Dinadan]

Wow - some mighty fine knives on this page.

[kootenay joe]

I once read in BF that the "elephant hide" sheaths are thick cow hide treated to give a surface texture resembling elephant skin The plan to import elephant hide did not materialize due to import restrictions on animal parts from many countries. Rather than admit that the planned elephant hide did not work out the Baers let people think the embossed cow hide was elephant.
I of course do not know which story is true.
kj

[Meridian_Mike]

WOW... This is one heck of a knife show...

ALL beauties... every one!!

Let's see some more....

[KnifeSlinger#81]

Here another 9514. Minty, wavy bone, match pulls; a very pretty knife.

[Meridian_Mike]

WOW.... now that is a real beauty Paul!!
VERY nice!!

[bladecollectorr]

Couple months ago an online seller offered about a half-dozen NIB and another 10 or so new without box examples of the Craftsman 9558. They were selling for a very reasonable $20 NIB or $15 no box. I nearly bought two of them but decided I have enough user knives already.

Knife is similar to the 946. I find the 4-blade senators to be classy little knives with or without the shackle.

[jxr1197]

That wavy bone stockman is gorgeous

Couple months ago an online seller offered about a half-dozen NIB and another 10 or so new without box examples of the Craftsman 9558. They were selling for a very reasonable $20 NIB or $15 no box. I nearly bought two of them but decided I have enough user knives already.

Do you remember if any of them had a screwdriver? The one I posted (previous page) has that instead of the pen blade and I haven't seen another one yet. The logo and file are also different. $20 NIB and you left 5 on the table? You have far better impulse control than me!

[bladecollectorr]

That wavy bone stockman is gorgeous

Couple months ago an online seller offered about a half-dozen NIB and another 10 or so new without box examples of the Craftsman 9558. They were selling for a very reasonable $20 NIB or $15 no box. I nearly bought two of them but decided I have enough user knives already.

Do you remember if any of them had a screwdriver? The one I posted (previous page) has that instead of the pen blade and I haven't seen another one yet. The logo and file are also different. $20 NIB and you left 5 on the table? You have far better impulse control than me!

Seeing your example is what sparked my memory about grabbing one of these. Your knife looks factory to me. I agree that the logo and file used are different so two different time periods can be inferred. The grind and edge on your blades seems a bit different than mine as well. The pattern specs may have changed over time perhaps?

All the knives the seller had were exactly the same. He used the same pics for all of them. All told he had 16 of these. 6 NIB and 10 no box. The pics I posted are his.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352835103015
https://www.ebay.com/itm/372818812352?n ... true&rt=nc

Some things you might want to ask yourself:

Is the screwdriver blade on your knife sharp on one edge? It doesn't look it. The inclusion of a choil on the blade might imply it was meant to be sharpened but maybe that's a wire stripper and not a choil at all.

Where exactly is the pull located on the other side of the blade? Is there one? Does the pull match exactly my knife? Could it be that someone did a very good re-profile of that blade and changed it into a nice screwdriver? Your blade appears too thick for that. I can't see a previous blade grind on it.

Sorry I can't be of more help. I can't recall seeing another like yours.

I strongly considered buying more of these but even though I love the metal handled gents knives they really don't fetch much at auction. This, coupled with shipping fees and the CAD/USD exchange rate creeps the price up for me substantially and brings any potential profitability into question. The final nail in this multiple-buy coffin was how much I'd already spent that month on knives. I'd already told myself "NO MORE KNIVES!". Just this one erased that line in the sand.

[black mamba]

Great showing, Cal! Is that Ulster 4-blade a couple pages back a real lefty, or did the image get reversed?

[jxr1197]

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Ha! I'll take that kind of help any day of the week. That's a lot of good info and thoughts you laid out there. The screwdriver is equally blunt on both sides and tapers slightly from tang to tip. The tip is flat and even and perfectly symmetrical. I was going to say I'm sure it's factory, but that thing about the choil?? It's not a wire stripper - so why have a choil on a screwdriver? Then another thing popped out at me. The inside edge of the screwdriver, where the edge would be if it was a blade is the only part of that knife that isn't polished. It's got a somewhat dull appearance and a lightly abrasive texture - like 1000 grit. Maybe this started out as a blade blank? I think this one will just remain a mystery...

[bladecollectorr]

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Ha! I'll take that kind of help any day of the week. That's a lot of good info and thoughts you laid out there. The screwdriver is equally blunt on both sides and tapers slightly from tang to tip. The tip is flat and even and perfectly symmetrical. I was going to say I'm sure it's factory, but that thing about the choil?? It's not a wire stripper - so why have a choil on a screwdriver? Then another thing popped out at me. The inside edge of the screwdriver, where the edge would be if it was a blade is the only part of that knife that isn't polished. It's got a somewhat dull appearance and a lightly abrasive texture - like 1000 grit. Maybe this started out as a blade blank? I think this one will just remain a mystery...

It looks more like factory original than ever after seeing those pics.

Au contraire! I still say it could be the most basic of wire strippers and maybe even a Super-Advanced-Multi-Tool. Close that puppy down on a piece of wire and the insulation gets cut as it's squeezed between blade and edge of the liner. The liner does the cutting of the insulation. You may have to rotate the wire a couple times and re-squeeze to cut all around the wire. After cutting the pinching can grab it so you can yank the wire out of the insulation.

The guy in the video below has pretty much mastered the unsharpened, notch-type wire-stripper/bender/wrench/scriber super-tool. He doesn't demonstrate my most-basic pinch method where the liner does the cutting though and it works too. He does display six minutes plus of using this super-tool in different ways. You should never underestimate the lowly notch on a knife. I know I did.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LTCs43 ... dex=2&t=0s[/youtube]

[jxr1197]

Close that puppy down on a piece of wire and the insulation gets cut as it's squeezed between blade and edge of the liner. The liner does the cutting of the insulation. You may have to rotate the wire a couple times and re-squeeze to cut all around the wire. After cutting the pinching can grab it so you can yank the wire out of the insulation.

I tried the method described and I don't think that was the intended use - or maybe just not the intended method. It was roughly equivalent to chomping down on the wire with your molars and grinding it into submission. As I pressed harder I could feel the knife starting to twist so I backed off. The method in the video worked just fine of course - using the blade to slice the insulation and the choil to pull it off, but it was no different than using your fingernails to pull it off - or your teeth. I think the jury is still out on the wire stripper but your other comment about it being a factory original - c'est vrai! I finally thought to just google the thing. Search up 'Craftsman 9558' and look at all the pics that pop up with the screwdriver. I think it's probably just a pattern change over time. I'm assuming mine is the older of the two based on logo.

[bladecollectorr]

Close that puppy down on a piece of wire and the insulation gets cut as it's squeezed between blade and edge of the liner. The liner does the cutting of the insulation. You may have to rotate the wire a couple times and re-squeeze to cut all around the wire. After cutting the pinching can grab it so you can yank the wire out of the insulation.

I tried the method described and I don't think that was the intended use - or maybe just not the intended method. It was roughly equivalent to chomping down on the wire with your molars and grinding it into submission. As I pressed harder I could feel the knife starting to twist so I backed off. The method in the video worked just fine of course - using the blade to slice the insulation and the choil to pull it off, but it was no different than using your fingernails to pull it off - or your teeth. I think the jury is still out on the wire stripper but your other comment about it being a factory original - c'est vrai! I finally thought to just google the thing. Search up 'Craftsman 9558' and look at all the pics that pop up with the screwdriver. I think it's probably just a pattern change over time. I'm assuming mine is the older of the two based on logo.

I'm glad the mystery is mostly solved. I had a Wenger, I think it was, that I once used as a wire stripper in the manner I described and it worked just fine but you're right, it probably was never intended if it doesn't work well. I was taking a guess on that one. Online image search does produce lots of both 9558 versions. Thanks!

The ST1 has a sharpened-notch wire-stripper that I just used for these next pics by pinching the blade shut as I described. It worked easily. That's also what gave me the wire-stripper idea for the 9558. I thought maybe it was an earlier, somewhat less-refined version because the screwdriver and stripper ended up together on the same blade of the ST1.

[garddogg56]

Heres an Old Crafty that I'll use out hunting tomorrow.

[tongueriver]

Heres an Old Crafty that I'll use out hunting tomorrow.

For whitetails?