Those hard to find Old Timers

[Meridian_Mike]

My new addition arrived yesterday.....
The tang stamp shows "5OT"... just like yours Grant.

I am so excited to be able to add this one to my collection.

No sharpening evident on the blades....
This is a nice one!

[jxr1197]

The tang stamp shows "5OT"

Congrats - it's a beauty, and it's definitely the hardest to find Old Timer there is. I have read over the years about the two tang stamps but I still have never seen a pic of a 50OT tang stamp - just the 5OT like you have here.

[Meridian_Mike]

Congrats - it's a beauty, and it's definitely the hardest to find Old Timer there is. I have read over the years about the two tang stamps but I still have never seen a pic of a 50OT tang stamp - just the 5OT like you have here.

It almost looks like the "OT" part was there and the "5" was added..... (Just thinking out loud)

Thanks for the complements Jason!

[Dan In MI]

This is a nice one!

Indeed it is. Congratulations!

[Meridian_Mike]

Indeed it is. Congratulations!

Thanks Dan!

[Shearer]

My new addition arrived yesterday.....
The tang stamp shows "5OT"... just like yours Grant.

I am so excited to be able to add this one to my collection.


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No sharpening evident on the blades....
This is a nice one!

I have been away for a few days. Glad your happy with the knife.

Grant

[jxr1197]

I got my hands on a second 3OT this week. I was shocked to learn that another one existed, let alone one that's just as minty clean as my first 3OT.

I also added this unicorn, a bone handled 50OT:

It's been a pretty good week for those hard to find Old Timers.

[FRJ]

Beautiful Oldtimers.

[treefarmer]

What Joe said!
Treefarmer

[New_Windsor_NY]

I.....

What Philip said that Joe said.

[doglegg]

Congratulations on finding your hard to find knives

[Meridian_Mike]

WOW.... congrats on finding some more hens teeth!

[jxr1197]

The encouraging words above are all appreciated.

Here's a two rare birds / one stone situation. The 226OT is the stainless version of the 225OT and it was made for European export only. They didn't make a whole lot of them and they don't pop up very often. The sheath is self explanatory - it was one of multiple samples submitted to the factory to go with the knife. I've never seen a 226OT with the sheath it came with so I have no idea if this is the one that was picked, but I kinda doubt it. I would guess they chose something less ornate.

[Meridian_Mike]

Great find Jason!
I have been looking for one of the 226OTs for years. I just figured they were one of those EXTREMELY rare birds.
Glad you cleared up that the 226OT was for the European market just like the 3OT was supposed to be.

Congrats brother!

[New_Windsor_NY]

The.....

Jason, absolutely GORGEOUS 226OT!!
.....and that sheath!.....

[garddogg56]

Man sum fine OT's

[glennbad]

Here's one I don't think I've shared here. An interesting one, seems like it may be from the early days. Eric thought it maybe should have an Old Timer shield, but everything else looks right...

[Meridian_Mike]

WOW.... that is a real beauty Glenn.
And it surely has to be another RARE bird!

[black mamba]

8OT knives were first shown in the 1961 catalog, and with bone handles. By 1962 they were shown with "Meershaum unbreakable plastic handles." Also, the extremely long cut swedge indicates an early knife. May be a sample before they had Old Timer shields. An incredible find, congrats!

[jxr1197]

Here's one...

I'll never get tired of looking at bone 8OTs. My intuition agrees with Eric but there's no way to know for sure and it's just a sick knife no matter what the back story is.

8OT knives were first shown in the 1961 catalog, and with bone handles. By 1962 they were shown with "Meershaum unbreakable plastic handles." Also, the extremely long cut swedge indicates an early knife. May be a sample before they had Old Timer shields. An incredible find, congrats!

The 1960 catalog on Larry's site is missing the insert page with the Old Timer's on it and he doesn't have the 1960 Price List posted in the price List category, but if you dig into the Sales Meetings you'll find that the 8OT was introduced in 1960.

I have a pre-production 8OT that doesn't have the 'normal' Old Timer shield we're all used to but there are other differences. It doesn't have a pattern number stamped on it and it's got milled liners. The shield appears to be the same shape as the one used on the Craftsman 2OT which would have been a reasonable choice on an early mock up c. 1959 and the Old Timer text appears to be hand engraved. A weird Schrade quirk - the oval shield on this knife was never used in production but every catalog from 1960-1971 uses an image of an 8OT with this pre-production shield.

[jxr1197]

Glad you cleared up that the 226OT was for the European market just like the 3OT was supposed to be.

I've never heard about the 3OT being intended for export. Do you remember where you read that?

[black mamba]

Thanks, Jason, great stuff!

[jxr1197]

Here's another stainless Old Timer made for export to Europe - the 126OT.

[Meridian_Mike]

You have to wonder why they were never offered as an option for American buyers...... even at a premium price.

[jxr1197]

You have to wonder why they were never offered as an option for American buyers...... even at a premium price.

They made these stainless Old Timers to fill an overseas order. A big German outfitter called Albrecht Kind asked for them. Albrecht Kind was similar to Abercrombie & Fitch (the original Abercrombie, not the thing it morphed into). Albrecht wanted the knives but said their customers would only buy stainless steel. I’m sure Schrade was hoping it would lead to a whole new market opening up but the small number of knives made means that didn’t happen. I think the 440 Stainless etch was legally required in Europe. I’m not sure how these would have done if they mass produced them for Americans. We do tend to love our carbon steel and if you really wanted the pattern in stainless you could always buy a 127UH.